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Stevie Salas - guitar
Stevie Salas was hand-picked by George Clinton as the guitarist for Clinton’s albums. He’s skipped cities in a private jet with Rod Stewart, playing sold-out stadiums. He signed the largest deal Island Records had ever forked over for a new artist. His second solo album ousted the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith for "Best Album" in Japan. Most books name him as one of the Top 50 Guitarists of All Time. Just months ago Mick Jagger tapped him to be his guitarist... |
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Phil X - guitar
Hailing from Canada where he started his recording and touring career, Phil X decided he would head south of the 49th parallel. In TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY style, one day Phil was working for a messenger service, selling frozen meat out of a full-size freezer tied to the back of a pickup truck and painting the garage of a hot shot record producer and the next, trading the paintbrush for a Les Paul to play on Tommy Lee’s new project, Methods of Mayhem (MCA 1999). The new kid was on the block and had the heads a spinnin’. Playing for Tommy Lee led to playing for Rob Zombie, who gave Phil’s phone number to Alice Cooper (Phil played on “Brutal Planet”, Spitfire Records 2000), while becoming the in-house guitar player for producer Scott Humphrey laying down some “X Magic” on Andrew W.K.’s “I Get Wet”, BT’s “Emotional Technology” and more recordings by Tommy Lee and Rob Zombie. Not only did Phil record “Brick House” with Mr. Zombie for the “House of 1,000 Corpses” movie soundtrack, he performed the Commodores’ smash hit live on The Tonight Show (Jay Leno) with Rob and Lionel Ritchie as well.
In the summer of 2003, Phil got a call from Our Lady Peace singer/songwriter Raine Maida who was producing some songs for Avril Lavigne. Raine and Phil hit it off instantly and recorded 10 songs for “Under My Skin” (Arista 2004) of which 5 actually made the cd line-up. When Raine received word from Clive Davis to produce 2 songs for Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” cd (Island 2005), he called Phil to step up to the guitar plate once again. During this wonderful time of achievement and notoriety, Phil co-created an incredible theatrical ROCK phenomenon known as POWDER with singer/songwriter/superhero Ninette Terhart.
If that’s not enough to keep one busy, Phil put a side project together called THE DRILLS in late 2003 so he could explore a completely different canvas to that of POWDER. THE DRILLS is a raw / in-your-face 3 piece mixing the ingredients of old KISS, Elvis Costello and the Foo Fighters with Phil screaming his brains out over top of his powerful guitar work.
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Marc Ganetakos - guitar
Marc Ganetakos most recently performed with Nelly Furtado, has written and been recorded in a diverse range of musical styles and has performed for audiences across the world ranging from small clubs to large outdoor venues opening for such bands as Spirit Of The West, The Headstones, Tea Party, The Crash Test Dummies, BIF, Wide Mouth Mason, and Alanis Morrisette. Marc also performed as orchestral arranger, documentary score composer and featured guitarist for a live audience of 600,000 at the 2002 World Youth Day celebration in Toronto.When not performing as a lead guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with Toronto's premiere original acts, Marc is writing and producing his debut CD while working as a session musician and composing music for film and television.
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Anesti Karantakis - guitar
Toronto guitarist Anesti Karantakis is an incredible performer, teacher and musician. A professional musician for over 15 years, Anesti’s eclectic style and tremendous versatility make him at home in almost any style of music including an impressive fluency on the Greek bouzouki. He is an Honours graduate of the Humber College Music program where he studied Jazz and majored in composition and arranging. Since then, he has worked with a wide variety of notable artists including teen-pop sensation Fefe Dobson (Island/Def Jam), notable folk artist Dayna Manning (EMI), acclaimed country artist Beverley Mahood (Spin/EMI), rock star Sass Jordan (Aquarius), R&B/soul artist Divine Brown (Warner), Rockstar: INXS finalists Tara Slone (Joydrop), Suzie McNeil, Ty Taylor, Deanna Johnston and Mig Ayesa. He has performed on numerous recording sessions for television and radio such as the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Pan-Am Games, CBC, CTV, TVO, Comedy Network, Slice Network, HGTV, travel + escape, and Shaw Cable. As an educator, Anesti has instructed hundreds of students with his inspired practice and applied theory teaching method and has been a faculty member at the National Guitar Workshop, the Guitar Workshop Plus, IMC/Camp Rock as well as teaching at the Oakville Academy for the Arts since its inception in 2003.
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Rob Lamothe - guitar / vocals
Born and raised in California, Rob Lamothe joined the church choir at age nine and was soon promoted to soloist, singing mostly in Latin. Rob was selected to be in a traveling choir comprised of the best young singers in Southern California and made two records with them before he was twelve years old. Then Rob discovered Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. He knew what he had to do. He quit the choir and formed his first rock band.
So began many years of hometown gigs, shows all over California, then the rest of the U.S., leading to over 25 European tours, a major label record deal, a whole bunch of tattoo's, hundreds of songs written and hearts broken. The craziness killed some of his compadres, but somehow Rob came out of it reasonably fit physically, though he's certainly left brain cells behind in more crappy bars and hotel rooms than he'd want to remember... even if he could.
Rob has been awarded an Edison Award in Holland and has seen his songs on the Billboard Charts in the US. He's had songs on hit T.V. shows like "Melrose Place" and the long-running Australian soap opera "Paradise Beach". Artists ranging from English power-pop hit-makers Katrina & The Waves to Canadian folk-rock legend Tom Wilson have recorded Rob's songs. Rolling Stone Europe Magazine said he's got an "out of this world soulful voice". Rob has shared stages with everyone from Gun 'n' Roses to Cheap Trick to Bachman-Turner-Overdrive, as well as appearing at Nashville's legendary Bluebird Cafe.
In the last several years alone, Rob co-wrote the hit 'Single' from Canadian Idol winner Kalan Porters' triple platinum-selling debut CD, wrote and sang a track on the American television show, 'Everwood'... and Rob currently has a song in the award-winning film, 'The Wrestler'.
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John Tilden - guitar
John is journeyman guitarist who has been playing professionally since he was 17. This year will be 40 years in the business. In this time he has played with a million bands and done just about everything one can do on the guitar to make a living. He wrote and performed the music for the Juno Awards 2 years in a row with Mondo Combo; he backed up Wayne Gretzky at Wayne's yearly celebrity tennis event.
John has been lucky enough to play with a lot of the players he idolized while he was growing up -- Etta James, Lowell Fulson, Otis Rush, Katie Webseter, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Dr. John, John Lee Hooker, Big Momma Thornton, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Long John Baldry, Johnny Adams, Johnny Littlejohn, and many more. These experiences are invaluable to teaching blues and roots based music.
John teaches guitar privately and has done so for nearly 30 years.
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Donna Grantis - guitar
Donna picked up her brother’s acoustic guitar as a young teenager and began shredding Guns N’ Roses and Led Zeppelin songs. Soon after, she traded the instrument in for an electric. At 16, she was a semi finalist in the Jimi Hendrix Electric Guitar Competition in Cleveland, OH. She graduated with high distinction from McGill University’s jazz performance program in Montreal, QC. Upon relocating to Toronto, she formed an original rock band that played the club scene throughout southern Ontario in support of an independently released album. She has travelled across Canada with R&B/soul singers Divine Brown and Jacksoul. She will be on tour throughout Europe during the summer of 2009 with blues vocalist Shakura S’Aida. You can catch Donna performing a variety of musical styles in and around Toronto with acts such as the soul-jazz quintet “Trouble” or Saidah Baba Talibah and her funk orchestra. She enjoys writing music and collaborating with other artists.
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TM Stevens - bass
TM Steven's skill and proficiency globally as a bassist and vocalist is legendary. A luminous figure amongst today's bassists, he has unbelievable energy, stunning stage presence and knows how to win a crowd over within minutes. His ferocious, yet melodic, style of bass is as unique as his larger than life persona. Never losing sight of his own special blend of signature roots music, Heavy Metal Funk, with his band Shocka Zooloo, TM's versatility and heavyweight skills as producer, songwriter, singer and instrumentalist are obvious on his now seven solo albums.
TM's rich, hefty, trademark vocals came about through James Brown's insistence that he not only play bass but sing on "Living In America" and Mr Brown's album "Gravity". This was TM's in-road to many years of sessions and productions with some of the world's finest artists.
His extravagance, combined with tenderness and complimented by a whole lot of 'Funkiness', is enriched through years of recording with award-winning stars like Steve Vai, Cindy Lauper, Little Steven, Tina Turner and Billy Joel. A former member of The Pretenders, TM recorded on the platinum album "Get Close" and also produced and arranged, amongst others, the album "Tribute to Deep Purple According to New York" on which artists like Yngwie Malamsteen, members of Living Color and Bernie Worrell (P-Funk) all participated. It was TM who contributed the compelling groove with his unmistakable style on Joe Cocker's mainstream classic "Unchain my Heart." Together with Narada Michael Walden he penned the billboard hit "I Should Have Loved Ya."
His early jazz years brought him to play with the man himself, Miles Davis, and fans speak almost religously of TM's performance at Montreaux Jazz Festival so many years ago with One Truth, Mahavishu and John McLaughin.
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Leo Valvassori - bass
Leonardo Valvassori is a bassist, cellist and vocalist. His career path has taken him to stages and studios with a list of luminaries that includes blues and rock and roll legends like Ronnie Hawkins, Mel Brown, Snooky Pryor, John Lee Hooker, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, to country and native artists such as Susan Aglukark and Jamie Warren, to young up and comers like FeFe Dobson and Jay Englishman. He was Jacek in the only Toronto production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch with a cast that included Moe Berg, Ted Dykstra and Selina Martin. Since 1996 he has enjoyed an on-going association with Grammy-winning singer Alannah Myles having been at times bassist/cellist/vocalist and musical director. He loves to cook.
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Gerry Reid - vocals
A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Gerry studied music at York University in Toronto. He is equally at home playing guitar or flute, and is frequently featured as a vocalist in Toronto area bands along with some of the finest musicians in the city. As a session singer Gerry's voice has been heard on CBC Television, and The Fox Television Network (U.S.).
Gerry is also very active as a songwriter and collaborator, and has written songs that have reached the Canadian charts.
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Mike Siracusa - drums
Mike, a professional drummer, has instructed students in the art of rhythm, rock, jazz, latin, theory, and improvisation for 15 years. His drumming has taken him across North America, touring with original acts and cover bands. He is endorsed by RimShot Drum Sticks and Yamaha Drums. |
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Dave Patel - drums
Dave has been playing drums for over 20 years and had the good fortune to record/perform with some wonderful musicians and people, including Special Ed and the Musically Challenged, Molasses Run, Mint Band, Bass is Base, One, Jamie Bonk, Nick "Brownman" Ali Chiva, Mike Freedman, Michael Keith, Emily 13, Madagascar Slim, Donne' Roeberts, Ndidi Onwukulu, Katherine Filippeos , Lance Bennett, Wendy Irvine , Ian Crieghton H3O , Gary Diggins, Don Thompson, Simon Wilcox, JukeJoint, Shelly Hamilton, R.C.Johnson, Robi Botos, Planet Earth. You can also hear Dave on over 40 albums/discs , various jingles and some T.V. work.
Dave studied at York University, Humber College and privately with Vito Rezza, Jim Blackley, and Paul DeLong.
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