Brothers Michel and Danny Peyronel were born a few years apart in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a military family, they grew up moving quite a bit. During their younger years, they lived in Argentina and the United States of America where they were fluent in Spanish and English. During his late teenage years, Danny moved to England after spending a year at The Juilliard School in New York City. In 1973, he settled in London and became a founding member of the HEAVY METAL KIDS. The band released two albums and toured both Europe and the USA before Danny departed in 1975 to join Pete Way, Andy Parker, Phil Mogg, and Michael Schenker in UFO as the band’s first keyboardist where he also contributed backing vocals. Danny was a key part in changing the band’s musical direction as heard on the album “No Heavy Petting,” a sound that continued even after Danny’s departure from the band in July 1976. He soon formed the band THE BLUE MAX and released their only album in 1978. He also teamed up with his older brother Michel, who lived in France at the time, to produce the self-titled EP from Michel’s band EXTRABALLE in London. Michel would go on to play on the fulllength EXTRABALLE album just a year later before leaving France to return to Argentina where he joined their friend Pappo, a legend in those parts, to form the band RIFF. RIFF released several albums including “Macadam 3...2...1...0...” and “Ruedas De Metal.” The brothers also mixed and produced the live album “RIFF EN ACCIÓN” in 1983, with Danny doing a guest spot. Michel found a lot of success in Central and South America as RIFF became the quintessential metal band in most of the Spanish speaking countries in the Americas by the mid-1980s.
While the Peyronel brothers were finding success in the music business in the USA, South America, and Europe, an exceptional guitarist in Spain was also making his mark in the rock scene. Salvador Dominguez released two solo albums in the late 1970s (“Banana” and “Recién Pinchado”), both on Polydor Records. Salvador joined Miguel Ríos’s band for a few releases before forming BANZAI which became one of the top heavy metal bands in Spain in the early-tomid-1980s. Salvador garnered a reputation in Europe as a premier guitarist with his catchy riffs and lighting fast solos. In early 1984, Danny and Michel were both in Argentina as Michel worked on his solo album, “A Toda Mákina,” and Danny was once again co-producing and guest-starring. Shortly after the album was done, Danny moved back to England before relocating to Spain. It was there that Danny met Salvador through a DJ and manager. As luck would have it, both the DJ and manager were late to the meeting. Salvador politely introduced himself and the guys knew instantly that they would be creating music together. Danny guest-starred on the second BANZAI album “Duro Y Potente,” where he applied his keyboard work as well as some English vocal training to BANZAI vocalist Antonio Jose Manzano (MANZANO, NIAGARA, EMERGENCY). Danny and Salvador felt the chemistry and knew there were more musical endeavors to come.
Michel came to Spain to visit and that is when he was introduced to Salvador. The three met at Danny’s home and the inevitable jam took place. And that is when the two brothers (Danny and Michel) became triplets in their eyes. Material started flowing in the new setup even though they didn’t know they were a band yet. The guys couldn’t deny the chemistry and how easy it was to write and play together. TARZEN was born. Danny invited his good friend Nicko McBrain (drummer of IRON MAIDEN) over for dinner when MAIDEN was in town for a huge concert. He told Nicko about the new band and said they needed a bassist. Nicko had just the guy in mind.
He suggested they check out his friend Ralph Hood, who played for the recently demised British band GRAND PRIX. They quickly got Ralph over to Madrid, Spain. Nicko had been right on the money and Ralph was a perfect fit. Only a week later, they were in the studio recording their first four songs. After laying down the four songs, Danny flew to London, cassette tape in hand, to see a few labels. First stop was Phil Carson (head of Atlantic Records in London). Phil and Dave Dee signed the HEAVY METAL KIDS a decade earlier, so Danny already had a good rapport. He got out of the taxi cab on Barners Street on the West End of London dressed to the nines in typical rockstar fashion. He went straight up to Phil’s office where they listened to the newly recorded tape. When the vocals came in, Phil asked who was singing because it sounded like Bon Scott (AC/DC). Danny was honored with the comment, but not all that surprised. Phil signed AC/DC to Atlantic nearly a decade prior. Phil was stunned, having known Danny essentially as a keyboard player and songwriter, and after hearing the four-song demo, he was determined to sign TARZEN. He told Danny that he was starting his own label, Valentino Records, as part of Atlantic Records, and that he had recently signed acts like John Miles and THE FORCE. Phil gave Danny the contact info for Dave Dee and said he was a manager now and that he should contact him. He met with Dave the next day and the ball was rolling. The band went to Jimmy Page’s (LED ZEPPELIN) studio “Sol Studios” in Cookham to record the album. The label brought in Stuart Epps, producer of recent albums by TWISTED SISTER and VANDENBERG, and engineer on Jimmy Page’s new album with his band THE FIRM.
After recording the album, the band embraced the opportunity to tour the United States as special guests of TWISTED SISTER in January 1986, with Dokken also on the bill. During this time, there were many eyes on TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider with court proceedings regarding censorship well underway between the so-called “Washington Wives” and the Rock ‘N Roll community. Some of the fanbase diminished due to the frontman sharing he was a Christian and a faithful loving husband. TARZEN was still eager to embark on this tour knowing that the crowds may be smaller due to court events just a few months prior. Before the band departed to the USA, they received a cease-and-desist order from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. for the use of the name TARZEN. They claimed it resembled too closely the name of their beloved and still profitable character. The band’s legal team responded that the spelling and pronunciation were different and that they had never been fans of their character. No reply was ever received after this cheeky response! The band boarded a plane and landed in Cleveland, Ohio, where they played their first show on January 28, 1986, for the new tour. TARZEN was driven to the Richfield Coliseum for a soundcheck. The band went back to the hotel for a few hours before coming back to play the show. At the hotel, most televisions were tuned in to see the shuttle Challenger launch. To the horror of all watching, seventy-three seconds after liftoff, the shuttle exploded. The band knew they needed to figure out how to deal with what just happened and soldier on for the fans that night. Danny recalled stepping out and hearing the familiar sound of a stadium crowd, which he had not heard since his days in UFO opening for ALICE COOPER, JETHRO TULL, ZZ TOP, J-GEILS BAND, PETER FRAMPTON, FLEETWOOD MAC, FOGHAT, and so many others. All the fears of possibly playing for a less than half filled stadium were quickly gone. The stadium was packed. Danny stepped up to the mic and asked the crowd for a moment of silence in respect for the astronauts that lost their lives earlier that day. The crowd respectfully complied. Danny then addressed the crowd saying, “life needs to go on....If anything, these brilliant and heroic scientists believed that above all else and had, in fact, given their lives in a continued quest to help our species…to go forward for as long as possible.”
José Luis Martin, the CEO of the music magazine Popular Uno, which was and still is the most influential music magazine in Spain, had come to the USA towards the beginning of the tour, to cover the first rock band from Spain to embark on a stadium tour of the United States. However, just as the band thought things were moving in a positive direction, the tour started falling apart. It began with the record label and moved down to management and then to the band. Before anyone knew what to do, an argument ensued, and the band saw the departure of one of its founding members. Salvador exited stage right and TARZEN was now on the look-out for another guitarist. Bassist Ralph Hood suggested they bring in English guitarist Laurence Archer (STAMPEDE, GRAND SLAM, THIN LIZZY, UFO). TARZEN had a TV appearance coming up as well as a headlining gig at the Rayo Vallecano Football Club stadium in Madrid. Laurence was added to the TARZEN ranks where he did the TV spot and then the stadium show in front of 60,000 fans.
The band took a break and Ralph and Laurence returned home to England. During the break, Danny and Michel reached out to Salvador. They soon met up and quicky realized that this core of the band made TARZEN what it was. Though Laurence Archer was a very talented and gifted guitarist, the band was missing that Spanish passion and heat that came from Salvador. Laurence was not asked to return and Ralph, with the birth of his first child, decided to give up music and focus on family life. TARZEN recruited bassist Gary Liedeman (THIN LIZZY, ASIA) before the band played the Rayo Vallecano Football Stadium once again. Gary was only in the band for a relatively short time before TARZEN brought in Argentinian bassist and Michel’s RIFF bandmate Victor Bereciartua (LOS CRISS CROSS, VITIKEN, VITICUS), better known as Vitiko. The band played several TV and radio spots and shows here and there. Their sound shifted in a more melodic direction with a greater emphasis on the keyboards and smoother vocals, all while still having the blistering guitars and catchy riffs laid down by Salvador. With the new direction, the band wrote some very catchy and melodic songs that were like ear candy to the radio crowd.
TARZEN recorded the Madrid album in three different recording sessions on three different continents. The first session was at Bray Studios in England with Stuart Epps at the controls once again, where they recorded the songs “Mother Night,” “Let’s Do It,” and “Black and Blue.” The songs were mixed at Pasha Studios in Los Angeles, California, by Spencer Proffer, responsible for the hit albums by QUIET RIOT. The band recorded “Inmediate Obedience,” “Victim of Pleasure,” “Glad All Over,” “Walls and Rivers,” “Madrid,” “Always a Faster Gun,” and “Go Through The Flames” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as Spanish versions of three of them, namely “Romance En La Linea,” “Es Una Selva Ahi Fuera,” and “Frente Al Muro, Frente Al Rio” in Buenos Aires. The band released the “Madrid” album in 1989 with pressings in both Spain and Argentina. They worked out a deal with Pasha Records for the “Madrid” album to be released in the United States, but time went by and the momentum from Pasha began to dwindle due to the label’s complicated situation. TARZEN still toured through South America in support of the album with a Chilean and a Mexican pressing released. TARZEN also recruited keyboardist Pablo Duchovny and guitarist Gady Pampillon for extra backing vocals and musicianship on the live shows and TV appearances. With this line-up, TARZEN opened for BON JOVI at Velez-Sarsfield FC Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000. Unbeknownst to the fans, and the band for that matter, this was the last show that TARZEN would ever play.
The band never broke up, but its core members were never really in the same place at the same time again. Each member moved on to different projects and new stages in life with a lifetime’s worth of achievements and accolades. Danny, Michel, and Salvador may have only released two albums as the full trio, but they created a brotherhood and friendship that will link them forever. The band reflects on their time as TARZEN and agree that it was one of the best times in their extensive careers. The band is proud to team up with Metallic Blue Records to reissue their amazing albums to the world again. Es Una Selva Ahi Fuera.
While the Peyronel brothers were finding success in the music business in the USA, South America, and Europe, an exceptional guitarist in Spain was also making his mark in the rock scene. Salvador Dominguez released two solo albums in the late 1970s (“Banana” and “Recién Pinchado”), both on Polydor Records. Salvador joined Miguel Ríos’s band for a few releases before forming BANZAI which became one of the top heavy metal bands in Spain in the early-tomid-1980s. Salvador garnered a reputation in Europe as a premier guitarist with his catchy riffs and lighting fast solos. In early 1984, Danny and Michel were both in Argentina as Michel worked on his solo album, “A Toda Mákina,” and Danny was once again co-producing and guest-starring. Shortly after the album was done, Danny moved back to England before relocating to Spain. It was there that Danny met Salvador through a DJ and manager. As luck would have it, both the DJ and manager were late to the meeting. Salvador politely introduced himself and the guys knew instantly that they would be creating music together. Danny guest-starred on the second BANZAI album “Duro Y Potente,” where he applied his keyboard work as well as some English vocal training to BANZAI vocalist Antonio Jose Manzano (MANZANO, NIAGARA, EMERGENCY). Danny and Salvador felt the chemistry and knew there were more musical endeavors to come.
Michel came to Spain to visit and that is when he was introduced to Salvador. The three met at Danny’s home and the inevitable jam took place. And that is when the two brothers (Danny and Michel) became triplets in their eyes. Material started flowing in the new setup even though they didn’t know they were a band yet. The guys couldn’t deny the chemistry and how easy it was to write and play together. TARZEN was born. Danny invited his good friend Nicko McBrain (drummer of IRON MAIDEN) over for dinner when MAIDEN was in town for a huge concert. He told Nicko about the new band and said they needed a bassist. Nicko had just the guy in mind.
He suggested they check out his friend Ralph Hood, who played for the recently demised British band GRAND PRIX. They quickly got Ralph over to Madrid, Spain. Nicko had been right on the money and Ralph was a perfect fit. Only a week later, they were in the studio recording their first four songs. After laying down the four songs, Danny flew to London, cassette tape in hand, to see a few labels. First stop was Phil Carson (head of Atlantic Records in London). Phil and Dave Dee signed the HEAVY METAL KIDS a decade earlier, so Danny already had a good rapport. He got out of the taxi cab on Barners Street on the West End of London dressed to the nines in typical rockstar fashion. He went straight up to Phil’s office where they listened to the newly recorded tape. When the vocals came in, Phil asked who was singing because it sounded like Bon Scott (AC/DC). Danny was honored with the comment, but not all that surprised. Phil signed AC/DC to Atlantic nearly a decade prior. Phil was stunned, having known Danny essentially as a keyboard player and songwriter, and after hearing the four-song demo, he was determined to sign TARZEN. He told Danny that he was starting his own label, Valentino Records, as part of Atlantic Records, and that he had recently signed acts like John Miles and THE FORCE. Phil gave Danny the contact info for Dave Dee and said he was a manager now and that he should contact him. He met with Dave the next day and the ball was rolling. The band went to Jimmy Page’s (LED ZEPPELIN) studio “Sol Studios” in Cookham to record the album. The label brought in Stuart Epps, producer of recent albums by TWISTED SISTER and VANDENBERG, and engineer on Jimmy Page’s new album with his band THE FIRM.
After recording the album, the band embraced the opportunity to tour the United States as special guests of TWISTED SISTER in January 1986, with Dokken also on the bill. During this time, there were many eyes on TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider with court proceedings regarding censorship well underway between the so-called “Washington Wives” and the Rock ‘N Roll community. Some of the fanbase diminished due to the frontman sharing he was a Christian and a faithful loving husband. TARZEN was still eager to embark on this tour knowing that the crowds may be smaller due to court events just a few months prior. Before the band departed to the USA, they received a cease-and-desist order from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. for the use of the name TARZEN. They claimed it resembled too closely the name of their beloved and still profitable character. The band’s legal team responded that the spelling and pronunciation were different and that they had never been fans of their character. No reply was ever received after this cheeky response! The band boarded a plane and landed in Cleveland, Ohio, where they played their first show on January 28, 1986, for the new tour. TARZEN was driven to the Richfield Coliseum for a soundcheck. The band went back to the hotel for a few hours before coming back to play the show. At the hotel, most televisions were tuned in to see the shuttle Challenger launch. To the horror of all watching, seventy-three seconds after liftoff, the shuttle exploded. The band knew they needed to figure out how to deal with what just happened and soldier on for the fans that night. Danny recalled stepping out and hearing the familiar sound of a stadium crowd, which he had not heard since his days in UFO opening for ALICE COOPER, JETHRO TULL, ZZ TOP, J-GEILS BAND, PETER FRAMPTON, FLEETWOOD MAC, FOGHAT, and so many others. All the fears of possibly playing for a less than half filled stadium were quickly gone. The stadium was packed. Danny stepped up to the mic and asked the crowd for a moment of silence in respect for the astronauts that lost their lives earlier that day. The crowd respectfully complied. Danny then addressed the crowd saying, “life needs to go on....If anything, these brilliant and heroic scientists believed that above all else and had, in fact, given their lives in a continued quest to help our species…to go forward for as long as possible.”
José Luis Martin, the CEO of the music magazine Popular Uno, which was and still is the most influential music magazine in Spain, had come to the USA towards the beginning of the tour, to cover the first rock band from Spain to embark on a stadium tour of the United States. However, just as the band thought things were moving in a positive direction, the tour started falling apart. It began with the record label and moved down to management and then to the band. Before anyone knew what to do, an argument ensued, and the band saw the departure of one of its founding members. Salvador exited stage right and TARZEN was now on the look-out for another guitarist. Bassist Ralph Hood suggested they bring in English guitarist Laurence Archer (STAMPEDE, GRAND SLAM, THIN LIZZY, UFO). TARZEN had a TV appearance coming up as well as a headlining gig at the Rayo Vallecano Football Club stadium in Madrid. Laurence was added to the TARZEN ranks where he did the TV spot and then the stadium show in front of 60,000 fans.
The band took a break and Ralph and Laurence returned home to England. During the break, Danny and Michel reached out to Salvador. They soon met up and quicky realized that this core of the band made TARZEN what it was. Though Laurence Archer was a very talented and gifted guitarist, the band was missing that Spanish passion and heat that came from Salvador. Laurence was not asked to return and Ralph, with the birth of his first child, decided to give up music and focus on family life. TARZEN recruited bassist Gary Liedeman (THIN LIZZY, ASIA) before the band played the Rayo Vallecano Football Stadium once again. Gary was only in the band for a relatively short time before TARZEN brought in Argentinian bassist and Michel’s RIFF bandmate Victor Bereciartua (LOS CRISS CROSS, VITIKEN, VITICUS), better known as Vitiko. The band played several TV and radio spots and shows here and there. Their sound shifted in a more melodic direction with a greater emphasis on the keyboards and smoother vocals, all while still having the blistering guitars and catchy riffs laid down by Salvador. With the new direction, the band wrote some very catchy and melodic songs that were like ear candy to the radio crowd.
TARZEN recorded the Madrid album in three different recording sessions on three different continents. The first session was at Bray Studios in England with Stuart Epps at the controls once again, where they recorded the songs “Mother Night,” “Let’s Do It,” and “Black and Blue.” The songs were mixed at Pasha Studios in Los Angeles, California, by Spencer Proffer, responsible for the hit albums by QUIET RIOT. The band recorded “Inmediate Obedience,” “Victim of Pleasure,” “Glad All Over,” “Walls and Rivers,” “Madrid,” “Always a Faster Gun,” and “Go Through The Flames” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as Spanish versions of three of them, namely “Romance En La Linea,” “Es Una Selva Ahi Fuera,” and “Frente Al Muro, Frente Al Rio” in Buenos Aires. The band released the “Madrid” album in 1989 with pressings in both Spain and Argentina. They worked out a deal with Pasha Records for the “Madrid” album to be released in the United States, but time went by and the momentum from Pasha began to dwindle due to the label’s complicated situation. TARZEN still toured through South America in support of the album with a Chilean and a Mexican pressing released. TARZEN also recruited keyboardist Pablo Duchovny and guitarist Gady Pampillon for extra backing vocals and musicianship on the live shows and TV appearances. With this line-up, TARZEN opened for BON JOVI at Velez-Sarsfield FC Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000. Unbeknownst to the fans, and the band for that matter, this was the last show that TARZEN would ever play.
The band never broke up, but its core members were never really in the same place at the same time again. Each member moved on to different projects and new stages in life with a lifetime’s worth of achievements and accolades. Danny, Michel, and Salvador may have only released two albums as the full trio, but they created a brotherhood and friendship that will link them forever. The band reflects on their time as TARZEN and agree that it was one of the best times in their extensive careers. The band is proud to team up with Metallic Blue Records to reissue their amazing albums to the world again. Es Una Selva Ahi Fuera.
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