This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Tuesday night's episode of NBC's "America's Got Talent" saw Salt Lake City's American Hitmen cover "The House of the Rising Sun" in Las Vegas, bidding to reach the live performance round at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
After wowing celebrity judges Howie Mandel, Melanie Brown, Heidi Klum and Howard Stern in their Chicago audition, the Hitmen were received fairly positively, but Brown and Stern agreed the foursome took a while to warm up and were "raw." (Whether "raw" is good or bad is perhaps open to interpretation.)
But Stern said, "Once they kick in, I thought they were terrific."
The American Hitmen include three former Marines who began playing together in Fallujah, Iraq, during Operation Phantom Fury in 2004, as well as civilian drummer Phil Snyder. The original three are brothers Tim "Two Guns" Cord and Dan "The Hitman" Cord, along with Daniel "Jay" Jarmon, who teamed for a brand of rock they have previously described to The Tribune as "postwar hardcore."
They are no strangers to competition, having won Salt Lake City's 2012 Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands for a spot in the Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival with the likes of Staind and Godsmack.
Twitter: @matthew_piper