Back in the '90s, good heavy metal was more or less dead in the Bay Area. If you wanted Machine Head-style nu-metal and groove bands, there were plenty to go around, but the cool stuff was nearly non-existent. A young Pennsylvanian export, Mike Scalzi didn't give a damn about what was and wasn't hip, and formed The Lord Weird Slough Feg in San Francisco in 1990. Scalzi and Feg flew the flag for traditional heavy metal when no one else cared, and continue to do so over twenty years later. The band plays a style of classic heavy metal that blends Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy with occasional influences from thrash and doom metal. They did the sound better than everyone else when there was no competition, and they continue to do mop the floor with just about every retro-metal act around today.
