Danny Martinez's Bio
I guess it all started when I went to my first concert. I saw the Scorpions in April of 1984 at McNichols Sports arena and from that night on, I wanted to play the guitar. My Mom bought a $300 Yamaha for me, I learned a few chords and played the rest by ear. I was a quick learner, but only because I was so into the bands of the day. You remember, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden, Dokken, Ratt, Motley Crue, Kiss, just to name a few. I would sit in my bedroom and just try and learn as much music as possible.
I think I got my first big break when I was junior in high school. I put a band together and played at the school talent show. My break was meeting a baby-faced, Eddie Van Halen wannabe, who played a guitar solo before my band went on. After the show, he stopped me and invited me over to jam sometime. He said his name was Antz. I thought it was a funny name, but he was a great guitarist. So, we began to jam together and I think we both realized we had something special together.
Antz and I recruited the services of a couple of friends. My childhood friend Chris Lopez was our drummer. Chris and I knew each other since kindergarten and he still comes out to see me play to this day. Our bassist was a cat named Ron Baker. He was also a childhood friend. The only thing we needed was a singer. We rehearsed and actually started to sound good. I can remember playing songs by Cinderella, Dokken, Van Halen and others. Our search for a singer was hopeless. I had a friend named Jack Loveall sing at one rehearsal and it was really cool. The only problem was that he lived in Tucson, Arizona. I was the only one who knew the words to the songs, so Antz talked me into singing. Or what I thought was singing. Thus, my singing career began. Our name was Krimzon. We even had a photo shoot, done by a friend. Finally, all of those sessions posing in the mirror were going to payoff! I still have those pictures (to be posted later). Our big show was the high school talent show in January of 1988. We were the headliners and I thought we were so awesome. I thought I was on my way.
Shortly thereafter, our band was going nowhere. No one would show up for rehearsals. Antz and I were frustrated. My girlfriend at the time kept egging me on to visit this friend of hers who played drums. I blew it off for a long time, until one day, I saw him shooting hoops in his yard as I was driving by. I stopped and he invited me in. He sat behind his kit and began to play. I was truly blown away. I went straight over to Antz house and brought him over to hear this guy. Rob Marone was his name and he might as well have been Jon Bonham in our eyes. Antz and I went home and brought our gear over and we played that smae night until the wee hours of the morning. He joined our band and we worked together right away. We learned a bunch of cover songs and actually wrote a song. Our big gig was a friends back yard/end of school party. There were a ton of people there from school, but Ron was freaking out. He freaked out at our talent show gig too. He had terrible stagefright. Perfect for a live musician. Rob, Antz and I had a great night nonetheless. Maybe we could help Ron with his problem, but afterwards he informed me it was his last show. But with this core of Antz, Rob and myself we were on our way.
Rob soon left for a band, with his brother Joe Marone, called Caught in the Act. Antz and I were bummed. What were we going to do? This same girlfriend somehow got me to go to one of their rehearsals. I went reluctantly. In my mind, Antz and I were going to hit it big together. This Caught in the Act band fired into a song called "Clock Strikes". This time I was truly blown away. They wanted me to sing for them. I already had a band with Antz, well, sort of. It was just the two of us- we just needed to find some guys. I felt I was pressured, but I said I would do it, but only for a short time. Until they found a permanent guy. Y'know, I was just gonna help them get things going. Famous last words. Was I on my way this time?
Tune in next month to see...
