FRANKIE BANALI Doesn't Worry About People Who Criticize Current Version Of QUIET RIOT

Frankie Banali has defended himself against criticism over the current version of QUIET RIOT, saying that "there are very few bands that are fortunate enough to have the so-called original lineup" still intact.

Asked by Rock History Music what his response is when people say that his band is no longer QUIET RIOT, Banali said (hear audio below): "Well, I tell 'em, first of all, 'Yeah, it isQUIET RIOT.'

"It's important to understand… I think fans, and especially the critics, some of which are fans and some of which are definitely not fans, they have this romantic idea that a band should be whatever individuals they perceive as being the original members," he continued. "And that's fine and all of that, but that's not realistic. People leave for whatever reasons, people get fired for whatever reasons, and sadly, when you get to be in our age group and our peers, people die.

"My position is, let's say you have a family and dad dies, or mom dies, what do you do? You break up the family? No. You try to go on the best you possibly can.

"There are very few bands that are fortunate enough to have the so-called original lineup — there's MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON, maybe a handful more and that's about it," the drummer added. "So the criticism is subjective, because the same people that might criticize QUIET RIOT and say, 'Well, it's not the original lineup,' are likely fans of another band that doesn't have the original lineup, but they just happen to like that band. So it's very subjective.

"I don't worry about it," Banali said. "My position is, as long as all my guys are firing on all cylinders when we go up there and we give an energetic show — because nobody in my band phones it in. You give an energized show and you perform the songs the way they were intended to be performed, then if you don't like it, that's your problem; it's not my problem."

Banali resurrected QUIET RIOT in 2010, three years after the death of founding member and singer Kevin DuBrow.

QUIET RIOT initially featured the late guitar legend Randy Rhoads and went through some early lineup shifts before securing the musicians that recorded the band's multi-platinum-selling 1983 album "Metal Health".

Bassist Chuck Wright has been a part of QUIET RIOT, on and off, since 1982, having initially been involved in the "Metal Health" recordings (he played bass on the tracks "Metal Health" and "Don't Wanna Let You Go"). Guitarist Alex Grossi was in the last version of the band, from 2004 through 2007, before Kevin passed away, and was asked by Banali to return in 2010.

QUIET RIOT went through two vocalists — Mark Huff and Scott Vokoun — before settling on Jizzy Pearl in 2013. Pearl announced his exit from QUIET RIOT in October 2016 and was briefly replaced by Seann Nichols, who played only five shows with the group before the March 2017 arrival of "American Idol" finalist James Durbin.