Just five years after wandering the halls of his Long Island high school with Quiet Riot‘s 1983 cassette Metal Health playing on his Walkman, John Torra made his debut as the group’s new frontman during an explosive show at the Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma.
Check out fan-shot video where he summons the spirit of original lead singer Kevin DuBrow on the band’s twin 1983 hits “Cum On Feel the Noize” and “Metal Health (Bang Your Head),” stunning even his bandmates. (If this story feels familiar, it’s basically a real-life version of the 2001 Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star, which was a heavily fictionalized, to the point of absurdity, take on Judas Priest replacement singer Tim “Ripper” Owens’ saga.)
As Torra told Rolling Stone earlier this week, his life forever changed when his father played him Van Halen’s “Mean Streets” at age 14. “The intro to that song is very unique,” Torra said. “I was like, ‘What is that?’ And he goes, ‘That’s a guitar.’ I said, ‘A guitar can do that?’ When that happened, everything changed. That’s when I became obsessed and developed a passion for this genre and this lifestyle.”
Within a few years, Torra was playing in metal bands across Long Island, belting out songs by Skid Row, Cinderella, Ratt, and yes, Quiet Riot, with incredible power and force. He auditioned for Skid Row this year, but didn’t hear anything back, and then tried again with Quiet Riot, creating an Instagram video that quickly went viral. Within days, Quiet Riot manager Regina Banali – widow of original Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali – called him up.
“I kind of froze because I was like, ‘I know who this is,’” Torra said. “She wanted to see what my story was, if I was looking to do this for my life, and was willing to sacrifice.”
He was given the job after running through Quiet Riot’s set several times across two days at a Los Angeles rehearsal space. “I was trying not to cry,” Torra said. “It really had sunk in because this is what I’ve been searching for and working hard at for almost 10 years, and it was happening.”
The tour continues October 3 in St. Charles, Missouri, and dated are booked through a South American run in April 2027. It’s going to be a lot of work for Torra, who is just 23, but he says he’s ready for it. “It’s definitely going to be a learning experience, but I’m pretty much like a sponge,” he said. “I soak everything in and I love listening and learning. And I think the guys in the band are definitely going to take care of me and help me out, and they’ll guide me and tell me because they have a lot more years of experience on me, so they’ve seen it all.”
