Pumped-Up Kix: Baltimore’s hard-rock heroes play the hits while considering a new album

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Kix, pictured in 1991, had one of the top-five metal albums of all time, according to Chuck Eddy.

By Al Shipley (Baltimore City Paper, 12/26/2012)

In 1995, Kix decided they’d had a good run. After forming as the Shooze in Frederick, Md., in the late ’70s, ruling Baltimore’s hard-rock scene throughout the ’80s, and eventually scoring Top 40 hit “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” frontman Steve Whiteman recalls thinking that the band had simply run its course.

“When we decided that it was time to call it quits, the music business had just changed drastically,” he says. “We went from playing large clubs in front of thousands of people to small clubs—we called them ‘french-fry stands’—and our money was dropping terribly. So we just looked at each other one day and said, ‘It’s time, it’s done.’”

But as many 20th century hitmakers have discovered in the 21st century, a band’s history can become more valuable with time, and fickle audiences age and become nostalgic for the good old days. After dipping their toe in the water with a 2003 reunion show and a few biannual hometown gigs, Kix has finally become, once again, a touring band.

Continue reading “Pumped-Up Kix” at Baltimore City Paper.


Kix “The Itch” live on the USA Network show “Hot Spots,” 1983.
(The Seagull Inn is now the River Watch Restaurant & Marina.)


Kix “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” live on the USA Network show “Hot Spots,” 1983.  

This entry was posted in 1980s, 2010s, 80s Rock, Essex / Middle River, Hammerjacks, Music Video, Nightspots and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Pumped-Up Kix: Baltimore’s hard-rock heroes play the hits while considering a new album

  1. I saw them at Coast to Coast which i believe was on Rt 40 West. Now it’s gym or something. Mannekin opened. Years later when I was living in NYC, I found them on the jukebox of bar on the upper west side. The bartender was a huge KIX fan.

  2. Tom Warner says:

    I recall that metal-lovin’ adult film star Chloe Nicole (TAMPA TUSHY FEST) was a big fan of Kix, especially frontman Steve Whiteman. He probably reminded her of Brett Michaels, whom she had sex with during her groupie days (she’s even featured in VH1’s “Behind the Music” Poison special).

    http://accelerateddecrepitude.blogspot.com/2005/10/friends-in-low-places.html

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