Irishman Bernie Tormé is a talented guitarist with great character and renowned for some particularly wild axework and theatrics. Such showmanship brought him close to 'guitar hero' status whilst in GILLAN. Tormé first made his name as guitarist with Irish bands WORMWOOD and URGE, prior to relocating to London forming SCRAPYARD in 1976. A Hard Rock trio of Tormé, bassist Bernie Hagley (also playing with VANITY FAIR at the time) and drummer Roger Hunt, SCRAPYARD gigged solidly throughout the London area.

Hagley was to depart and the band were swiftly brought back up to strength with the addition of former ZZEBRA bassist John McCoy. However, this union lasted only a matter of months with Tormé striking out on his own as THE BERNIE TORMÉ BAND. McCoy meanwhile soldiered on with Paul Samson on guitar as SCRAPYARD became McCOY.

Playing Hard Rock but with a Punk image - Tormé having cut off his long hair to keep in vogue- the band managed to release two singles and contribute tracks to the Punk compilation album 'Live At The Vortex'. THE BERNIE TORMÉ BAND, still a trio format with the guitarist augmented by bassist Phil Spalding and drummer Mark Harrison, put in some British supports to GILLAN, the headline act now featuring McCoy on bass.

An album was recorded for Jet Records but remains unreleased. Disillusioned, Tormé took up his old colleague John McCoy's offer to hook up with GILLAN. Spalding joined Punktress TOYAH then MIKE OLDFIELD, ORIGINAL MIRRORS and the platinum supergroup GTR led by guitarists STEVE HOWE and STEVE HACKETT.

Harrison went on to THE NIPPLE ERECTORS and DIRTY STRANGERS.

After his split from GILLAN in 1981, Tormé joined the warhorse Rock act ATOMIC ROOSTER, appearing on their 'Headline News' album and undertaking two tours of Germany and Italy.

But fate was to stall progress in trying to assemble another solo band when Tormé was asked to fill in for Randy Rhoads in OZZY OSBOURNE's band following the American guitarist's tragic death. Torme's stint on OZZY OSBOURNE's American tour lasted but two weeks, with the pressure being too much for the Irishman. Returning to London with OZZY OSBOURNE's blessing Tormé, who had before he left suggested his own replacement to OZZY OSBOURNE in ex RUBICON man Brad Gillis, set back to work on his own band ELECTRIC GYPSIES.

The fresh line up featured two erstwhile GENERATION X men, second guitarist Bob 'Derwood' Andrews and drummer Mark Laff together with former BETHNAL bassist Everton Williams.

The 'Turn Out The Lights' album featured SAXON drummer Nigel Glockler, bassist Phil Spalding and Bernie's ex GILLAN partner Colin Towns on keyboards. For live work ELECTRIC GYPSIES consisted of Tormé handling both vocals and guitar, Williams on bass and drummer Frank Noon, the latter being on temporary loan from STAMPEDE.

During downtime in 1982 Tormé's name surfaced on his ex GILLAN cohort keyboard player Colin Towns solo LP 'Making Faces', which - although recorded whilst Tormé was in GILLAN - only saw a later Japanese release.

The 'Live' album (released during 1984) featured original IRON MAIDEN member Ron 'Rebel' Matthews on drums. (Matthews was much later to re-surface in 1999 as part of ATOMIC ROOSTER).

A later British tour saw the addition of bassist Chris Heilmann, later to turn up in US act SHARK ISLAND, and ex-FRAMED drummer Ian Whitewood with vocalist Kef.

In 1984 former GIRL vocalist PHIL LEWIS joined the band on a supposed temporary basis following vocalist Kef's sudden departure before joining on a full time basis. Two albums (using the TORMÉ handle rather than ELECTRIC GYPSIES) and successive British touring put the band in the press, but momentum seemed to be waning. Lewis relocated to Los Angeles to join American act L.A. GUNS.

The ELECTRIC GYPSIES soldiered on, now with erstwhile LONDON COWBOYS vocalist Steve Dior, but a further line up blow came when Whitewood quit to join SHAM 69, his place being taken by erstwhile BEKI BONDAGE drummer Ben Bennet.

Tormé formed the shortlived RUSSIAN HIPPIES in 1988 with Bennet, vocalist Gary Owens and ex BOMBSHELLS bassist Marc Russell. However, progress was minimal so Tormé and Russell travelled to America at the request of former TWISTED SISTER vocalist DEE SNIDER to join the vocalist's DESPERADOS outfit. Owens later joined SAMSON.

The DESPERADOS project of Tormé, Snider, Russell and ex IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Burr initially scored a huge deal with Atlantic Records. However, after more than two years the band had switched to Elektra and, having laid down an album, discovered the label had no intention of releasing it.

Thus far the DESPERADOS album has only surfaced in bootleg form and although Dee Snider offered Tormé a position in another new act he was putting together - WIDOWMAKER - the Irishman opted to return to London.

Upon his return Tormé put in a guest guitar appearance on former HANOI ROCKS guitarist RENE BERG's 'The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes' album in 1991. Another project band was titled MUTANT with Blacken and Magpie of MOURNBLADE.

The year 1994 saw another solo release, 'Demolition Ball, with the guitarist joined in the studio by Gary Owens once more with a rhythm section of bassist John Pearce and drummer Chris Jones.

Early 1997 found the guitarist involved in Mick Underwood's reformation of the cult act QUATERMASS. Although Tormé wrote material for the album, 'Long Road', he was to opt before recording of the album.

The guitarist's own solo album of that year, 'Wild Irish', recorded with Pearce and Jones, came out limited to merely 500 numbered copies.

Maintaining this renewed momentum a further studio album was issued in 1999, one track including lead vocal from Dee Snider. Touring in the UK and Europe found Bernie employing drummer Simon Jeffrey and the services of J.J. Pearce, better known for his work with arch Punk band the ANTI NOWHERE LEAGUE. In 2001 Tormé figured on a UFO tribute album entitled 'Only UFO Can Rock Me'.

Torme returned to the band format for the 'all star' SILVER project. The band also witnessed a welcome return to action by former MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP vocalist Gary Barden. Joining Torme and Barden would be H-BLOCKX drummer Marco Minnemann and MAD MAX, CASANOVA and DEMON DRIVE bassist Michael Voss. Keyboards were in the hands of as true veteran- DON AIREY of RAINBOW, OZZY OSBOURNE and WHITESNAKE fame.

2004 found the guitarist in collaboration with Australian electonica outfit PSYBURBIA. Torme also formulated GUY-McCOY-TORMÉ with his former GILLAN colleague bassist John McCoy with drums would be handled by Robin Guy of RACHEL STAMP and the BRUCE DICKINSON band. GUY-McCOY-TORMÉ's inaugural live appearance took place in 2004 at a charity concert for ex-IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Burr.