Guitarist David 'Rock' Feinstein, a cousin of Ronnie James Dio. Feinstein had played with his famous relative and recorded with him in RONNIE DIO AND THE PROPHETS as well as the pre RAINBOW outfits THE ELECTRIC ELVES and ELF in the early 70s. Feinstein had become interested in music at a very early age, taking up the trumpet at 7 years of age and then the drums. By 18 he was in a band called THE CINDELLS playing a mixture of folk and covers from the likes of CREAM, the ROLLING STONES and THE BEATLES, releasing a couple of singles along the way.

The band split in 1967 and he was asked by Ronnie Dio if Feinstein fancied the job of replacing the guitarist in RONNIE DIO AND THE PROPHETS. Feinstein barely played the guitar at the time, but soon learnt, and joined the group, who progressed to becoming the ELECTRIC ELVES, the ELVES and, ultimately, ELF with whom he stayed until they were effectively taken over by Ritchie Blackmore upon his original departure from DEEP PURPLE in the mid 70s.

With 'Rock' now wrestling with his conscience and proclaiming that he wished 'to recover from the sixties' the man retreated into the wilderness- literally. In 1972 he began work for the wildlife conservation department in upstate New York and soon after sold all his possessions to buy a plot of land deep in the forest building his own log cabin which deliberately lacked such amenities as electricity or running water.

The old yearning was still in his heart though and THE RODS sprang from an original idea of Feinstein to collaborate on material with bassist Joey DeMaio and drummer Carl Canedy and see what materialized. Dubbed DAVID FEINSTEIN'S THUNDER, this formative band contributed a track, 'Slippin' And Slidin'', to a BUDDY HOLLY tribute EP. Original songs were put together by this trio, reportedly extremely heavy, but De Maio's style of bass playing was at odds with Feinstein's bluesier delivery and the project was extremely short-lived, De Maio eventually finding the perfect vehicle for his talents by forming MANOWAR.

With THE RODS, Feinstein enjoyed global exposure and touring promoting a series of finely crafted Hard Rock albums such as 1981's 'The Rods' and 1982's 'Wild Dogs'. Unfortunately for fans, THE RODS folded. Having seemingly given up playing professionally, Feinstein was revealed to be the owner of two restaurants in New York during the 90s. Much to fans surprise he re-emerged in 2000 with a solo album. He would be back in 2003 touting a brand new band dubbed FEINSTEIN, a union with ARTENSION singer JOHN WEST. FEINSTEIN signed to MANOWAR's Magic Circle Music label for the release of a debut album 'Third Wish'.

FEINSTEIN's performance at the 2004 'Wacken Open Air' festival would also be marked at the same event by a reunion gig for THE RODS.