Malice formed in
Portland, Oregon, in the early 1980s when former The Ravers guitarist Jay Reynolds assembled an embryonic line-up consisting of vocalist James Neal, future
Wild Dogs duo, Matt McCourt on bass and
Deen Castronovo on drums, and Kip Doran on guitar. Reynolds next decided to make the move to
Los Angeles, soon to be joined by fellow guitarist Mick Zane, to start an all original metal band. When the duo was unable to find suitable players for their new venture, they convinced Neal, bassist Mark Behn and drummer Pete Laufman to move down from Portland as well, after the initial Malice demo caused a stir and garnered label interest from
Brian Slagel of
Metal Blade Records. "Captive of Light" and "Kick You Down" from the demo were both selected to appear on
Metal Massacre I alongside tracks by
Metallica,
Ratt,
Steeler and others. Malice made their Los Angeles live debut in November 1982 at the
Troubadour, headlining a bill with
Metallica and
Pandemonium as opening acts. Other memorable Los Angeles shows included opening up for then new major label signees
Armored Saint at Perkins Palace in
Pasadena, California, in early 1984. Adding drummer Cliff Carothers, formerly with the bands Snow and Assassin, in place of Pete Laufman, Malice set about recording new demos with producer
Michael Wagener and soon found themselves in the midst of a label bidding war. Eventually, the band signed with Atlantic Records in mid 1984 and released their debut album,
In The Beginning..., in 1985. It consisted of songs the band had cut with Wagener and material recorded with Ashley Howe producing. Malice teamed up with producer
Max Norman for their sophomore album,
License to Kill, released in 1987.
Dave Mustaine and
Dave Ellefson of
Megadeth and
Black 'n Blue's
Jaime St. James,
Tommy Thayer and Jeff Warner provided backing vocals on two songs, "License to Kill" and "Chain Gang Woman". The band toured with
Alice Cooper,
W.A.S.P. and
Motörhead, among others. They were also the support act for
Slayer on their 1987 "Reign In Pain" European tour; an ill-fated trip that saw Malice faced with open hostility from the headliner's rabid crowds, which forced the band to drop off the bill once the trek reached Germany. In late 1987, Jay Reynolds left the band to join Megadeth in place of
Chris Poland, but was ultimately ousted several months later when bandleader
Dave Mustaine decided on hiring Jay's former roommate and guitar teacher,
Jeff Young, instead. The band also parted ways with James Neal and carried on with a new vocalist, Mark Weitz, but finally split up in late 1988. The 1988 film
Vice Versa featured Malice in a concert sequence, filmed in
Champaign, Illinois, performing "Crazy In The Night". Metal Blade issued a third Malice release,
Crazy In The Night, in 1989. It contained three songs recorded with Neal and "Vice Versa", with producer
Paul Sabu providing lead vocals. Following the demise of Malice, Jay Reynolds formed War Party with former Megadeth drummer,
Chuck Behler. Mick Zane and Mark Behn teamed up with former Black 'n Blue drummer Pete Holmes and vocalist Mark Isom under the name Monster. The band's sole album,
Through the Eyes of the World, surfaced on Long Island Records in Europe in 1995 and on Pulse Records in the U.S. in 1997. In 1999, EastWest Japan re-issued both
In The Beginning... and
License to Kill on CD; U.S. label
Wounded Bird would follow suit in 2004. Jay Reynolds joined a revamped
Metal Church line-up in early 2004 and recorded two albums with the band,
Weight of the World (2004) and
A Light in the Dark (2006), before exiting again in 2008. In 2006, Malice announced that they would be doing a reunion tour, but then canceled a number of European tour dates the following year. The band did perform a handful of shows in the U.S., utilizing the services of Last Empire and future
Vicious Rumors vocalist Brian Allen. The band finally returned to Europe in April 2011 to co-headline the Keep It True XIV festival in Germany with new vocalist
James Rivera. In 2008, Malice issued an archives release,
The Rare and Unreleased, on Retrospect Records containing all four songs from the
Crazy In The Night EP, and various early demos. In late 2011, it was announced that Malice had signed a record deal with Germany's SPV/Steamhammer; Robert Cardenas of
Agent Steel was confirmed as the band's new live bass player.
New Breed of Godz, containing four new songs and re-recordings of eight songs culled from
In The Beginning... and
License to Kill, was released in May 2012. Mick Zane died from brain cancer on December 23, 2016. In 2020, Malice released a new album ''Rockin' with You''. ==Members==