Racer X was an American heavy metal band formed in 1984 in Los Angeles, California. The group has gone through a hiatus, and a few lineup changes with bassist Juan Alderete and vocalist Jeff Martin being the sole constant members. The band is signed to Shrapnel Records.
Guitarist Paul Gilbert first gained notoriety when he was featured in Mike Varney’s Spotlight Column in the February 1983 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Gilbert was 16 years old and was living in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He later moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT), part of the Musicians Institute. After graduating from GIT, Gilbert was hired as an instructor and recorded the album "[album artist=Black SheepTrouble in the Streets[/album]" with Los Angeles metal band Black Sheep, released on Enigma Records in November 1985. While at GIT, Gilbert met fellow student Juan Alderete. Searching for a drummer, Alderete and Gilbert first turned to Scott Travis, who was living in Virginia at the time, but he turned down the offer due to his commitment to the band Hawk. Travis was receiving a salary from Doug Marks, the band's lead guitarist, and would not turn down the income. Alderete and Gilbert instead sought the services of fellow student Harry Gschoesser. After acquiring Gschoesser, Gilbert, with the help of Varney, recruited Jeff Martin of the Phoenix metal band Surgical Steel. Martin, who still lived in Phoenix and could not regularly write songs with Racer X in Los Angeles, began writing lyrics immediately for demo tapes that Gilbert had sent him. Recording for their first album began quickly. The band began the recording process in 1985, and Racer X's debut album Street Lethal was released on January 1, 1986 on Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records label.
Popularity boost
With the release of Street Lethal, Paul Gilbert suddenly burst into the mainstream as one of the members of the Neoclassical genre, popularized by Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen. While Racer X was not playing neo-classical pieces as frequently as Rhoads or Malmsteen, Gilbert was often mentioned alongside Malmsteen and Rhoads in many guitar and music magazines. Gilbert acknowledged his debt to Malmsteen on the Street Lethal album with the neoclassical instrumental "Y.R.O.". The title is an acronym for "Yngwie Rip Off". He would repeat such a reference on a later song, "B.R.O.", which stands for "Bach Rip Off".
Racer X was rapidly becoming a popular live act on the Sunset Strip. Around this time, Gilbert secured an endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars, which continues to this day. The song "Getaway" received limited airplay on Los Angeles' heavy metal radio station, KNAC.
Lineup change
After the release of the first album, Gilbert was still teaching at GIT for a steady income. One of Gilbert's students, Bruce Bouillet, gained his attention. Gilbert asked him to join Racer X, and the two guitarists would soon work out synchronized harmony passages that would redefine Racer X's sound. In 1986, Harry Gschoesser's visa expired, so he returned to his native country, Austria. He was initially replaced with Todd "Vito" DeVito, who had played on Black Sheep's Trouble in the Streets LP alongside Gilbert, but was soon replaced by Scott Travis. DeVito went on to become a drum technician for Mikkey Dee of Motörhead.
The band headed to Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati to record their second studio album. Second Heat was released in February 1987 by Shrapnel Records, and solidified Racer X's style of double-lead guitar solos using techniques such as fast alternate-picking, two-handed tapping, string skipping, and sweep picking. The album also has two tracks written by other artists. "Moonage Daydream" was a David Bowie cover, and "Heart of a Lion" was a Judas Priest song dropped from the Turbo album.[14] The song was a birthday gift by Rob Halford, who had befriended Jeff Martin in the band's early days. Halford later recorded the track with his band, Halford.
Dissolution
While the Los Angeles music scene was at the peak for glam metal, Racer X were reaching the height of their popularity with their live shows. The band was selling out and packing their usual rotation of The Roxy Theatre, Troubadour, and the Country Club in Reseda, California. The years of unsuccessfully searching for major label representation finally took its toll on the band, and the group's last gasp came with two nights of back-to-back live shows at the Country Club, which were recorded and released as Extreme Volume Live (1988) and Extreme Volume II Live (1992). But even as Extreme Volume Live was getting ready for release, the dismantling of the band was near. Billy Sheehan, bass player of the band Talas, approached Paul Gilbert about forming a new band; in mid 1989, the two formed the band Mr. Big. Gilbert had mentally detached himself from Racer X during the final shows. The rest of the group, searching for an explanation to the lack of major label interest, focused their
