Arch Rival

Michael formed ARCH RIVAL in 1986 with Gary Rigmaiden and Greg Martin, who had played in Michael’s previous band, TYRANT.
Along with vocalist Aaron Wallace and 2nd guitarist Jeff Dennis, this first lineup of ARCH RIVAL toured quite a bit in 1986 though 1988 and released one EP independently.After working with several other vocalists, AR auditioned Steve Snyder in 1990, and finally found the voice they were seeking.

The band immediately re-arranged some originals, wrote some new material, and jetted down to Nashville where they had a connection at Midtown Studio. Out of the Midtown sessions came the band’s debut, “IN THE FACE OF DANGER”, which proved AR’s ability to “write compelling songs you can’t ignore”, according to one rock journalist.

This melodic hard rock disc immediately garnered major label attention to the group based on songs like “Me Against the World” and the title song, “In the Face of Danger”. The record greatly increased their fan base and landed them their first overseas deal.Building off of this momentum, ARCH RIVAL toured in support of “ITFOD”, while working up new material for their follow up, “WAKE UP YOUR MIND”. The band then traveled to the New York area for these recording sessions, as they discovered new sounds and styles on their critically acclaimed 2nd album. This 1993 release landed the band solid deals in Europe and Japan, stemming from their single, “Meadowlands of the Mind”.

A subsequent tour followed, and after Michael and Steve each recorded solo albums, the band united once again in 1996 to record “THIRD DEGREE BURNS”, which again displayed the band’s diversity, from the solid opener, “Soul of Your Machine”, to the passion of “Enter the Dragon” to the aggression of “Ultra-Violence Will Break the Silence”, and secured their biggest record deals to date.ARCH RIVAL reunited again in 2008 with a new self titled EP, which contained 4 new songs, including the driving and melodic “World Slips Away”, and some rare live tracks.

The band played a reunion show that year, and several more in 2011.

Steve Snyder – Vocals
Michael Harris – Guitars
Gary Rigmaiden – Bass
Greg Martin – Drums