Extreme and Nuno

A little bit about Extreme

I have been a huge Extreme fan since I saw them at Pine Knob during the Pornograffitti tour! It was the most awesome concert! I was absolutely amazed at the way Nuno played guitar! Gary Cherone is so much fun to watch live and I love hearing him sing! The band just rocked my world! I love Extreme.

Extreme was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1985. Vocalist Gary Cherone was in a band with drummer Paul Geary, and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt was in a band with bassist Pat Badger. Following an altercation between the rival groups over communal dressing rooms Cherone, Geary, Bettencourt, and Badger decided to form a new band.

Cherone and Bettencourt began writing songs together and played numerous shows in the Boston area. The band gradually developed a strong local following, and was named "Outstanding Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Act" at the Boston Music Awards in 1986 and 1987.

The band had accumulated approximately 55 songs by the time A&R director Bryan Huttenhower signed them to A&M Records in 1988. The band then recorded their self-titled debut which was issued in 1989. The first single was "Kid Ego," a song that Cherone would later admit made him cringe. The final track on the album, "Play With Me," was used as the "mall chase" song in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Moderate sales of Extreme's first record were sufficient to support a second release. Michael Wagener, who had previously worked with Dokken and White Lion, was engaged to produce Extreme II: Pornograffiti (1990).

The record, which showcased Bettencourt's extraordinary guitar-playing prowess, was an ambitious and complex mixture of funk, pop and Glam metal sounds. It revolved around a loose concept, following the path of young boy Francis as he wandered through a decadent, degraded and corrupt society. "Decadence Dance" and "Get the Funk Out" were released as singles. "Get The Funk Out" reached number 19 in the UK charts in June 1991. Neither single was successful in the United States, however, and the album had fallen off the charts when A&M sent the third single to a number of radio stations in Arizona.

The acoustic ballad "More Than Words" entered the Hot 100 on March 23, 1991, at Number 81. It later became a huge smash, hitting Number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the United States. The subsequent single, "Hole Hearted," another acoustic and sweetly-sung tune, was also successful, rising to Number 4 on the same popular music chart.

The band began recording of their third album in 1992. Their appearance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in April 1992 interrupted the recording sessions, but it gave the band considerable exposure beyond the heavy metal fraternity.

III Sides to Every Story, a complex, eclectic and ambitious concept album, was released on September 22, 1992. Sales were disappointing despite the record receiving critical acclaim from some quarters. The video for the first single, "Rest in Peace," was inspired by a film short by the National Film Board of Canada called Neighbours. The band was sued, but they quickly settled out of court, later releasing a new version of the film clip. The album contained noticeable Christian themes, presumably put there by Cherone, who noted in interviews being interested in evangelical preachers and thought.

Mangini-era and break up (1994-1996)

Prior to the band's appearance at the Donington's Monsters of Rock festival in the summer of 1994, Michael Mangini (ex-Annihilator) replaced Geary on drums, who left to pursue a career in the business side of the music industry, managing successful acts such as Godsmack.

The subsequent record Waiting for the Punchline, released on February 7, 1995, containing the singles "Hip Today," "Unconditionally," and "Cynical," was less successful than III Sides to Every Story. Finally, Extreme disbanded in 1996, in amicable terms.

Post-break up (1997-2003)

In 1997, Gary Cherone joined with Van Halen for their album called Van Halen III, issued in 1998, only to leave the group in 1999 and later form Tribe of Judah, which released an album called Exit Elvis in 2002. He recently was working on solo material to follow up to his 2005 EP released under his own name.

Nuno Bettencourt went on to release a solo album titled Schizophonic in 1996. Then formed a group called Mourning Widows and released a self titled album in 1998 and then the follow up album Furnished Souls For Rent in 2000. His group called The Dramagods (aka Population 1) have had two albums released, the first being a self titled album Population 1 in 2002 before a name change to Dramagods saw them create their follow up Love in 2005.

A 13-track Extreme "best-of" collection, The Best of Extreme - An Accidental Collication of Atoms?, was released in 1998. A re-packaged collection with a different tracklisting was also released in 2002 and was simply titled Extreme - The Collection.

Reunion(s) (2004-present)

Extreme reformed for a short tour in 2004, playing in their hometown Boston at the WAAF anniversary and a few concerts in Japan. After no activity at all in most of 2005, the band returned in 2006 – with the "classic" Pornograffitti line-up – to do a small three-show reunion tour in New England.

On November 26, 2007, the band announced their plans for a world tour in Summer 2008 with King's X as well as a release date and label for the new album, Saudades de Rock, produced by Bettencourt. Kevin Figueiredo, who played with Bettencourt in DramaGods is taking over drum duties. Original drummer Paul Geary is still involved with the band, albeit in a management position.

The first Population 1 CD released was really a solo project with Nuno playing all of the instruments on the album! Nuno is multi-talented! The next CD released was an EP with 5 songs still using the name Population 1. It rocked! After that Population 1 who's members included Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Ferlazzo, Kevin Figuiredo and Joe Pessia changed the name to DramaGods and released an awesome Cd called Love. I was lucky enough to see Population 1 just before the name change on October 23, 2004 at Recher Theater in Towson MD. Meeting Nuno was a dream come true. He was so awesome. My sisters and I drove 12 hours to see that concert and it was so worth it!

Now Nuno is back with the band that made me love him!! Extreme has recently announced that they are back together and recording a CD that will be released in 2008. The line-up consists of Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt, Pat Badger and Kevin Figuiredo! They are planning a world tour in 2008 as well! They have asked me if I'd run their Official Message Board! I agreed, of course and am thrilled!! That is another dream come true!! I am so excited to hear new music and see them live!! 2008 is gonna be an awesome year! Hopefully in 2008 I'll be able to add pictures from an Extreme show!!! Now if I could meet the whole band and get my N4 autographed I'd be so excited! From all the band I've ever seen live I think Extreme was the most fun! I just love watching them. I could watch my VHS tape (The DVD leaves parts out)of The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert all day long! I think Extreme was the best band there by far. Of course, Nuno and Gary both looked awesome. Have you ever seen Gary move? I LOVE to watch him!

To visit the official Extreme Message Board go to http://www.extreme-band.com

To visit Extreme's MySpace page go to http://www.myspace.com/extreme

Extreme's new CD Saudades de Rock will be available in stores on August 12, 2008!

EXTREME ANNOUNCE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN THIRTEEN YEARS

Saudades de Rock available August 12th on Open E Records

“TAKE US ALIVE' World Tour Launches In Poughkeepsie, New York on July 29

(June 9, 2008) New York, NY – This summer, EXTREME will release Saudades de Rock (pronounced “sow-dodge”), their first studio album in thirteen years which will coincide with their first world tour in over twelve years. Saudades de Rock will be released on August 12th on Open E Records and distributed by Fontana.

The iconic rock foursome - vocalist Gary Cherone, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist Pat Badger and new drummer Kevin Figueiredo – recorded their fifth studio offering at NRG Studios in Los Angeles with Bettencourt at the helm as producer and mixer. Saudades de Rock boasts 13 tracks, including the infectious roar of "Star," the groove-laden, swagger of "King", a raw funk rock anthem called "Learn To Love", and the expressive ballad "Ghost.”

“’Saudades’ was always a beautiful word to me,” Bettencourt explains about the Portuguese album moniker. “It expresses a longing; an underlying sadness for something or someone that’s been missing in your life, and never quite sure if it will ever return. In this case, for us, it’s Rock and Roll. Saudades de Rock.”

Gary Cherone adds, “I like how it expresses that longing we’ve been feeling to play for our fans and be together again.”

The multi-platinum, Boston-bred band's 2008 'TAKE US ALIVE' world tour gets underway on July 29th at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and will be anchored by a hometown gig two days later at the Bank of America Pavilion. In advance of the tour, Extreme will be a co-headliner on July 11th at the five day Rocklahoma Festival in Pryor, OK.

www.extreme-band.com
www.myspace.com/extreme

Saudades de Rock track listing:

1. Star
2. Comfortably Dumb
3. Learn To Love
4. Take Us Alive
5. Run
6. Last Hour
7. Flower Man
8. King Of The Ladies
9. Ghost
10. Slide
11. Interface
12. Sunrise
13. Peace (Saudade)

OPEN E RECORDS is a new label that is distributed by Fontana. A portion of Open E Records profits will be donated to Music Drives Us, a foundation created as a way to support music in New England. The Foundation also gives scholarship money for individuals who desire to continue their musical education. www.musicdrivesus.com.

Extreme Concert 08-08-08

Seeing Extreme live the weekend of 08-08-08 was awesome. I also saw them in Chicago on 08-09-08 but was unable to get pictures because of The House of Blues security. It was so cool to see my name in the liner notes (Thank You's) They gave me an autographed drum head and they posed for pictures with me. Nuno signed my N4 for me too! I got to watch sound check!They showed me around backstage and even gave me a tour of the bus. I had the most amazing weekend. Saturday (08-09-08) after the show I got to go backstage and I made sure I thanked all of them including their awesome manager for the best weekend ever! Here are some pictures.. I hope you enjoy what I got before my battery died. I did not use flash because I didn't want to blind the band so some didn't turn out great! The first few pics are of the sound check!

And for this last picture of Nuno shirtless with the Heiniken I want to thank April Bodendorfer. She took this one at the show and I borrowed it from her MySpace. I couldn't help but drool!

This is my favorite picture of Nuno!

I always love new pictures so if anyone has any pictures of Nuno or Extreme that they would like to share and don't mind if I add them to my site feel free to email me at bamellis@gmail.com