Where Are You?

Kik Tracee
Hard rock in the grunge era

By the time the 90s rolled around just about every single drop of innovation and revolution within hard rock circles had been zapped bone dry. Motley Crue's livewire buzzed out, AC/DC had simply run out of blues riffs, and Def Leppard had lost their new wave rock sensation in placement of synths and disco strategy. Sure bands kept on releasing quality albums...just take a nod at the late albums from Winger, Warrant, and Tesla for example. But for the most part the whole world was going grunge and leaving behind the latecomers who simply didn't exist in the mid 80s. The fire and intensity was still there...only the crowd wasn't.

Kik Tracee was one of these latecomers.

Hailing from the golden state of California, Kik Tracee had IT, that unbridled aptitude for simply rekindling life and hope from a dying rock and roll society. The opposite of grunge entirely, Kik Tracee were showmen, wrapped in denim and leather and sporting a modern rock sound that was far more educated than the 80s classmen they were packaged with. Kik Tracee should have been huge, should have garnered the same success as Guns N Roses, but instead we are left asking why the proverbial spotlight never fell on one of hard rock's best kept secrets. The band released a stellar debut with "No Rules" (BMG/RCA) in 1991, a slick and polished hard rock sound that seemed to combine the best elements of Van Halen and Guns N Roses while retaining a good dose of funk (think Ugly Kid Joe) to keep it lively and fun. The record was produced by Dana Strum who was busy at the time launching his own band Slaughter. Whether or not this was a problem remains unclear, but the band did hit the studio again for an EP entitled "Field Trip". After that the band split and all hope of another Kik Tracee album simply disappeared.

According to Martin Popoff in his "Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal" Kik Tracee vocalist Stephen Shareaux eventually turned down the mic job for Motley Crue after Vince Neil left, a spot that was filled by ex-The Scream shouter John Corabi. Shareaux was apparently involved in a band called Flipp before joining Revel 8. After that the fog creeps in and Shareaux is simply caught in it. The whereabouts of the rest of the band, including Michael Marquis (guitar), Gregory Hex (guitar), Rob Grad (bass) and Johnny Douglas (drums), is simply a mystery.

Maximum Metal is asking the metal and rock community Where Are You Kik Tracee?

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In 2002 Shareaux was one of the many singers who auditioned for Slash, Duff Mckagan's and Matt Sorum's "The Project" (later dubbed Velvet Revolver) His audition was featured on the documentary "The Rise of Velvet Revolver". He submitted a track "Stripper Girl," but was rejected in favor of Scott Weiland.

Shareaux joined Flipp before creating a new psychedelic band called Revel 8 while bassist Grad is currently fronting the band Superfine and guitarist Hex pursued placements in film and TV as well as a project called Deep Audio. Shareaux also recorded with former Tomorrow's Child and Engines of Aggression guitarist Rik Schaffer under the name Nectar; their sole album, Afterglow, was released in 1997 by German-based label Dream Circle.

In 1997, Superfine appeared on the T.V. show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with Rob Grad performing as a band member on the episode, "Teacher's Pet". In 2010, Grad left Superfine and put out his solo CD.

In November 2013, Shareaux released his debut solo album, Golden; former Small Faces and Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan makes a guest appearance on the song "R&R". --Wikipedia


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