In the early 90's, two up and coming, rock/pop bands were destined for greatness in Buffalo, NY. Both bands had huge followings and were about to take it to the national level. One did. One didn't. One was Goo Goo Dolls. One was Beat Goes Bang. You do the math.

The irony is both bands usually recorded their early tracks at the same studio in their attempts to get a record deal. Goo Goo Doll, Robby Takac even engineered some of the BGB tracks, while running up and down the stairs to the other studio to continue his recording with John Reznick.

BGB was a product of the early 90's. James Stark and Fran Preve were initially a synth duo. Jimmy sang and Fran did everything else. Drummer Michael Licata joined in '89, fresh from a major world tour with pop star, Jermaine Stewart. BGB signed a management deal with Neil Harris (Scissor Sisters). Financial backer, Charlie Anzalone set the band up to record their original material. The boys quickly signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific (John Anderson). They found themselves in the middle of intense record label heat after Cashbox Magazine printed a photo of the band and boldly stated they were "the next big thing in the United States".

Deciding that Enigma/Capitol Records had the most passion for them, BGB signed a record deal. They recorded their album (late 1990) at Larrabee Studio in Los Angeles with Alan Meyerson (Bryan Ferry/New Order) mixing and co-producing. BGB wrote all of their orignal material together. Just weeks before the CD was about to hit stores, Enigma Records went under. No other label would release the record, as Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were changing the face of music. The album was never released. Proposed tour dates opening for Duran Duran were scrapped.

A few tracks were placed in movie soundtracks. "Do You Believe" ended up on the soundtrack CD and in the movie, "Hangin' With The Homeboys". The song also was in the film "For The Boys" with Bette Midler and James Caan but didn't appear on the soundtrack.

The only cover song on the CD was "Draggin' The Line". This track appeared in the movie, "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" with Christina Applegate. Giant Records placed "Draggin' The Line" as track number 1 on the soundtrack CD. BGB came close to being a top priority at Giant. Instead, Giant decided to work their "other" soundtrack, "New Jack City" and chose to sign and successfully break Color Me Badd with their hit, "I Wanna Sex You Up". Again, BGB came up short...again.

As far as live performances go, Beat Goes Bang decided to go against the grain. They believed "less is more". In their short two year career, they performed live only six times. Four of those shows were videotaped in their hometown of Buffalo, NY.
1) The Macaroni Company- July 1, '89 (on film)
2) Shooters (sometime in the fall of '89) (not filmed but audio exists)
3) The Marquee/Tralf Café- April 12, 1990 (on film) Jermaine Stewart makes a guest star appearance
4) Sinbad's (sometime in the summer of '90) this was a showcase for Columbia and MCA Records (not filmed but audio exists)
5) The Marquee/Tralf Café- June 22, 1991 (on film)
6) The Pink Flamingo- June 29, 1991 (on film)

Along with these shows, a handful of rough footage exists. A great basement rehearsal at the Licata house includes an entire run-through of the June 22nd, 1991 Marquee show with Aaron McLain on guitar. The AM Buffalo (ABC) interview exists. Pre- and post-show nonsense footage exists from every concert.

MISS THING was the song that really broke BGB in their hometown of Buffalo, NY and actually the song that secured them their record deal. KISS 98.5 (thank you to DJ's Janet Snyder, Mike McGowan, Mark Richards, DJ Anthony) got behind this song and pushed the 8-track demo on air to the city of Buffalo relentlessly. KISS 98.5 had a "Top Seven At Seven" contest that would pit a new major release up against the defending champion. Listeners would call in and vote. Beat Goes Bang's MISS THING handily beat new releases by Madonna, George Michael and many others to remain number one on the KISS charts for two straight weeks.

Over the next few months, the entire unreleased album will be uploaded to You Tube. Only a handful of fans in Buffalo, NY ever saw BGB live over their brief 24 month period as a group.

Internal problems caused the group to disband in 1992. The unreleased CD still sits in the vaults somewhere out there in the galaxy. Major label restructuring over the years has the actual owners of the original master tapes a mystery.

Beat Goes Bang is the greatest pop band that never was.

Jimmy Stark- Vocals
Michael Licata- Drums
Francis Preve- Keyboards
Aaron McLain- Guitar (year two)
Tim Mordaunt- Guitar (year one)

Beat Goes Bang owns and controls the copyright to MISS THING.