Formed in Connecticut under the name Red Alert and gigging around the Northeast for nearly a decade before getting signed, STEELHEART were a bit late to the glam metal game. When their sophomore effort, Tangled In Reins, was released in 1992, the lights had all but gone out for the spandex and teased hair party as tastes had shifted toward the grittier sounds emanating from Seattle.
However Steelheart leave its mark within the genre, whose power ballad “I’ll Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes)” was unavoidable in the summer of 1990 making it to No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the second half of the ’80s Red Alert recorded various demos, and a four-track tape ended into the hands of artist manager Stan Poses. After hearing the demo, Poses called frontman Miljenko Matijevic confirming that “Red Alert” had just been given a contract with MCA records.
When the band finished the debut record, the A&R at MCA Records at the time informed that a DJ in NYC named Kool DJ Red Alert owned the trademark. They had to chage the band name. The band settled on STEELHEART allegedly because of their attitude after trying to get a record deal for so long.
Now we have here the very early pre-Steelheart / Red Alert demos, versions which later evolved into songs for the first album, others never recorded. There’s a bootleg out there with these recordings, but none sound as good as this plotn08 own “The Red Alert Demos“.
01 – She’s Out There Somewhere
02 – Waysted
03 – Can’t Stop Me Loving You
04 – I’ll Never Let You Go
6 – I Still Got Rock N’ Roll
06 – Electric Love Child
07 – I Won’t Be There To Catch Ya
08 – Like Never Before
09 – When I Learned – Red Alert
10 – Instrumental
Miljenko Matijevic (vocals)
James Ward (bass)
Chris Risola (guitars)
Jack Wilkenson (drums)