Steel Prophet started out in the eighties with Steve Kachinsky Blakmoor(g) and Gary Stocking(v) as the original founders. The band was formed out of a love for all things psychedelic and a preoccupation with mysticism, God, Satan, the occult and metal. Harry Blackwell (son of well-known jazz drummer Ed Blackwell) came on board due to a love for metal and psychedelics, but didn't last due to a poor drum set. The drummer that Harry had borrowed a kit from for an early video; John 'J.T.' Tarascio became the new drummer. A little after this Gary Stocking left the band after getting drunk at a video shoot, a recording session and a major gig at a large venue (he also got chased out of the place by security). By 1988 Steve decided to move to California with or without the band, only J.T. went along. Here they came across Scott Lindsenbardt, a Savatge styled screecher dubbed 'Echo Man' by Vince Dennis, who became the new bass player, replacing Wayne Faircloth who had stayed in Connecticut. A second guitarist was added named Domenic Chavira and Steel Prophet was ready to make a few waves, very few actually, because Scott was a hard to acquire taste. J.T. insisted he would not play another gig until Echo Man was gone, exit Scott... The next singer was Nick Mantis who was first seen as a member of Ascendence. Steve and Vince caught him at a backyard party in Ontario doing a version of Fates Warnings 'Apparition'. Fates needed a singer at the time and so Steve recommended Nick to Jim Matheos. Steve, Vince, Nick and Bill Metoyer went down to Track Record in Hollywood one night to record a version of 'Quietus' as an audition tape for Fates. Fates decided on Ray Balderama and Steel Prophet got Nick. This lasted for a while until Nick succumbed to speed addiction and the band decided Domenic's playing was not up to their standards. Jon Paget came in to replace Domenic and Rick Mythiasin (who was in Pantera for a few days in their post glam, pre thrash phase) was chosen as Nick's successor.
This line up quickly released the 'Inner Ascendance' demo in 1990, which received major accolades in Europe, and eventually led to an illegal bootleg of the tape on CD in 1992. The band performed constantly in the L.A. area, opening for Armored Saint, Man-0-War, Fates Warning, Candlemass, Sacred Reich, etc. and headlined their own shows as well. Gradually they became tired of the live scene. About this same time the band parted ways with Jon Paget. Horacio Colmenares replaced him. The band signed a deal with the Foundations 2000 record company, but never did release anything with them. Steel Prophet recorded a ten song pre-production demo for Foundations 2000 on an eight track tape recorder. This demo eventually became their first official album known as "The Goddess Principle", which the Art of Music label in Germany picked up and released in 1995.
Next was a five song EP called '"Continuum", released in 1996, which featured the same line up as "The Goddess Principle". After "Continuum" was released Steel Prophet parted ways with JT and Horacio. Horacio went on to form a well-known band called New Eden. Steel Prophet added Jon Pons on guitar and Pete Parada(Gene Loves Jezebel/Face to Face/Engine)on drums. This line up recorded and released "Into the Void (Hallucinogenic Conception)" in 1997. The record also featured Agent Steel guitarist Bernie Versaille guesting on the song "Hate 2". The band signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast Records in 1998 and released the critically acclaimed "Dark Hallucinations" in the spring of 1999. Guests on "Dark Hallucinations" included Roy Z. (Tribe of Gypsies/Bruce Dickinson), Bernie Versaille (Agent Steel, Fates Warning, Engine), and Joe Floyd (Warrior). To support "Dark Hallucinations" the band toured Europe with Gamma Ray, Edguy, the Roland Grapow Band, and also played the Wacken Open Air and Bang Your Head Festivals. Kevin Cafferty came in as a temporary member to play drums on the band's next studio effort "Messiah". "Messiah" was released in January 2000 with almost unanimous critical support. John Pons left shortly after the release of "Messiah" and was replaced by Jim Williams. Karl Rosqvist is the band's new drummer.
Source: http://www.metalprovider.com/steelprophet/prophet.html