HAVEN was originally formed in the summer 1981 as a cover band in Shaker Heights Ohio. The original members were; Darryl Swann - Guitar, Don Mixon - Bass and Lead Vocals, Todd Lane - Drums, Doug Folger - Guitar and Keyboards, Chris Horvath - Guitar and Keyboards. Initially they would play backyard parties, then high school dances and events, they even played a battle of the bands at a music store and came in 2nd place playing UFO’s “Too Hot To Handle” As they started gaining traction and building their name they started incorporating original material in their set, The line up played a legendary concert at Shaker Heights High, their high school! This lineup was even featured in an article by legendary Cleveland music writer Jane Scott and appeared on the cover of “Friday Magazine” which was the Cleveland Plain Dealers entertainment to do for the weekend. As their notoriety grew, member changes were inevitable but the core of Darryl, Don and Todd remained. Corey Weinberg was recruited to play keyboards and who then brought in a rough young singer Sammy T. Brdar from a neighboring city Mayfield Heights to assume lead vocal duties all the while they started recording their first demos, they even played Todd’s Jr. High school prom! More personnel changes came as Sammy and Corey would depart and Don would go back to singing lead vocals. The core then recruited fellow Shaker Heights guitar wizard John Phillips and keyboardist virtuoso Jon Denny as they continued to pack wherever they played as their following continued to grow and writing and incorporating more originals and less poppy songs. Due to the trials and tribulations of high school, member personal had to be reshuffled. David Ross was brought in to play keyboards and added to the writing of the band’s material. John Phillips and Jon Denny would depart thus the band settled on the lineup of Don, Darryl, David, and Todd.
In the fall of 1983 This lineup caught the eye of a management company. HAVEN had a show playing at the ice rink ON THE ICE!!! After that show the managers put them in the studio with Kirk Yano at After Dark Studios (shot a video) to record more original material as the songwriting had evolved tremendously. The sound they created was amazing and the feedback was solid, an A&R guy at Atlantic Records out in LA heard the potential but music was changing and getting heavier and recommended a heavier edge and to bring HAVEN out to LA so they called upon a familiar voice to assume lead vocals and give the band the sound they needed…Re-enter Sammy T. Brdar! The lineup was complete and the band went back into a couple studios to record the heavier stuff they were working on, the managers booked clubs to fine tune things as they were playing all original material now. As interest and buzz grew, they were featured on a number of local rock TV shows. The band went to New York to showcase for east coast labels and one of the premier national booking agencies at the world famous TRAXX in Manhattan. The band stayed in Hoboken New Jersey and the hyjinx that they were notorious for was on full display. The showcase went well, so much so the Atlantic records New York rep told the Los Angeles rep what he had seen. Thus, the wheels were in motion to move HAVEN out to Los Angeles where the rock scene was exploding! In Sept 84 the band left Cleveland and landed at LAX. The band opted to ride in the back of a pickup truck, approaching the top of the hill on the 405 they saw the lights of the massive San Fernando Valley. They were awestruck and now knew they were headed right into the heart of the unknown storm. The first order of business was to shoot a video for MTV and other outlets. The video was shot at Cal-Arts where Quiet Riot shot there ground breaking video “Metal Health” the previous year. The Cal-Arts team that was assembled was a group of talented people who would go on to have amazing careers. The band moved to West Hollywood and stayed in a hotel that did monthly rentals, at that time they met a band from Pennsylvania that was starting to explode on the LA rock scene called.....POISON! The guys in POISON told them there was an apartment for rent right next door to them on Orange Dr. The HAVEN boys now had concrete under their feet. They proceeded to cut their teeth and play anywhere they could, The Music Machine opening for Hans Naughty, Madam Wongs-West, The Troubadour with the great Krystal Gem. In December 1984 the boys went home for the holiday break.
In January 1985 the band returned to Los Angeles under a slightly different lineup. Beloved co-founder Don Mixon was replaced by New York Native Dominick DiNicola who Dave Ross met by chance doing laundry at the orange drive complex. They now had to go through the process to pick a producer to record the EP. They ended up selecting Chuck Rosa aka “Chukie Doo” who took them into Westwind studios (owned by Elvis alum Ron Capone) and Fiddler Studios on Melrose (where Ratt recorded their EP). Sammy and Todd stepped outside to go to the U-Haul and grab more beers and a man walking his dog asked “are you guys in a band and can I have a beer?” It was Michael Richards of Seinfeld fame...... he told them it takes brass balls to be out in LA and wished them well. After the EP was complete, it was sent everywhere along with the video that was now complete. In March their “spaghetti fighting brothers” in POISON invited their friends to open for them, this put HAVEN on the radar. In June of 1985 David and Todd had to return to Cleveland for graduation as that was the agreement with MGMT and their parents. Things were rolling as Major college and local radio stations were playing the EP as MTV played the video on the up-and-coming show. The MTV equivalent in the UK MUSIC BOX also noticed, A brilliant producer who saw the talent and reached out to Manager Jennifer to lay the groundwork to bring HAVEN over to Europe as the VIDEO and EP created a spark across the pond in the upcoming year.
In mid-summer 1985 Sammy would depart the band to return home. The band, knowing that Europe was 5 months away worked hard and found a temporary replacement but, in the end, decided to head over to Europe as a 4 piece. The European promoters heard the live demos and supported this 100%. In December 1985 the boys left Los Angeles for Cleveland to drop the gear off at Todd’s house. In late January 1986 Todd was sent ahead to do press as Darryl, Dave and Dom would arrive shortly thereafter. They set up shop in Piccadilly Circus and started rehearsals at the legendary Joe Cocker’s rehearsal studio. As the European tour was coming into focus, London would be used as the hub. They were lucky enough to open for HEAVY PETTIN’ and PAUL DI’ANNOS’ BATTLEZONE in the UK. In April the USA bombed Libya, as a result the United State Department contacted the promoters and Jennifer that it was not safe for a US band to be there thus the rest of the tour was over. This meant that the band did not get to play France, Italy, and several other European shows that they were planning on. From 1981 to 1986 HAVEN has had a cult following from the beginning to the end throughout all the changes the bands talent is prevalent on the EP and the ground breaking Video! Sammy would go on to SPOLYD, David who went on to form EKOOSTIK HOOKAH, Darryl would go on to be a grammy award winning producer and Todd would stay with Jennifer Monroe to form....NEWHAVEN
In the fall of 1983 This lineup caught the eye of a management company. HAVEN had a show playing at the ice rink ON THE ICE!!! After that show the managers put them in the studio with Kirk Yano at After Dark Studios (shot a video) to record more original material as the songwriting had evolved tremendously. The sound they created was amazing and the feedback was solid, an A&R guy at Atlantic Records out in LA heard the potential but music was changing and getting heavier and recommended a heavier edge and to bring HAVEN out to LA so they called upon a familiar voice to assume lead vocals and give the band the sound they needed…Re-enter Sammy T. Brdar! The lineup was complete and the band went back into a couple studios to record the heavier stuff they were working on, the managers booked clubs to fine tune things as they were playing all original material now. As interest and buzz grew, they were featured on a number of local rock TV shows. The band went to New York to showcase for east coast labels and one of the premier national booking agencies at the world famous TRAXX in Manhattan. The band stayed in Hoboken New Jersey and the hyjinx that they were notorious for was on full display. The showcase went well, so much so the Atlantic records New York rep told the Los Angeles rep what he had seen. Thus, the wheels were in motion to move HAVEN out to Los Angeles where the rock scene was exploding! In Sept 84 the band left Cleveland and landed at LAX. The band opted to ride in the back of a pickup truck, approaching the top of the hill on the 405 they saw the lights of the massive San Fernando Valley. They were awestruck and now knew they were headed right into the heart of the unknown storm. The first order of business was to shoot a video for MTV and other outlets. The video was shot at Cal-Arts where Quiet Riot shot there ground breaking video “Metal Health” the previous year. The Cal-Arts team that was assembled was a group of talented people who would go on to have amazing careers. The band moved to West Hollywood and stayed in a hotel that did monthly rentals, at that time they met a band from Pennsylvania that was starting to explode on the LA rock scene called.....POISON! The guys in POISON told them there was an apartment for rent right next door to them on Orange Dr. The HAVEN boys now had concrete under their feet. They proceeded to cut their teeth and play anywhere they could, The Music Machine opening for Hans Naughty, Madam Wongs-West, The Troubadour with the great Krystal Gem. In December 1984 the boys went home for the holiday break.
In January 1985 the band returned to Los Angeles under a slightly different lineup. Beloved co-founder Don Mixon was replaced by New York Native Dominick DiNicola who Dave Ross met by chance doing laundry at the orange drive complex. They now had to go through the process to pick a producer to record the EP. They ended up selecting Chuck Rosa aka “Chukie Doo” who took them into Westwind studios (owned by Elvis alum Ron Capone) and Fiddler Studios on Melrose (where Ratt recorded their EP). Sammy and Todd stepped outside to go to the U-Haul and grab more beers and a man walking his dog asked “are you guys in a band and can I have a beer?” It was Michael Richards of Seinfeld fame...... he told them it takes brass balls to be out in LA and wished them well. After the EP was complete, it was sent everywhere along with the video that was now complete. In March their “spaghetti fighting brothers” in POISON invited their friends to open for them, this put HAVEN on the radar. In June of 1985 David and Todd had to return to Cleveland for graduation as that was the agreement with MGMT and their parents. Things were rolling as Major college and local radio stations were playing the EP as MTV played the video on the up-and-coming show. The MTV equivalent in the UK MUSIC BOX also noticed, A brilliant producer who saw the talent and reached out to Manager Jennifer to lay the groundwork to bring HAVEN over to Europe as the VIDEO and EP created a spark across the pond in the upcoming year.
In mid-summer 1985 Sammy would depart the band to return home. The band, knowing that Europe was 5 months away worked hard and found a temporary replacement but, in the end, decided to head over to Europe as a 4 piece. The European promoters heard the live demos and supported this 100%. In December 1985 the boys left Los Angeles for Cleveland to drop the gear off at Todd’s house. In late January 1986 Todd was sent ahead to do press as Darryl, Dave and Dom would arrive shortly thereafter. They set up shop in Piccadilly Circus and started rehearsals at the legendary Joe Cocker’s rehearsal studio. As the European tour was coming into focus, London would be used as the hub. They were lucky enough to open for HEAVY PETTIN’ and PAUL DI’ANNOS’ BATTLEZONE in the UK. In April the USA bombed Libya, as a result the United State Department contacted the promoters and Jennifer that it was not safe for a US band to be there thus the rest of the tour was over. This meant that the band did not get to play France, Italy, and several other European shows that they were planning on. From 1981 to 1986 HAVEN has had a cult following from the beginning to the end throughout all the changes the bands talent is prevalent on the EP and the ground breaking Video! Sammy would go on to SPOLYD, David who went on to form EKOOSTIK HOOKAH, Darryl would go on to be a grammy award winning producer and Todd would stay with Jennifer Monroe to form....NEWHAVEN
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