Owen McCall
In Motion Staff Writer
Rock music producer Howard Benson, who’s worked with Bang Tango and Three Days Grace, estimates over 400 bands in the “hard rock” category of music were on the rosters of major record labels in 1989.
Many disappeared off the rock ’n’ roll radar for a variety of reasons. Seattle grunge was the major genre that replaced glam metal bands of the 1980s. Then there was the classic mismanagement, in-fighting among band members, drug abuse and just bad luck that ended the runs of many bands.
Enuff Z’Nuff was one of the bands able to stay relevant and signed to a label throughout the years.
Formed in Chicago in 1984, the band has released a total of 14 studio albums, with the most recent being 2018’s “Diamond Boy” for Frontiers Records. Frontman bassist-vocalist Chip Z’Nuff describes the album as “Picking up the bones of my favorite bands” and “David Bowie and The Beatles are fighting in an alley and Cheap Trick comes in to break it up.”
In a backstage interview at the House of Blues in Orlando, he recalled, “I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I worked with my father at a place called U.S. Steel. It was a very dangerous job, but my father taught me a lot about discipline.”
Z’Nuff originally wanted to be a baseball player and received tryouts from several major league teams, such as the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.
The band had early success with its self-titled debut album in 1989, especially the singles “New Thing” and “Fly High Michelle,” becoming hits and concert staples. Both music videos received MTV airplay, a goal for every musical artist at that time.
Z’Nuff credits his longevity in the music industry to his hard work, dedication, and avoidance of hard drugs.
“I got to stay healthy. That’s it. And on the tour, in the old days, I’d be on the tour bus and there would be an ounce of cocaine, tons of booze and Jack Daniels, drinking like you wouldn’t believe, a pharmacy full of pilly-poos. I wasn’t taking them, but my band was. They were out of control!”
The group appeared on David Letterman and began a relationship with shock jock Howard Stern around this time.
“In 1989, we signed with ATCO Records. Dee Snider from Twisted Sister has a brother named Mark. He was a radio rep and he comes up and says ‘Chip, there’s a guy in New York, I think you’ll be really good friends, his name is Howard Stern.’
“I’m from Chicago, I didn’t know who Howard was. We flew to New York and met him. From that first hello, it was instant camaraderie,” says the musician, whose friendship with Stern continues to this day. “That was the catalyst for Enuff Z’Nuff. After that, we got on Letterman, started doing the big shows, got more radio stations to play us. I really owe a lot of my career to Howard Stern.”
The band, however, was not destined to become arena rock superstars. Its second album, “Strength,” was released in 1991 on ATCO, but with grunge and alternative rock gaining popularity, it didn’t sell well. With the departure of longtime singer Donnie Vie in 2013, Chip Z’Nuff is the sole original member and has moved into the frontman role full time.
“Guilty as charged,” he says, when asked how challenging it was to step into the frontman role. “It was very difficult. Nobody here gears up a band for failure. I thought we’d be together forever. But we lost our guitarist Derek Frigo in 2004 and in 2007, my drummer (Ricky Parent), two great players who were a very big part of our sound. And then my brother, Donnie Vie, left for the third time in 2013, and then there was nobody left.”
To support “Diamond Boy,” the band is embarking on the Sirius XM Hair Nation Tour alongside their Frontiers labelmates BulletBoys and headliner Jack Russell’s Great White.
On Oct. 5, the tour arrived in Orlando at the House of Blues at Disney Springs. The lineup was received warmly by the near-capacity crowd, which sang along, clapped and shouted out requests.
“Our record is real, it’s organic, and it’s honest,” says Z’Nuff of “Diamond Boy” album, which followed 2016’s “Clowns Lounge,” a collection of previously unreleased material for Frontier.
For the current version of Enuff Z’Nuff, Chip has surrounded himself with great musicians. Rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tony Fenelle was a member of British pop group Ultravox from 1992 to 1994, and joined the band in 2016, alongside drummer Daniel B. Hill. Lead guitarist Tory Stoffregen is currently in his second stint in the band, his first being from 2008 to 2014. In Orlando, was a great experience to see Tory Stoffregen, shred on his Fender Telecaster.
“I got a great band around me. I found Tony Fenelle, the ex-singer for Ultravox, pulled him out of retirement. I got Tory Stoffregen. Tory’s been with me for, I don’t know, 10 years. And I found Daniel Benjamin Hill giving drum lessons, and I said this is the band.
“These guys believe in the legacy of Enuff Z’Nuff, they love what we do, and they play the songs every night and they’re serious about their craft.”
Chip gave a shout out to the band’s agency, Artists Worldwide, for getting them on a Live Nation tour, and their record label Frontiers for believing in them.
“You need a team,” says Z’Nuff. “You can’t do it all by yourself.”
He also provides advice for young and aspiring musicians: “Put a band together and listen to all the records you like. Try to find your influence, try to find your own timbre, and put a record out and tour and play shows and forget about the money right now. It’s all about getting out there and reaching people and maybe you’ll get lucky that someone at your show is a movie director or a producer or somebody who can help you out. And last, but not least, be nice, because kindness costs nothing. But with it you could get so much”
In an effort to remain relevant, many older bands attempt to appeal to younger audiences. A lot of times, these bands latch on to current musical trends, such as the glam metal bands of the ‘80s releasing more grunge-inspired material in the ’90s. Enuff Z’Nuff is a band that sticks to its principles.
“Nope, nope. We’re not doing that. We made Diamond Boy as an influence to the ’70s, a real rock record, analog on two-inch tape, playing, showing all the warts, scars and tattoos to show what our band is about. That’s what we did on this record.”
Back in the day, glam metal — known colloquially as hair metal — was a popular style of rock music. Enuff Z’Nuff is one of the many bands who are classified as “hair metal”.
“They didn’t then!” Chip said of the hair metal label. “Listen, in the old days, it was new wave and punk rock and hard rock and heavy metal and only a couple other genres. Now it’s so many names it’s a joke. So, I think we came out, people didn’t know what to call Enuff Z’Nuff. It was rock, it was pop, it was alternative. We were alternative before alternative!”
In recent years, veteran musicians have begun to take younger bands on tour with them. These newer bands bring a younger audience, and help established acts appeal to a new generation of fans. Chip Z’Nuff is open to the idea of touring with newer bands.
“Sure, why not? We’re still going to play our songs, just to a new audience who might not know who we are, but we might get a chance to conquer them,” he says. “There’s not a band out there we can’t play with. And the newer model of bands like Greta Van Fleet, Rival Sons, The Struts, they’re carrying traditions. They’re good bands. We’ll play with anyone”
On the future of the band, he adds that, “I can’t predict the future, but if I could, I’d be rich driving a Mercedes-Benz. I’d be taking care of a lot of people. If I could predict stuff like that, I’d be a genius. But what I can predict is I’m going to try and move this band forward as best we can. Our record is charting, 157 on the Billboard charts, 37 in the U.K. We haven’t charted in 25 years. I’m going to move the band forward, and I’m going to promise the fans that are out there, who come see the shows, that I’ll give everything I got every single night. I appreciate every single one who’s come out and watched us play these shows and supported us throughout the years. And for the haters out there, I wish them well and I hope they all live to be 100 years old.”
Anyone who can catch them live while they’re on this tour, should. With three classic bands, the three-hour show gives audiences their money’s worth, along with a feel for what the classic rock bands of the ‘80s were like.