Slaughter

Slaughter is Still Stickin’ It To Us And We Like It, Like It…Yes We Do

By Debbie Brautman  |  Photos: Larry Marano

Sirens wailed as the hard rocking band, Slaughter, came onstage at Stage 954 @ the Dania Beach Casino and immediately launched into their sonic attack on their Still Stickin’ It To Ya Tour 2024. During the first two songs, “Mad About You” and “Burning Bridges,” Mark Slaughter’s  vocals seemed muddy and lost, but by the third song, “Spend My Life,” they sounded pretty damn good. Mark Slaughter, Dana Strum, Jeff “Blando” Bland and Jordan Cannata are Slaughter’s 2024 touring band and are a tight unit. Founding members Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum are still rocking it with extreme enthusiasm. They formed their Las Vegas band in 1988 after they had both been in the Vinnie  Vincent Invasion and quickly became part of the Los Angeles glam rock scene. Their debut album, Stick It to Ya, became one of the biggest albums of 1990. Their longtime guitarist, Jeff Blando, replaced their original guitarist, Tim Kelly, who tragically died in a car accident in 1998. During “Fly To The Angels,” a fan gave an old photo of the band with Tim Kelly to Bassist Dana Strum, who held it up in an emotional moment of remembrance. Slaughter’s longtime drummer, Blas Elias, has been performing this year with Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy and had just been at Dania Beach Casino in May. Tonight, replacing Blas was drummer Jordan Cannata, who handled the job with high energy and style. They are a very fan friendly band who threw out more guitar picks than any band I have ever seen.

Known for melodic guitar and catchy hooks while keeping their aggressive hard rockin’ glam metal edge, they stayed true to their school. Like the band Great White, who played Stage 954 last month, their fans were very excited and eager to be transported back to the late 80’s and early 90’s. “Eye To Eye” featured some nifty guitar from Jeff Blando and contained Jordan Cannata’s flashy and memorable drum solo. Any Led Zeppelin fans in the house? Mark Slaughter had the ambitious task of covering Led Zep’s “Immigrant Song.”  Certainly, no easy task, but he delivers a fiery version with his multi octave vocal range. Mark performed their tender ballad “Days Gone By” solo and then was joined by Dana Strum with an audience sing along. Another crowd pleaser was their cover of Van Halen’s “Aint Talkin’ ‘bout Love.” The real highlight of the evening, though, was their hit “Fly To The Angels.” It’s a great song that has held up through all these years. It was emotional and  fabulous with explosions of delight from their fans. They aced one of their biggest hits “Up All Night,” containing the infectious chant of “Up all night, sleep all day.” It’s the anthem from the 80’s and 90’s and a party song for a party band. Boys just want to have fun, too! And that they did. And so did we!