This page is a tribute to the diverse works of Roy Z, one of the best guitar players out there. My purpose is to provide a complete list of all bands & recordings in which Roy has been involved one way or another. This page is a no-frills companion to the official website of Roy's main band, Tribe of Gypsies, which I also maintain.
Contact: Julien - Last update: June 7, 2006 (Painmuseum, Halford DVD, Mnemic) 
| Before founding Tribe of Gypsies in 1991, Roy worked on lots of projects, some famous and some mysterious...until now. Get ready for the Z Files ;-) | |||
| Year(s) | Band name | Recordings | Notes |
| 1986 | Seventh Thunder | demos |
Vette Roberts - vocals, Roy Z - guitar, Rick Weed - bass, Johnny Gonzales - drums Gigs around L.A., among them a show at the Country Club opening up for Aircraft, singer Rob Lamothe's pre-Riverdogs outfit. |
| 1987 | Gypsy Moreno | demos |
Robbyn Garcia - vocals (ex-Steel Wolf), Roy Z - guitar, Emil Lech - bass (ex-Terriff, Sound Barrier), Reynold "Butch" Carlson (ex-Jag Panzer, Joey Tafolla) - drums Numerous club gigs around L.A., one of which featured TOG's Eddie Casillas filling in on bass. Emil and Butch later played with Roy in Driver. |
| 1988 | Royal Flush | demos |
Dave Fefolt - vocals (ex-Valhalla, Hawk, Masi), Roy Z - guitar, Joerg Fischer - guitar (ex-Accept), Rex Tennyson - bass (ex-Hellion), Reynold "Butch" Carlson - drums. Shows and label showcase gigs in L.A.; also did some high quality demos, with Dieter Dierks (Scorpions, Black N'Blue etc.) mixing 5 songs. The band changed their name to Bourbon Street after Roy and Butch left to join Driver and broke up for good shortly thereafter. |
| 1989-90 | Driver | Driver (1990) | More info |
| 1991 | Mike Vescera | demos |
No band line-up, just Roy and Mike (ex-Obsession, ex-Loudness, later with Yngwie Malmsteen) writing and doing demos in L.A. Later on, Roy played on Animation, one of Mike's MVP albums. |
| 1991 | PTM | demos |
Parramore McCarty - vocals (ex-Warrior, Rough Cutt, Atomic Playboys), Roy Z - guitar, Mike Davis - bass (ex-Lizzy Borden, Terriff), Reynold "Butch" Carlson - drums (ex-Terriff, etc.) Roy joined at the very end and did some writing and demos with McCarty. This in turn led to Roy becoming involved with Warrior when they decided to reform. |
| 1992 | Warrior | demos |
Parramore McCarty - vocals, Joe Floyd - guitars, Roy Z - guitars, Kelly Pattrik - bass, Jorge Miguel Palacios - drums (ex-No Alibi) This line-up recorded a 3-song demo in the summer of 1992, with Warren DeMartini of Ratt producing. The song were Fight Or Fall, White Mansions, and New Nation (the beginning of which was later used for The Rush). Later on, Roy worked again with Warrior on Ancient Future and Code Of Life. |
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| Over the years, Roy has also produced many other albums : | ||||
| Band | Title | Year | Reference number | Notes |
| Downset |
 S/T |
1994 | Mercury #314518880 | Roy not only produced all three albums, he also co-wrote all the songs with the band. Downset is really Roy's discovery: He hooked up with them when they were still called Social Justice and more of a straight edge hardcore band (same line-up except for a different second guitar player) and produced a 4-song 7" EP, I Refuse To Lose (self-released on Justice Records), for them in 1992. The 4-song Downset demo came a year later (later released as the Our Suffocation EP; 3 of the songs also found their way onto 2 different 7" singles), which got them the deal with Mercury. |
| Downset |
 Do We Speak A Dead Language ? |
1997 | Mercury #314532416 | |
| Downset |
 Check Your People |
2000 | Mercury #314532416 | In October-November 2002, Roy toured Europe with Downset. |
| Halford |
 Resurrection |
2000 | Metal-Is MISCD001 |
More info : tracklist, credits & review ! |
| Halford |
 Live Insurrection |
2001 | Metal-Is MISCD007 | More info : tracklist & credits |
| Halford |
 Crucible |
2002 | Metal-Is MISCD020 |
More info : tracklist & credits
In early 2003, Roy toured with Halford. |
| Halford |
Live At Rock in Rio 2001 (DVD) |
2007 | Metal God Entertainment | Roy produced the audio on the DVD. Watch the trailer ! |
| Helloween |
 The Dark Ride |
2000 | Nuclear Blast | |
| Judas Priest |
 Angel Of Retribution |
2005 | Sony | |
| Klover |
 Feel Lucky Punk |
1995 | Mercury #314532416 | Roy produced the album and co-wrote 5 songs (he also produced the Beginning to End EP). Klover was a short-lived Green Day-type punk band featuring former Gang Green members Chris Doherty (guitar) and Brian Betzger (drums), and Mike Stone (vocals/guitar, later with Queensryche). Mike provided some back-up vocals on the first ToG album. |
| Last Temptation | S/T | 1997 | Sonic Messiah Records J19:30-01 | Roy plays lead on Real Love, and lead & additional rhythm guitar on Voodou Man. VM appears on the very first TOG demo from 1991 as Voodoo Man and was never re-recorded by the Tribe. The vocalist on that demo was Robbyn Garcia (who also co-wrote Nothing Lasts Forever) and Last Temptation is his band. |
| Life After Death |
 S/T |
1996 | Rising Sun 352812 | Roy produced the album and co-wrote 6 songs. |
| Painmuseum |
 Metal For Life |
2004 | C.M.M. Entertainment CMM0105-1 | Painmuseum is the band of "Metal" Mike Chlasciak, known for his work with Halford. Roy mixed the album, as well as an EP released in 2006 (You Have The Right To Remain Violent) |
| Roadsaw |
 Nationwide |
1997 | Curve of the Earth Records | The Boston Phoenix reports : About half of Nationwide was recorded in LA with Roy Z (who put some of the kick into Tree's last album). The trip was financed by guitarist Shepard's winning $8000 on a scratch card he bought at a convenience store. In the past, one could have imagined Roadsaw spending all the winnings on beer. "We learned how to make the arrangements more concise, instead of just dicking around in the studio," Catz acknowledges. "Roy'd say, 'Why did you just do that part 10 times?' and we'd say, 'Uh, I dunno.' But some of the LA stuff came out way too slick, so we came home and redid it in Boston. Now it's got the best of the rougher and more polished stuff. |
| Rob Rock |
 Rage Of Creation |
2000 | JVC/Victor VICP-61101 |
Roy co-wrote the album and plays on all songs. More info : tracklist, credits & review ! |
| Rob Rock |
 Eyes Of Eternity |
2003 | Massacre Records | |
| Rob Rock |
 Holy Hell |
2005 | AFM | |
| Tree |
 Downsizing the American dream |
1995 | Cherry Disc 22666-2 | This one was definitely hard to track down, but hey that's half the fun, right ? I eventually found it for $0.99 on Ebay :-) Although this is pretty straightforward American Punk Rock (to these Punk-hostile ears, at least), it's much better than the 99 cents suggested at first... Produced by Roy Z and recorded with the help of Joe Floyd at American Recording Studios, this CD shows Roy experimenting with the massive guitar sound that would be revealed on Accident of Birth. A couple of trivia items for you: Mario Aguilar plays congas on Truth and Bill Cooper (later to appear on III) is credited as co-engineer. |
| V/A | Bomb - Vol. 1: Nobody Rides For Free | 1996 | Bomb Records BOMB01 | This is a Punk/Hardcore compilation w/ 4 bands contributing 3 songs each. The tracks by Saccarin and Tree are produced by Roy; Lambs Bread is co-produced by Roy and Joe Floyd, (Jay The Babe is produced by Rogelio Lozano, Downset's guitarist). Everything was recorded at Joe Floyd's Silvercloud. Bomb Records was started by Roy himself and Alec Peters, at one time the Tribe and Downset's A&R guy at Mercury, but the label never put out anything else after this compilation. |
| Last but not least, Roy appears on the following albums : | ||||
| Cage |
 Darker Than Black |
2003 | Roy lays down 2 blistering lead guitar solos on Wings Of Destruction and March Of The Cage | |
| Glenn Hughes |
 Incenses and Peaches |
1995 (release in 2000) | Pink Cloud Records | Good luck finding this one... It is (was ?) only available from Glenn Hughes' official website and is quite a collector's item. It features 12 songs written over the years by Glenn and friends. Once again, we find the ubiquitous Z man in great shape : written in 1995, Let's Get Together is unsurprisingly reminiscent of ToG's first album. This one sounds like a Funkier version of Party and is quite a gem, I think. As Glenn puts is : "Roy Z from Tribe of Gypsies wrote the music and I sang the vocals at Media Vortex Studios, in North Hollywood. Welcome to El Gringo Latino Rockola Disco!". Sounds about right :-) |
| Kerbdog |
 On The Turn |
1997 | Mercury/Fontana 532 999-2 | Roy plays lead on two songs. |
| Mnemic | Unnamed | 2007 | Roy co-wrote one song and also recorded it with the band. | |
| MVP |
 Animation |
1999 | Canyon PCCY-01403 | Roy Z guests on Chances and Animation and shreds like you'd expect him to. |
| Steel Prophet |
 Dark Hallucinations |
1999 | Nuclear Blast NB350-2 | Roy plays lead on We Are Not Alone. This album has been produced by Joe Floyd (Warrior), who also worked on the Bruce Dickinson albums. |
| Tribuzy |
 Execution |
2005 | Art Records | Roy also played live with Tribuzy on November 11/12, 2005 in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the Credicard Hall |
| Warrior |
 Ancient Future |
1998 | Dream Circle Records DCD 9839 |
Roy co-wrote 6 songs and plays on the album. More info : tracklist & credits |
| Warrior |
 Code of Life |
2001 | Nuclear Blast NB601 |
Roy co-wrote 1 song. More info : tracklist & credits |
| V/A |
 ECW Extreme Music |
1998 | Bruce Dickinson and Roy cover The Zoo, originally recorded by Scorpions | |
| V/A |
 Randy Rhoads Tribute |
2000 | Eastwest Japan AMCY-4456 | A great tribute to one of the greatest guitar players ever, paid by a truckload of stars : Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), Wolf Hoffman (Accept), etc. The Z man appears on a great version of Goodbye To Romance, sung by Rob Rock himself. No coincidence if you ask me... |
| V/A |
 Rattlesnake Guitar - The Music of Peter Green |
1995 | Viceroy Records VIC2-8021 | Roy and Doug contributed a cover of Oh Well (also featured on Nothing Lasts Forever), together with Billy Sheehan (bass, lead vocals), Greg Bissonette (drums) and Fred Mandel (Hammond organ). The track is actually listed as and credited to "Billy Sheehan", not ToG... |
| WASP |
 Unholy Terror |
2000 | Metal-IS | The Z man contributes some smoking lead guitar work on two of the songs, Wasted White Boys and Who Slayed Baby Jane? |
Tribe Of Gypsies
Nothing Lasts Forever
Revolucion 13
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Balls To Picasso
Accident Of Birth
The Chemical Wedding
Scream for me Brazil
The Best Of
Tyranny Of Souls
Anthology (DVD)