Rat Race Choir - In The Dead Of Night

[blydo505]

Great memories if RRC in CT, What a GREAT band. Harlequin running a close second. Thanks, glad I found this. You gotta love Youtube!

[escomments]

Mother's in Wayne New Jersey every Tuesday night!

Mark sounded fantastic especially with the super lineup he had with him. their Tightness was unmatched. I had never even heard of UK or Holdsworth at the time. LOL I thought this was original!

Rat Race Rocks!

[hyperguy61]

The only guitar lesson i ever had was standing in front of Mark and this band when i was a kid picking my mouth up off the floor along with all the others standing there with me. I didn't know how lucky i was to be able to go see musicianship like this on a regular basis. in local clubs no less .... Thank you Mark :)

[franksan9111]

Rat Race was unbelievably talented...used to see them every week at a place called Gemini in Yorktown Heights...what great memories...thanks so much for the video footage!!

[STEVESANDS100]

It boggles my my mind, while growing up in the 70's going to every RRC show I could to try & steal Marks licks (I eventually PAID him to tutor me) my fellow audiance droolers most certinally included a young Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Brian Setzer and probably Zakk Wylde. Who were NY Metropolitian 'neighborhood' guys at the time.

STEVE SANDS

[0Mike0Banks0]

my dad and me have been friends with dave chmela, the bassist and only original member, for quite some time. he's a great guy and i feel so bad that this band never took off. twisted sister just stole the new york dolls' gimmick, glamed it up and became the poster band for '80s metal. it sucks but dave and rat race are still going strong and we love 'em

[exgroupiefromelmont1]

@0Mike0Banks0 hello is marc still with them?? tried 2 contact him last summer was told by barmaid there was no marc with them.. she claimed that there IS/WAS must've been another RRC!! LEFT message for marc on facebook got no reply posted that i might have the wrong group got nasty message from dave chmela!! wtf is his problem?? i am not slandering his band!! sorry mike but dave is wrong for getting nasty with me..am charging him to ignorance-cause that's what i am getting back!

[OfficialRRCvids]

@exgroupiefromelmont1 

[OfficialRRCvids]

@exgroupiefromelmont1 From DAVE>> ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

[mc2NY]

GREAT Long Island Club Scene and bands back then....Rat Race, Twisted Sister, Zebra, Toys, Good Rats. Those were great times.

[renduke]

@mc2NY yea i use to see them at some place in queens village called beggers opera...is that guy pete breck with em....are they still around ? how id they not make it.....way back then i remember thinking they were light years better then twisted sister

[TheUltraworld]

The range of songs they played was diverse. They would play Rosanna by Toto then Pressure by Billy Joel, then a AC/DC song. A ton of talent. Dream Theater borrowed heavily from these guys

[ffej980]

Agreed...and i saw U.K. live...never knew anyone covered their music...very well done

[imamyt1]

Rar Race at the mad hatter in East Quogue,Long Island.Great Memories,what i can still remember.

Mark hit,the best fucking guitartist around,you were my teacher man!

[mockinator15]

music was so much better back than nobody has the talent anymore or maybe the drugs jk but i makes me mad alittle because i was born in the 90's

[stiehlreddog]

Sad,but a lot of it has to do with the record executives.Nobody has the balls to take chances anymore.They just don`t sign the 5 album deals.And really your dead on!A lot of the guys in bands today could`nt be roadies for bands like rat race choir.You will never see guitar players like mark(who was a 1 of a kind even back then).They all sound the same

with that dropped tuneing and singers that all sound the same!

[mockinator15]

your so right man hopefully ill bring back the good time sman im really gonna try that is my dream because i never got to expereince them hopefully ill be a great guitartist one day and have a good sing and a god band. see ya later.

[kjdayton]

I was there AND your right ... the music & drugs WHERE BETTER ... ;-)

Does anyone remember "805"? RRC & 805 were my favorite "bar bands" in the late 70's.

To check out a detailed discussion of the current state of the music biz - search for "Before Music Dies Documentary" on GOOGLE VIDEO (tried adding link - but wouldn't post)

[amsedelm]

These guys are legends on Long Island. Great band.

[ShotsloppyD]

Wow, I've NEVER heard anyone cover a UK song before!... and a great job too! Bill Bruford and Alan Holdsworth would be proud- and they ain't dead yet!

[stiehlreddog]

HEY SSD I USED TO SEE THESE GUYS IN N.Y ALL THE TIME.THE GUITAR PLAYER IS 1 OF THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN.THAT INCLUDES A LOT OF BANDS.

I KNOW YOUR A DRUMMER LOOK UP STEVE LUONGO

HE IS IN THIS VID HE HAS A DRUM SOLO ON YOUTUBE WHEN HE JOINED THE JOHN ENTWISTE Band

[SPECTRE1961]

EXCELLENT VOICE & GROUP!!!!!!!!!!

[eviltwin47]

mark got to love ya

[17drums]

Great footage, thanks NyLawDog! You wouldn't also happen to have an early drum solo of Steve's, would you, from the 70's or so? He and I had nearly identical sets-FIBES. Mine is copper, though. And we both had a custom drum rack welded by the same guy--Vinnie Murray--from Yorktown Heights. I think that's the one he's using in this video. I was roadying for Harlequin at the time. (My brother was in that band).

[NyLawDog]

Steve Luongo's Drum solo with The John Entwistle Band LIVE is on youtube. just search Steve and it will come up.

[17drums]

Actually, I had found that one first (while waxing nostalgic one day), which in turn led me to your postings. I just thought you may have had an old solo from the 70's. Thanks anyway, and thanks also for posting good, old memories!

[FishingDudeGA]

You're right about the Fibes drum set of Steve's... legendary! He still is amazing in TorQue. Hope to see them one day.

[ebealienhead]

I remember seeing RRC several times in Norwalk, Ct. at the NITE OWL CAFE...around 79-81...awesome. thanks for posting!

[1000WATS]

I've been lucky enough to see Mark play when he was in his early teens, I was 8 or 9, this was long before RRC. The Gemini, the Fore n Aft and Zig Zag club/Rock Palce werewhere RRC cut their teeth.

Mark is a Great Rock Guitarist.

[petenoon]

I remember Harlequin - I used to see them pretty often - I started listening to Genesis because of that band but clearly RRC was my favorite.

[17drums]

HEY, my brother Jim played keyboards for Harlequin (after Bert left)! Detroit, Tueys, Hammerheads, Mad Hatter, Speaks, Cheers, Ubey's OTJ, the OBI's, Baby Huey's--Those were the glory days of local club-rock bands!

[hdiaz72]

Dave, How've you been? Henry Diaz here, I got this link from one of my Sterling bandmembers (before joining Harlequin). Looks like you're still playing drums. The 70's were awesome & we all sure had a great time on LI & on the road. SOme of these names are really rockin' my memory!

[17drums]

Henry! Holy crap. There's a blast from the past! How the hell have you been? I remember seeing Sterling play in Quogue, on the beach there. Chris was your drummer, wasn't he? What are you up to now? Still playing? Still keep in touch with the other Harlequins? You guys should do a reunion tour. Everyone else seems to be, (Zebra, Harpy)! Still living in NY? Got any old footage of the band to post? Didn't Bruce video the LFO show in NYC? (How's Reesa's stinky pinky?!)

[SFALLOY]

I love reading about the people who remember the old days seeing great bands like RRC. Does anyone remember any of these bands? ...Harlequin, Blue Moose, Steeplechase, Gypsy, Teaser, Karizma, Gabriel, Monroe, Gates Pass, Reality, Prophet...?

[tripleeff]

gates pass where do you think the guitar player in the video came from. mark was originally in gates pass.

[SFALLOY]

No he wasn't. Gates Pass guitarist was Louie Imbiacco not Mark Hitt.

[tripleeff]

louie was in the band after mark left. i worked for rrc for 13 years i think you can trust me on this one!when bobby mayo left he was replaced by hitt. don't believe me,ask mark.

[SFALLOY]

Okay, sorry. I didn't realize you were talking earlier years. I was too young for clubs when Mayo was in RRC. That was like when Pete and Moe at The Rising Sun were like young men.

[tripleeff]

moe was 178 years old when he was born. WOW, i forgot all about those 2 characters.believe me, they were cartoon characters but they were cool. did you know moe went back to vaudville days? yeah , he was in the business THAT long.

[SFALLOY]

I did not know that. Moe was a funny guy. I would think they are both deceased by now, but who knows? Anyway, I was the drummer with Teaser back in the late 70's early 80's. We did great rock early on - Humble Pie, Derringer, Pat Travers, Thin Lizzy - around '81 people drifted into new wave and it just wasn't for me. Were you from the Bronx or Westchester?

[tripleeff]

neither i was/am a long island boy except for when i worked with rat race we all lived in yorktown heights(yeah - iknow- us in yorktown that's good for a few thousand stories)as far as new wave we kinda hit the same brick wall you guys did. but we hit it and kept going!did you ever hear rrc do "rock the casbah" i still can't figure out whether it was cool or sad. they also did flock of seagulls but (thank god) that didn't last too long.

[SFALLOY]

Okay, I was Bronx. No, I never heard RRC do that stuff. I still hold RRC in high esteem as the only band ( other than Tull) I ever saw pull off Jethro Tull's Hunting Girl. Those are classic years!

[tripleeff]

who was the guitar player in teaser, i think i remember you guys.

[exgroupiefromelmont1]

@SFALLOY THANK YOU SIR..BUT DAVE IS STILL WRONG FOR GETTING NASTY WITH ME!!

[OfficialRRCvids]

@exgroupiefromelmont1 Bands change members! This is a 32 yr old video?

This is DAVE.You've got a problem with me? Mark has been out of RRC for nearly 20 YEARS.Obviously you dont follow Rat Race THAT CLOSELY.BAND DECISIONS WERE MADE *MUTUALLY*,UNDERSTAND?? Interesting Mark didn't reply to you either, isn't it? At least I DID.,

[exgroupiefromelmont1]

@tripleeff yes.. i tried to contact marc and posted this info on facebook trying to topuch base with him..next thing i know..dave chmera is getting nasty threatening me for slandering the band!! i was told by a barmaid there was no marc hitt with the band when i called a venue they were playing last summer shhe falsely stated there wrre 2 rat race choirs and i had the wrong band!!..left message for marc on their facebook page got no reply..THEN DAVE SLAMS ME??

[sladejam]

Yeah I,ve seen seen RRC 4 years,in nj at Mothers n wayne n.j,Zaffy,s in piscataway,towpath n w paterson,Great band doin ptog stuff,steve loungo had a huge kitw/ a rack system before antone else I saw,After I saw them 1 night My girl took me to see white Tiger ,what a joke,But them again Rap is a joke,Long live RRC.

[superstitionfreak]

queen is better than these guys!

[mattmudpuppy]

I don't think we're talking about the same kind of music. Queen certainly could not have covered U.K. like these guys.

[tripleeff]

nor would queen want to cover uk.we are talking about 2 totally different type of bands.both do what they do well.

[tripleeff]

that is an idiotic statement.what are you? 12 years old? isn't there room for more than one band.brian m thought mark was a great guitar player but you pass judgement like that?

[bjkwjk]

Great Video of one of the best bands ever !!

These guys were amazing. The Rising Sun, Detroits, The Soap Factory (before it went disco), LaMore East and West !!! Ahh the days when you could go out on a Saturday Night and see some real musicians playing real fuckin music !!

[eselopm]

I drove all over westchester in the early 80's watching this band, Happy daze, Glen Island Casino,Yorktown,high schools.I was heavily into UK,Nektar and Genesis,elp and yes.Thank you so much for this, sure brings back some really crazy times!!

[NyLawDog]

You're welcome 123. When I get some spare time, I'll post some more if I ca find it. I have to look DEEP in my VHS collection.

[FishingDudeGA]

Looking forward to more... if possible...!

[scree123]

Wow! I remember these guys from the early 70's. They played all the high school dances back in the day. At the Fore and Aft in White Plaines and New Rochelle, NY. They were the best! Great video, thanks.

[petenoon]

Classic UK song performed as only RRC could!! God I love this video - thanks again for posting these!!!!

[NyLawDog]

You're welcome

[bumblesouth]

Man, you're my hero! Thanx a lot!