XYZ - Inside Out

The story of XYZ begins in Lyon, France - not exactly a hotbed of successful rock acts.  However, Patt Fontaine (bass) and Terry Ilous (vocals) hail from Lyon, though they moved to Los Angeles in 1984 in search of fame and fortune.

Fontaine and Ilous soon put a band together and by 1986 XYZ was playing on the Sunset Strip as the unofficial house band at the Whisky a Go-Go. A self-financed EP followed, as the band slowly gained a following in the LA hard rock scene.

In 1989, Enigma records signed them, and they cut their self-titled debut album, which Don Dokken produced.  The album ended up as a small success, reaching #99 on the charts, and the videos for "Inside Out" and "What Keeps Me Loving You" both picked up a bit of airplay on MTV.

Unfortunately, the 1991 follow up (Hungry) did not do well, and the band was dropped by the label.  XYZ broke up in 1993, although they have re-formed in the early 2000s, and appear to be active as of this writing.

For the blog, we went with the video for "Inside Out," an excellent time piece from 1989.  Hair, girls, and a sharp guitar hook - it's enough to make one wonder why these guys didn't do better.