Interview with Jersey Metal Authors Alan Tecchio and Frank White

September 09, 2024

Interview with Jersey Metal Authors Alan Tecchio and Frank White

By Mad T

In Jersey Metal, Frank and Alan team up to offer a unique, autobiographical perspective on NJ’s Heavy Metal music history through photos, ads interviews and band bios. Today, the duo talked with The Cosmick View about the research that went into the book, their next volume, and what makes the New Jersey Metal Scene so unique!

CV: Thanks for joining us today! What inspired or drove both of you to write this book?

Frank White: I came up with the idea for Jersey Metal back in 2019. I wanted to create a book about the state’s metal scene because it has had a strong influence over the years. I realized I had a lot of my own photos, and I knew I could gather more from other photographers or bands. When I reconnected with Alan, who had already reviewed my Ronnie James Dio book, we discovered we had a lot in common. It seemed like a great idea to collaborate, combining our different perspectives—a photographer's and a singer's—on this project. That’s when the idea really took off. I came up with the title, and we started from there. Alan immediately picked a photo from the ones I showed him, and from that point, we were off, creating page after page filled with history.

Alan Tecchio: For two and a half years.

CV: That sounds awesome. Alan, what was it about the project that made you want to be a part of it?

Alan Tecchio: Well, first off, I’ve known Frank forever. My band, Prophecy, was actually the first band he staged a photo shoot with, rather than just doing live shots. So, we go way back to the mid-1980s, maybe even the early 1980s. I also ran into him in California, so there’s always been this weird connection between us throughout my life. Of course, I’ve seen him at every show I’ve ever been to because he was always in the photo pit, capturing the moment. The idea of Jersey Metal intrigued me because it felt like an opportunity to make it somewhat autobiographical – from my perspective, his perspective, and anything related to the Jersey scene, including international bands that played in Jersey, as well as all the local bands, big and small.

CV: Frank, what did the New Jersey Metal Scene offer more than any other music scene in the state during the timeframe you were covering?

Frank White: It definitely does. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Mountain, and Slade were part of a heavier scene – hard rock that was more intense than what most others were playing at the time, especially around 1969. A lot of people from New Jersey and the surrounding areas loved this kind of music early on. They wanted to share it with their friends and maybe even make some money from it. That’s when cover bands started, which eventually led to tribute bands, and then those evolved into original bands. This progression really fueled the whole scene early on.

I started covering music when I was just a kid. I went to my first show at twelve, photographing bands like Led Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Alice Cooper, and others in Chicago. I was really into the heavy metal scene around 1970 or 1971. I had the first Black Sabbath record at home, was into Hendrix – Jimi Hendrix was my favorite guitar player – and I was also a big fan of Jimmy Page. The scene made me feel welcome early on. I explored other scenes, like punk rock, hardcore, Southern rock, and new wave, but I never felt the same connection as I did with heavy metal. Heavy metal just resonated with me more. Plus, heavy metal sells all over the world. Through selling my photographs and going to shows overseas, like in Brazil, I realized how much heavy metal rocks globally. Jersey has always been a place where many musicians grew into the heavy metal scene, either by playing it or being a part of it.

CV: With your first volume, it’s thick – chock full of pictures and tons of information, and a myriad of artists and bands. What was the criteria that both of you used to include those artists in the book?

Alan Tecchio: We had a lot of photos that Frank had shot, so those bands were definitely included. Another key criterion was anything related to Jersey. If the band was from Jersey or if it was a band like Iron Maiden playing in New Jersey, it had to have a Jersey connection
.

Frank White: Yeah, and the thing is, when I was a kid, I had to start photographing in New York City because I couldn’t easily get to places like Passaic or Asbury Park from Bergenfield. I had to take the bus into New York City, so I ended up dealing with these big bands at venues like Madison Square Garden and the Academy of Music. That really fueled my interest in hard rock and heavy metal. Plus, it got me out and about. My mother taught me how to navigate New York City, so I learned from her – but she never knew I was going into the city for a few years.

CV: That’s cool. What happened when your mom found out that you went to Sydney?

Frank White: She didn't find out till she was in her eighties.

Alan Tecchio: And told her way later.

Frank White: Yeah, until like when the book came out.

CV: Were there any bands that you hoped to include but never got around to including them in the book for whatever reason?

Frank White: Some of the bands were smaller, ones that never really made a big impact across the state. They might have been popular in their local area, like West Jersey or South Jersey, but not as much in the northern part of the state. Some of them didn’t tour enough in New Jersey, so we had to discover more about them over time as the book opened doors for us. Now, we've made a lot more connections and found more bands to include in the next volume.

Alan Tecchio: I wouldn't know their names or anything.

CV: With all those connections, how did you follow up with all of them? Did you go door to door, asking people if they remember the 1980s?

Frank White: No, we mostly had to contact everyone through email or Facebook, and then we took it from there with phone calls. Most of the time, we received everything by mail or email – like prints – and then I would work on them before passing them on to Alan. We’d place them throughout the book, especially when we had words from those artists. Most of the input we got was from bands based in New Jersey. Occasionally, if we found someone with time to talk to us, we included them too. For instance, JJ French did the preface and shared some great stories about how the mob used to run the bar scene in central New Jersey. He talked about how they would have five shows a night, which eventually dwindled down to four, then three. I saw them when they played a couple of sets in the late 1970s.

CV: This volume is a combination of a double autobiography and a history of the Metal Scene in New Jersey. How did you guys balance talking about yourselves and the history of the scene?

Frank White: We kind of winged it.

Alan Tecchio: What’s cool is that the structure follows a timeline – month by month, year by year – so everything is in order. This approach helped keep us in check with how much we wanted to dedicate to each time period.

Frank White: Yeah, each year was different depending on how much we could find to include. We had to research everything, talking to bands and people who were really into the scene during those specific eras. It was like putting together a puzzle, adding pieces page by page until it all came together.

Alan Tecchio: And yeah, we’re definitely getting better at it. We’re working on the second book now, and it’s shaping up to be a bit more photo-heavy, but it’s cool to see how we’re approaching it. We learned a lot from doing it the first time – not that the first book doesn’t look great, because it does – but we’re always trying to improve.

CV: It’s like building on the foundations that you learned before. To circle back to the mob controlling the music venues in central Jersey. How did the mob lose its control over those venues?

Frank White: I guess over time, things caught up with them, and they eventually had to close down. I wasn’t there to witness it, but JJ was, following the club’s rules. They wanted you to play five shows a night, and you’d get home around six or seven in the morning.

Alan Tecchio: I think a lot of those guys went to the go go.

Frank White: Some of the were go go bars that were all over the place.

Alan Tecchio: It was a nice cash business.

CV: I can see how it could be scary to work with the mob at that time.

Frank White: Then independent people bought bars that had been sold off or where leases were lost. Someone would come along, buy the place, and either start up a whole new kind of club or keep the original name but run it differently.

CV: Regarding the book specifically, how have you seen readers receive and take the first volume so far?

Frank White: I love it, and everyone else does too. I’ve received so many compliments – sometimes I’ll stand with a fan of the book for ten to fifteen minutes as they go on and on about everything: the way the book looks, its structure, the ads and flyers, and even some of the photos. It’s just amazing how many compliments we’ve received.

Alan Tecchio: Well, it’s been two and a half years of work, so it's about 350 pages – that's a lot to digest. There’s so much cool stuff in there, like the early Metallica scenes in Jersey. It’s just packed with interesting material.

Frank White: It brings them right back to that time in their lives when they really enjoyed going to clubs or venues in New Jersey and just headbanging until they couldn’t anymore.

Alan Tecchio: Yeah. It's like a touchstone for a lot of people.

Frank White: It really brings them right back to that moment. They tell me, “Wow man! It’s like I’m living that moment all over again in this book!

CV: It’s great that people can get that nostalgia feeling.

Frank White: For sure.

Alan Tecchio: Yeah. Wait till the next book, brother.

CV: Since you’ve brought up the next volume, what timeframe is that volume going to take place?

Frank White: Starts 1987 and goes to 2004.

CV: You’re going to be finding a whole bunch of new and newer bands to follow up and everything?

Alan Tecchio: We’re also going to following the lines of the existing bands from the first book. See where they end up, the players in them too.

CV: That’s a lot. How far you are planning to go into the New Jersey Metal Scene time-wise?

Alan Tecchio: There's a third volume. We're just not sure; we think 2021.

Frank White: It goes from 2005 to 2021. That was during COVID and then afterwards. The scene kind of disappeared for a while.

Alan Tecchio: And if we make it longer, it's gonna be too many pages.

Frank White: We figured we’d end it there, feeling like we’d covered a lot of ground over the decades. I’m good with that because I didn’t cover much beyond that time frame. I’ve moved on to different types of music, including metal, but I have other interests as well. I also get assignments from magazines, so I might cover genres like prog or hard rock. Over the years, I’ve covered many different music genres, but heavy metal remains a significant part of my work and personal interest. A good part of my income comes from the bands I’ve photographed – sales from magazines, albums, box sets, CDs, DVDs, and documentaries. There are so many ways to use these photographs; people love putting them on their walls, watching them on TV, or looking at them in books. I plan to keep doing this for as long as I can.

CV: Best of luck with the next few volumes! To both of you, what makes the New Jersey Metal Scene unique compared to the surrounding metal scenes like Philadelphia, New York, and Delaware?

Frank White: What makes it unique is that we’re in between New York and Philadelphia, so there’s a lot of attitude and a vibrant music scene. In this area, there’s so much going on that people who attend these shows often feel inspired. They see the talent and think, 'I could be like that; I’d want to be on one of those stages.' It’s motivating for many people. You don’t find the same number of venues in other parts of the country as you do in New Jersey. Plus, you can easily slip into New York City or Philadelphia and catch more shows.

Alan Tecchio: Yeah, but if you mean if you mean sonically like the bands like the sound, is that what you're saying?

CV: Either or.

Frank White: Yeah, there are so many influences around, and it’s easy to capture a lot of talent. If you feel like becoming a musician or working in the music business, living in New Jersey can really drive you. The vibrant scene here motivates people to pursue their dreams in music. Of course, if you have other interests, that’s for everyone to decide for themselves.

Alan Tecchio: Definitely. Sonically, I think TT Quick’s sound – his chunky, fat Les Paul – represents a very Jersey kind of tone. It’s no surprise that he taught Snake Sabo from Skid Row and Zach. They definitely, in my opinion, adopted his sound, which is cool because it’s distinctly Jersey. So, sonically, I think that sets us apart from Philadelphia or New York, if that’s what makes us different.

CV: In your research, how your noticed how the New Jersey Metal Scene may have influenced the surrounding metal scenes?

Alan Tecchio: I’m not sure how much influence there is between the sounds, but there’s definitely some crossover. For example, when I was in Nonfiction in the 1990s, we played a lot of shows with Life of Agony. I always thought they seemed to be borrowing from Type O Negative's sound and ours since they opened for us early on. Then they went on to become huge and developed their own distinctive sound. Josh Silver played a big role in shaping their first record, which sounds massive. Life Of Agony is a great band, and they’re still playing today. There was definitely some crossover; some of the riffs Dan Lorenzo wrote for Nonfiction could have fit with Life of Agony’s style. So, there was some influence going on, in one way or another.

Frank White: I guess the different bands that emerged from the state influenced others because their music was created here. By listening to various types of music, these bands developed their own unique sound, which really blew people’s minds. That’s why many of these fans are still around today.

Alan Tecchio: I’m not sure, but if I think about Hades, which was the first band I was in that made a record, we were definitely influenced by some of the Bay Area bands from California. There was a lot of that influence going on, along with the British New Wave of Heavy Metal bands. They were a big influence as well.

Frank White: Which we have in both the first book and going into the second.

CV: Right. What band or act do you feel really embodies the New Jersey Metal Scene and why do you think they do?

Frank White: Early on, I’d point to a band like Monroe. They had an outrageous look, drawing inspiration from bands like the New York Dolls and Harlow while creating their own sound. They covered music from the early 1970s and put together an act that was like the East Coast version of the LA metal scene. They managed to stay together for a long time and made a mark in the New Jersey metal scene. They even released a video or two and recorded a bit, but it didn’t go much further. I think if they’d had the right management, they could have released a few albums at that time.

Alan Tecchio: Wow. I’m not even the biggest fan, but for some reason, I think of Skid Row. It’s partly because of Snake’s relationship with Jon Bon Jovi, and how they promised to help each other out if one of them made it big first. That’s a very Jersey thing, and seeing it actually happen is impressive. It wasn’t until I looked at Frank’s photos of Skid Row playing at the local arena with Pantera opening for them on their first arena tour that I realized how big Skid Row had become. To me, it’s like a Cinderella story. Sure, they had some help from Jon Bon Jovi, but they had great songs and their sound was heavy. Their next record was even heavier than the first. They really embodied that Jersey spirit. Even though Sebastian Bach is Canadian, he’s got that Jersey attitude and still lives in Jersey. So, to me, they’re Jersey through and through.

Frank White: I’d choose Skid Row opening for Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium in 1989, which will be featured in our second volume. Another band I didn’t mention is Overkill. They’ve been around for about forty years and even wrote a song about the Garden State. They’re definitely an important part of the scene.

Alan Tecchio: Oh yeah. Very true. Hard working band like that, still doing it. So awesome.

Frank White: Overkill has been around for over forty years, and they’re still active, playing in various parts of the world. Right now, they’re actually looking for a new drummer – unless they’ve found one recently.

Alan Tecchio: Yeah, I saw that.

CV: I saw that too. I saw them twice live and Jason is amazing on the drum set!

Alan Tecchio: It's insane – he's incredible. I really wish they’d bring Rob Lipnicki back. Ronnie’s a friend of mine and he’s amazing. He’s played on several Overkill records, and I’ve performed with him on a Hades record and in various live settings, including cover bands. He’s just phenomenal. He’s different from what they have now, but he can play anything. You can throw any riff or song at him, and he can immediately play along. So, anyway, that’s my fantasy.

CV: Where can people get volume one and where can people expect to get volume two when it comes out?

Frank White: You can visit jerseymetalbook.com, and connect with us on Facebook. We also have books available at various record stores throughout New Jersey. Additionally, you can find them in Philadelphia, Middletown, NY, and Milford, PA. We’re hoping to expand to Delaware and Connecticut as well. We’re trying to keep it local, but depending on the response we get, we might go further afield.

Alan Tecchio: For the second book, we're aiming for a release sometime late next year, though we're not entirely sure yet. We’re working hard on it and collaborating with Mike Schnapp, who will be creating a documentary about us and the second book. The documentary will include interviews with the bands we feature, as well as with Frank and me, and Mike will weave that into a film. We're really excited about it and looking forward to how it turns out.

CV: Will there be a package deal with the book and documentary?

Frank White: We're trying for that.

Alan Tecchio: With the early days. We haven’t figured that stuff out yet.

Frank White: We’ve got a lot already in place, including photos and people who are willing to be interviewed. Some bands are even interested in contributing music for the film. There’s a lot happening already, and it's shaping up to be really cool.

CV: I’m definitely looking forward to it! Thank you for taking the time to be here!

Alan Tecchio: Thank you! Take care!

Frank White: Thanks!

Check out Jersey Metal at:

Official: https://jerseymetalbook.com/

About Mad T

Drummer to the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary, Mad T has always had a knack for finding out what the word on the street is. With recently joining the Cosmick Krew, Mad T is refining his knack into a skill.