Take the skills of one of the most gifted songwriters in rock history and put them at the service of one of the most promising young vocalists to come along in the past decade. The result is, Pride Of Lions: a melodic rock renaissance led by former Survivor founder and singer of The Ides of the March, Jim Peterik, featuring the debut of singer Toby Hitchcock.

"I had been wanting to go back to my melodic rock background for some time", says Peterik. Hence Frontiers Records president, Serafino Perugino, encouraged this desire in the past months and prompted him to focus his research on the right partner and in particular, adds Peterik, "to find a great singer, someone who could perform the extremely rangey melodies" that earned him several top ten singles including the triple-platinum Grammy winner: Eye of the Tiger, The Search is Over, I Can't Hold Back, Is This Love, High On You and the #1 smash from Rocky IV, Burning Heart.

This goal was the genesis of Pride Of Lions and was achieved when Jim Peterik's niece, Kelly Moulik, brought Toby Hitchcock to the studio one day. "When I heard him at the mic... I was knocked out", admits Peterik, "he sounds like a combination of Jimi Jamison (Survivor), Bobby Kimball (Toto) and Dennis DeYoung (Styx), nothing less."

With the help of fellow musicians from the World Stage band: Mike Aquino (Mecca) on guitar, Christian Cullen on keyboards and Clem Hayes on bass, Ed Breckenfeld on drums plus guest drummer Hilary Jones, Peterik and Hitchcock have created some new music which is set to "restore the excitement and majesty of the melodic rock genre when it was in its heydays and," continues Peterik, " we're talking big songs, big sounds, great messages, soaring choruses, hot guitars and... amazing vocals.... what more can you ask?".

The debut album is currently taking shape in Jim Peterik's World Stage studios in Chicago, Illinois, under the direction of Jim and his long-time friend and partner, Larry Millas (Mecca, The Ides of March). The result promises to be nothing less than another gem to add to the collection of all fans of bands like Survivor, Toto, Styx and Mecca. A November release is expected on Frontiers Records.

Pride Of Lions is not just another studio project: it is the pride of melodic rock surviving!