Shotgun Messiah, moved over to the US from Sweden, looking for their big break. The band was previously known as Kingpin, they wore very colourful over the top outfits and had big hair.

Shotgun Messiah re-recorded the Kingpin songs for their self-titled first album, the sound was comparable to that of Mötley Crüe & Cinderella. Before the second album “Second Coming”, Zinny Zan was fired from the band and Tim Skold took over vocals, both singers sounded very different, many fans preferred Skold’s vocals.The album featured the hit "Heartbreak Blvd" and was full of cliche ridden anthems such as "Sex, Drugs, Rock N' Roll".

Stixx and Bobby would later quit the band, but Cody and Skold kept the Shotgun Messiah name going by recording a final album Violent New Breed... the songs have a very Industrial sound, in the vein of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, although the album was great, it was so far removed from the bands original sound, many discarded it.