The Rods

D

avid Feinstein (ex-Elf; vocals/guitar) founded The Rods when he recruited Stephen Starmer (bass/vocals) and Carl Canedy (drums). A tenacious and workman like act, Rods made some waves when they pushed their way onto the Metal scene in 1980 with the independently issued Rock Hard. The excitement surrounding the release led to interest from 'Arista', and after the replacement of Starmer with Gary Bordonaro the follow-up The Rods (1981) proved to be little more than a touched up version of the debut with a couple of extra tracks.

Their sound was now available to a wider audience but the follow-up set Wild Dogs (1982) failed to capitalize on this. In the Raw (1983) was none more successful and they lost their record deal, signing to 'Music For Nations' for the remaining of their repertoire of UK only releases that varied in quality from mediocre on down with the likes of The Rods Live (1984), Let them Eat Metal (1984) and Heavier than Thou (1987), the final set seeing two line-up changes prior to release with Rick Caudle (vocals), Andy McDonald (guitar) and Emma Zale (keyboards) first, followed by the 1986 line-up, Feinstein and Canedy recruiting Craig Gruber (ex-Elf; bass) and Shmoulic Avigal (ex-Picture; vocals) before splitting in 1987.