It all began in 2006 when guitarist Piero Ventimiglio moved to Sicily. He quickly made contact with local musicians and made friends with fellow guitarist Stefano Martolini. They shared an interest in and a love for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. They decided to form an Iron Maiden tribute band and enlisted Francesco Missale on drums, Luca Romano on bass and vocalist Federico Cappello.
Soon they were playing gigs and festivals in Sicily. One time they were booked to play a bikers festival but Piero Ventimiglio was stuck in Calabria for a few days – not wanting to cancel, Stefano Martolini enlisted another guitarist, Giorgio Calabrese. The two had met some months previously at an Iron Maiden tribute gig and realized that they shared a similar musical passion.
This serendipity led to Stefano suggesting to Piero that the band add another guitarist in order to be even more like the then existing version of Iron Maiden. This musical experience gelled the three guitarists to the point where, as well as playing live, they also wanted to put themselves on the line and organize a festival called Rock dei Conti – with the participation of the likes of Pino Scotto, Belladonna and Hell in the Club. The festival ran for three consecutive years and was a big success .
The three of them were always searching for new stimulating experiences and decided to express themselves musically by forming a new group, Grindhouse!
In 2013 they decided to work on a new project to compose original songs, involving Francesco Missale (drums) and Andrea Cicero (bass) with whom they shared many musical experiences such as Ancient Rimes, an Iron Maiden tribute band, which had great success in live performances.
In 2013, the Grindhouse started the production of their first album, “Chapter One”, which includes 8 original songs and a cover of the famous “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan, re-arranged in a modern rock key.
In the Summer of 2013, they got in touch with Michael Bormann (historical leader of Jaded Heart), who agreed to participate in the project, singing all vocals on the CD.