TORA TORA were formed in 1985 in the Memphis garage of then high school students Antony Corder, Keith Douglas, John Patterson and Patrick Francis.  In a 1989 Headbanger's Ball interview (remember that show?) with singer Anthony Corder and bassist Patrick Francis, they said that a friend of the band came up with a list of 60 to 70 different names for their band, and they picked the name Tora Tora because it stood out to them the most. They mentioned in the same interview that the original name of the band had been "Free Beer".  Tora Tora beat out sixty other groups in a local Battle Of The Bands contest and received some free studio time at Ardent Studios.

 

 

 

 

 

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They cut one track before using the prize money they had won to record an entire independent EP called "To Rock To Roll".  After its release the songs "Phantom Rider" and "Love's A Bitch" received extensive airplay on local radio station Rock 98, which impressed Ardent so much that they offered to help shop the demo and gave them even more free recording time.  After signing with A&M Records, they recorded their debut album Surprise! Attack in 1989.  In 1992, their second album, Wild America, was released.

 

A third album, Revolution Day, was recorded in 1994, but it was never released due to label restructuring.  But that's not all, 3 other albums of unreleased material were eventually released as well.  If you're keeping score at home, that's 2 officially released albums and 4 'unreleased' albums.  That's got to be a record!

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FnA Records secured the exclusive rights to release three albums from the legendary Memphis hard rock band TORA TORA —

 

"Bombs Away: The Unreleased Surprise Attack Recordings",

** "Bombs Away: The Unreleased Surprise Attack Recordings" consists of material written and demoed just prior to the band's major label debut.

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"Miss B. Havin': The Unreleased Wild America Recordings"

** "Miss B. Havin': The Unreleased Wild America Recordings" consists of material written and demoed before the bands sophomore effort for A&M Records.

 

"Before & After".

** Comprised of 10 tracks, "Before & After" is a "new" collection of "old" recordings. The first five tracks are from the very limited cassette-only release of "To Rock To Roll" while the sixth track is the very original recorded version of "Walkin' Shoes" which would eventually wind up on "Surprise Attack". The remaining four tracks are demos that were written for the unreleased third album and never turned in to A&M Records.