As Killington Pit prepare to release their first original material later in 2024 and play their first live shows, the band recently released another of their hugely popular cover songs. On Friday, February 16th the band released a stunning cover of the Judas Priest classic “Riding On the Wind”. The track comes from Priest’s seminal 1982 “Screaming For Vengeance” album and is another perfect showcase for the sound and chemistry of newcomers Killington Pit.

The track features a stunning performance video from the band, watch below.

The new cover version follows the bands initial two single releases. Their cover of Accept’s “Balls To The Wall” & Rainbow’s “Kill the King” now have over one and a half million streams on Spotify and hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.

The members of Killington Pit connected during the pandemic lockdown and began recording together. As time progressed friendships grew and a core band formed with Terry LeRoi, Will Hunt, Troy McLawhorn and Chuck Garric. “Kill The King” also featured veteran guitarist Stef Burns (Alice Cooper/Huey Lewis & The News) and vocalist guitarist Jeff Blando (Slaughter/Lynchmob/Vince Neil).

Will Hunt says, “‘Riding on the Wind’ was always my favorite Priest tune, before Scott Travis, of course. I definitely tried to approach it in a way I thought Scott would play it to give it some modern energy. The fellas and I had a lotta fun with this one!”

Troy McLawhorn comments,“Glenn and KK were my teachers when I was learning to play the guitar. Not literally, but I listened to Priest constantly when I was a kid and spent a lot of hours trying to figure out how to play their songs on the guitar. Judas Priest is one of my all-time favorite bands! It was a lot of fun and a challenge to try to recreate the guitar parts for our rendition of ‘Riding on the Wind’. Again, I stuck pretty closely to the original because I respect and honor what they wrote and recorded, and I wanted to do it justice. I’m not trying to re-invent the song. I just wanted to feel the joy of playing it!!!”

Chuck Garric adds, “Ian Hill of Judas Priest is a Bass icon! Thats what you get from a Metal God.”

Terry LeRoi says, “Screaming For Vengeance is one of my all time favorite records. It’s been a huge inspiration for me over the years. ‘Riding On The Wind’ is the stand out track for me. Rob Halford’s voice is nothing short of amazing on this song and his midrange tones are ear shattering. His singing style and his willingness to pushing vocal limits is unparalleled and has always been my reference point. When Killington Pit started exploring possible songs to cover…this one was at the top of our list. It’s been such an honor to play with Will, Chuck and Troy and a privilege and great joy to pay tribute to Judas Priest!” 

LeRoi adds, “Over the coming months we will be releasing our full length covers album with accompanying videos. 2024 will see us playing select shows worldwide and releasing original Killington Pit music. We’re looking forward to sharing this with all of the fans!”

Killington Pit is:
Vocals – Terry LeRoi
Drums – Will Hunt
Guitar – Troy McLawhorn
Bass – Chuck Garric

More information at https://killingtonpit.com/

Following the release of their hugely successful debut single – a cover of Accept’s “Balls To The Wall” in August 2023 – KILLINGTON PIT return with a remake of the Rainbow classic “Kill The King.”

This recording sees the band joined by rock music veterans, guitarist Stef Burns (Alice Cooper/Huey Lewis & The News) and vocalist guitarist Jeff Blando (Slaughter/Lynchmob/Vince Neil). 

Killington Pit was born of the pandemic. The members connected during the lockdown and began recording together. As time progressed friendships grew and a core band formed with Terry LeRoi, Will Hunt, Troy McLawhorn and Chuck Garric. 
 
The bands first single in August 2023 (“Balls To The Wall”) has had over 900k streams on Spotify and 250k views on YouTube.

Terry LeRoi says, “Recording “Kill The King” was an incredible experience! We were fortunate enough to have 2 insanely talented special guests on this recording; Stef Burns and Jeff Blando! It really was a privilege working with everyone on this! I’ve always been a huge fan of the Blackmore/Dio “Rainbow” era and paying tribute to that band and those musicians is a true honor. “Kill The King” is a legendary track and was one of our first choices as we were assembling our collection of songs for the Killington Pit covers album. I had read some past articles where Ronnie explained the song was inspired by the game of chess. That inspired us to create a video that we hope Ronnie would’ve loved and the fans of Rainbow will truly enjoy!”
 
Stef Burns (Alice Cooper / Huey Lewis & The News) says, “Kill The King is killer!! It was super fun blasting out that classic Rainbow track with great players such as Will Hunt, Blando, and my Alice Cooper brother Chuck Garric! Terry sings his butt off! Of course I’m a longtime Blackmore fan so that made it extra fun.”

Jeff Blando (Slaughter/Lynchmob/Vince Neil) says, “What a blast it was rocking out with all these great and talented musicians. My partner in crime, William Hunt on drums, Power Vocals from Terry LeRoi, Wild Man Chuck Garric on bass and I’ve always wanted to jam with the Incredible Stef Burns on guitars. Getting to pay homage to one of my all-time favorite vocalist, Mr. Ronnie James Dio was an incredible fun and rocking experience. I hope everyone digs this track as much as I had fun being a part of it. ROCK ON!!!!”

Will Hunt (Evanescence) says:  “I had a blast tracking this classic Rainbow tune Kill The King with the fellas. It was a great opportunity personally for me to pay homage to the legendary Cozy Powell who was taken from us way too soon. I wanted to copy a lot of what he did because it was so perfect for the song while adding some of my own flavor to it. I think the end result is pretty bombastic.”

Chuck Garric (Alice Cooper) said, “It’s an honor to pay homage to my mentor and my friend!…..To the King “Ronnie James Dio” 
 
LeRoi adds, “Over the coming months we will be releasing our full length covers album with accompanying videos. 2024 will see us playing select shows worldwide and releasing original Killington Pit music. We’re looking forward to sharing this with all of the fans!”

More information at https://killingtonpit.com

Born from the pandemic, this unique and unexpected collaboration KILLINGTON PIT features the theatrical Granny 4 Barrel singer Terry LeRoi, Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric, and a pair of Evanescence members – guitarist Troy Mclawhorn and drummer Will Hunt. To mark the new band’s formation, a cover of the 1983 Accept classic, “Balls to the Wall,” has been released as their debut single.

“From the moment we decided to record this track, it was pure magic,” recalls LeRoi. “Chuck, Will, and Troy went back-and-forth with digital files until we had the music dialed in. I’ve always been inspired by Udo‘s voice and singing style so I did my best to channel that while adding my own flair stylistically.” Terry continues, “Our manager Matt Holmes produced the vocals with me in New York and when we put it all together, we realized we had something pretty special going on. It was and is an honor to record music with these incredible musicians! We’re so stoked with the way that this legendary track came out!”

“I grew up listening and learning from bands like Accept when I was younger and just starting to play the guitar,” adds McLawhorn. “‘Balls to the Wall’ seemed like the right choice because of its popularity and badassness! I really wanted to do the guitars justice so I stick closely to the original parts with a little bit of my flavor on them as well.”

“It was so badass and fun to do this cover of ‘Balls to the Wall’ with the guys,” says Hunt. “I’m proud to call all of them friends. Each of them are musicians and performers that I love and respect. I saw Accept open for Ozzy on his ‘Bark at the Moon’ tour in 1984. It was their first tour of the US and ‘Balls’ was just starting to make noise over here. They absolutely blew me away that night! So cool to record this cover!”

Also, according to LeRoi, a special guest contributed backing vocals. “When it came time to record the choruses, it was myself, Matt Holmes, and Matt Pinfield in the studio. Pinfield happened to be in town and he said he was down to take a stab at the gang vocals with us. Fortunately, we all have good pitch (laughs). It all happened pretty organically and turned out amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing about it!”

“Balls to the Wall” is part of a larger body of classic metal/rock recordings Killington Pit will be releasing in the coming months. Over the last year, the band stockpiled epic cover versions of tracks and videos from Rainbow, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and more. The chemistry between the foursome can be heard all throughout this impressive body of work.

“It’s an honor to be in the same room with these guys.” explains Garric, “Musicians that I respect and musicians with the spirit of rock n’ roll running through their veins.”

LeRoi: “Killington Pit is modern rock/metal with roots in classic rock but we’re really not trying to limit where this can go. There are so many collective influences between the four of us, I think sonically it’s going to evolve naturally. But rest assured the foundation of the sound will always be heavy. LeRoi adds “In addition to the cover album project, we are at the beginning stages of original music as well. We’re really looking forward to sharing the growing sound and image of Killington Pit!”

Vocals – Terry LeRoi
Drums – Will Hunt
Guitar – Troy McLawhorn
Bass – Chuck Garric

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: www.killingtonpit.com