Craig Locicero’s Top 5: Bay Area Thrash Bands And Overall Influences

So many greats have influenced all of the guys in the band. I’m sure you’d get a different answer from each of us. There would be a lot of ones that indirectly influenced SA, but since you’re asking me, here we go…

5. Black Sabbath.

Obvious and standard answer, I know. But Sabbath had a huge effect on Tim and I coming from different places and unifying our love for epic heaviness and beautiful, haunting melodies. They were simple, strong and sounded like nobody else on the planet. The template was created by what they started back in 1968.

4. Soundgarden.

This goes back all the way to 1989 for me. I was given a cassette of Louder Than Love in a gift bag from the Foundations Forum and it changed my view of music. It was so Earthy and had a Middle Eastern flair that nobody else touched until then. I cranked LTL for a couple of years and seemed to be the only one that liked it. When Badmotorfinger dropped, SG started to really catch on. But for me, I would not have started taking chances with my music without having heard Soundgarden.

3. Radiohead.

The other guys in the band may not agree, but Radiohead was a HUGE reason for me ending Forbidden back in 97. Once I had listened to The Bends, I was so inspired to find my inner voice that it made me take a deep breath and prepare for uncharted waters. Not that anything SpiralArms writes sounds like Radiohead, but if there was no Radiohead there would be no Manmade God. If there was no MMG, there would be no SpiralArms.

2. Led Zeppelin.

It’s funny, when I was a kid I really didn’t “get” Zeppelin. It wasn’t until after Forbidden released Forbidden Evil that I really started going deep into the archives and listening to everything LZ did. Man, I was missing a lot! If you ask Tim LZ would be his biggest influence. When it comes to the ability to play whatever you want whenever you want to, Zeppelin were the Kings of that. We all aspire to be a fraction of what they are and mean to music.

1. Stone Temple Pilots.

This may seem strange to some folks, but STP are a criminally underrated band. I’ve been friends with Eric Kretz since 98 and watched everything they have gone through since before that. Scott Weiland is a loose cannon for certain, but he epitomized artistry and being a rock star. They’ve been writing a string of hits and great hard rock songs since the beginning and influence countless bands to this day. If anyone doubts that, consider the fact that they have Chester from Linkin Park in the band now and he sold over 80 million records. 3 times what STP has sold collectively.