An eclectic metal band, mixing rock, funk and rap in an electric deluge, 24-7 Spyz was formed in the Bronx, New York, in 1986. Consisting of vocalist P. Fluid (Peter Forrest), guitarist Jimi Hazel (Wayne K. Richardson), bassist Rick Skatore (Kenneth D. Lucas) and drummer Kindu Phibes (later replaced by Anthony Johnson), 24-7 Spyz signed with the In-Effect label to record their seminal debut album Harder Than You (1989), noted for its cover of a Kool & the Gang track, "Jungle Boogie", and its lyrics with an engaged message. In 1990, Gumbo Millenium broadened the musical spectrum, reaching number 135 on the Billboard charts. After a tour with Jane's Addiction and the departures of P. Fluid and Johnson, the EP This Is... was recorded with singer Jeff Brodnax for EastWest Records. 24-7 Spyz! (1991), followed by the album Strength in Numbers (1992), which soon became unavailable due to the low number of pressings. The original line-up, reformed in 1994, recorded the album Temporarily Disconnected (1995), the EP If I Could (1996) and the album Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound (1996) on Enemy Records, before splitting up following further disagreements. Reformed in 2003 but with a constantly changing line-up, 24-7 Spyz returned with the album Face the Day (2006), followed by The Soundtrack to the Innermost Galaxy (2019). In 2023, its sixteenth incarnation includes Jimi Hazel, Rick Skatore and Tony Lewis. Former singer P. Fluid is found dead in an ambulance on January 13, 2025, at the age of 64.
