Aside from not being rich nor famous, the five guys from Tucson metal band Scare Card are living the rock ’n’ roll dream.
They’ve shared stages at Tucson Arena, The Rock, Club XS and a handful of Phoenix clubs with big-name artists, including Poison frontman Bret Michaels and Megadeth’s Dave Ellefson.
On Saturday, April 21, the band — Brad Coletti on lead guitar, Robert Fletcher playing rhythm guitar, lead singer Jeffrey Carlson, drummer Sean Mausert and David Badinger on bass and backup vocals — will add Alice Cooper’s son Dash to their resume. The band is on a head-banging lineup with Dash Cooper’s Arizona rock outfit Co-op, fellow Tucson band The Billy Moon Project and Phoenix’s Sectas.
“We’re excited,” said Coletti. “It’s a great band. We’re really looking forward to meeting Dash and the guys. These guys are an up-and-coming band.”
Not a bad gig for five guys in their mid-40s who started playing together just three years ago in between day jobs as computer techs, landscape artists and construction workers.
Scare Card’s members are all veterans of Tucson’s rock scene going back to the 1990s. Coletti and Mausert were part of the metal band Nightfall Ave. that opened for big names, including Queensrÿche, at the Tucson Arena. Badinger was part of the popular melodic hard rock band Way Station, and Carlson fronted bands in Las Vegas before moving to Tucson.
A few years ago, Coletti and Carlson were kicking around the idea of putting together a band. A few phone calls and very little arm-twisting later and the “planets lined up at the right time.”
“We were all free of projects ... and it all worked out perfectly,” said Coletti.
Band members started writing songs, hard-driving guitar-shredders that recalled classic 1970s and ’80s arena rock.
“We’re sort of trying to bring it back, those big, loud guitar bands. That’s what we’re doing,” said Coletti, the band’s IT computer guy who spent most of his childhood in Tucson dreaming of becoming a rock star.
“I don’t think any of us are delusional,” he said of Scare Card’s future. “The music industry has changed a lot. They don’t sign bands like they used to. We’re realists. We’re just having a good time together writing songs and performing.”
Scare Card released its eponymous debut EP last year. It’s available on iTunes, Spotify and other digital streaming sites. Coletti said the band is hoping to do some California shows this summer and maybe swing around the Southwest circuit that covers New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California and as far east as Texas.
And on Saturday night, he’s hoping that Dash Cooper’s dad swings in from his home in Scottsdale and jumps on The Rock’s small stage. It’s not entirely inconceivable; Alice Cooper’s schedule is open until August.
“Being it is his dad, you never know if he’s going to pop in or not,” Coletti said.
