Lay Down the Law

Steeler broke up after Yngwie Malmsteen left to form Alcatrazz, and Ron Keel set about building a new band that carried his own name. Shrapnel Records names the line-up as guitarists Marc Ferrari and Bryan Jay, drummer Bobby Marks and bassist Kenny Chaisson. Ferrari had been introduced to Keel by Mike Varney, whose Shrapnel label had released the Steeler album; in his account the band formed in March 1984 and had recorded this album for Varney's label by June of the same year. The sessions took place at Prairie Sun in Cotati, California. The sleeve credits Ron Keel as producer and Varney as executive producer; Mikey Davis recorded and mixed the album with John X as assistant engineer, and Greg Aldridge added keyboards to "Thunder and Lightning" and "Till Hell Freezes Over". There are nine songs, with the title track second on side one and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" closing side two. Shrapnel released the album in 1984 on LP, catalogue number SH-1014, and on cassette. According to Ferrari, Gold Mountain Records, Danny Goldberg's label, signed the band in August 1984, and work began at once on The Right to Rock with Gene Simmons producing. That album, released in January 1985, carried "Speed Demon" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" again, and its sleeve shows Dwain Miller on drums. The eighth song here, "Tonight You're Mine", reappeared on it as "You're the Victim (I'm the Crime)". Lay Down the Law was available only on vinyl and cassette until 2008, when Shrapnel issued it on CD for the first time, remastered from the original master tapes in a limited digipak with liner notes by Ron Keel; that CD lists the eighth track under its later title.