"At the Troubadour club in LA, they made a grand entrance by rolling down the avenue in a tank." The wild story of Ann Boleyn and Hellion, the long-lost band loved by Ronnie James Dio

Ann Boleyn onstage in 1984.

I knew when I got up this morning, I would end up writing about an LA metal band, and I really thought I would end up talking about Marq Torien, former synth-popper turned Bulletboy, but where would that get us, really?

The fact is, the late 80s were lousy with lower-tier glam hopefuls that quickly became nopefuls during the grunge tsunami and Torien’s been hobbling around in the suburban nostalgia market for the best part of four decades, hoping each new Bulletboys record is gonna pull him out of the existential dread of playing Smooth Up In Ya for a few dozen middle-aged dudes in Connecticut somewhere on a Tuesday night for the rest of his natural life.