Who the hell are these guys?

[rob62972]

I was just going through a box of junk in the basement and this band photo fell out. It's obviously from a rock magazine. The band is called PYTHIAN. I have a picture below. The band photo also contained a small bio. That's also below. Anybody ever hear of 'em?? Couldn't find a thing online about them!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what the bio says:

 

Instrumentation:

 

Rob Brezano: lead vocals

Gene Whalen: bass

Jimmy Fria: lead guitar

Chris Well: drums

 

Description: Melodic, guitar-driven hard rock

 

Formed: Summer of 1987

 

From: Staten Island, New York

 

Fact: "Dianna's Song" is dedicated to the loss of Jimmy's sister.

[JC_AOR]

You're right, there is almost zero information on these guys to be found on the web. I did however find a little reference to a Staten Island rock club called 'On Stage' which was originally an 80's disco club before becoming a live music venue for hard rock and metal acts. Some of the bands that played there included:

 

Cities, Deceiver, Armageddon, Lust, Lady Cadaver, Satin Steel, Law and Order, Savage Thrust, Seductive Luck, Pythian, Animation, Leonard Nimoy (which the guitarist is now in a little band called Guns n Roses), Scum Dogs from hell, Bratt, Missdeameanor, Prisoner, Schmegma, Kill Van Kull, D.B.S, NY Fury, etc. It also hosted the best of the best for our jersey neighbors like Xenon, Side Kixx, TNA, Kidd Gloves, Prophet, Trixter, TT Quick, Skid Row, etc. (yes that right they played there with their original singer Matt John -I think that was his name, as well as Sebastian Bach).

 

Sounds like it was an awesome club. I think he meant to say 'Matt Falon' as the original singer of Skid Row.

 

I'd also be really keen to hear more about this band if anyone has seen them live or knows anything about them.

[Fat Freddy]

Oh my sweet Lord...this is kinda spooky... during my college days I actually saw Pythian once, AT On Stage in Staten Island! They kinda sucked, if memory serves.

 

Nah, but seriously, it's really hard to remember cuz we're going back 20 plus years here, but I definitely did see that band. I only went to On Stage a couple of times, the first time was to see the infamous Killen (bwahaha!), and at that gig a local band called Supremacy opened. My friend and I really liked Supremacy so when they played On Stage again a few weeks or months later I went to check'em out a second time --and that second night, Pythian were the headliner. I really remember very little about Pythian other than the fact that every time the guitarist did a solo, half the people in the crowd were screaming "WOOOOO!" like he was Yngwie Malmsteen, so I guess in the local area he must've had something of a rep. Other than that I vaguely remember finding them rather boring and thinking that Supremacy blew them off the stage.

 

I believe Dark Star attended that gig with me... if he sees this thread maybe he remembers more and can chime in...

 

By the way, I saw quite a few of the other local bands mentioned in the post above around that same time frame, not all at On Stage though. I remember laughing all the way through a set by"Lust" -- they were a pretty bad glam band that looked like drag queens wearing KISS style makeup, I also saw NY Fury once at L'amour in Brooklyn, and I saw the all female band Missdemeanor a couple of times as well (my friend had a crush on their drummer, she was frickin' HOT if memory serves). Savage Thrust were a thrash band that I saw open for the Ramones in 1988 (my very first club gig)... I didn't think they were any great shakes musically but were fun to watch. Kinda like Exodus if memory serves. I remember Seductive Luck too, they were a pretty decent glammy hard rock band.

 

That's all I got, don't know how much help it was to ya Rob but thanks for the memories!

[Dark Star]

Holy shit I rememver that concert Man!! I believe it was My first time at On Stage.. You had seen Su[remacy before and were hyped to see em again, and yea they were pretty damn good!!! Pythian on the other hand?? didn't really do much for Me to be honest.. They didn't suck, but weren't anything special either..

 

Hey Keith, HOW many times did they play AC/DC "It's a Long Way to the Top(If You Wanna Rock and Roll)" That night anyways??

[Fat Freddy]

Hey Keith, HOW many times did they play AC/DC "It's a Long Way to the Top(If You Wanna Rock and Roll)" That night anyways??

 

Ohhhh shit, I remember that now... that club used to play "It's a Long Way to the Top" as an "intro" right before a band came out on stage... so if you were getting tanked at the bar and you heard that song come on, that was your cue to go run up front to the stage area... and if there were a bunch of bands on the bill, you heard that song quite a few times before the night was thru... shit, I'd totally forgotten about that.

[rob62972]

Wow.... thanks Keith and Dark!!

[Fat Freddy]

Found this pic of an old Pythian show flyer on the Facebook page for "The Redspot," another Staten Island rock club:

 

 

I assume that the "Legacy" mentioned here were not the same band who eventually changed their name to Testament.

 

But seriously folks, Pythian were nothin' special. Just another local hard rock band. Every town had one like'em.

[Dark Star]

The Redspot?? Decent bands played there, but DAMN what a hole in the wall!!!

[sharatan]

now i need to find pythian....even half as godly as killen, will do it for me....great name of course for a band....

[rob62972]

Oops. Dupe.

[rob62972]

I have more!! Check out the other thread.

[Guest emilyfria]

Pythian was my dad's band! Jimmy Fria is my Dad

[martinsane]

Pythian was my dad's band! Jimmy Fria is my Dad

Cool!

 

Wish my Dad was anything/anyone other than who he is... Especially a musician.

[All Nights Reserved]

Pythian was my dad's band! Jimmy Fria is my Dad

 

[JamesEagle]

 

Pythian was my dad's band! Jimmy Fria is my Dad

 

 

 

Yeah, that is really cool!

 

Would be nice to be able to hear a track or two...

[Jennifer Fria]

Jimmy fria is my father. Pythian broke up in the late 80s. 

[AlphaMale]

3 hours ago, Jennifer Fria said:

Jimmy fria is my father. Pythian broke up in the late 80s. 

Any demos?

[Leykis101]

20 hours ago, Jennifer Fria said:

Jimmy fria is my father. Pythian broke up in the late 80s. 

So you have his stuff, right? can you put it on youtube and post it on here? please

[Leykis101]

NELLO!! JIMMY FRIA'S DAUGHTER, were you just dropping in to let us all know he was your dad? or were you actually looking to converse, cause if your gonna stay here, we are all going to need to know who your talking about, and seeing that the guys who were all having a conversation about your dad, and who had all heard him, no longer reside here, we caught them laundering bootleg cds of 15 favorite Jewish hits for your Bar Mitzvah, so  we had to turn them in, but for us to discuss your father, WE! meaning I, gotta have some samplige or something.