Surgical Steel - The band you may never have heard of who had connections with Racer X, Badlands, Rob Halford, Leif Garrett, Randy Rhoads and The Metal Massacre album series.

 

Surgical Steel was one of the very first real metal bands in Phoenix, Arizona, having been formed in 1980, and recorded the demo Limited Edition in 1980. (The band's song "Rivet Head" was part of Metal Blade's 1982 compilation "Metal Massacre II")

 

Now for the other connections.....

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During his early days in Phoenix, Rob Halford became good friends guitarist Jim Keeler, who happened to be the guitarist for a local band named Surgical Steel.  The band was known for including a number of Judas Priest covers in their live shows, and the vocals of Jeff Martin (who later played drums for Badlands and sung for racer X), bore a distinct resemblance to Halford's.  According to an interview with Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson, who was living in Phoenix at the time, Keeler and Halford were hanging out when they ended up listening to some jams by Surgical Steel.  Halford was impressed with the band, and at some point he asked about upcoming Surgical Steel gigs and made arrangements to come to one when he was back in town.  Not only did he make good on his promise to see the band live when he returned to Phoenix,  but he also arranged it himself, booking a large warehouse space for it and joining Surgical Steel on stage for six Priest songs with the band.  According to Chaisson, Halford would join Surgical Steel for at least six – if not ten – more gigs whenever he was in town. Halford even recorded a song on the band's demo, providing backing vocals on the song "Smooth and Fast."

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In 1985, Surgical Steel made it to the silver screen. Looking in the Arizona area for a metal band, Surgical Steel was picked to be the "big band" in the story about Leif Garrett's garage band making it big. The movie is called Thunder Alley, starring Leif Garrett. ​In the film, Surgical Steel play themselves and contributed two songs to the soundtrack: "Surrender," and "Give Me Back My Heart,” which they perform “live” in the movie. Lastly, as I understand it, all of the guitar tracks were performed by Scott Shelly. Shelly was not only a guitarist, but an instructor who first introduced the electric six-string guitar to a young Randy Rhoads. According to Randy's brother Kelle, Shelly taught Rhoads for approximately nine months before telling his mother Delores that her son's mastery of the instrument had far eclipsed his own.