CIAO BELLA BIO:
Rick and Fred spent the majority of the 90's touring the U.S. with a heavy underground
band called Ripped. They recorded and licensed albums for various labels such as Wildrags
(Montebello, Ca.), Lethal (Vienna, Austria), and Chaos (Italy). Gaining influence from the
likes of Brian Wilson, Diamanda Galas, Kreator and the Accused they composed heavy, but
intelligent lyrics and music. Their dedication gave them the reputation as "the band
that would drive to Canada tomorrow for fifty bucks". That reputation got them a lot
of opportunities to play shows in what seemed to be every dump from the Mississippi East.
Occasionally setting up shop in NYC, Tampa, St. Louis and Austin they followed a course
that included small towns as well as large cities, theaters, clubs, civic centers,
backyards, barbecues, pizza shops, skate parks and yes even a couple laundromats...So it
wasn't pretty, but it worked. During those years they learned a lot about the workings of
the industry as well as the art of crashing on floors, expressway rest stops, parking lots
and dumpster diving. Around the same time
frame Mike was doing his own stints on the road with Punk/Hardcore bands like The
Aggrevators and One Beat Off as well as building found object instruments and percussion
kits of junk. His interest in the avante garde microtonalist musician/artist Harry Partch
inspired him to build a string instrument based on his own unique microtonal tunings
constructed from a gasoline can. Both bands stayed busy recording 7" EPs and building
a loyal following in Cleveland and surrounding cities.
When the three hooked up in late 99, there was a
definite chemistry that allowed them to explore writing in many different styles of music.
During one of these sessions Mike suggested bringing down an old Fender Rhodes keyboard
and everything pretty much fell into place. They all agreed that they were going to write
what needed to be written, "don't try to pull off something you can't pull off".
After a year of writing steadily they came to the conclusion that they needed a solid
bassist, and although both Rick and Mike were bassists in their previous bands neither
felt it was something they were interested in pursuing with this project.
Chuck was a well rehearsed bassist who's love
for Psychedelic/Garage acts the likes of Beefheart and Zappa gave him the inspiration to
make himself accessible to many different genres of music. A mutual friend of both Rick
and Chuck suggested he step in to add some volume to this crazy Rock/Jazzesque project
that they were doing, all members agreed that Chuck's style and influences were exactly
what they were looking for. The following year was spent fine tuning the music as a four
piece and recording an album that they have appropriately titled DOWN.
Ciao Bella forged ahead in 2002, adding Steve as
their new drummer. He brings a more jazz-oriented and dynamic percussion section to the
group. Steve has come a long way since he bought a worn-out, eight-piece drum kit for $500
four years ago, after returning to Northeast Ohio from Myrtle Beach. Before signing on
with Ciao Bella, Steve played with Chuck in Crescendo and other bands.
The latest change to the Ciao Bella camp came in 2003, with the addition of Shaun on
drums.
We've been told we sound like: Elvis
Costello, Nick Cave, Morphine, & The Doors. We have many addition influences, besides
the ones mentioned in the bio, and they are too numerous to list, but we're sure you'd be
able to guess a few
We welcome your questions, comments, and
suggestions.
Thanks,
Ciao Bella
email us: info@ciaobellamusic.com |
