DOWNBOYS.COM - WARRANT HISTORY

WARRANT HISTORY

Our Story Begins In The Year 1982...

Much of the information contained herein is derived from various reliable sources. However, Downboys.com reserves the right to make mistakes, so if you find anything that is incorrect, or missing, don't sue us.

1982
Jani forms Cyren. Their lineup was: Don Hoover (bass) [later replaced by Rusty Fohner], Scott Hammonds (vocals), John Weakland (guitar), and Jani (on drums!). [John is now with A&R department at Sony Music].
Cyren warms up for Risque (which featured David Brooks (Brooks) and Al Collins (Alley)-- who later played in Slammin' Gladys). [Jani executive-produced Slammin Gladys' only album].
Jani graduates from Field High School in Brimfield, OH.

1983
Jani moves to Orlando, Florida.
Jani plays drums in a band called Dorian Gray. Jani forms Plain Jane, whose membership includes Steven (then AKA Stickee Sweet).
Late '83, Plain Jane relocate to Los Angeles.

1984
Joey, a veteran of numerous Orange County club bands, plays guitar for [and records with] Nightmare 2. For a six-month period, he is joined in the band by a relocated Erik, who then departs for Los Angeles.
July, Erik forms Warrant in Los Angeles.
September, Jerry Dixon joins the band.

The early Warrant opens for acts as divergent as Poison, Stryper, Black N' Blue, Odin (Jerry's cousin Randy's band?), Leatherwolf, Hurricane, and Ted Nugent.

1986
By spring, Warrant's line-up includes Erik, Jerry, vocalist Adam Shore, guitarist Josh Lewis, and drummer Max Asher. (Note: according to Max, the guys found Erik through his ex-girlfriend and they played with

Plain Jane is also active in the circuit at this time. Despite their status as rivals, Erik is impressed by the vocal harmonies of PJ's lead singer [Jani] and drummer [Steven]. He also admires Jani's talent for songwriting.
September: Plain Jane disbands, and Adam and Max leave Warrant. Erik invites Jani and Steven to complete his line-up.
Rick Steier and James Kottak hook with Kingdom Come.

1987
By now, Warrant has become the L.A. clubs' top draw, setting numerous club attendance records. (They also attrack attention for their humorously provocative fliers which are feverishly passed out for upcoming shows)
March: Josh leaves Warrant, to be replaced by Joey, reunited with Erik at long last (they were band mates in Nightmare2, back in 1984 before Erik left for LA).
A&M asks the guys to contribute a song for the soundtrack of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. They record Game of War with Steve Salas producing.
A&M passes on the option to sign Warrant.

1988
Adam Shore plays in a band called Shake City.
March: Warrant are signed to Columbia by A&R man Ron Oberman
April: A&M pulls Game of War off the Bill and Ted soundtrack. The guys buy back the rights to the song for one dollar.
Jani will later give the song "Game of War" to the band Shake City, which features Erik's cousin Michael on guitar.
May: the guys record with producer/engineer Beau Hill, known for his work with "L.A. club alumnus" Ratt,Winger, etc.
July: recording is complete but Columbia delays the release [waiting for the proper timing??]
October: Eager to begin, Warrant borrows money from their label to finance a national tour before the album is even available. The tour starts out slow [after all, no one outside of L.A. has heard of them yet] but their concerts generate terrific word-of-mouth.

1989
February: Warrant's debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich is released. All songs are written by Jani. It eventually sells double platinum.
In support of DRFSR, the guys tour as openers for Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Poison, Paul Stanley, and Eddie Money.
September: their most successful single, Heaven, peaks at number 2 on the Billboard chart. However, in terms of overall chart performance, sales, etc., Heaven is the month's number 1 single.

The down side of Heaven's success is that it typecasts Warrant as a lightweight ballad band, causing many fans to overlook their equal talents as an accomplished hard-rocking unit.

Warrant plays a total of 282-285 dates for the year.

1990
Warrant performs Sometimes She Cries on the American Music Awards. (Jani appears with one eye bandaged as a result of a bar fight; one source informs that said shiner arose from a collision with Jerry's bass at a previous show, but only the guys know the real story... care to elaborate guys?)
August 27: Joey marries his long-time girlfriend Kathy Conan.
The guys travel to Florida and Hawaii for pre-production work with Beau.
Warrant appears on The Arsenio Hall Show
September 10: the Cherry Pie album, again produced by Beau, is released on Columbia. All songs [but one] are by Jani. It eventually sells double platinum.

The album was originally produced without the song Cherry Pie: in fact, at one point the album's working title was Uncle Tom's Cabin, because they were so proud of that particular cut. Vertical Smiles was also a title they considered apparently. When Columbia heard the album, they asked for "just one more song", hopefully something in a lightweight'n'horny vein. The guys slapped together Cherry Pie almost as a joke... only to find out that Columbia made it the title cut, first single, and first video!

Canada's cable-TV music network, MuchMusic, refuses to air the Cherry Pie video on the grounds that it is "offensively sexist". Model Bobbie Brown who appears in that video later begins a relationship with Jani.
Warrant supports Cherry Pie with a successful, national, mega- L.A.-glam-fest tour opening for Poison. Although the bands begin the tour as friends, apparently the relationship is strained during their sojourn, and Poison and Warrant part acrimoniously and several weeks ahead of schedule: i.e., Warrant walks off the tour!
Warrant performs third on the bill with Aerosmith, Metallica and the Black Crowes, in "mini-festivals" in Rochester, New York and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
November: Cherry Pie is the month's #15 single.

1991
February: I Saw Red is the month's #13 single.
Early in the year there was a club tour of the U.S. The band played N.Y., Hammerjacks in Baltimore, and several other places. Next, the guys tour Europe supporting David Lee Roth. On March 4th, in Birmingham, England, Jani breaks two ribs and injures his shoulder and hand when a careless leap sends him through a stage barrier. This forces Warrant to cancel the remainder of the tour.
June: Warrant headlines a national tour with Trixter and Firehouse opening.
July 19: In Toronto, reviewers of the gig are "pleasantly surprised" by the guys' toughness, tightness and professionalism.

July 27: Jani marries Bobbie Brown.
Looking for a change from "The Beau Hill Sound", Warrant start work on their third album at Morrisound Studios in Florida [the "Grand Central Station of Death Metal"], with production by Michael Wagener [Extreme, Accept, Dokken, White Lion, many many more....]
September 2: Kathy Conan gives birth to Joey's daughter Kylie Josephine.
November 28: Jerry marries Susan Ashley.

1992
January 17: Bobbie Brown gives birth to Jani's daughter Taylor Jayne.
August: Columbia releases Dog Eat Dog, whose harder sound is accompanied by the band's new, black-leather-and-tattoos, anti-glam image. Again, all songs are by Jani. This attempt to be "taken seriously" musically is well-received by metal media mavens. (However, no double-platinum this time, just gold.)

In the wake of the grungemania of 1992, "serious" hard-rock fans --- and record companies --- turned their attentions toward Seattle: Columbia did little to support Dog Eat Dog. It's also likely that the change of image alienated the "young girls" segment of Warrant's audience. In combination, small wonder that their sales and visibility failed to keep pace with earlier efforts.

Jani works as the executive producer for Slammin' Gladys' debut (and only) CD.
Obi Steinman works with the band (possibly the start of Obi's and Jani's friendship?).
One bit of support that the album does receive is a multi-week promotional tour of radio stations by Jani and Jerry.
The guys tour Europe with Iron Maiden and Megadeth. They play "Monsters Of Rock" dates.
Warrant closes the year with a headlining tour of the USA, with Lynch Mob and Tora Tora opening. On keyboards for this tour is one David White (who first played with the band initially at the record release party for D.E.D.).

1993
1993 was a dark year for the band. With the influx of "alternative/grunge" artists, metal music is on the down fall.
Warrant's manager Tom Hulett dies.
February: Jani leaves Warrant and announces plans for a solo career, citing his desire to pursue the less heavy side of his writing (which he feels is in danger of being swamped by the band's new direction).
Jani and family move from Sherman Oaks to Tarzana, California. He also works on demos for his solo album, slated for release in '94 and takes a "break" from Warrant.
March: Columbia drops Warrant from their roster. The guys are notified by mail.
July: Long-time road manager Obi Steinman becomes the band's manager. It's rumored that RU Ready vocalist Pat Briggs is slated to replace Jani in Warrant. Apparently, they also practiced with Jesse Harte (ex-Southgang), but that didn't work out.
September 21: Susan Ashley gives birth to Jerry's son Grady Colton.
Around September Jani and the rest of the guys patch things up and regroup!
By year's end Jani and Bobbie are divorced.
December: Warrant book their own club tour, despite the fact that they have no label and no new album to support. Sez Jani: "We decided we wanted to keep playing and not get rusty." Also despite the aforementioned strikes against them, the guys sell out every club they play --- starting with Jani's new club in Orlando, Florida: Sunset Strip (which is co-owned by Jani's good friend Ray Stines).
Also, about this time, Jani starts seeing Rowanne Brewer.

1994
Joey leaves Warrant and gets divorced.
Steven, now engaged, is fired from Warrant and settles down with his fiancée... -they split shortly thereafter.

Presently, Steven is a purchasing agent for a film/tape distributor in Hollywood, and lives with brother Dave in Encino. He is also still playing drums and singing on an occasional basis.

August 26, 1994: Warrant signs with CMC International Records founder Tom Lipsky at the Roxy

Rick and James had also previously done some work on Jani's solo demos. And Jani calls David "probably the best all-round musician in the band", obviously considering him a major asset.

November: the guys enter One on One Studios to begin recording their next album, once more under the aegis of Beau Hill. The influence of the grunge/alternative revolution is strongly felt in this new material, but it is thoroughly assimilated to contribute to [rather than bury] the fundamental Warrant sound. For the first time, the other guys collaborate with Jani on the writing of almost every song. (David, busy relocating at the time, is the only one who doesn't have the chance to compose any music this time around.)
The album is finished in five weeks.

1995
Jani and girlfriend Rowanne move to Orlando.
February 27: Warrant release Ultraphobic on CMC.
CMC releases advance copies of Ultraphobic to radio stations with no band name listed. Response is good: many stations add the mystery album to their playlist, and listener feedback is positive.

Ultraphobic

May: Warrant plays Japan.
June: Warrant plays the States.
July: Warrant plays Australia.
August: James Kottak leaves Warrant. The drummer's chair is assumed by ex-Left For Dead (and ex-Beggars and Thieves) stickman Bobby Borg (who was suggested by James and has been a good friend of the band's since L.F.D. and Warrant toured together in 1994. Bobby was even on the "Family Picnic" set to hang with the guys). [James went on to join the Scorpions and also a band called Krunk. (James on vocals and guitar, while his wife Athena Bass [Tommy Lee's sister] plays the drums).
August thru October: Warrant plays the States, with some European dates in September.
Columbia Records released a greatest hits album sometime in 1995 which the band had no input on whatsoever. They have pretty much dubbed it as "Columbia's Greatest Hits" and in 2000 they released their own greatest hits album called "Greatest and Latest."

1996
Early 1996: Danny Wagner joins Warrant playing keyboards and adding backing vocals.
February 14: Erik pops The Question to Kirsten.
April 2: Sony [now the parent company of the guys' old label Columbia] release The Best of Warrant on their Sony/Legacy reissue label. This 16-track anthology includes rare cuts such as Thin Disguise, We Will Rock You, and the solo acoustic version of I Saw Red. [Note: this compilation was done with little or no contact with the present and former members of Warrant.]
Spring: the guys re-enter the studio to begin work on their next album, this time producing themselves along with Stefan Neary. An August release date is scheduled. (Enter DreamState Studios, owned by Jerry-- who produces, engineers, and mixes the album?)
May 22: Erik and Kirsten are married in Hawaii and honeymoon on Maui.
June 1: Erik's wedding reception is held in Agoura Hills, CA. Apparently a certain Mr. J. Allen was one of the guests... along with other musicians of note such as Ratt's Robbie Crane (ex-Vince Neil band).
Summer: Warrant co-headlines big dates with Slaughter and the Vince Neil Band.
August: Warrant's label, CMC International, is purchased by BMG. The release date of Belly To Belly is pushed back to October 1, but this does mean that the guys have major-label clout again!
As for videos - you wont find any from this effort. Despite the bands two video contracts, they lacked video support and thus none were produced.
December: Jani and Rowanne get married.
Warrant heads out on tour with Slaughter and Vince Neil, playing to 8-10,000 people a night. Later they hook up with Bang Tango and L.A. Guns.

1997
May 23: Joey Allen graduates from college in Irvine, CA.
Summer: Jani and Rowanne annouce they are expecting a child!
Word is that Jani's solo project (which includes Rick and Danny) will release a record titled "Jabberwocky".
August: Warrant opens for Alice Cooper along with Dokken and Slaughter.
October: Bobby Borg leaves the band to pursue other interests.
November: Jani and Rowanne's first daughter, Madison Michelle, is born.
December: WIth Vik Foxx filling-in on drums, Warrant tours the midwest and ends the year by playing in Las Vegas at Pink E's on New Year's Eve.

1998
April: Jabberwocky (featuring Jani, Rick, Danny Wagner, Jeff Klaven (of Krokus), and Bruce Robinson) play select dates including Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Warrant parts ways with CMC International Records.
Warrant tours with Slaughter/Firehouse/Quiet Riot/L.A. Guns on the Rock Never Stops tour.
Jani is now sober and the band appears on "Lunch With Jesse" on MTV.
August: Danny Wagner weds Kim in Las Vegas.
September: Rick and Leslie marry in California on Sept. 5 and honeymoon in the Virgin Islands. Danny Wagner switches to drums and temp. stickman Vik Foxx departs to pursue his own group.
Missing from the beginning of the tour (as he had been since 1997) is Erik Turner (but he remains a member of the band and will play on the next album) who returns on October 9 in Las Vegas (Warrant plays with Slaughter).
A Japanese-only record (at least until the band signs another U.S. record contract) is rumored.

1999
While rumors intensify about an album with original members Joey Allen and Steven Sweet, the band comes off the round and works on "Greatest and Latest" for Cleopatra Records.
Greatest and Latest is released
The rumors of original Warrant line up reuniting is squelched

2000
January: Rick Steier and Danny Wagner leave the band.

In steps Mike Fasano and touring guitarist Keri Kelli.

Later in 2000, Keri Kelli hits the road with Slash's Snakepit and is quickly replaced Clevelander and long time friend of the band Billy Morris

October: Warrant contributed to "A Very Hairy Christmas" -- a Christmas album which, as of July 2003, was never released.

2001
January: HardraDIO.com reports: "Out on February 16th through Anagram Records is Breaking The Law: An Industrial Rock Tribute To JUDAS PRIEST." Warrant contributes with their rendition of "Hellion" "Electric Eye".

February: The Turners add a baby boy, Noah, to their family.

April: Cleopatra Records releases "A Tribute To Bon Jovi: Covered Dead Or Alive" with backing music on each track from Jerry Dixon and Erik Turner, former Warrant (turned Scorpions) drummer James Kottak, lead guitarist and former Warrant keyboardist Danny Wagner and last but not least, "Lay Your Hands On Me," vocals by Jani Lane.

May: Fans got their hands on Warrant's record Under The Influence.

June: Warrant hits the road with Poison on the Glam Slam Metal Jam tour.

August: Glam Slam tour cancelled due to a back injury received by Bobby Dall while performing.

2002
January: Warrant hits the road wtih LA Guns and Firehouse.

April: Rock Fest 2002 with Dokken, Ratt, Firehouse and LA Guns is announced.

June: Jani finishes work on solo CD "Back Down To One" and gets signed with Europe's Z Records.

2003
Spring: Mike Fasano is let go from Warrant - replaced by Kevan Phares in July.

March: Billy Morris leaves Warrant.

June: Billy's back.

Summer: Warrant tours with the Rock Never Stops package: Warrant, Whitesnake, Kip Winger & Slaughter.
December: "We Wish You A Hairy Christmas" compliation is released.