Bio
The band was formed in april 2007 by Ivan Stalev (gutar),Boyko Gochev (bass) and Jivodar Dimitrov (drums). The idea of the band came from a single project called Ivan Stalev Guitar Show! In the beginning the band name was Ivan Stalev GuitarShow, but later the musicians decided to change the name to John Steel! And the band starts its way with the first concert in Harmanli(Bulgaria), but they play only instrumentals by Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen and Ritchie Blackmore, because the band has no singer, yet. Later Ivan, Boyko and Jivodar decide to invite the singer Pavlin Manev (Music Station Band, Eridan Band). The band was ready for concerts! After lots of live performances, the guys decided to invite one more guitarist Mr. Teodor Yanev (ex guitarist of FFH and ex band mate of Jivodar). Later there was another change in the band, after leaving of the bass payer Boyko; Mr. Petar Petrov (SJK, TOMA band) joined the band. He is musician that played in a lots of places all over the world (1 year tour in South Korea; 3 month tour in Finland and Sweden, also play with Bulgarian Music Idol Toma Zdravkov). With the new bass player and couple of hard rehearsals the band became a strong metal machine. After lots of successful live shows, there was new problem and Mr. Pavlin Manev left the band and on his place came Zahary Shinikchiev the EX singer of Krossfire. With lot of hard working and rock and roll for one year the band won couple of awards (for example 2009 Ivan and Teodor won 2 first places for best guitar players on the festival Nessebur 2009). The band recorded one more single with Zahari At the end of 2009 guitarist Ivan Stalev decided to go to live in UK for 1 year. The guys from the band start new project called Ellenium and played lots of kickass gigs! One year later Ivan came back from rainy England and here start the new era of John Steel with the following members – Teodor Yanev – guitar, Petar Petrov – bass, Jivodar Dimitrov – drums, Ivan Stalev – guitar and of course the first singer of the band Pavlin Manev gained new experience after couple of shows with other bands and especially from one amazing live concert with one of the legend of metal music Mr. Timmo Tolki (Stratovarius)! The band start massive concerts all around Bulgaria and couple of shows abroad (Thessaloniki, Greece and Romania).
In 2012 – John Steel remains with no singer and this was the crossroad, guys decide to make something different and they started negotiations with Mr. Blaze Bayley (EX Iron Maiden) for recording of album. In April 2013 John Steel and Blaze Bayley recorded the first 2 songs (Nightmare and Evil Sky) of the future album. In November 2013 Blaze Bayley arrived in Bulgaria to finish the record of the whole album. The promotion of the album is scheduled for end of 2014.
In the beginning of 2014 Ivan, Jivodar, Petar and Teodor invited new singer in the band Bogoljub Manic and one more guitar player Viktor Georgiev.
In February 2014 John Steel made very successful concert in Sofia, they made Tribute to Iron Maiden.
Today John Steel is:
Blaze Bayley – guest vocals
Bogoljub Manic – vocals
Ivan Stalev – guitar
Viktor Georgiev – guitar
Petar Petrov – bass
Jivodar Dimitrov - drums
