Megaton was founded by Ross Torlak in 1979. He began his life in England as a security guard and worked at a record store part time. After working for about a year, he ended up making enough money to purchase his first guitar; a Gibson SG. Shortly after his purchase, Ross walked into a production company with that guitar and ended up getting signed.
During an audition for a second guitarist to join Megaton, a man named Jerry Nagel was the first to be seen out of over 150 other guitarist auditioning for that spot. As soon as Jerry began playing, Ross knew that he was the one for the band and stopped the rest of the auditions scheduled for that day.
When Jerry first joined the band all they were doing was recording music. After about six months went by, the record company went bankrupt. Ross and Jerry decided to keep the band going and continue "Megaton." They were scrounging for a couple gigs each week and things began to really slow down. Shortly after the company went under, Megaton came up with and released their first recorded single; Aluminum Lady.
Ross and Jerry gave their single to the England Radio Stations; BBC1 & BBC2. At that time those were the only radio stations in England. Megaton’s first single and record was played on these stations almost every thirty minutes against all the odds, because at that time the stations were really into playing the new pop songs. People were impressed; they absolutely loved this band and the uniqueness it brought to the stations.
Megaton ended up hitting the Heavy Metal Charts by Sound Magazine at #8 in 1980. Megaton was then signed again by another production company named Rock Exchange. That same year Ross ended up meeting a drummer and back up vocalist named Mick Tucker from a band called "The Sweet." Megaton was playing a gig at a local club called the Horseshoe and Mick Tucker was sent down to view the band. Mick Tucker ended up loving the band and they all recorded the last single in 1980 "Tallahassee Lassie."
In 1981 Ross ended up moving to the USA. Even though Jerry and Ross were in separate continents, they were somehow able to keep faith in Megaton after all these years. Now in 2011 they have come back together to restart the amazing band they began so long ago. When Ross and Jerry reunited in 2010 to start rerecording all of their old songs, they noticed that there was so much more magic in Megaton’s songs when Jerry would play all the guitar parts and Ross would focus on the vocals. Now here they are with their new C.D. "Returning with Vengeance."
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