D
o you remember Joker? The
Chicago-based glam metal
band of the late ’80s/early ’90s
is making a comeback.
Joker had a dedicated local follow-
ing when hairbands roamed the earth,
and they cut their teeth at the famed
Thirsty Whale in River Grove. The
band was also in rotation on local radio
outlets WVVX, WWBZ “The Blaze” as
well as the national broadcasted
ZROCK.
However, when it came time to
releasetheir third album, Cool Deal, like
almost every metal band at the time,
they found out that
metal
had
been
replaced by grunge
and alternative rock.
Due to this sudden
musical
shift,
the
band’s record company
at
the
time,
Des
Plaines-based
Red
Light Records, shelved
the master tapes and
the album was only -
yes - released in Japan.
Twenty three years
later, the band, in con-
junction
with
Red
Light Records and
P a v e m e n t
Entertainment,
are
reissuing Cool Deal. On
Saturday, May 6, Joker
will be doing a reunion
show at Star Bar, where
they'll be performing
their "lost album" in its
entirety, as well as some other classic
Joker tracks.
Fortified by their original line-up of
vocalist Tony Ingala, guitarists Joey
Miroballi and Nick Sikich, bassist Brian
Smolar and drummer Mike Stone, the
band is ready to rock like its 1991. “It
took us a long time obviously, and
we’ve been doing our own thing over
the years,” Ingala said. “But this is real-
ly a reunion. We have a great show
planned. One of the reasons we wanted
to play Star Bar is that they have a
video screen behind the stage. We have
over 300 hours of Joker videos from
back in the day. And we’re going to be
showing those videos of us playing
those songs from 1991-92 while we’re
playing the same song live right now.
There’s a lot of fans in the videos them-
selves. We’re trying to pay tribute to
our fans because they’re the ones who
have kept the interest in it to even make
(this show) possible.”
Ingala said rehearsals have been
going great and his voice is in top-
notch shape. “I have been blessed to be
able to perform with
multiple cover bands
over the last 10 years
doing all kinds of
ranges
of
songs.
Vocally I am in shape,
which is really good.
There’s a couple notes
that get a little crazy
and if I would’ve
known then (what I
know now) I would’ve
written
something
easier. To be honest,
we haven’t changed
any keys to any songs
and we’re going at it
in the same fashion as
we did in 1991.”
As far as the future
of the band after this
reunion show goes,
Ingala said they’ll
have to play it by ear.
“We actually have a
lot of ideas floating around for Joker,”
he said. “Songwriting is absolutely in
the mix because we’d like to modernize
some of the stuff we’ve written over the
years. More importantly, we do have
new songs that we’re working on now.
I’m not sure what the market has in
store for us. But as long as there is a
market and people are interested, then
we’re going to continue to do it.”
“But this is really
a reunion. We have
a great show planned..
We’re trying to
pay tribute to our fans
because they’re the
ones who
have kept the
interest in it to
even make
(this show) possible."
– Tony Ingala
44 illinoisentertainer.com may 2017
Appearing 5/6 at Star Bar,
Chicago Ridge.