After leaving Steeler, Rik Fox was now 'on the map' and had a bankable reputation and sizable following, enough to now attempt to sell out clubs on his name alone. SIN was originally formed in New York/New Jersey in 1976-77, coming out of the ashes of New Jersey club circuit bands VIRGIN and LUST, with the name SIN first being coined by bassist Rik Fox, bringing with him, drummerBasil Stanley (Stan Bassel from Long island), joining Ian Criss and Keith (Vinny Matthews) Starz. In this line-up the band performed until 1978-79. Fox retained the rights to the name SIN and after moving to L.A. in 1982 to join and name W.A.S.P. After departing W.A.S.P., Fox rehearsed with both, WARLORD and HELLION, eventually joining STEELER for one album. After leavingSTEELER, with proven club-drawing power, he reformed a Los Angeles version of SIN. The first L.A. line-up was made up of other unknown L.A. players. Being the catalyst of the band, Rik found competent players so not to lose momentum built by being a member of STEELER. Within 6 months of becoming one of L.A.'s most popular rock groups, it became apparent that the band chemistry wasn’t working out the way Fox had anticipated and so there was a split between him and the members he assembled.
Ever-driven towards success, Rik Fox pushed on re-forming the band SIN with former Mongol Horde recording artists ALIEN, and members Frank Starr, (later of The Four Horsemen) and J.J. Kristie, (who was a previous band mate of Rik's in N.Y.C. and New Jersey). This second L.A. line-up of SIN (Mach II) was ultimately more popular and successful, and, not surprisingly, saw them voted by their fans, the biggest, consistently top-drawing Metal band of L.A. for 1983-84, by a Music Connection Magazine Poll, (over strong acts KEEL, STRYPER and ODIN)proving undoubtedly, that this line-up was the better, stronger act.
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The new SIN line-up blew the roofs off of every venue they performed at, impressing all of Hollywood's industry-types. This led to bookings with former band mate RON KEEL, (KEEL) STRYPER, and many other Hollywood Metal acts. Eventually, SIN became represented by Management 3, a TOP Industry management company handling the Beach Boys, 3 Dog Night, Neil Diamond, and others. SIN wasn't even SIGNED yet to a record label! Doors were now opening for Fox and SIN, and they entered Encore Studios in 1985 to record album demos, which got the attention of the record companies. Album master demo sessions were soon handled by eventual Slaughter bassist Dana Strum, with a plan to have SIN signed to a major label soon. (Most likely, Chrysalis, since Strum was also bassist and producer for the Vinnie Vincent Invasion). The ultimate album master demo that came out resulted in opening many doors for SIN, and garnering many endorsements for so promising a popular band. However, internal player-chemistry problems, again, found the line-up dissolving like sand through Fox's fingers. Producer Strum, meanwhile in a conflict of interest, had delivered to Vinnie Vincent the Fox-penned cut On the Run from the recording session and without Fox’s knowledge, the song was stolen and re-written as ‘Let Freedom Rock’ for the second Vinnie Vincent Invasion album ‘All Systems Go’ keeping intact, the signature hook of the song and resulting in some media attention and a lawsuit against Vincent which was eventually washed over and never resolved by Vincent’s bankruptcy hearings. Additionally, the record label itself, Chrysalis also dissolved. After this SIN line-up dissolved, Fox found a temporary stint in another popular L.A. Metal act called "BURN" (made up by the former members of HELLION), and managed under Ronnie James Dio’s banner company, by NIJI management. Fox had considered several times to revisit the formation of a new SIN line-up. Despite all this Rik Fox had managed to assemble one of the most popular driving heavy metal bands in Los Angeles rock scene history, a point mysteriously overlooked by many documenters of the genre.SIN photo © John Bruno |