Born in Dreieich, just outside of Frankfurt Germany, guitarist Michael Jost (pronounced ‘yoast’), found his way to the bohemian Venice Beach boardwalk, in Los Angeles California, where he now lives and makes music.
Owing to Michael’s unique European heritage, his rigorous classical training, and his 21st Century American experience, you can hear something very different in his passionate, Spanish-style guitar. Michael’s travel companion is Miss Lucy, a Flamenca guitar built by Tomas Delgado of Candelas Guitars. She has a strong character, with a warm and beautiful sound.
Michael has a unique sound. His music is a journey in time and space fueled by his passion for music and his instrument. His influences are very multicoloured and involve different styles, continents and time periods from Paco De Lucia and Stravinsky to Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
No two of Michael’s live performances are ever the same, drawing from his recent albums, Zeitlos and California Burning, as well as unreleased songs from his upcoming album, Concierto.
Zeitlos is a timeless and unique blend of acoustic, classical and flamenco styles, entwined with the sounds and soul of Venice, California. His earlier album, California Burning, is a psychedelic fusion of electric and acoustic guitar.
Stanley “The Baron” Behrens was born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. started playing harmonica at the age of five. Stanley went to high school on Long Island. He played music with a blue eyed soul band back in the mid 60’s. Stanley was drafted into the US Army in May of 1967 and spent 2 years on active duty playing his harmonica during Vietnam era. Stationed at Fort Bragg NC Stanley played in a blues rock band 6 nights a week. Continue reading Stanley Behrens→
Danny McGaw is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and sound-engineer based in Ojai, California, currently touring with legendary Vocal Hall of Fame inductees, Three Dog Night.
Danny’s voice packs an emotional charge that commands any room. Whether it’s intimate acoustic ballads or explosive folk rock anthems, his incisive lyrics and emotional intensity leave an unforgettable impression.
Vinnie Caggiano, a Venice Resident for 10 years, is originally from New York City and has performed as a guitar soloist; with bands of almost every variety from African to Blues to Jazz to Country; and as accompanist for local singer-songwriters. He has also logged thousands of hours in recording sessions with various artists.
In his solo work he employs guitar looping through which he creates real-time backing tracks which he jams on.
Vinnie is a music writer as well, with a degree in Music Composition. He teaches guitar locally in Venice from beginners to advanced guitarists specializing in Music Theory.
Barry Conley is a professional recording engineer, producer and musician. In his formative years, Barry studied electronic and experimental music composition with Earle Brown (cohort of John Cage) and Morton Subotnick.
Barry’s professional career started with an engineering position at Baby’O Recorders in Hollywood where he worked with George Harrison, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Barry went on to work at Sunset Sound and Paramount Recording Studios with such artists as Miles Davis, B.B. King, Ike Turner, and The Stray Cats.
Barry Conley’s band “The Aliens That Ate Hollywood” was featured on The Desert Sessions volume 6 “Black Anvil Ego” record put out by Josh Homme (Queens of The Stone Age).
While waiting for the members of Cypress Hill to arrive at a recording session for their “Stoned Raiders” record, Barry invented and devised a portable joystick/photo optically controlled analog synthesizer/effects processor named the “OutofControl-atron”. Seven years in the making and played on many records including Black Label Society’s “Mafia”.
Barry currently plays in several combos including Liquid Owsley, Splotch, Spiel, and The Aliens. Barry has been known to do solo “abductions”, sometimes known as “sonic colonics”, with his various Buchla synthesizers and the OutofControl-atron.
Barry currently owns Outer Space, a recording studio in Venice, California where he has recently worked with Luicidal and Robert Trujillo (Metallica).
Barry Conley on Radio Venice
Barry and his Outofcontrol-atron have become a regular feature on the couch of Radio Venice … click here to see all the archived shows
Reinhold’s eclectic sound of Soul, R&B and Jazz has won him fans from around the world. His hit single ‘Sunset’ reached # 3 in Cleveland, # 28 on Mediabase (USA Today), # 14 on Groove Jazz Charts and stayed for months on the Smooth Jazz and Smooth Indie Charts. He shared the USA Today radio charts with music icons Paul McCartney, George Benson, Adele, Earth Wind & Fire, Roberta Flack, Kelly Clarkson. Continue reading Reinhold Schwarzwald→
The organic, textural style of Bryan Meyers drumming, along with a passion for the experimental, and desire to be pliable, allows Bryan to shine in an assortment of music genres. Seeing the drum kit as a multi-timbral instrument and not just a collection of role specific devices, Bryan’s playing takes on a holistic, organic approach to music making. This style is rooted in a love of all kinds of music and a desire to bring something special to every playing situation. Born in Southern California in the 60’s put Bryan in a unique time and place for a musician. Growing up listening to The Beatles, Motown, and hard rock, he eventually became a progressive rock fan right when Punk and New Wave came crashing down. He continues to love it all. After playing for a few years, he began to cut his teeth on jazz gigs in Palm Springs during the 80’s. He played a variety of pop, rock, jazz and orchestral gigs in the following years. Whether rocking out with touring bands, improvising esoteric soundtracks for the Indianapolis Children’s Museum Planetarium, or supporting artist like Mike Roe with his percussion/kit drum hybrid, Bryan always manages to get involved in something that stretches him and diversifies his musical palette. Bryan has also played with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, as well as other churches for over 30 years. This has led to regional touring and recording with a variety songwriters and musicians from all over the country. Continue reading Bryan Meyers→
César Mateus has been teaching, and performing, recording, and composing for over 25 years. His teaching specialties are Rock, Blues, Classical, Flamenco, and Jazz guitar, and composition and theory.
He has recently performed on the “Smallville” and “Charlie’s Angels” television series, and also performs in France and Montréal, Québec. He composes orchestral music, Jazz, and has recently released a Latin Jazz CD “Of Red and White” with Brent Fischer, Frank Petrilli, Robert Fernandez and an all star line-up of renown musicians. Continue reading César Mateus→
What an Englishman was doing living in the Highlands of Louisville, Kentucky is really anyone’s guess but TD Lind knew he was pursuing an inescapable dream to become a singer and a songwriter. This dream had moved him away from home and into a rock’n roll band that travelled across Britain playing bars and pubs, it had put him into small night clubs in London and had him playing Jazz piano in the Duc De Lombard over a winter in Paris. Then somewhere between him singing blues nightly at Arthur’s Tavern across from his room on Christopher Street in New York, a cab ride that took him to New Orleans, and making coffee for sessions at Ocean Way studios in Los Angeles, he found four great musicians, formed a band, and made Louisville, Kentucky home. Continue reading TD Lind→
