Magna-Fi

Magna-Fi was an American rock band, which consisted of lead vocalist Mike Szuter, guitarist Christian Brady, bass guitarist Rob Kley and drummer Charlie Smaldino.

History

Lead vocalist Mike Szuter originally kick-started the band in Cleveland with his brother and lead guitarist, C.J. (both guitarists and vocalists, had played together since they were 10 and 11 years old), gathering a local following across Ohio performing as Outta The Blue at first then as the Szuters. The band later moved west to Las Vegas and met the other half of the band in Las Vegas. Drummer Charlie Smaldino was recommended by Robbie Allen (Mike's practically brother in law) and Bassist/vocalist Rob Kley had played off and on with Charlie in Las Vegas, later changed their name to Magna-Fi. Not immune to the struggles facing any young band, Magna-Fi soon suffered the fallout from a record deal with Gold Circle that went south. The band later signed to EMI Music Marketing-distributed Aezra Records in 2003.

When the Las Vegas-based quartet of hard and heavy alt-rockers known as Magna-Fi opened for Puddle Of Mudd at The Joint at The Hard Rock in late 2003, the Las Vegas Sun called them "the show's chief revelation." The paper added, "The band served up its brand of thunderous music with great energy, sounding more like the future of heavy rock than its past." Influenced by bands ranging from Cheap Trick and the Beatles to Alice In Chains and Failure, Magna-Fi's alt-metal skewed debut album on Aezra/EMI, Burn Out The Stars, was produced by Paul Lani (Megadeth, Failure, Mötley Crüe).

In 2004, Magna-Fi appeared on the weekly concert series in Buffalo, New York Thursday at the Square along with Fuel and Seven Day Faith. In the same year, they appeared on the second stage of the annual festival tour Ozzfest along with Slipknot, Hatebreed, Lamb of God, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Lacuna Coil, Every Time I Die, Unearth, God Forbid, Otep, Devildriver, Throwdown, Darkest Hour

At the end of a tour in 2006, they were talking with Aezra about recording the next album, but this conversation ended with the band and the label parting ways, and the band decided to record their next album on their own. This also marked the exit of C.J. Szuter and the entrance of guitarist and vocalist Chris Brady, another Las Vegas native and long time friend of the band. The new album, VerseChorusKillMe, was recorded and mixed by the band itself. It is all of the things they ever thought an album should be.

In 2010 the group officially disbanded after a final show in Las Vegas. It is unknown why this occurred.

Members

Current members

• Mike Szuter (2002–2010) - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
• Chris Brady (2006–2010) - Lead Guitar
• Charlie Smaldino (2002–2010) - Drums
• Rob Kley (2002–2010) - Bass

Former members

• C. J. Szuter (2002–2005) - Lead Guitar
• John Fedevich - Drums
• Craig Martini - Bass
• Ronald DeVault - Vocal

Discography

Magna-Fi has released two independent albums, as well as individual tracks for video games.

Burn Out the Stars

Burn Out The Stars is Magna-Fi's debut album, and the only one featuring guitarist C.J. Szuter.

VerseChorusKillMe

VerseChorusKillMe is the second and final album by Magna-Fi.

Other songs

Singles

• Where Did We Go Wrong
• Down In It
• Who I Am
• Kiss It Away
• Breaking Up
• Save Me
• Me The Enemy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-HQD25v-M)
• Hey, Loser!
• Hearts and Minds

Gameography

• 2005: All Hail Shadow - released on Lost & Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax; pure hero story theme song on Shadow the Hedgehog. Another song titled "Who I Am" was originally recorded for the game, but was replaced by "All Hail Shadow" when Aezra prevented the song from being used in the game. The song later appear on 2007 album "VerseChorusKillMe", but had new leads recorded to replace the original, because C.J Szuter left the band and was replaced by Chris Brady.
• 2004: NASCAR SimRacing and NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup included the song "Where Did We Go Wrong" as one of the selectable tracks. It is also in the 2005 release of the EA Sports NASCAR Racing arcade game.^[1]
• 2006: All Hail Shadow was covered by Crush 40 for the game Sonic the Hedgehog (also known as Sonic '06 or Sonic Next Gen).

References

External links

• Official Magna-Fi Page
• Magna-Fi My Space Profile