Music discovery is one of my favorite hobbies. I love stumbling upon a new artist and then completely binging their material. A few of these artists have even influenced my playing and whole approach to music, making a bigger impact than any “legend” act ever could. It just goes to show you, that just because it’s a new find, it doesn’t make it any less impactful. This is why it’s so incredibly important to support and share unsigned, independent, or fresh new rock bands. Some of the acts I come across, and that I’ll mention below, are one-record supergroups, major label acts that never (but rightfully should have) exploded, or bands that produced incredible solo material. Either way, here’s our list

Here our list of the top 5 rock bands you’ve never heard of but will change your life!

Silvertide

Silvertide is one of those bands that I will forever ask, “Why weren’t they the biggest act in rock n roll?” They toured with Van Halen, were featured in the M. Night” Shyamalan movie ‘Lady in the Water’, and produced one of hardest hitting rock n roll albums produced in the early 2000’s. The band consisted of members Walt Lafty, Nick Perri, Mark Melchiorre, Jr., Kevin Frank, and Brian Weaver. There only full length album, Show & Tell, was released in 2004 and spawned 3 top 20 singles. I discovered this band purely by coincidence, after listening to JET at a local record store. One of the store associates said if I liked JET, then I would LOVE Silvertide. He wasn’t wrong. This band changed my direction and approach to guitar. Nick Perri, the bands lead guitarist is fronting Nick Perri and the Underground Thieves, which we also highly recommend. If you’re looking for straight up rock n roll that is heavily influenced by the classics, this band is for you.

StoneRider

After going through multiple copies of Silvertide’s ‘Show & Tell’, I was again on the search for some classic-rock influenced music. Searching for live clips of Silvertide on YouTube I came across a band called StoneRider. StoneRider took riff-rock, made it really heavy, and gave the vocals a heavy dose of Jagger. Needless to say I was hooked instantly. Listen to one of my favorite songs from StoneRider here, ‘Juice Man’…

Revis

I was introduced to Revis by being their opening act. In 2002, the band was touring in support of their debut album Places for Breathing and had their single ‘Caught in the Rain’ on the Ben Affleck superhero movie, Daredevil. We were opening for the band on their way through Nashville at the famous Exit/In. Up until this point I had not heard of them or their music. I was blown away by their generosity and then equally blown away watching their soundcheck, and kept thinking the same thing, over and over, throughout the evening: THIS. BAND. IS. SOLID! I of course bought their album that evening, and have been playing regularly for the last 17 years. As far as sonic delights goes, this album is one of the best sounding pieces of recorded music Ive ever heard. The arrangement is somehow, simultaneously, incredibly complex and simple. The layering of instruments and overdubs make for a truly awe inspiring listening experience. I highly recommend listening to this album from front to back and with quality headphones. It will blow you away.

Neurotic Outsiders

That supergroup I was talking about earlier, well this is it. Neurotic Outsiders produced one incredible punk-influenced rock n roll record album, and boasted a line-up of legends such as Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, Steve Jones, and John Taylor. Thats Guns n Roses, the Sex Pistols, and Duran Duran…IN ONE BAND! The band was only active from 95 to 97, but produced one hell of a rocking record. I was introduced to Neurotic Outsiders by a co-worker. He was at his workstation and jamming to their record hard. I asked who it was and that’s all she wrote. If you’ve never heard this record before you’re welcome. Now you can go cry for the next year about not having another one to compliment.

The Mayfield Four

Contrary to popular belief, Myles Kennedy was making bad ass rock records well before Slash, and well before Alter Bridge. His first notable foray into rock n roll was with The Mayfield Four. This is one of those scenarios where all of the pieces seemed to fit, but for whatever reason the band didn’t explode. They did, however, give us two incredible hard-rock records, and arguably propelled Myles Kennedy into a place to move forward with Alter Bridge and then Slash.