METAL SLUDGE EXCLUSIVE:
Rock documentary “Inside L.A. Metal” premieres in Hollywood in a rousing success
By Gerry Gittelson
Metal Sludge Editor at Large

LOS ANGELES — The heavily anticipated rock documentary film “Inside L.A Metal” celebrated its screen opening on Tuesday, June 3 at the Beverly Theatre, and oh what a star-studded spectacle the event was.

Produced and written by California freelance journalist Bob Nalbandian, the movie is primed to be a huge success. Featuring such rock luminaries as Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy and Carlos Cavazo, Great White’s Jack Russell and Dokken’s Don Dokken, the movie sheds light on the pioneers of Los Angeles rock in the 1970s with a series of interviews and fascinating narration about how the whole scene started, including lots of footage about all the top bands and about the old Starwood club, Rodney Bingenheimer’s old English Disco and of course the Rainbow Bar & Grill.

Producer Bob Nalbandian & Carlos Cavazo (Ratt, Ex. Quiet Riot)
Terry Ilous (XYZ, Great White)London frontman Nadir D’Priest

Most of Southern California’s budding acclaimed bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot and Ratt are all featured heavily, but there is equal time given to a lot of the bands that were huge in Los Angeles but never quite caught on on national level – forgotten acts like Smile, A La Carte, Snow, Detective and others.

“It’s a good mix, and that was my intention,” said Nalbandian, 49. “All those bands like Legs Diamond and Snow and even Angel were a huge part of the scene, and a lot of them like Smile were really fantastic. I kind of wanted to focus a lot on the underground bands. I mean, some of these bands that never made it were still able to sell like 800 tickets three nights in the row at old Starwood, and that’s pretty impressive for a local band.”

Mitch Perry & Sean McNabb
Val Corabi & Valerie Ince

Porn Legend Ron Jeremy

Among the luminaries who showed up for the opening were Dokken and bandmate Sean McNabb, Great White’s Terry Ilous, Carlos Cavazo, Lita Ford guitarist Mitch Perry, London’s Nadir D’Priest and Alan Krigger, World War III’s Mandy Lion, porn star Ron Jeremy and many others.

“I was pretty impressed. It was a great turnout,” Nalbandian said.

The documentary is a three-part series, and the first two parts were screened, as the audience gave its strong approval.

“I think it turned out really good. I like it a lot,” Cavazo said.

There are still a few kinks to iron out, Nalbandian said, including more music being added. The plan is for the movie to be released on DVD.

“We’ve been working on it for two years, and the trailer has been out for more than six months, I think, so I just really wanted people to see something and for me to get it out there, even though it’s not completely finished,” Nalbandian said.

Afterward, the party continued at the Rainbow. Dokken was camera shy about having his photo taken for Metal Sludge, but he eventually warmed up to us after a few Jack and Cokes, sitting for dinner and regaling us for three hours-plus about his life story and some fascinating memories of the old rock scene.

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Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv