The Last Vegas

Hailing from Chicago, the hard rock group The Last Vegas fuses glam, punk, and sleaze metal influences into its sound. Chad Cherry fronts the quintet on lead vocals, with Johnny Wator and Adam Arling sharing guitar duties, Danny Smash anchoring the low end, and Nate Arling powering the kit. The members list AC/DC, the Stooges, Mötley Crüe, and Ted Nugent among their key inspirations. Their first full-length effort, Lick 'Em and Leave 'Em, arrived in 2004 through the independent imprint Get Hip Records, followed two years later by the sophomore album Seal the Deal on the same label. After parting ways with Get Hip, the band issued the five-song EP High Class Trash in 2007, which included the track “Raw Dog” previously featured in Guitar Hero II. The self-titled full-length The Last Vegas surfaced the next year. Also in 2008 the group earned an opening slot on Mötley Crüe’s Saints of Los Angeles tour—joined by Hinder and Theory of a Deadman—after prevailing in a Guitar Center-sponsored battle of the bands at the Whisky a Go-Go in Los Angeles. The extensive arena trek, which stretched well into 2009, generated widespread exposure and helped elevate the concurrently released single “I’m Bad” to the band’s strongest commercial showing at that point. Their fourth studio album, Bad Decisions, emerged in 2012 and spotlighted the single “Evil Eyes.” Teaming with longtime producer Roy Z, whose résumé includes Bruce Dickinson and Judas Priest, they delivered Sweet Salvation in 2014. For the 2016 release Eat Me the members chose a more relaxed, self-produced method that merged bluesy, Zeppelin-esque riffs, boogie rock, and psych-tinged acoustic material.