Thursday, October 29, 2020

Marc Bonilla - 2019 "Celluloid Debris"

 


Marc Bonilla is an American guitarist and composer. He has worked with Keith Emerson (including on 1995's Changing States and in 2006-2016 was featured in the Keith Emerson Band), Ronnie Montrose, Glenn Hughes (on Addiction (produced, co-written and performed), The Way It Is, 1999, also playing keyboards), David Coverdale (late 2000 live band) and Kevin Gilbert (Toy Matinee live band). He also appears on the Emerson, Lake & Palmer tribute album Encores, Legends & Paradox (Magna Carta Records, 1999) and a spoken word album with comedian Bobby Gaylor for Atlantic entitled "Fuzzatonic Scream" including the controversial single, "Suicide" in 1998.

He has released a number of solo albums. Among them, EE Ticket (Reprise, 1991), and American Matador (Warner Brothers, 1993), which includes covers of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "I Am the Walrus" with guest Ronnie Montrose. Bonilla currently plays in California Transit Authority, a project led by former Chicago drummer, founding member and Rock n' Roll Hall of Famer Danny Seraphine, featuring some updates to early Chicago songs as well as new material and has currently completed the follow-up album of all original material. He has also produced, co-written and performed with the Keith Emerson Band's new album. In addition, he tours with Eddie Jobson's UZ Project as singer, guitarist and bassist.

Marc Bonilla has enjoyed a musical career unlike anyone else. Based out of Los Angeles, he initially made a name for himself, playing guitar with Toy Matinee, Edgar Winter, and Ronnie Montrose, before graduating to solo work. In the early 90s, he released EE Ticket and American Matador. Both were predominantly guitar instrumental albums, with  vocal contributions from friends like Kevin Gilbert and Glenn Hughes, as well as himself. Film and TV work kept him busy. Then he met Keith Emerson and Terje Mikkelsen, and his musical palette widened beyond measure. Bonilla’s first solo effort in over 25 years, Celluloid Debris is the culmination of the guitarist’s growth as a musician, player, orchestrator and composer.

To call Celluloid Debris an instrumental guitar album is a gross mischaracterization. It is more of a delectable collage of sound with guitar as its nougat center. At the same time, the record overflows with emotion and sentiment as Bonilla weaves allegories around sonic pinnacles, defiant and congruently sublime in the same cycle. That’s why the opening salvo of “Alpha Male” melts so easily into the pastoral expanse of “Westwood.” Once, you wipe off the dirt from “Fleshwound,” you begin to appreciate the record’s balance of bursts and bouquets. Meanwhile, covers of Stephen Stills’ “4 +20” and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme’s “Sailor” allow Bonilla to layer, orchestrate, and mold a range of guitar lines into the recognizable melodies of each.

After the dust settles around the tactile assure of “Prisoner,” Bonilla gets down to business with the epic two-part “The Eruption Of John Minimum.” He gets in his one and only vocal before pointing the spotlight on Keith Emerson’s 22-second Hammond solo that ominously falls off into the piece’s second part. Here’s where Bonilla builds a dense wall of musical tension around one man’s boiling point. It’s enough to make anyone shutter with wonder and curiosity. Certainly by the end, you’re left with a hanging feeling, like there’s more to come.

“Arclight” lets Bonilla climb the scales before settling down for a restful night on “The Long Awakening” and, by extension, Johnny Cowell’s “Our Winter Love,” a song the guitarist cherishes from his childhood. The melodic swings of Celluloid Debris offer an unparalleled view of one man’s quest for aural diversity. Steadily supported by a crack cast of players, including drummers Troy Lucketta (Tesla), Joe  Travers (Zappa Plays Zappa), and Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr), bassists Mick Mahan and Bob Birch, keyboardists Steve Porcaro (Toto) and Phillipe Saisse, and brother Tom on percussion, Celluloid Debris was eloquently mixed, meticulously engineered, and magnificently co-produced with Bonilla by Ryan Greene. Throw in Balance of Power, a new book, and 2019 is seemingly the year Marc Bonilla is tapping into a creative wellspring and sharing it with the world.

Track listing:

01     Alpha Male     5:06
02     Westwood     4:35
03     Fleshwound     5:37
04     4 + 20     3:30
05     Sailor     5:35
06     Prisoners     4:57
07     The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt. 1     3:13
08     The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt. 2     5:27
09     Arclight     5:45
10     The Long Awakening     7:58
11     Our Winter Love     5:36

Personnel:

Marc Bonilla : Guitars, Banjo, Mandolin, Bass, Keyboards, Harmonica, Percussion, Lead Vocals on "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.1"
Troy Lucketta : Drums on "Westwood ", "4+20 ", "Prisoners", "The Long Awakening"
Joe Travers : Drums on "Alpha Male", "Fleshwound", "Sailor", "Arclight", "Our Winter Love"
Gregg Bissonette : Drums on "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.1", "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.2"
Steve Porcaro : Piano on "The Long Awakening"
Philippe Saisse : Piano on "Our Winter Love"
Mick Mahan : Bass on "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.2"
Bob Birch : Bass on "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.1"
Jim Gammon : Trumpet on "Sailor"
Tom Bonilla : Percussion on "Our Winter Love"
Dan Reddington : Whistler on "Westwood"
Blind 'Sussex' Emerson : Organ on "The Eruption Of John Minimum Pt.1"

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Gregg Bissonette - 1998 "Gregg Bissonette"


One of Bissonette's first recordings was Brandon Fields' The Other Side of the Story in 1985. It featured David Garfield on keyboards. A few years later Bissonette would start playing shows with Fields, Garfield and Steve Lukather on guitar and with John Peña on bass as Los Lobotomys. These shows took place at the Baked Potato, a jazz club and restaurant in Los Angeles, California, playing rock, Latin, and jazz.

Bissonnette got his big break joining former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. The band included guitarist Steve Vai and future Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan. During 1985-1992 Gregg appeared on all three US Billboard 200 hit albums Eat 'Em and Smile (no.4) Skyscraper (no.6) and A Little Ain't Enough (no.18)[1] and the subsequent world tours.[2]

In 1990 and 1993, Bissonette released drum videos Private Lesson[3] and Playing, Reading & Soloing with a Band,[4][5] respectively. Private Lesson covers a variety of topics including double bass drumming, rudiments (with a backsticking technique from the snare drum solo Tornado[6] by Mitch Markovich), playing with a metronome and brushes.

From 1994 to 2004, he played on the musical interludes for every episode for the TV show Friends.[7]

In late 1995, Toto was beginning their Tambu tour when Simon Phillips developed back problems. Phillips asked Bissonette to fill in for him during the tour's first leg.

He played drums on Santana's album Supernatural (1999).[8] In 2007, he recorded on the album La La Land by Daniel Glen Timms.[9]

In 2001 he was set to play on the Electric Light Orchestra's Zoom Tour Live with his brother Matt on Bass. The tour was cancelled after one televised performance at the CBS Television City on PBS

Bissonette can be heard on a number of rock instrumental and progressive rock albums, including The Extremist by Joe Satriani, Temporal by Shadrane, Deep Forest by Deep Forest, Bass Invader by Martin Motnik, Inner Galactic Fusion Experience by Richie Kotzen, Shadow King by Steve Fister, Revolution Road by Rocket Scientists, In the Eye of Time by Vox Tempus, Bug Alley and the soundtrack to the movie The Endless Summer II by Gary Hoey.

In 2012, Bissonette played drums on several tracks featured on Docker's Guild's album The Mystic Technocracy: Season 1: The Age Of Ignorance, the progressive rock space opera masterminded by the French-American musician, teacher, and ethno-musicologist Douglas R. Docker.

Frankenstein is a highlight with a drum solo that captures a number of recognizable beats including Honky Tonk Women, In-a-gadda-da-vida, etc. (who can name them all??). Other highlights are the Andy Summers contribution, and the Tribute to Tony (Williams?).

What can you say about Gregg, he's as great a drummer as he is a person. This album showcases his many talents and diversity of his playing. One of the best players in the world Greggs album is full of his talents, personality and style. Along with Matt (his brother) on bass it's a ripping colletion of great drum featured music with groove galore. A great person, a great cd.. If you drum you must buy this album

Tracklist

1     Common Road    
2     Teenage Immigrant    
3     Dr. Toulak    
4     Frankenstein    
5     Wildwood    
6     Vulgar Boatman    
7     Tribute To Tony    
8     You Kill Me    
9     Frybrain    
10     1920 Shady Dr.    
11     No Matter What

Personnel:

Gregg Bissonette – percussion, drums, vocals, piccolo trumpet
Matt Bissonette – bass, violin, cello, backing vocals
George Bernhardt – guitar
Doug Bossi – guitar, vocals
Paul Gilbert – guitar
Scott Henderson – guitar
Steve Lukather – guitar
Mike Miller – guitar
Andy Summers – guitar
Ty Tabor – guitar
Michael Thompson – guitar
Steve Vai – guitar