In 1985, Aeriel joined the band Kery Doll taking the bassist slot to score a gig. Two months later, Stiles moved to guitar and the band shortened the name to Doll. In 1986, the bass player Michael Hannon left to form Salty Dog and Doll dissolved. Aeriel was looking to put together a similar group and he found vocalist Steve Summers and drummer Kari Kane through an ad in Music Connection magazine. They came down and they hit it off. One year later they found bassist Vinnie Chas. From there, with their name suggested to Stiles by Kim Fowley, Pretty Boy Floyd was born. Aeriel wrote most of the Pretty Boy Floyd songs himself, before Pretty Boy Floyd was formed. He wrote "Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz", "Wild Angels", "48 Hours", and "The Last Kiss" in 1984/1985 while he was in Doll. He wrote "I Wanna Be With You" in 1982, two years before he came to L.A. In 1986/1987, while he and Steve were trying to find other members, Aeriel wrote "Only The Young Understand", "Rock 'N' Roll Outlaws", and "Your Mama Won't Know". Aeriel also played guitar for several years for The Richard Berry Group. Richard Berry is best known as the songwriter of "Louie Louie" and "Have Love Will Travel." They often played as the house band for the L.A. Doo Wop Society backing other famous singers of the genre. In 1988 Aeriel Stiles was replaced by guitarist Kristy Majors, and after 8 shows Pretty Boy Floyd were snapped up by MCA Records. Their debut album named Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz was released in 1989 and produced by Motörhead producer Howard Benson. It reached #130 on the United States Billboard charts. Aeriel rejoined the band in January 1991 and stayed with the band until about spring of 1994 when they finally broke up.
In 1995 Aeriel Stiles created a band called "Stratosphere". The band were then forced to take nearly a year hiatus when Stiles suffered a back injury which required surgery. Afterwards, Stiles recorded an additional 10 songs at his home studio. They narrowed the 15 tracks down to 10 and released the CD "Time" in 1997. The band recruited drummer Jay Rezendes and bassist John Binkley in time to appear on the cover art, but the "Time" CD was already finished prior. Stratosphere began playing regular shows in the L.A. area. Aeriel Stiles was nominated by Rock City News magazine for best guitarist for 3 consecutive years. Their live shows were a retro-hippie stage set which featured lots of lighting effects, including the use of invisible fluorescent paints which made Jeff Alpin's artwork banners and scrims reveal hidden images when the black lights came on. The band played its final live shows in 2002. The band eventually disbanded before its second CD was completed. In 2003, Aeriel, Purcell, and Rabatin formed the Psychedelic Blues Experience as a working cover band for about a year. In 2005, Aeriel and Purcell joined up again and formed Throttlehold, an original metal band in the vein of Tool but with electronica elements. Stiles relocated to Nashville in 2006 and is in the process of forming another group.
Recent times
From 2002-2007 Aeriel created, performed and produced funny comedy songs and parodies for FOX Interactive, Flowgo, Madblast, Atom Films, and Loony Music. He has had the number one internet file on all those networks at one time and often several times. His baby-voiced parodies have been downloaded in excess of 200 million times. In 2007, he played on, re-arranged and produced a new track for Steve Summers of Pretty Boy Floyd called "Take You Down" which was written by Summers and Keri Kelli. In 2007-2008 Aeriel composed and produced 36 pieces of music, including the title track, for the film Sugar Boxx which will be released in June/July 2009. The film was written and directed by Cody Jarrett. In 2008 Aeriel composed the music and contributed voice-overs to the video game: Mr. Biscuits - The Case of the Ocean Pearl In 2008 Aeriel collaborated with vocalist Kery Doll and former Doll drummer Philip Geldray to play on and produce the Kery Doll song: "A child shall lead them." The musicians plan to re-record several of the older Kery Doll songs and new material for a new release, which will include several Kery Doll former members. Confirmed at this time are Michael Hannon, Steven Darrow, Kim Renee, Eloy, Keri Kelli, as well as former Pretty Boy Floyd bassist Vinnie Chas. Aeriel currently works as a songwriter and producer in Nashville, Tennessee, doing production for radio jingles, songwriter demos and master tracks for film and television. He also teaches a comedy and humorous songwriting workshop at SongU.com. He has started a new as yet unnamed group with vocalist Rob Hill.
Endorsements
Aeriel Stiles is the demonstration guitarist for the effects pedals at the web sites for Guyatone & Maxon effects. He plays with his favorite pedals, Guyatone's metal monster, and Maxon's OD9 and SD9. Aeriel also endorses Fisher saturn V guitars.
