White Wizzard

In 2007, White Wizzard came together through the efforts of vocalist James Paul Luna, guitarist James LaRue, bassist Jon Leon, and drummer Tyler Meahl. Despite the prevalence of retro-fitted thrash and glam rock acts in their vicinity, the group opted to pursue the New Wave of British Heavy Metal style for their self-titled seven-song EP released the next year. Featuring artwork created by Derek Riggs, the artist known for his work with Iron Maiden, this EP caught the eye of Earache Records. The label featured the song "High Speed GTO" on their 2009 compilation Heavy Metal Killers and subsequently put out the EP again using that title. Earache Records proceeded to offer White Wizzard a contract for their debut full-length album. However, with the exception of bassist Leon, an entirely fresh roster would handle the recording: Wyatt "Screamin' Demon" Anderson handling vocals along with guitarists Chad Yasuhara and Erik Kluober, plus drummer Jesse Applehans. This change occurred because the other founding members left during the middle of 2009 to establish the band Holy Grail.