Ryan Roxie

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Ryan Roxie

Ryan Roxie (born in Sacramento, California, December 1) is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the founding member of Roxie 77 and probably most well known for his guitar work with Alice Cooper, Slash, HappyPill, Dad's Porno Mag plus many more.

Early life

Roxie was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in the East Bay in a small town called Pleasanton (Home of other rockers Jellyfish). Ryan’s father, Polish, used to play trumpet and his mother was a drummer in her high school marching band. Around age five Roxie picked up the guitar but was more interested in his very first instrument, the drums. It wasn’t until he was around eleven or twelve that he started taking guitar seriously. Roxie often sites Keith Partridge as an early influence.

“When I was a kid, there was a show on TV, called "The Partridge Family". One character, Keith Partridge, was played by David Cassidy. “When people ask me who's my biggest influence, I always say “Keith” and people assume I mean Keith Richards....in reality, I always wanted to be Keith Partridge.”

All of Roxies heroes were in magazines like Circus and Kerrang, and it seemed like they had the easiest and best jobs. Roxie's first electric guitar came as a Christmas present one year, a cream-colored Stratocaster – exactly like Jimi Hendrix. Roxie recalls sneaking out to the room with the tree and opening the case and checking it out at four in the morning. Maybe NOT so coincidentally Roxie's first band was to be called “The Stratocasters” (Three Guitarists only, no bass or drums!) .....After the Strat, Roxie acquired his first Gibson Les Paul, and to this day Roxie still considers the Gold Top his "first girlfriend"..... He went on to form a band (with drums) called Star Fire with friends Matt Clarke and Mike Pavlick.

Roxie learned to play guitar from an old record player and invented his own form of scratching, going through many records in the process, picking out guitar parts. He was influenced by albums like Van Halen and has had many guitar heroes including Brian May from Queen, Steve Stevens, Elliot Easton from the Cars, Neil Geraldo from Pat Benatar and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick.

Candy

Candy were a band featuring original members Kyle Vincent, Jonathan Daniel, John Schubert, and guitarist Geoff "Rexx" Siegel. Gilby Clarke replaced Siegel after 6 months. They had an album release in 1985 titled “Whatever Happened To Fun”. Later that year, Gilby Clarke replaced Kyle Vincent as lead vocalist, and guitarist Roxie joined the lineup. After Gilby parted to form his own band Kill for Thrills, the rest of the guys joined up with new lead vocalist Shane and became the Electric Angels

Electric Angels

Roxie joins up with “Shane”, Jonathan Daniel and drummer John Schubert to form the band “Electric Angels”. Before long they find themselves moving to New York where they sign to Atlantic Records. The show they are signed at is opening for the Dogs D’amour and Mother Love Bone (some of whose members went on to form Pearl Jam) and their self titled album is released in 1990 produced by Tony Visconti (best known for his work with T Rex, Bowie and Thin Lizzy to name a few). The band works on a second album to be called “New York Times” but is dropped by Atlantic before it is released.

Hired Gun

Between '94 and '96 Roxie worked with various artists. He provided guitar on Gilby Clarke's albums, Pawnshop Guitars, Blooze EP, The Hangover and Rubber. Roxie also lent his guitar styling to the un-credited work with Tal Bachman. Roxie’s guitar work is displayed on the hit single "She’s So High" produced by Bob Rock. In 2000 Roxie also wrote and recorded on the Slash's Snakepit second album Ain't Life Grand.

Dad's Porno Mag

In 1997 Roxie joined up with long time friends, drummer Mike Fasano and bassist Stefan Adika as well as bassist Will Effertz and created the band Dad's Porno Mag. Guitarist Keri Kelli was later added. The album was released on “Wax-Tone Records’ (This item is now out of stock but was re-released in 2000 from Robinson Records. Produced by Jim Mitchell of Ugly Kid Joe fame and Mark Schulman (Simple minds) with additional production by Alex Woltman and friend Gilby Clarke. The album has fourteen tracks and one special ‘hidden track’ entitled “My Bad Knee” on track 77

Alice Cooper Era

Roxie began working with Alice Cooper after a few good words were put in for him and he proved himself in an audition. He was offered a “one year tour” playing with Alice and his first show is at Sammy Hagar’s “Cabo Wabo” club in Cabo San Lucas.

In 2000 Roxie recorded his first studio album with Alice Cooper, Brutal Planet. Through 2000 to 2005 Roxie collaborated with Cooper on several albums including: Dragontown, The Eyes of Alice Cooper and Dirty Diamonds. In this time Roxie featured heavily on the co writing side of things, with his name attached to the majority of the songs from ‘Eyes’ and ‘Dirty Diamonds’ In March 2006 Roxie made the announcement that he was taking time off to be with his wife Viktoria and his children Lennon and Natashia Grace which ended a decade of the Alice Cooper / Ryan Roxie partnership.

Roxie 77

R77 formed in 2002 and wrote a bunch of songs whose influences lie somewhere in between The Beatles and The Beastie Boys. They played the usual suspect clubs around the L.A. area for the next year, then failed to do what 98% of Los Angeles bands do - they didn’t break up. Instead, they succeeded in recording their debut CD and gaining their fans the old-fashioned way, they earned them.

Roxie 77’s 11 song debut CD is entitled Peace, Love & Armageddon and is released under the small indie Wax-Tone Records label. The spectrum of music and song subject matter span from acting like a punk-ass kid to facing the reality of actually having a kid.

Currently, the CD is available through the bands website ([1]), online digital music download sites, or simply knocking on the band members front door. Ryan Roxie wrote

“So what’s the word on R77’s debut PL&A?…..Well…nice of you to ask…

Enjoy the music, enjoy the band, and enjoy the big rock show..…Remember, Roxie 77 carries the torch of rock n’ roll so you don’t have to.”

A new album "To Sides To Every Story" was released in July 2009 - available as downloads only through the bands webspace at bandcamp.com [2]. The band added a new song every week, so that it comes to a total of 24 Songs. Each song is downloadable as a regular and also as an acoustic version.

"The truly unique thing about "Two Sides to Every Story" is that you will actually get to experience TWO versions of each song released simultaneously in both ELECTRIC and ACOUSTIC formats. Same song, but different keys, different approach, and different feelings." - Ryan Roxie on the bands website.

Every week there are two different songs available for free download ("Conscience Free Download"). By buying single songs or the whole album, half of the money goes to charity.

"It's that simple: Roxie 77 will 'split the profit' of anything you donate with a charitable organization. But no worries. We honestly just want you to experience the music and tell as many people about the 'Conscience Free Download' and 'Splitting The Profits' concepts as you can." - Ryan Roxie on the bands website.

The Number 77

Roxie has been well known to sign things with his name followed by the number 77. It also features in promo shirts for Dads Porno Mag which featured a red, white and blue number 77, in the name of his band Roxie 77 and numerous other places. Roxie explained the use of the number;

“It all started a few years back when people I was touring with would put whatever year it was next to their name, so I just started leaving the year 1977 next to my signature. Well, the more I did the research, the more I begun to discover that the year 1977 had a profound influence on me musically. So many important albums and events happened that year that shaped me musically” For example – Cheap Tricks Debut Album, Queen – News of the World, Kiss – Love Gun, Eagles – Hotel California not to mention Elvis passing away and Star Wars (the movie, not the missile defense system).

Current Endorsements

Roxie is currently working exclusively with The Gibson guitar company as a Product Specialist/Cinician. Past endorsement companies include GMP guitars, Crafter Acoustic Guitars (which include the signature Roxie SS and Model R77 guitars), Fender Amps, Oakley Clothing and Equipment as well as Serious Clothing.

Other Projects

Roxie's Blog

In 2003 Roxie jumped into the world of online “Blogs” with his very own (somewhat) daily happenings of Roxie77. The blog mainly started as an ‘insiders’ view of the writing and recording of the Alice Cooper album “The Eyes of Alice Cooper’ with news being reported by Roxie under the guise of “The Mole”. The blogs continued until Feb 2005 which saw the wrapping up of the “Eyes of Alice Cooper” world tour and announced Roxies move to Stockholm Sweden at which point the posts became more of a “heads up” for Roxies new Podcast.

Big Rock Show Podcast

On July 7 2005 (A date which features the 77 which Roxie has become well known for) Roxie aired the first Roxie 77 Podcast – Roxies Big Rock Show. There were seven Podcasts in total which featured interviews with long time friend Stefan Adika, as well as Calico Cooper, Damon Johnson, Eric Singer, Alice Cooper and Cheap Tricks Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos. The Podcast also featured Roxies favourite songs, some rare tracks and two un-released Roxie tracks including “Consequence of the City” with ex-Alice Cooper band member and friend Eric Dover on vocals. As quoted from Roxies first podcast

"The real reason why I'm doin' this Podcast I think, is for the children... actually namely...my children. Because this whole Podcast thing although it is 2005 & the whole technology is brand new and it's ABSOLUTELY free. Just like everything else in this world it will one day cost a nickel, a penny, a dime, a quarter and obviously I don't like to work, I don't mind working but, I don't like to work that hard. This seems like doing something I really like to do & maybe someday can help the children, like I said our children...maybe some other children too."

The Art of Elysium

The Art of Elysium, a non-profit organization founded in 1997. It encourages working actors, artists and musicians to voluntarily dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling serious medical conditions. Roxie has performed for children at the hospital and in and also had his iconic dreadlocks cut off as part of the Operation: Dreads for Bread fund raiser for The Art of Elysium.

Radio and Magazine Work

October 2006 saw Roxie hosting his own radio show on Rocket 95.3 FM (The Rock Home of Stockholm) The show runs every Wednesday from 2pm to 4pm (Stockholm time) and plays a variety of music. The website features live streaming, an online chat and webcam of Roxie in the studio. He also appears on “Rockklassiker – 106.7” in Stockholm Sweden on Thursday mornings with his “Roxie Rock Report”

Powerplay magazine also features a monthly column called ‘Roxies Big Rock Show’

Discography

Major Releases

Year	Artist	Album	Label
1985	Candy	Teenage Neon Jungle	Song Tree Records
1991	Electric Angels	Electric Angels	Atlantic Records
1997	Dad's Porno Mag	Dad's Porno Mag	Wax-Tone Records
1999	Dad's Porno Mag	Dad's Porno Mag (Re-Release)	Robinson / Conspiracy Records
2000	Slash’s Snakepit	Ain't Life Grand	Koch Records
2004	Roxie 77	Peace, Love and Armageddon	Wax-Tone Records
2008	Happypill	This Year (Single Release)	R77SoundDesign Rec
2009	Roxie 77	Two Sides To Every Story	Bandcamp

With Gilby Clarke

Year	Album	Label
1994	Pawnshop Guitars	Virgin Records
1995	Blooze	Virgin Records
1997	The Hangover	Paradigm Records
1998	Rubber	Pavement Records

With Alice Cooper

Year	Album	Label
1997	A Fistful of Alice	Guardian Records
2000	Brutal Planet	Spitfire Records
2001	Dragontown	Spitfire Records
2003	The Eyes of Alice Cooper	Spitfire Records
2005	Dirty Diamonds	New West / Eagle Records

In Collaboration with Other Artists and Compilations

Year	Artist	Album	Label
1997	Tamara Champlin	You Wont Get To Heaven	Polystar Records
1997	Webster Hall Rock n Roll	Compilation	Web Hall Records
1999	Tal Bachman	Tal Bachman	Columbia Records
2000	James Micheal	Inhale	Beyond Records
2002	Cheap Trick Tribute	Cheap Dream	Cleopatra Records
2003	Elegantly Wasted	Greetings From A Strange Place	Flaco Records
2004	Texas Terri Bomb	My Lips	TKO Records
2005	Kiss Tribute	Spin The Bottle	Koch Records
2006	Huck Johns	Huck Johns	Hide Out / Columbia Records
2007	KYD	Mary Goes Around (Single Release)
2007	Karl Martindaul	BBB Baby (Single Release)	Polar Studio Records
2007	Crashdïet	Falling Rain (Writing on Single)	Universal Music
2008	5th Sonic Brigade	Kiss of Death (Single Release)	Oren Records
2008	various artists	Kiss My Ankh: A Tribute To Vinnie Vincent	SplitScreen Entertainment

External links

• Official Ryan Roxie Swedish Page
• Official Ryan Roxie Homepage
• Ryan Roxies Official MySpace Page
• Roxie 77's Official MySpace Page
• Roxie on Rocket FM 95.3 Weekly Radio Show (Wednesdays 2-4 pm Stockholm Time)
• Roxie Yahoo Discussion Forum
• Roxie's Big Rawk Show Podcast:
• Download Roxie77 and Dads Porno Mag Songs