Matrixx (5)

Matrixx was the first band of the (then very young) future Infrared guitarist, Andy Stoltz, and after summer of 1985 also included Final Notice founders Danny Simmons (later of Shok Paris) and Jay Ferris (later of Attaxe and Slammin' Gladys). In the few years they were active they played often, and were embraced by local publications (such as The Iron Planet and Pounding Metal) as one of the best acts in the area (an area that is also home to Breaker, Damien, Mistreater, Black Death and many other highly regarded classic Heavy Metal bands). Although they would split up before they would have a chance to go national the way some Ohio local bands did, they got numerous very positive reviews and recorded/released 2 tapes (the first, a demo on a 4-track in a friends home studio, and the other a pro-produced/self-funded 4-song cassette EP done at Suma Recording Studios in Cleveland, starting June 10th 85, and released on Nov. 21st 85). In Feb. 1986 the opening song from this EP, "Run For Your Life" was announced (by the band in concert, and by The Iron Planet zine) to have been chosen for the New Renaissance Records compilation Metal Madness Vol. 2, (alongside Shok Paris, who already appeared on the first Metal Madness compilation). This compilation was scheduled for release around April or May of 1986, but before then plans for the project would fall through due to financial trouble on the labels part, and costing Matrixx a chance to break out nationwide. In mid-1986 Final Notice disbanded, and Matrixx began playing the Final Notice song "Strike Back" in their live sets (with new lyrics by Mark Francis) alongside a slew of other new material such as and "Stand Up And Fight", "Knights Of The Roundtable", "Playing With Fire" and other material written for a planned full-length LP. However, in late 1986, with the recording of the LP set to begin soon, Matrixx split up for good, with members going to several other Cleveland Metal bands such as Infrared, Shok Paris, Attaxe, and Jay Farris later moving to California to start the Hard Rock band Slammin' Gladys. In the early 2000's Chris Lupica joined Full Circle.