Allen McKenzie (born January 1, 1960) is an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music, heavy metal that features pop music, pop-influenced Hook (music), hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat arena rock, rock anthems, and slow Sentimental ballad#Powe ...

band

FireHouse __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire hos ...

Personal life

McKenzie grew up in a rural area of

Jackson, Ohio Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Ohio, United States about southeast of Chillicothe. Its population was 6,252 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Jackson, Ohio micropolitan area, which consists of ...

, before moving to

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

with his family in 1977. In June 1978, McKenzie graduated from Garfield High School. In September, he enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and served for three years in

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

, West Germany, then three years stateside. On October 8, 2005, he married his wife Tina. They have three children. McKenzie started playing a C.R. Alsip bass customized to McKenzie's liking in July 2014. McKenzie met master luthier Jake Willoughby of C.R. Alsip Guitars through bandmate Bill Leverty in 2012. After McKenzie heard Leverty's guitar he asked Willoughby if he would be interested in building a bass guitar. Willoughby agreed, building the iconic "Guinness Harp" 5 string bass that made its first appearance onstage with McKenzie in 2014.

Career

Foxx

On leaving the army, McKenzie became involved in the music scene in Akron and played with

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

s. McKenzie then, by chance, met Dave Jackson in the rubber refinery where they both worked. Together, they founded a local

band called Foxx in late 1985. Foxx released two albums – ''Foxx'' (1989) and ''Stick It Out'' (1991) – and toured. Foxx disbanded in 1992, but reunited in December 2012 and still perform on occasion.

Quest

In 1993, McKenzie joined Quest, a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band based in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. Membership of Quest allowed him to explore his interest as a singer, keyboard player and songwriter. At the end of 1994, Quest released a CD, ''Opposite sides of the picket fence''. In summer, 1994, Quest gave an opening performance for a

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

concert at the

Blossom Music Center Blossom Music Center, locally referred to simply as Blossom, is an outdoor amphitheatre in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States. The venue is the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra and the site of the ensemble’s annual Blossom Festival. Blo ...

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 51,114 at the 2020 census. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb in the Akron metropolitan ar ...

. Quest's prog rock CD failed and in 1995, the group disbanded.

Peacetree

McKenzie joined Peacetree, a hard rock band, as a bass guitarist. The band was fronted by Elijah Black. Peacetree released three CDs, ''Insense'' (1996), ''Wonderful Day'' (1998) and ''Nice to meet you'' (2000). ''Nice to meet you'' earned Peacetree a nomination for "Best hard rock band" at the 2000 Cleveland Free Times Music Awards. Peacetree gave opening performances for bands who were touring nationally such as

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

and

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

. Peacetree also appeared on ''

The Jenny Jones Show ''The Jenny Jones Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Jenny Jones. The show ran for twelve seasons from September 16, 1991, to May 21, 2003, in which it broadcast over 2,000 episodes. Taped at the NBC Towe ...

''.

Warrant singer Jani Lane

Peacetree disbanded in 2002. McKenzie played with the JAK band, a local

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

band. He also rehearsed with a new band led by Elijah Black. Then,

Jani Lane Jani Lane (born John Kennedy Oswald; February 1, 1964 – August 11, 2011) was an American singer and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the glam metal band Warrant. From Hollywood, California, the band experienced su ...

, the original vocalist for the band Warrant, approached McKenzie to join him on a solo tour to promote Lane's CD, ''Back Down to One''. McKenzie worked with Lane from October 2002 to March 2003.

FireHouse

In 2004, McKenzie joined

at the recommendation of Billy Morris, the guitarist for Lane, and Tony Avitar, FireHouse's current sound engineer. FireHouse toured the USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, India, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Greece and the UK. Allen, along with the rest of the band, contributed to the CDs ''Monster Ballads Christmas (Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, released in 2007)'', ''Hell Bent Forever-A Tribute To Judas Priest'' ("You've Got Another Thing Coming", released in 2008), the DVD, ''Metal Mania Stripped Across America'' ("Don't Treat Me Bad", released in 2005), and the band's latest full-length CD, ''Full Circle'', a re-recorded "best of" album, released in 2011.

References

External links

Firehouse Music - The Official FireHouse Web Site

Allen McKenzie , Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Allen 1960 births Living people American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists FireHouse (band) members American male guitarists Guitarists from Ohio 20th-century American guitarists People from Jackson, Ohio Musicians from Akron, Ohio Musicians from Columbus, Ohio