Scepter (Dallas TX)

Being the brainchild of lead vocalist and bassist Jeff E. Kirby, this Fifteen year-young group began in the small town of Haysville, Kansas (near Wichita) in 1987 where they played their first and self-promoted show at Haysville’s Riggs Park Amphitheater. Jeff instructed his brother Joe in "a few guitar basics" to get him on the road. "I told Joe he could play around on my guitar. While I was working to pay off my basic equipment and sound gear, he was sitting at home using it!" Within months, Joe became a key to what would eventually be the Scepter sound. The band went through a few drummers and guitarists including Paul Steven of Glory Hole, James "Nurto" McCormack of Metalanals, John Dobbin of The Confession, and most recently Klatch .

For over ten years, the threesome (now Jeff Kirby on bass/ lead vocals, Joe Kirby on guitar and backing vocals, and Mank on drums) performed through the Central States as a regional original rock/metal band with Michael Pannel (MER Project) on drums. The three originals met at a weekend showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show which Jeff proudly boasts of attending over 700 nightly shows. At this stage of Scepter’s history, the band received numerous outstanding reviews from fanzines across the country as well as great local press, such as the a full page story in the Wichita Eagle newspaper, Kansas City’s The Note, The Ampli-Flier Newsletter, and many others spanning even to France. Scepter was also featured and their single Whole World Is Listening was played several times on the National Don & Mike Talk Radio Show which is a 4 hour syndicated Sports Talk radio program. During this period Scepter released several albums under their own label Etaion Shrdlu records.

Scepter released their CD entitled End Of The Rainbow in 1998 which was the bands sixth musical effort to follow Eat To The Feet, Humerus, Scepter 3, Depletion Of Time, and the bands debut demo Christ In The Basement. Rainbow was undoubtedly the greatest Scepter album from their Central States era and sold over 5,000 copies locally in Wichita and was featured on the nationally distributed compilation Wichita Music Alliance Vol. II , a collection of Kansas hottest original rock and metal bands. After over a decade in Kansas and the central states area, Scepter grew tired of the scene and took a three year vacation to regroup in Dallas, Texas where they took on the latest and greatest drummer, Mank.

Mank and the Kirby brothers made their debut performance at the historic Lone Star Country Club in Coppell in 1991. With Mank behind the drums, Scepter is now back in action, growing as the band had always hoped with groundbreaking new rock sounds with underground hit Internet based Love In The Personals, a tune about the online dating world, Real Face, and some of the bands more classic tunes such as Abercrombie and Where You Want Me which have packed in The Lone Star Country Club with screaming new Scepter fans (Fans known as Scepterians). The squealing, screaming guitar, rock bottom bass, leather & lace vocals, and straight-ahead funky drum techniques work together to give Scepter a refreshingly new hard rock approach with hints from the roots of their 80’s rock, funk and metal influences that the three members bring to the songwriting table with them. Combined with a fun and crazy stage show featuring Jeff’s blood spitting, bondage masks, and other assorted craziness, Scepter’s stage show is one not to miss!

Scepter has started writing new material for their new demo, tentatively titled SCEPTERated At Birth and working hard to give the best show possible. Now they're back on the scene, kicking ass at the scene as well... a much bigger Texas scene at that! The bands 80's rock (KISS, Van Halen, Ozzy, etc...)and more modern Blink 182 and Marvelous 3 styles and influences are sure to moisten anyones tastebuds who loves to rock.