History & Biography Perhaps the members were Anglophiles. Perhaps the musicians looked across the Mediterranean Sea at Morocco with envy. Perhaps they dreamt of Canada. Whichever the case, aside from a heavy metal band based in Milan in the north of the country, Italy does not have a Royal Air Force. The band, often called RAF, was founded in late 1983, disbanded in 1991, conducted the conventional return in 1993 and disbanded the year after. But wait! There was the 2012 appearance at the Italian Metal Legends Festival where Vanadium's Pino Scotto, Danger Zone, Crying Steel, Strana Officina and others played. The band was Marco Signorini, Gianluca "J.L." Battaglion, Renzo Sgroi and Mario Riso.
First, however, there was a demo in 1984 where the band emphasized its disposition by including not only a song called I'm Sneakin' On You, but also another track called Sucker. Axe Killer Records of France (ADX, H-Bomb, etc.) issued an EP called RAF in 1985. The line-up was singer Marco Signorini, guitarists Luca Brugnoli and J.L. Battaglion, bass player Renzo Sgroi and drummer Alberto Ponti. The first three aforementioned members were schoolmates and band co-founders. The band believes this meant Royal Air Force was the first Italian metal band that signed with a foreign record label. They also appeared in military attire at the very beginning. On the EP, the band was sneakin' on you again. Guitarist Luca Trabanelli came and went.
Now pared down the quartet, a debut full-length emerged in 1988. The band had good advice for its pilots, namely Fasten Your Seat Belts. The issuing label was the upstart Metalmaster. Mario Riso was on drums. The band opened Italy's Monsters Of Rock festival in September 1988, which was headlined by Iron Maiden and was attended by approximately 25,000 people. Leading The Riot maintained the line-up. Riso was lured to the USA to pursue the American dream and the gang broke up (Riso flew back two years later empty-handed having not joined Dio). Reportedly, with two members playing for a rapper, and the act playing as a backing band to rapper Jovanotti , metal fans were disenchanted and showed their feelings when the band was an opener for an Italian Manowar concert. In fact, Riso would found a satellite TV rap channel later. The aforementioned reunion in 1993 featured a new bassist named Nicola Angileri and a singer called Dario Pozzo-Balbi. Two members were in a hard rock act called Movida for most of the 1990s. Minotauro Records rereleased the EP in 2023 and tagged on the Dies Irae demo.
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