Gigantion, or Giant Planet, is a fictional planet home to giant Transformers in the animated television program, Transformers: Cybertron; it is referred to as Gigalonia in Transformers: Galaxy Force, the Japanese version of the show.
Much like how Velocitron is referred to as both "Velocitron" and "Speed Planet", Gigantion has the same dual name. It's actual name was revealed in the episode "Balance".
Gigantion is home to one of the four Cyber Planet Keys, and is one of the four ancient Transformer colonies. Once part of a star system within the Milky Way galaxy, the planet fell into a spatial rift and was transported to a distant universe. The only Transformers to escape this fate were a quartet of Mini-Cons - Jolt, Six-Speed, Reverb, and Safeguard. Vector Prime eventually discovered and saved them, and they became the Mini-Con Recon Team.
Each Transformer on Giant Planet has a Minicon partner. The larger Transformers all become construction vehicles, with the Mini-Cons integrated into both modes. Gigantion's de facto leader is Metroplex. The Transformers from this world have accents that sound Scottish or Irish.
The Giant Transformers have a habit of building giant cities and abandoning them, with older cities (the oldest of which are buried deep within the planet's crust) forbidden by planetary law by erasing their data so no one could come back. The planet was once the target of an attack from the mysterious Planet X, its inhabitants having eradicated most every other civilization in their universe and seeking to subjugate Gigantion's populace as their next conquest. Gigantion's people, however, retaliated, with its inhabitants modifying themselves including their planet with help from the Cyber Planet Key into super-sized forms to combat the invasion.
This eventually led Planet X's inhabitants to use their planet-busting weapon in a last-ditch effort to win the war, but the weapon overloaded and destroyed Planet X. Horrified and saddened by their part in the extinction of an entire race, Gigantion's inhabitants remodeled themselves into construction vehicles and took up their custom of building and then abandoning cities, perhaps as a form of self-punishment, focusing their energies solely on creation, not destruction.
The Giant Transformers built cities underground and used holographic images of the sky on the top to make things nice. They started at the very center where they left the greenery.
They have many mottoes like "Safety First" and "Always look forward, never back".
Giant Planet Transformers
* - Gigantion's de facto leader (more accurately foreman) and largest on the planet, allied with Autobot forces. Transforms into an alien vehicle resembling a bucket wheel excavator.
* Quickmix - Metroplex's second in command and other Autobot allied Gigantionian. Transforms into a cement mixer truck.
* - The only Decepticon allied Gigantionian that we know of, who joins them in order to bring about a "new age" on Gigantion. Transforms into some form of drill truck.
* Drillbit - Metroplex's Minicon partner. Transforms into some form of drilling machine.
* Stripmine - Quickmix's Minicon partner. Transforms into yet another form of drilling vehicle.
* Heavy-Load - Menasor's Minicon partner. Transforms into a dump truck.
* Deep Dive, Longarm, and Overcast - Three Minicons who aren't partnered to anyone, and have no interest in building or constructing. Deep Dive becomes a submarine, Longarm a construction vehicle, and Overcast a plane.
* Gritbit, Zapmap, Zigzag - Repaints of the Armada Destruction team, offered as part of the Japanese "Megalo Micron" campaign. Due to their names, and colorschemes that are evocative of Metroplex, their connection to Giant Planet is assumed.
* Landmine - Gets a Cyber Planet Key Upgrade, much like Overhaul got from Jungle Planet. This upgrade is only for a short time, as Leobreaker is apparently permanent.
Much like how Velocitron is referred to as both "Velocitron" and "Speed Planet", Gigantion has the same dual name. It's actual name was revealed in the episode "Balance".
Gigantion is home to one of the four Cyber Planet Keys, and is one of the four ancient Transformer colonies. Once part of a star system within the Milky Way galaxy, the planet fell into a spatial rift and was transported to a distant universe. The only Transformers to escape this fate were a quartet of Mini-Cons - Jolt, Six-Speed, Reverb, and Safeguard. Vector Prime eventually discovered and saved them, and they became the Mini-Con Recon Team.
Each Transformer on Giant Planet has a Minicon partner. The larger Transformers all become construction vehicles, with the Mini-Cons integrated into both modes. Gigantion's de facto leader is Metroplex. The Transformers from this world have accents that sound Scottish or Irish.
The Giant Transformers have a habit of building giant cities and abandoning them, with older cities (the oldest of which are buried deep within the planet's crust) forbidden by planetary law by erasing their data so no one could come back. The planet was once the target of an attack from the mysterious Planet X, its inhabitants having eradicated most every other civilization in their universe and seeking to subjugate Gigantion's populace as their next conquest. Gigantion's people, however, retaliated, with its inhabitants modifying themselves including their planet with help from the Cyber Planet Key into super-sized forms to combat the invasion.
This eventually led Planet X's inhabitants to use their planet-busting weapon in a last-ditch effort to win the war, but the weapon overloaded and destroyed Planet X. Horrified and saddened by their part in the extinction of an entire race, Gigantion's inhabitants remodeled themselves into construction vehicles and took up their custom of building and then abandoning cities, perhaps as a form of self-punishment, focusing their energies solely on creation, not destruction.
The Giant Transformers built cities underground and used holographic images of the sky on the top to make things nice. They started at the very center where they left the greenery.
They have many mottoes like "Safety First" and "Always look forward, never back".
Giant Planet Transformers
* - Gigantion's de facto leader (more accurately foreman) and largest on the planet, allied with Autobot forces. Transforms into an alien vehicle resembling a bucket wheel excavator.
* Quickmix - Metroplex's second in command and other Autobot allied Gigantionian. Transforms into a cement mixer truck.
* - The only Decepticon allied Gigantionian that we know of, who joins them in order to bring about a "new age" on Gigantion. Transforms into some form of drill truck.
* Drillbit - Metroplex's Minicon partner. Transforms into some form of drilling machine.
* Stripmine - Quickmix's Minicon partner. Transforms into yet another form of drilling vehicle.
* Heavy-Load - Menasor's Minicon partner. Transforms into a dump truck.
* Deep Dive, Longarm, and Overcast - Three Minicons who aren't partnered to anyone, and have no interest in building or constructing. Deep Dive becomes a submarine, Longarm a construction vehicle, and Overcast a plane.
* Gritbit, Zapmap, Zigzag - Repaints of the Armada Destruction team, offered as part of the Japanese "Megalo Micron" campaign. Due to their names, and colorschemes that are evocative of Metroplex, their connection to Giant Planet is assumed.
* Landmine - Gets a Cyber Planet Key Upgrade, much like Overhaul got from Jungle Planet. This upgrade is only for a short time, as Leobreaker is apparently permanent.
Jungle Planet (Also called the Beast Planet on occasion) is a fictional planet home to bestial Transformers in the animated television program, Transformers: Cybertron; it is referred to as Animatros in the Japanese version of the series, Transformers: Galaxy Force.
The ship that transported the Cyber Planet Key to this world was called Hyperborea. Home of one of four Cyber Planet Keys (which exists in the form of a statue called the Beast Totem) and ancient Transformer colonies sent to reacquire them. A lush, green planet (albeit one beset by dangerous volcanic and seismic activity, as well as intense lightning storms and monstrous plants) the Jungle Planet Transformers took animal alternate modes, but for a time, were leaderless, leaving their world torn by violence and poverty. Many were taken under the tulage under Zen-master Backstop in the way of non-violence and self-defense.
Eventually, Scourge, a student of Backstop, grew impatient with his people's suffering, and forced a rebellion against those taking advantage of the chaos, strong-arming his way into leadership position in a series of battles to determine who would be strong enough to become leader. Corrupted by his newfound power and position, Scourge forced a "peace through tyranny" campaign, bringing his people the peace and prosperity he promised them, but only through a dictatorship ruled by the credo of 'might makes right'.
However, Scourge couldn't totally rid himself of his old master's teachings, and he enforced a strict series of laws regulating disputes being settled only through formal duels of strength, with sabotage and especially unjustified death of a defeated foe as the planet's highest offense. Overhaul was sent to acquire the Planet Key here, and was transformed into Leobreaker as a result. Eventually, he and the other inhabitants of the planet convinced Optimus Prime to rethink his credo of non-interaction with local customs in order to acquire the Key.
The Hyperborea ship would later carry the people of Jungle Planet to safety (along with another ship, Ogygia), after the planet was consumed by the Black Hole. However, when the Black Hole was destroyed, the planet was restored.
When the Autobots attempted to use a gigantic rocket to move the Jungle Planet back into its orbit, Galvatron attacked damaged the rocket. The Jungle Planet threatened to crash into Cybertron. The combined strength of Scourge, the Autobots, the former Decepticons (Dark Crumplezone, Ransack, Thunderblast and Thundercracker), and their allies from the various planets were able to combine their strength and move the rocket back into place.
Jungle Planet Transformers
A common characteristic amongst Jungle Planet denizens is that they all wield melee-type weapons. Snarl stands out, because his weapon can double as a sword or a rifle.
* Scourge (Flame Convoy) - The dictator of Jungle Planet. Scourge transforms into a Dragon.
* Snarl (Fang Wolf) - One of Backstop's students and once Scourge's friend. Served as one of Scourge's underlings until he was labeled a traitor. He allied with the Autobots. Snarl transforms into a Gray Wolf.
* Backstop (Saidos) - Scourge and Snarl's teacher. He transforms into a Rhinoceros.
* Undermine (Dino Shout) - He is a renowned hunter and one of Scourge's underlings. Transforms into a Spinosaurus. He seems to have been one of Backstop's students as well.
* Brimstone (Tera Shaver) - One of Scourge's underlings. Brimstone transforms into a Pteranodon.
* Wreckloose - One of Scourge's underlings who specializes in ambushes. Transforms into a Komodo dragon. Exists only in the toy-line. In 2006 a special edition of Wreckloose was available in Walmart stores which contained a DVD with the episode "Cybertron" as a promotional item - despite the fact that he wasn't in that episode.
* Repugnus - Transforms into a Spinosaurus. In the toyline, he's Undermine's brother and in the same category as Snarl and Backstop.
Some transformers, while not from the Jungle Planet, had Jungle Planet Cyber Keys.
* Dark Scorponok - A new form of Scorponok from Transformers: Energon who found himself on Jungle Planet and fell into Scourge's service.
* Leobreaker - Gets a Cyber Planet Key Upgrade, and is reformated into a Lion. Leobreaker chooses to stay with the Autobots, over moving to the Jungle Planet.
Also on Jungle Planet are Transformers that each resemble a different animal. Examples being a Apatosaurus, an owl, a deer, a giraffe, and a tropical bird.
Transformers: Energon
In the previous series, Transformers: Energon, Jungle Planet was the name of a world created by Alpha Q using the power of his Energon sun. It was a lush, jungle-like paradise.
The ship that transported the Cyber Planet Key to this world was called Hyperborea. Home of one of four Cyber Planet Keys (which exists in the form of a statue called the Beast Totem) and ancient Transformer colonies sent to reacquire them. A lush, green planet (albeit one beset by dangerous volcanic and seismic activity, as well as intense lightning storms and monstrous plants) the Jungle Planet Transformers took animal alternate modes, but for a time, were leaderless, leaving their world torn by violence and poverty. Many were taken under the tulage under Zen-master Backstop in the way of non-violence and self-defense.
Eventually, Scourge, a student of Backstop, grew impatient with his people's suffering, and forced a rebellion against those taking advantage of the chaos, strong-arming his way into leadership position in a series of battles to determine who would be strong enough to become leader. Corrupted by his newfound power and position, Scourge forced a "peace through tyranny" campaign, bringing his people the peace and prosperity he promised them, but only through a dictatorship ruled by the credo of 'might makes right'.
However, Scourge couldn't totally rid himself of his old master's teachings, and he enforced a strict series of laws regulating disputes being settled only through formal duels of strength, with sabotage and especially unjustified death of a defeated foe as the planet's highest offense. Overhaul was sent to acquire the Planet Key here, and was transformed into Leobreaker as a result. Eventually, he and the other inhabitants of the planet convinced Optimus Prime to rethink his credo of non-interaction with local customs in order to acquire the Key.
The Hyperborea ship would later carry the people of Jungle Planet to safety (along with another ship, Ogygia), after the planet was consumed by the Black Hole. However, when the Black Hole was destroyed, the planet was restored.
When the Autobots attempted to use a gigantic rocket to move the Jungle Planet back into its orbit, Galvatron attacked damaged the rocket. The Jungle Planet threatened to crash into Cybertron. The combined strength of Scourge, the Autobots, the former Decepticons (Dark Crumplezone, Ransack, Thunderblast and Thundercracker), and their allies from the various planets were able to combine their strength and move the rocket back into place.
Jungle Planet Transformers
A common characteristic amongst Jungle Planet denizens is that they all wield melee-type weapons. Snarl stands out, because his weapon can double as a sword or a rifle.
* Scourge (Flame Convoy) - The dictator of Jungle Planet. Scourge transforms into a Dragon.
* Snarl (Fang Wolf) - One of Backstop's students and once Scourge's friend. Served as one of Scourge's underlings until he was labeled a traitor. He allied with the Autobots. Snarl transforms into a Gray Wolf.
* Backstop (Saidos) - Scourge and Snarl's teacher. He transforms into a Rhinoceros.
* Undermine (Dino Shout) - He is a renowned hunter and one of Scourge's underlings. Transforms into a Spinosaurus. He seems to have been one of Backstop's students as well.
* Brimstone (Tera Shaver) - One of Scourge's underlings. Brimstone transforms into a Pteranodon.
* Wreckloose - One of Scourge's underlings who specializes in ambushes. Transforms into a Komodo dragon. Exists only in the toy-line. In 2006 a special edition of Wreckloose was available in Walmart stores which contained a DVD with the episode "Cybertron" as a promotional item - despite the fact that he wasn't in that episode.
* Repugnus - Transforms into a Spinosaurus. In the toyline, he's Undermine's brother and in the same category as Snarl and Backstop.
Some transformers, while not from the Jungle Planet, had Jungle Planet Cyber Keys.
* Dark Scorponok - A new form of Scorponok from Transformers: Energon who found himself on Jungle Planet and fell into Scourge's service.
* Leobreaker - Gets a Cyber Planet Key Upgrade, and is reformated into a Lion. Leobreaker chooses to stay with the Autobots, over moving to the Jungle Planet.
Also on Jungle Planet are Transformers that each resemble a different animal. Examples being a Apatosaurus, an owl, a deer, a giraffe, and a tropical bird.
Transformers: Energon
In the previous series, Transformers: Energon, Jungle Planet was the name of a world created by Alpha Q using the power of his Energon sun. It was a lush, jungle-like paradise.
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Paris Jackson, (full name Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson) is the daughter and middle child of Michael Joseph Jackson.
Paris was born on April 3rd, 1998, at Spaulding Pain Medical Clinic in Beverley Hills, CA. Her mother is Deborah Jeanne Rowe (known as Debbie), Michael's second wife. At the time of Paris' birth, she already had an elder brother, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, (known as Prince, or Prince Michael I), who had been born just over a year before, on February 13th, 1997.
Throughout her young life, Paris has been shielded from the world, due to her father's enormous fame. She and her brothers (a younger brother, Prince Michael Joseph II, aka Blanket was born in 2002) were pictured out with their father wearing a variety of different masks to shield their identities. Jackson later said he did this to calm his very rational fears of kidnap.
However, this innocent act of vieling his children and living as a recluse with them, first at Neverland, his ranch home in Santa Barbara, then at various other places after 2005, (including Ireland and Las Vegas) meant the world viewed Jackson, and therefore his children, as oddities.
The world's first pure, unobstructed true look at the children came in a tragic form. After her father's death on June 25th, 2009, Paris and her brothers were distraught, and began living with their elderly grandmother, Katherine Jackson, at the family's Hayvenhurst estate in Encino, CA.
On July 7th, 2009, a memorial service was held for Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where, just two weeks before, he had been at his last rehearsal for his upcoming shows in London, somewhat aptly named 'This Is It'.
After everyone else had spoken, Paris asked aunts Janet and La Toya if she was allowed to say something to those in the arena, and an estimated billion people worldwide, about her father. Her aunts acquiesced, though reluctantly, realising how important it was to the 11 year old girl. Despite the fact that her father tried all her life to keep her away from public view, in that moment, the world fell in love with Paris as she uttered these words through tears:
"I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him...so much..."
Since that speech, which has been hailed many times as a speech that 'humanised Jackson' and changed the world's perspective of him from an idol, to simply a man who has left behind three heartbroken children, Paris has appeared at a televised event only once.
She, brother Prince, and three of her cousins, (sons of her Uncle Tito), were introduced onto stage by Lionel Richie at the 2010 Grammys to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award for their father. After Prince made his speech, Paris came to the microphone, and, seeming somewhat nervous, standing again on the stage at the Staples Center, said:
"Daddy was supposed to here...Daddy was gonna perform, but he couldn't perform last year. Thank you, we love you Daddy."
On June 25, 2010, Paris and her brothers spent time with cousins and other family members in Hawaii, getting away from the US for the anniversary of their father's death.
Saints in Hell was a band formed in the early eighties that consisted of a young Tom Keifer on guitar, Halfbreed Billy Gram on vocals, Paul Barbas, then later Eric Brittingham on bass, guitarist Kurt Ritchie, and drummer Sal "Poison" LaTorre. Greg Reider was briefly on guitar prior to Keifer. The band got its name from the Judas Priest song "Saints in Hell" on their 1978 Stained Class album. Later Keifer and Brittingham formed the hard rock band Cinderella.
The band did perform some original material, but mainly played cover songs. This cover material consisted of lots of Alice Cooper, UFO, AC DC, Plasmatics, Dead Boys, Kiss, Judas Priest, Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Scorpions and Aerosmith, along with the band's unique interpretations of a lot of lesser known material. While many of the bands whose material was covered is categorized as classic today, such was not the case in the late seventies and early eighties. At the time, the NJ, Pennsylvania and Delaware club scene prospered in a way that it never has since. There were clubs featuring live bands , often 6 or 7 nights a week, in every town on the map. The booking in these clubs was controlled by a few select agencies, many with reputed criminal ties (in later years this would prove to be a fact, as one of these "agents" was mobster Tyronne DeNittis). This resulted in the fact that these agencies actually controlled the material that the bands they booked would play. All of them played the accepted Top 40, "safe" classic rock of the day ala Zepplin, Foreigner, The Cars, Blondie, Jethro Tull, Boston, Heart, etc. Keifer, Ritchie and Gram had all at various points worked in bands booked by these agencies. Gram as the "instigator", managed to convince both Keifer and Ritchie to walk out on bands that were booked through these agents, to form something more edgy, aggressive and non-conformist, an act that was not only brazen for the three, but was under threat of career suicide, amongst other nasty things. The word was spread by these agents that the newly formed Saints in Hell were blackballed in the Tri-State area. Undaunted the band proceeded to book themselves in Maryland and other markets further south.
At this point, in a very short time, the Saints in Hell became a hugely influential on other bands/musicians, and oft-forgotten force. Along with the band's unconventional choice of material, and heavy makeup that was actually very unpopular at the time,...the members had no eyebrows and wore strange attire that was like a cross between The New York Dolls, Leatherface, A Native Warrior, The Road Warrior and The Pope. The band had various custom stage sets that were very horror movie influenced and used ridiculous amounts of pyrotechnics. The band spilled lots of blood, both stage and real, in their act. Gram became notorious as a result of his performances as the band's frontman. Not only was he prone to brandishing large snakes and spitting copious amounts of fire, he was also acknowledged for his verbal tirades on the microphone. Gram bashed Conservatives, Politicians, Police, Government, Evangelicals,and Censors alike, while he championed Freedom of Expression, Rebellion, Creativity and Marijuana. All of this laden with profuse obscenities, as well as slapstick humor. The band became instantly popular wherever they appeared, which drove several NJ and Philly club owners to risk the wrath of the local agents and book Saints in Hell, ignoring the blackball status. Gram's volatile personality, combined with the very solid music skills of Keifer, Brittingham and the rest made Saints in Hell a unique band that many feel were ahead of their time.
The band's shows may have made their fans happy,...but such was not always the case with new venues that booked the band based on the word they were good, not realizing what the band's performances were like. This lead to the Saints in Hell being banned amidst controversy from many clubs. Reasons ranging from Gram's language, to setting the roof on fire. However, it should be noted that the band's breaking of the aforementioned talent agencies' stranglehold on club bookings, was the probable catalyst that changed the entire music scene of the area, leading to the original metal scene of the mid eighties and the death of the dominance of club's featuring top forty cover bands.
Saints in Hell would also become notorious for an incident that occurred on December 7, 1981 (ironically the anniversary of Pearl Harbor). The band was playing at a a club in Pennsauken, N.J. called Menagerie, when a pyrotechnic device malfunctioned and sent 37 people to the hospital including Keifer and Brittingham. The accident was covered in local newspapers like The Courier Post and Philadelphia Bulletin, as well as on all the Philly news broadcasts. The explosion also resulted in a joint Pennsauken Police/NJ state Police/ ATF investigation.
Keifer was in the band for about ten months. In magazines interviews, Tom has been quoted as saying "That band was just out of it's mind. It was a sick band." The band used makeup similar to that used later by Mötley Crüe. Tom also stated that none of the members got along. He said "We'd try to rehearse and after five minutes people would start swinging at each other."
This inability to get along, as well as the many controversies the band became mired in are the probable reasons for it's demise, after such a brief and influential life.
Saints in Hell did have one positive side-effect: Gram met bassist Eric Brittingham, on Halloween night, 1981, in the bathroom of a bar called Back of the Rack in Ocean City, Maryland. Gram asked Brittingham if he played the bass. Eric joined Saints in Hell a few days later. It was later erroneously reported by Circus Magazine, that it was Keifer who met Eric in the bathroom. When Eric tried to correct this error, he was told by the writer of the article, that he substituted Keifer for Gram, because no one knew who Gram was.Later Keifer and Brittingham would form the hard rock band Cinderella and go on to huge international success.
Regardless, of some of the original band member's ability to gel, Gram retained friendships with all but Ritchie. Keifer even guested on Gram's 1991 Indy cd release Ghostdance Tribe.
2008Keifer and Brittingham continue with Cinderella today. Keifer is also recording a solo album. Brittingham also is the bass player for another project called Naked Beggars, who have released several indy albums. Eric's wife Inga is the vocalist.
Gram is an actor, screenwriter, filmmaker and professional wrestling manager/commentator. He has appeared in the films Street Trash, Dead Riot, and The Meltdown Memoirs. He is the writer of One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead, a film celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the cinema classic. He appears regularly in CZW(Combat Zone Wrestling) as a manager and color commentator
The band did perform some original material, but mainly played cover songs. This cover material consisted of lots of Alice Cooper, UFO, AC DC, Plasmatics, Dead Boys, Kiss, Judas Priest, Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Scorpions and Aerosmith, along with the band's unique interpretations of a lot of lesser known material. While many of the bands whose material was covered is categorized as classic today, such was not the case in the late seventies and early eighties. At the time, the NJ, Pennsylvania and Delaware club scene prospered in a way that it never has since. There were clubs featuring live bands , often 6 or 7 nights a week, in every town on the map. The booking in these clubs was controlled by a few select agencies, many with reputed criminal ties (in later years this would prove to be a fact, as one of these "agents" was mobster Tyronne DeNittis). This resulted in the fact that these agencies actually controlled the material that the bands they booked would play. All of them played the accepted Top 40, "safe" classic rock of the day ala Zepplin, Foreigner, The Cars, Blondie, Jethro Tull, Boston, Heart, etc. Keifer, Ritchie and Gram had all at various points worked in bands booked by these agencies. Gram as the "instigator", managed to convince both Keifer and Ritchie to walk out on bands that were booked through these agents, to form something more edgy, aggressive and non-conformist, an act that was not only brazen for the three, but was under threat of career suicide, amongst other nasty things. The word was spread by these agents that the newly formed Saints in Hell were blackballed in the Tri-State area. Undaunted the band proceeded to book themselves in Maryland and other markets further south.
At this point, in a very short time, the Saints in Hell became a hugely influential on other bands/musicians, and oft-forgotten force. Along with the band's unconventional choice of material, and heavy makeup that was actually very unpopular at the time,...the members had no eyebrows and wore strange attire that was like a cross between The New York Dolls, Leatherface, A Native Warrior, The Road Warrior and The Pope. The band had various custom stage sets that were very horror movie influenced and used ridiculous amounts of pyrotechnics. The band spilled lots of blood, both stage and real, in their act. Gram became notorious as a result of his performances as the band's frontman. Not only was he prone to brandishing large snakes and spitting copious amounts of fire, he was also acknowledged for his verbal tirades on the microphone. Gram bashed Conservatives, Politicians, Police, Government, Evangelicals,and Censors alike, while he championed Freedom of Expression, Rebellion, Creativity and Marijuana. All of this laden with profuse obscenities, as well as slapstick humor. The band became instantly popular wherever they appeared, which drove several NJ and Philly club owners to risk the wrath of the local agents and book Saints in Hell, ignoring the blackball status. Gram's volatile personality, combined with the very solid music skills of Keifer, Brittingham and the rest made Saints in Hell a unique band that many feel were ahead of their time.
The band's shows may have made their fans happy,...but such was not always the case with new venues that booked the band based on the word they were good, not realizing what the band's performances were like. This lead to the Saints in Hell being banned amidst controversy from many clubs. Reasons ranging from Gram's language, to setting the roof on fire. However, it should be noted that the band's breaking of the aforementioned talent agencies' stranglehold on club bookings, was the probable catalyst that changed the entire music scene of the area, leading to the original metal scene of the mid eighties and the death of the dominance of club's featuring top forty cover bands.
Saints in Hell would also become notorious for an incident that occurred on December 7, 1981 (ironically the anniversary of Pearl Harbor). The band was playing at a a club in Pennsauken, N.J. called Menagerie, when a pyrotechnic device malfunctioned and sent 37 people to the hospital including Keifer and Brittingham. The accident was covered in local newspapers like The Courier Post and Philadelphia Bulletin, as well as on all the Philly news broadcasts. The explosion also resulted in a joint Pennsauken Police/NJ state Police/ ATF investigation.
Keifer was in the band for about ten months. In magazines interviews, Tom has been quoted as saying "That band was just out of it's mind. It was a sick band." The band used makeup similar to that used later by Mötley Crüe. Tom also stated that none of the members got along. He said "We'd try to rehearse and after five minutes people would start swinging at each other."
This inability to get along, as well as the many controversies the band became mired in are the probable reasons for it's demise, after such a brief and influential life.
Saints in Hell did have one positive side-effect: Gram met bassist Eric Brittingham, on Halloween night, 1981, in the bathroom of a bar called Back of the Rack in Ocean City, Maryland. Gram asked Brittingham if he played the bass. Eric joined Saints in Hell a few days later. It was later erroneously reported by Circus Magazine, that it was Keifer who met Eric in the bathroom. When Eric tried to correct this error, he was told by the writer of the article, that he substituted Keifer for Gram, because no one knew who Gram was.Later Keifer and Brittingham would form the hard rock band Cinderella and go on to huge international success.
Regardless, of some of the original band member's ability to gel, Gram retained friendships with all but Ritchie. Keifer even guested on Gram's 1991 Indy cd release Ghostdance Tribe.
2008Keifer and Brittingham continue with Cinderella today. Keifer is also recording a solo album. Brittingham also is the bass player for another project called Naked Beggars, who have released several indy albums. Eric's wife Inga is the vocalist.
Gram is an actor, screenwriter, filmmaker and professional wrestling manager/commentator. He has appeared in the films Street Trash, Dead Riot, and The Meltdown Memoirs. He is the writer of One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead, a film celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the cinema classic. He appears regularly in CZW(Combat Zone Wrestling) as a manager and color commentator