High Risk was formed in 1985 by a group of heavy metal-loving high school students out of San Antonio, Texas. Members Jose Gonzalez (guitar), Julian Garcia (guitar), Rick Espinosa (singer), Rene Medellin (drums) and Ramsey Guerra (bass) were playing South Texas metal clubs in the mid-80’s, before they were even old enough to drink. Starting out the band played some covers from 80’s metal bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Saxon, Judas Priest and San Antonio’s own, Riot. But, their main interest was writing and playing their own original music. Guitarist, Jose Gonzalez, says “most of our material is written from past experiences, events and the unforeseen future. We try to stick to subjects that pertain to real life, not fiction.”
In the 1986 the band was devastated when bassist, Ramsey Guerra, passed away in a tragic automobile accident. In Ramsey’s honor, the band went into the studio to record and preserve the original music they created with him, on their self-titled demo, High Risk. The demo was released in 1987 for radio play and for friends. Following the recording of High Risk, the band took a much needed hiatus. Two years later High Risk was reformed. Jose Gonzalez and Rick Espinosa were joined by new members Arthur Ramos (drums), and Daniel Jimenez (bass). Their mission was to write and record the music included on their second demo, Dawn at the Alamo, released for radio play and friends in 1989. In October 2017 Kostas Athanasoglou from Arkeyn Steel Records contacted the band about releasing a High Risk anthology with all old demo recordings.
More than three decades and a few albums later, High Risk has gone through multiple lineup changes, with Jose Gonzalez being the only remaining original member. He will continue to write and record original metal music until well into the foreseeable future.
