"No guts, no glory."

That's the motto of Kings In Pieces, a band whose members have been shattered time and again in the pursuit of performance, but, eventually, reassembled into a group that has since managed to cut their niche in the rough of rock.

The cards in this hand were drawn in 2007 and consist of James Nicholas on lead guitar and vocals; Johnny LaRose on bass; Shaun Zisler on guitar; and Kyle McAlpine on drums and percussion.

Happenstance and a meeting of like minds and melody led to the making of a full house. Johnny explains, "It was late March and I had called Shaun and told him to meet me over at Jon's (the original drummer) house the following Monday. I told him the run down and that Jon had a proper practice facility we could use for the time being. On top of the handful of songs that Shaun and myself had written, I also had a bunch with Jon that spanned the years of us jamming. He was eager to hear what I did with Shaun. Jon and I had jammed in many bands together throughout the years. We'd been roommates, partners at work, and good friends for a long time. I respected the guy and valued his opinion. Shaun brought his equipment and a friend along which came as a surprise. Shaun introduced his friend as Jimmy and told Jon and me both that he was an accomplished singer/front man from an up and coming band called, "One Day At A Time". I'd never heard of them. I figured lets just get down to the business of making music, and if the guy was any good, we'd know right away.”

“At this point in time, I had been in a lot of different bands and groups. The persisting problem that seemed to plague all of these groups was that we could never find the voice to match the music. They'd either have no talent, or talent with a huge ego in tow. Never had I met or had the opportunity to jam with someone who was truly skilled and somewhat humble, as well. I figured this Jimmy guy was no different, and I for one was not going to give him any special treatment or consideration because someone said he was good. He showed up to Jon's with a Shure SM58 in his pocket. He was polite, and asked if we would mind if he plugged his mic into our board. "Not at all,” we replied. Like I said, we were just going to do our thing. We didn't plan on having any vocals that day, so all of this was just going to be a plus, depending on how it turned out. I was eager to hear what Jon thought of Shaun, but I had no clue as to what Jimmy was bringing to the table.”

Johnny was to change his tune quickly, however, as the group found out James had talent in spades. "About four bars into a song that Shaun and I wrote, I turned around to see Jon just grinning ear to ear. The intensity was great and we were all feeling it. Then, what happened next, I was really unprepared for. I heard this voice, just stunning, amazing, and the missing piece that I had all but given up on. I turned yet once again to see Jimmy just belting out a tune that, until this day, he had never even heard before. This guy had the gift and we all knew it. This guy even knew how to conduct himself in the recording studio. At this point we were all sold."

They whetted their appetites on the music scene of Detroit, gaining worldly wisdom from the hands of experience before making their venture in Nashville. They've been nominated for ‘Best New Artist,’ ‘Best Rock Band’ and ‘The Listener's Choice Award’ since their arrival and are soon to release their album, ‘Lies To Abide By.’

"Pretty much since moving to Nashville, we've been going non-stop trying to achieve some of the goals we had set for ourselves. For instance, we just moved into town in November 2008, and by year’s end, we were the third most requested band on local radio. The one thing we have learned is that it's all about networking and finding like minded individuals to work with,” recounts Johnny.

For a time, they thought had found their ace in the hole. “About two months back we were being courted by a label. We had a good vibe from the guy, and everything seemed on the up and up. It's a rarity to meet people who stand behind their words and actually back them up with action, but that's exactly what this guy did. He had us all set up to do a tour of the Southwest. He had the studio booked for the upcoming album. Everything was in place. On the day that we were to sign the contract, he never showed. We thought he was maybe standing us up or maybe he wasn't so good to his word.. He had just texted us and told he would be over shortly, but never made it. We found out later that night that he had passed away on the way over!” Johnny explains.

For the first time, they found they were all on deck with a shared direction to steer for, but still needed a united banner to raise. "Naming a band is a lot like naming a child, but instead of having to have two people agree, you have four. It took about a month for us to come to an agreement, but Kings In Pieces was where the buck stopped. There were a lot of other names that I won't even bother mentioning. In the end, Kings In Pieces just seemed to fit. We had all come from previous bands where each of us were the driving force or spark plugs, as they're often called, in getting things done. Eventually, the spark plugs burn out, they tire of pulling more weight than the rest and cease to be a driving force. In this band, we were all driving forces, focused and determined to reach the same goals. We literally were Kings In Pieces before coming together."

“Life is all about chance and risk. One day you will look back on your life, and when that day comes we don't want to live with regret for all the things we didn't do. Sometimes you fail, but at least when we do, we learn. We've come to accept our mistakes and short-comings as a way to improve and better prepare ourselves for future endeavors."

"We've made our way through hard times and adversity over and over again. We've had the rug pulled from beneath us, we've sacrificed, we've been through so much in such a short time that it definitely has made us stronger and it shows in both our music and our attitudes," the band says in agreement. "We tend to not follow, but lead by example, and give others the inspiration to achieve whatever it is that they want to do. We don't want to be labeled by one song. We have much more to offer, and we just want people to see and hear that we are on the verge of really breaking loose, that we will be coming soon and that we are here to stay. We want to bring our music to the people and relate to them through it. It's music for everybody- girls, guys, radio - you name it. New and original rock that has meaning and a message, music that can evoke an emotion or it can move bodies, depending on the tune."

"We do what we do in hopes of getting to live our dreams. We love making music and new friends. We love being ourselves and not having to apologize for it. It's what we love to do. Music is a release and a state of mind. It's beautiful and universal. We've been living the ‘Rock-N-Roll’ cliché' lifestyle for some time now. It's not all peachy. We realize that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get where you want to be, and we've all sacrificed to keep this band moving in the right directions. We are Rock-N-Roll."