Pacific Paradise Records

---

At Pacific Paradise Records Records, we are passionate about discovering and sharing new talent with our listeners. Our team scours the music scene to find the best up-and-coming artists in a variety of genres. From indie rock to electronic dance music, we have an ever-growing selection of new artists for you to discover. We also offer a platform for artists to showcase their music and connect with fans from all over the world. Support new talent and explore our site to find your new favorite artist today! 

Rediscover what was Missed! New life for timeless music that would otherwise have never been heard.

Pair your Voice; Where singers meet song writers! Upload any track to Pairvoc, remove vocals, record yourself, and download instantly

Mike Glick helped put some of rock’s biggest future names on a Hollywood stage before most of the world knew who they were.

Long before Mike Glick (Michael Glick) was deciding who would play the Troubadour, he was a kid sitting outside of it.

Growing up around the corner from the legendary West Hollywood club, Glick would sometimes sit outside and listen to the music coming through the walls. He had grown up around the entertainment business, with friends and neighbors whose families worked in music, and was introduced early to recording studios and the people who worked behind the scenes. 

Years later, while attending college and working at Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR)—setting up equipment for recording sessions, rehearsals and live performances—Glick was hired by Troubadour founder Doug Weston.

By 1981, he was the club’s talent buyer and manager.

The timing couldn’t have been much better.

A new generation of hard-rock and heavy-metal bands was beginning to emerge in Los Angeles, but many of them were still playing for small audiences, passing around demo tapes and trying to convince club bookers that they deserved a stage.

Glick started listening.

Over the next four years, the Troubadour stage would feature an extraordinary collection of developing artists booked by Glick, including Metallica, Slayer, Ratt, W.A.S.P., Poison, Social Distortion, Dokken, Great White, Quiet Riot/DuBrow, Warrant, Armored Saint, Stryper, Y&T, White Sister, Rough Cutt, Steeler, Keel, Lizzy Borden, Black ’N Blue, Malice, London, Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns, The Bang/ The Bangles, and others.

Today, seeing names such as Metallica and Social Distortion on a club marquee would guarantee a packed house. Back then, it wasn’t always that way. Some developing bands struggled to draw and found themselves playing late-night slots. For Glick, however, ticket sales weren’t the only indication that a band had potential.

One of those bands was W.A.S.P. Glick booked the group after hearing its demo. Decades later, W.A.S.P. founder Blackie Lawless publicly remembered Glick as the Troubadour talent buyer who gave the band some of its critical early opportunities.

There were future stars within the bands as well.

When Glick booked Steeler, its lineup briefly included a virtually unknown 19-year-old Swedish guitarist who had only recently arrived in America: Yngwie Malmsteen. Malmsteen would soon become one of the most recognizable virtuoso guitarists of his generation.

Then there was Jake E. Lee, who played in the developing L.A. scene with Ratt and Rough Cutt before being selected as guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Rough Cutt vocalist Paul Shortino would later become the lead singer of Quiet Riot.

Glick’s relationship with some bands went beyond booking a night at the club. While Poison was still trying to establish itself, he helped arrange financial support for the band through the Troubadour, with the understanding that it would be repaid through future performances after the group secured a recording deal.

Ratt provided another glimpse into how quickly the Hollywood music scene was changing. Before Glick took over booking, the band had at one point been required by the club’s previous booking operation to perform under the temporary name The Gladiators. When Glick took over, he dropped the restriction, allowed Ratt to perform under its own name and continued booking the band as its audience grew.

What happened during those few years is easier to appreciate in hindsight. Bands that were handing over demos and fighting for club dates were suddenly signing major recording contracts. The Hollywood hard-rock and metal scene was becoming an international phenomenon, and the Troubadour had become one of the stages where much of that development could be seen in real time.

Glick’s tenure ended with one particularly fitting booking.

On June 6, 1985, his final show as the Troubadour’s talent buyer featured Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler together on the Troubadour stage—the lineup that would become known around the world as the classic Guns N’ Roses.

From the Club to the Record Label

Watching unsigned bands move from Hollywood clubs to major-label recording contracts gave Glick another idea.

He founded Pacific Paradise Records and created LA’s Hottest Unsigned Rock Bands, a compilation intended to put promising Los Angeles talent in front of both listeners and the record industry.

Among the artists featured was Rough Cutt, whose lineup connected the project to two musicians who would soon become much better known: guitarist Jake E. Lee before his career with Ozzy Osbourne and vocalist Paul Shortino before he later fronted Quiet Riot.

Eventually, Glick stepped away from the music business and pursued other interests for many years.

More than four decades later, he returned.

Today, Glick is again involved with Pacific Paradise Records, developing artists and revisiting recordings and songs that never received the exposure he believes some of them deserved. Modern recording technology has also allowed him to return to material that was originally preserved on cassettes and other recordings made decades ago.

The tools are certainly different.

In the early 1980s, young bands walked into the Troubadour carrying demo tapes and hoping someone would listen. Today, recordings can be reconstructed, produced and distributed around the world using technology that couldn’t have been imagined when Glick first sat behind the booking desk.

But for Glick, the most interesting question hasn’t changed much since 1981:

Is there something here worth listening to?

We are a passionate team of music enthusiasts dedicated to discovering and promoting talented artists. Our mission is to provide a platform for musicians to showcase their work and connect with their fans. We strive to create a diverse and inclusive community that celebrates music in all its forms. Join us on this journey as we embark on a mission to bring the best of music to the world!