Bulletboys frontman Marq Torien says the band have never been comfortable with their ‘hair metal’ tag.
The California rockers broke through at the tail end of the era with their self-titled 1988 debut record. But Torien isn’t a fan of the name given to that particular genre.
He tells The Metal Voice: “I just consider ourselves a hard rock band. We got thrown into that mix. Tesla got thrown into that mix too. I don’t consider them a hair metal band either. No disrespect, I don’t like that particular wording. I don’t even like grunge, I think grunge is just real rock.”
Torien also discusses his brief spell as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist in the wake of Randy Rhoads’ death. Ozzy later brought in Bernie Torme as he apparently worried that Torien was too young.
Torien says: “Brad Gillis had just left the band and I got hired by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. I would say I was in the band a little over a month. I was very blessed and fortunate that a very close friend of mine, one of my mentors Gregg Giuffria, introduced me to Ozzy and Sharon and I got a chance to come and play at Gregg’s house.
“Ozzy liked the way I played and wanted me to come and see if I could work with the band. That was big time. I was just talking with Rudy Sarzo and he was telling me, ‘Marq at the time we were still really trying to get over Randy’s passing and I think Ozzy thought you were still too young and he wanted to get someone else for the European tour.’ I think they managed to get Bernie Torme.”
Bulletboys issued their latest album Elefante in June.
