Year : 1990/2013 (FnA Records Edition 2026)
Style : Melodic Glam Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 129 mb
Bio:
Hard Rock/Glam band from New Jersey.Cleavage was the brain child of “Hollywood Tease” guitarist and songwriter Larry Ganci. In the late 80’s Hollywood Tease was the first hard rock band to be signed to the famous rap label “Sugar Hill Records” and their independent offshoot “Bon Ami Records”. As the record label was going through a transition, Larry started a cover band called “CLEAVAGE” with members of a band he was producing. “CLEAVAGE”, the cover band with Larry Ganci as singer/front man included, Mike Hensinger (bass), Paul Riario (guitar), and Rob Tarantino (drums) soon to be replaced by George Pagonis. This lineup played covers locally for about a year and quickly built a following. Larry, the prolific songwriter, continued to write, engineer and produce original songs in his privately owned rehearsal/recording studio located in Paterson, NJ. Some of these original recordings made with Paul, Mike and Rob are included in these two FNA releases. Larry, having fun and gaining popularity as the front man, turned his sights on making Cleavage an ALL ORIGINAL national hard rock band. Converting from covers to all originals required a personnel change, and thus “Cleavage” with Larry Ganci, Ronnie Parkes, Mike Parkes and Scott “Nazz” was born. They immediately began recording and subsequently released the infamous self titled release “The Demo” to rave reviews. Show attendance quickly increased, and at the same time local Radio stations WSOU (Seton Hall) and WDHA were playing Cleavage regularly. “15 Gets Ya 20” held the #1 Local spot for several weeks in a row on WSOU. Within one year CLEAVAGE became the headliner and local opener for national acts. Cleavage then signed to “Southside Management” and began showcasing at sold out venues such as the famous “China Club” in NYC. Although they drew major label interest, it was the early nineties and the “Seattle sound” became the focus of the Music Industry’s attention. The band decided to go their separate ways but still remain friends to this day. In the months following the disbanding Larry and Scott went on to finish up recording some previously unreleased Cleavage songs with Joe Osso (guitar), Steve Ceragno (guitar).Where are they now? Larry Ganci owns his own studio and continues to write, record and produce. He has worked with Grammy Award winning engineers and producers on many projects, and also won a Billboard Award for songwriting. “Joan’s Song”, which was used by NJ Governor Christie Whitman for the passing of Joan’s Law, was composed by Larry for the purpose of saving missing and exploited children. (Joan Angela D'Alessandro Memorial Foundation - Ronnie Parkes is producing and performing nationally and internationally as bassist in the bands, Farcry, Seven Witches and the popular NJ Bon Jovi Tribute Slippery When Wet. Mike Parkes performs locally and is the lead vocalist in the popular Bon Jovi Tribute Slippery When Wet. Paul Riario performs locally and is a staff writer and equipment demonstrator for Guitar World Magazine. Mike Hensinger performs locally. George Pagonis performs locally. Rob Tarantino became head of Rock Promotion at Interscope Records. And Scott Nazz is just waiting for Cleavage to reunite to tear it up again.
Album:
In the very early ’90s New Jersey Hard Rockers CLEAVAGE were one of the most promising bands of the area, prepping to be the ‘next big thing from the Garden State’, but as many, arrived too late into the scene for national success. Anyway, Cleavage managed to self-release in limited quantities their album ‘The Demo’, a highly sought after CD for years among fans and collectors of the genre.Forward this new century, Cleavage in association with FnA records is re-releasing, officially on a label for the first time ‘The Demo’ (don’t let the title fool you, it’s a professional multi-track recording) re-entitled “15 Gets Ya 20” with 8 additional bonus tracks.The music in “15 Gets Ya 20” is pure American Hard / Hair Metal from the late ’80s in the same league of Warrant, Ratt, Friction, Lancia or Rock Boulevard.The musicians in Cleavage weren’t newcomers at all; founder Larry Ganci used to play in Hollywood Tease (which released an indie record), brothers Mike & Ronnie Parkes played for Benny Mardones (Ronnie now handles bass in FarCry and Seven Witches) and drummer Scott Nazz worked as session man on many recordings.What you get here are catchy hard rockers with melodic rocking guitars ala Warrant, sticky choruses and a singer plenty of swagger sounding a lot like Autograph’s Steve Plunkett. Sometimes laid back with acoustic tracks thrown in the best MTV style, the good thing in this recording is the attitude, the freshness of the Hair Metal in its pure essence.Tonge-in-cheek rockers like “In Your Face” (title says all), the Ratt-like “In Your Face”, “Shake It For The Boyz” and the Warrant-riff bounce of “Grease Monkey” are fun and contagious.The corky title track “15 Gets Ya 20” was some kind of a local hit in Jersey’s radio station for several weeks in a row and it’s another cool rocker.The slower tunes are quite good and melodic as well, like midtempo “Blood And Wine” or the acoustically filled “Time May Rust” which reminds me Mariah or XYZ.But the best is “It’s Not Goodbye Forever”, a wonderful power ballad akin Danger Danger best moments plenty of nice harmonies, a sustained melodic guitar solo and a lighters-in-the air feel.“15 Gets Ya 20” is a great testament of the Hair Metal era from a band with a superstar potential.The songwriting quality is not subpar to anything released by Warrant, Ratt of Danger Danger in the late Eighties, extremely catchy, really well composed and performed with the typical ‘juice’ of the genre. You can’t hear that guitar sound anymore…Production is very good for an early Nineties indie (with slightly differences in the bonuses, obviously from different sessions) professionally recorded & mixed, remastered for this reissue obtaining a quite crisp sound.A cool, fun, magical trip back to the Hair Metal heyday, really, really enjoyable. If you’re fan of the genre, “15 Gets Ya 20” is a fine, fine listen.
Line-Up:
Larry Ganci - Vocals
Ronnie Parkes - Guitars
Mike Parkes - Bass
Scott Nazz - Drums
+ guests:
Joe Osso, Steve Ceragno – add. guitar
Production:
Copyright © – FnA Records, LLC
Copyright © – Cleavage
Copyright © – Larry Ganci
Engineer [Engineered By] – Larry Ganci
Producer [Produced By] – Cleavage, Larry Ganci
Tracklist:
01. Un Da Fi Uh
02. In Your Face
03. Blood And Wine
04. I Got The Gun
05. Shake It For The Boyz
06. Hard To Get
07. 15 Gets Ya 20
08. It’s Not Goodbye Forever
09. Grease Monkey
10. Little Girl
11. I’m No Angel
12. Time May Rust (Billboard Winner)
13. Blood And Wine (Unedited)
14. Take Me Back (Bonus Track)
15. Getting Away With Murder (Bonus Track)
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
