Chuck Wright recalls why ‘Metal Health’ era members chose to name band Quiet Riot

Chuck Wright recalls why ‘Metal Health’ era members chose to name band Quiet Riot

Former Quiet Riot bassist Chuck Wright was recently interviewed by Andrew Daly for Vinyl Writer Music. Wright was promoting his recently released debut solo album Sheltering Sky.

Back in August 2021, it was announced that Rudy Sarzo was returning to Quiet Riot in 2022 while Wright was “stepping aside.” In terms of what led to his decision to leave the group, Wright indicated: “In the twenty-six years total since 1981 that I’ve worked with Quiet Riot, I’ve been in and out of the band a number of times, so it was no surprise to me that Rudy wanted to come back. It’s happened before. For me, the timing was perfect as I’d been on the road constantly since we started back in 2011. We were flying out and playing multiple cities most weekends. Honestly, I needed a break and wanted this time to concentrate on this first-ever solo album, so it’s all good for me. I just stepped aside once again. I do miss, who I call my little brother, Alex Grossi. We had been through a lot together over the years.”

Sarzo has referred to himself as an “original” member of Quiet Riot even though the inaugural Quiet Riot line-up that released to albums in Japan in the late 70’s consisted of Kevin DuBrow on lead vocals, Randy Rhoads on lead guitar, Kelli Garni on bass and Drew Forsyth on drums. In terms of his take on that, Wright opined (with slight edits): “I would say we both hold that stature for the Metal Health era band as we both appear on the album. Him more so as it’s his face on the back cover, and he did the first tours behind that album. When people say “original,” they need to realize that there are two different bands. There’s the Randy Rhoads‘ era Quiet Riot, and there’s the Metal Health era Quiet Riot and after. The only reason the band was called Quiet Riot again was because the record company gave us two horrible choices of names to choose from, which were “Standing Hampton” and “Wild Oscar,” so it was decided that we would just use Quiet Riot.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Chuck Wright at Vinyl Writer Music‘s website.