Magna-Fi

Magna-Fi was an American rock band, which consisted of lead vocalist Mike Szuter, guitarist Christian Brady, bass guitarist Rob Kley and drummer Charlie Smaldino.

History

Lead vocalist Mike Szuter originally kick-started the band in Cleveland with his brother and lead guitarist, C.J. (both guitarists and vocalists, had played together since they were 10 and 11 years old), gathering a local following across Ohio performing as Outta The Blue at first then as the Szuters. The band later moved west to Las Vegas and met the other half of the band in Las Vegas. Drummer Charlie Smaldino was recommended by Robbie Allen (Mike's practically brother in law) and Bassist/vocalist Rob Kley had played off and on with Charlie in Las Vegas, later changed their name to Magna-Fi. Not immune to the struggles facing any young band, Magna-Fi soon suffered the fallout from a record deal with Gold Circle that went south. The band later signed to EMI Music Marketing-distributed Aezra Records in 2003.

When the Las Vegas-based quartet of hard and heavy alt-rockers known as Magna-Fi opened for Puddle Of Mudd at The Joint at The Hard Rock in late 2003, the Las Vegas Sun called them "the show's chief revelation." The paper added, "The band served up its brand of thunderous music with great energy, sounding more like the future of heavy rock than its past." Influenced by bands ranging from Cheap Trick and the Beatles to Alice In Chains and Failure, Magna-Fi's alt-metal skewed debut album on Aezra/EMI, Burn Out The Stars, was produced by Paul Lani (Megadeth, Failure, Mötley Crüe).