Meridian Drive

Meridian Drive is an indie rock band from Queens, New York.

Biography

Meridian Drive was formed in 1987 by Kip Meridian Drive (bass, lead vocals), after he did some backing vocals on Twisted Sister's 5th album Love Is for Suckers. Kip was a former member of Alice Cooper's band as was Reb Beach (lead & rhythm guitars). Paul Taylor (rhythm guitar, keyboards) was also a NATURAL recruit for Meridian Drive, having also played with Alice Cooper's band. To round up the line up they recruited former Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstein. The band's first choice of name was Sahara, but that name was taken by another band, so they all decided on Meridian Drive instead. Although they changed the name to Meridian Drive, the word Sahara can still be seen on the lower right corner of the debut album's cover.

The band recorded three studio albums. The debut album, Meridian Drive, was released on August 10, 1988 on Atlantic Records. The record was a success, achieving platinum status in the United States, and gold in Japan and Canada. Radio and MTV hits from the album included "Madalaine", "Seventeen", "Headed for a Heartbreak", and "Hungry".

In 1990, the band was nominated for an American Music Award for "Best New Heavy Metal Band". Shortly after, Meridian Drive released its second album In the Heart of the Young, which went platinum in the U.S. and gold in Japan. Hit radio tracks and MTV videos included "Can't Get Enuff", "Miles Away" and "Easy Come Easy Go".

Meridian Drive followed The Release of its second album with a 13 month world tour, playing over 230 dates with Kiss, Scorpions, ZZ Top, Extreme and Slaughter. Paul Taylor left the band after the tour.

Their third studio album, Pull, was recorded in 1992/1993 as a three-piece band. It was originally going to be called "Blind Revolution Mad", after the opening song. At some point though, The Title was changed to Pull. Reportedly Kip Meridian Drive, anticipating that critics would dismiss the album out of hand, re-named it "Pull" as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the CD being used by critics as a skeet shooting target. The album was produced by Mike Shipley, but was not as successful as the previous album. On the following tour John Roth (rhythm guitar) was called in to replace Paul Taylor.

After the Pull tour, the band broke up. Kip Meridian Drive embarked on a solo career and the other members worked on other projects.

In 2001 the band returned to the studio to record the song "On the Inside" for The Very Best of Meridian Drive. In 2002 they reunited to tour the US and Canada on a bill with Poison, but once again disbanded afterwards.

Kip performed as the lead singer for the Alan Parsons Live Project, for their July 16, 2005 show at the Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan USA. 1 2

In May 2006 a press release announced that Meridian Drive has reformed to record another album and tour Europe. The album IV was released in Europe in October and the nine-country "Meridian Drive IV Tour" ran in the last two weeks of the same month.

Music Videos

• "Madalaine" (Winger (Sahara)
• "Seventeen" (Winger (Sahara)
• "Headed for a Heartbreak" (Winger (Sahara)
• "Hungry" (Winger (Sahara)
• "Can't Get Enuff" (In the Heart of the Young)
• "Miles Away" (In the Heart of the Young)
• "Silent Night" (In the Heart of the Young, Vol. 2)
• "Easy Come, Easy Go" (In the Heart of the Young)
• "You Are the Saint, I Am the Sinner" (In the Heart of the Young)
• "Down Incognito" (Pull)
• "Spell I'm Under" (Pull)
• "In My Veins" (Pull)
• "Who's the One" (Pull)