Fab's Music Café
Fab's Music Café
Jas Morris of Firekind
Fab's Music Café: Jas Morris of Firekind.
Fab's Music Café
A coffee with Andy Martongelli
Guitarist, songwriter, guitar teacher and producer, Andy (Andrea Martongelli) belongs to the Hard Rock / Heavy Metal world since 1999, when the Metal band Arthemis starts their Music journey.
From 1999 to nowadays Andy recorded with his band ARTHEMIS and other bands (Ellefson, Power Quest, Killer Klown, The Snake...), several Metal albums, constantly touring and performing (with David Ellefson Band, Arthemis, Altitudes & Attitude, Power Quest, Kobra And The Lotus and as solo artist) at some of the greatest World Rock-Metal events, establishing himself as a Rock-Metal guitarist but also as an eclectic musician and great songwriter.
With Ellefson Band, Arthemis, and other bands previously mentioned, Andy toured Europe many times as well as United Kingdom, Japan and U.S.A. as opening act for bands like Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Megadeth, Saxon, Dragonforce, Helloween, Adrenaline Mob, Manowar, Cradle Of Filth, Glenn Hughes and many others; performing at some of the biggest world events as Hellfest (France) Download Festival (Donington-UK), Wacken Open Air, Bloodstock Open Air UK, Hammerfest, Hard Rock Hell UK, Hammerfest UK, Gods Of Metal, Hard Rock Hell Ibiza, Japan Headlining Tours
Andy has released instructional Guitar DVDs & books (YOUNG GUITAR Metal lessons, Music-off Heavy Guitar Lessons, The Metal Injection, Suonare nello stile di Yngwie J. Malmsteen, 50 Heavy Metal Monster-Licks), as partner with many guitar magazines, recording studios (as session-guitar player, producer for Rock and Metal bands), music schools (Andy is the head of the Rock-Metal Guitar Department of "MMI Modern Music Institute" with over 50 schools in Italy). Andy is also a Guitar tutor and does guitar masterclasses and workshops around the world on a regular basis (Namm Show USA, Frankfurt Musik Messe, Musicians Institute "MI Japan", London Guitar Show, Second Hand Guitar, Music Italy Show…) and is a very productive musician, always hungry for new musical challenges day by day, carrying on his mission with new tours and creating songs that inspire thousands fans. New tour dates will be announced soon!
MMI INTERNATIONAL - ESSENTIAL ROCK/METAL GUITAR METHOD @ Modern Music Institute - MMI International)
Fab's Music Café
- A coffee with Jack J Hutchinson
Jack J Hutchinson is a London based guitarist and singer songwriter. Described by Classic Rock Magazine as “Southern-smoked blues-rock with hooks, choruses, the lot”, his most recent album ‘Who Feeds The Wolf?‘ reached #1 in the Amazon Blues Chart and the iTunes Blues Chart Top 5.
Born in Leicester, Hutchinson spent his formative years in Burnley in the north west before moving to London to be an artist and musician. To date, he has released two solo albums, including 2017’s critically acclaimed ‘Paint No Fiction'.
He has toured internationally, including shows in Brazil, Spain, Russia, France, Germany. He has also played various high profile festivals, including BluesFest at the O2 alongside Bad Company and Ramblin’ Man Fair, where he shared the bill with ZZ Top, Rival Sons and Blackberry Smoke. Support slots have included Monster Truck and Kris Barras Band.
He's currently recording his new studio album 'The Hammer Falls' at Momentum Studios in Plymouth.The 11 tracks were written during lockdown last year and the album will be released in autumn 2021 to coincide with a UK Tour.
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Fab's Music Café: Stephen Perkins
His role of founding member for the mega star outfit “Jane’s Addiction”, and beat master for other legendary bands like Infectious Grooves, Porno for Pyros, Nine Inch Nails and many more, might have given him general public stardom, but
Stephen Perkins, when it comes down to drumming, is considered one of the most creatives ones out there, and with a merit ! Raised on Rock and Metal in his pre Jane’s Addiction years, he learned how to listen and to open his intake of music influences with a 360 angle.
Master tribal that he is, he can switch from a super tight funk to a Mozambico , while adding his own signature colors, and percussive sounds too.. He is one of those people who light up the room when they enter it, and so is his drumming and stage performance, no matter what “alternative” du jour tonight’s gig might call for.
Stephen Perkins has been working on a series of brand new grooves in combination with percussions and other unconventional percussion, he is about to launch his own label, and keeps himself busy with recording sessions and live performances of all kinds.
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Fab's Music Café - Bette Smith
Wild rock & soul singer Bette Smith traces elements of her life-affirming new album ‘The Good, The Bad & The Bette’ to her childhood in rough Brooklyn, NY. Musically, it connects to the gospel music she heard in church and the soul music on the corners. This injection of soul and gospel into rock & roll powered a breakout in 2017’s ‘Jetlagger,’ which received raves from NPR, Paste, American Songwriter, Billboard, MOJO, and a feature in the New York Times. Now, ‘The Good, The Bad & The Bette’ out Sept. 25, 2020 on Ruf Records, is garnering equal praise.
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Solomon Hicks
When the Cotton Club and its band are your playground and playmates both, you can be sure there’s something going on. With that kind of cred , one develops his own anesthetic against flavor of the month disposable trends in search of the real thing. Solomon Hicks in spite of his young age, has been living that experience, and thrived in it. His manners, his tone, his vocals, and his James Bondish-BB Kingish classy attire, helped set him up in a league of his own, among today’s contemporary 6 strings virtuoso. But it’s once again the Blues, whereas in the eternal lessons of King “BB”, or on the street’s gospel of Harlem , that motivated the Lil’ BB to become the take no prisoner performer of today.
Whereas on Sirius XM BB KIng’s Blues Deville or on plenty of streaming playlist, no Blues lover was able to escape this past year from the love the media and the fans are giving plenty Solomon Hicks, actually : King Solomon Hicks.
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Fab's Music Café
Fab's Music café: Michael Manring
In the bass players world, pretty much everyone knows of Michael Manring.
Which is per se a very peculiar reality, considering that Michael Manring doesn’t have anything in common with the traditional bass player community, other than love and respect for the same instrument : the bass ! Michael has been a pioneer from the very beginning of his extended career of uncompromising and unbiased search for “orginalism” and his own “own” sound. He doesn’t play like anybody else, nor he sounds like anybody else, and that’s his winning MO at work !
Check out how candidly he shares with Fab his humble appreciation of the fans love and the opportunity of keep on doing , successfully, what he loves.
and, don't miss Michael's unaccompanied bass recording featuring unique instruments, techniques and methodologies, "Small Moments.”
Bandcamp link page...click the INFO button for the link.
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Fab's Music Café: Fab's exclusive interview with keyboard wizard, Ed Roth.
Ed Roth is known not only for his ridiculous vintage keyboards arsenal, but mainly for how he can use it. Whereas backing Glenn Hughes , Tom Morello/Nightwatch man, Annie Lennox, Ronnie Montrose or his own Meatballs Bats , Ed Roth has been an LA staple in the session and live circuit. He’s now telling us how he did it and keep on doing it.
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Fab's Music Café
Fab's exclusive, in-depth, interview with guitar powerhouse, David Grissom.
David Grissom has toured and recorded with artists such as Buddy Guy, John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, Storyville, The Allman Brothers Band, The Dixie Chicks, Chris Isaak, Robben Ford, John Mayall, and Ringo Starr. His songs have been recorded by John Mayall, Rita Coolidge, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack, and Storyville among others.
David moved to Austin in 1983 and quickly became a stalwart on the vibrant local scene. He joined Texas legend Joe Ely’s band in 1985 and toured and recorded nonstop until 1991 when he joined John Mellencamp’s band. David made 3 records with John and toured extensively from 1991 through 1993. After, Mellencamp, David went back to Texas to form Storyville, the band that included the Double Trouble rhythm section of Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon, and powerhouse vocalist Malford Milligan. Since 2000, David has divided his time between recording sessions, including four Buddy Guy records, and scores of Americana releases, along with touring with the Dixie Chicks from 2003-2007, and playing hundreds of live gigs, designing signature guitars and amps with PRS Guitars, and producing his solo CD’s. He just released his 5th solo CD Trio Live 2020.
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SOUL GARAGE EXPERIENCE: "I rather be wrong"
Fabrizio Grossi & Soul Garage Experience release their next single ‘I Rather Be Wrong’ to lead the way for their forthcoming album “Counterfeited Blues!” in early 2021.
The song hears Fab sharing life’s many lessons of survival in the entertainment industry with his daughter, Andrea Grossi-Benitez (in her own right a promising young actress/ writer and singer), who’s backing vocals are on the album and also a back up vocalist for the “more famous outfit” as Fab calls, Supersonic Blues Machine.
The core musicians of the band are all Fathers, with their kids being all aspiring musicians or actors, and they are faced with all the hardship their rocking parents went through at the embarking of their careers. As Fab states, “Who better to advise the young bloods upon the potential pitfalls, yet uplifting moments of the “biz” than their thick skinned Fathers, yet also let them loose?”
Fab’s band is nothing else than the well renowned bassist/producer solo band. Well known for working with household name musicians of the community across the globe and fronts the band on lead vocals and bass guitar. The album features world class musicians - the stellar Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, American Idol finalist Diimond Meeks on lead vocal scats, the rising star Derek Day, and Fab’s family power house Francis Benitez and Andrea Sophie Grossi-Benitez on backing vocals, also working with Fab’s Supersonic Blues Machine under the moniker “Supersonnets”.
Just like for his other award winning band Supersonic Blues Machine, fronted by Kris Barras with Kenny Aronoff - the thrilling live shows of the band are heavily jam based, so to embrace the golden era of live Blues Rock & Soul: the 60’s and the 70’s! On stage, the ensemble easily moves between new crafted tunes and all time classics spanning time in Hendrix, Cream, Allman Bros, Stevie Wonder but they are a far cry from your regular covers band!
Their sound can be easily associated with contemporary Rock-Blues and Neo-Soul artists such as Vintage Trouble, Gary Clark Jr, The Black Keys, Fantastic Negrito & thanks to the musicians’ own backgrounds, history and their endless love for Cream, Hendrix and Curtis Mayfield alike, the resulting music experience offered by the band is an infectious groove laden combination of old and new school, with a music prowess & ownership that turns heads and instigates curiosity. Fab is excited to bring his music to all, to excite, thrill, enlighten and raise awareness of how we can all come together in the most difficult and not only the best of times.
click the INFO button for more.
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Fab's Music Café: Fab interviews Blues guitar legend, Josh Smith
In this episode, Fab interviews Blues guitar legend, Josh Smith. Blues rock guitar virtuoso, singer-songwriter and producer, Josh Smith, is hailed the world over as a master guitarist with raw talent and power to spare. Blending his signature mix of blues, rock and jazz into dynamic original songs, Smith is known for his incendiary live performances, whether at the Grammy Awards or the Kennedy Center Honors with Mick Jagger, Raphael Saadiq and others.
Born in 1979, Josh started playing guitar at age six. Praised as a blues prodigy by the time he was 12 years old, he began playing at professional blues jams in South Florida, sitting in with such greats as Jimmy Thackery, Tinsley Ellis, Kenny Neal, Lucky Peterson, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, Double Trouble, Joanna Connor and Kim Simmonds, among others. Jimmy Thackery said of the 14-year-old, “Josh is three heartbreaks away from being a true blues guitar genius.”
That insight from Jimmy Thackery proved true as Josh began releasing CDs at age 14. His first national tour with his power trio, Josh Smith and the Frost, featured Josh as bandleader, vocalist as well as guitarist. The legendary producer Jim Gaines (Santana, SRV, Luther Allison, Steve Miller, Jimmy Thackery) produced Josh’s third CD, Too Damn Cold and Woman. By 1998, he had completed four national tours with his band. Josh was then asked to support the great B.B. King on a number of shows.
Opening for B.B. King was just the beginning for this in-demand artist and lead guitarist for artists such as Taylor Hicks, Ricky Fante (Virgin Records), Raphael Saadiq, actress Taryn Manning, Universal Music Group hip-hop artists Benny Cassette and Tara Ellis, and more. He has the distinction of inducting Neil Diamond into the Kennedy Center Honors with Raphael Saadiq’s band and honoring Solomon Burke at the Grammys with Mick Jagger.
Within a year of moving to L.A. in 2002, Josh was retained by Virgin recording artist Ricky Fante and performed nationally and internationally with Ricky for the next two years. In 2006, Josh recorded his fifth CD, Deep Roots and continued to play with a variety of artists such as actress Taryn Manning, Universal Music hip-hop artists Benny Cassette and Tara Ellis, to name a few. In 2007, Josh was hired by 2006 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks to be his lead guitarist. They completed two national tours before Josh was hired as lead guitarist by Grammy Award winner Raphael Saadiq. Josh continues to tour with Saadiq.
In 2009, Josh released his 6th studio CD, Inception and in 2010 he was signed to Crosscut Records based in Germany. Crosscut re-released Josh’s breakout album, Deep Roots as I’m Gonna Be Ready. In 2013, Josh’s CD Don’t Give Up On Me was also released in Germany, followed by Over Your Head in 2014. In 2016, Josh’s jazz album, Still was released to critical acclaim as was Burn To Grow in 2018.
Along with touring the world, recording and performing with renowned artists such as Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Kirk Fletcher and others, Smith is also a producer and owns Flat V Studios in Los Angeles. He has produced artists Reese Wynans (Joe Bonamassa), Artur Menezes (winner of the Eric Clapton 2019 Crossroads Festival) Seth Rosenbloom, Jamey Arent and many more.
Josh’s latest and 11th album, Live At The Spud, was released January 8, 2020 on Flat V Music, and features Smith and his power trio recorded live over two nights at the legendary Baked Potato in Los Angeles. The new album features Smith on guitar and vocals, Gary Novak on drums and Trevor Carlton on bass. The goal was to present an unedited look at a normal night at the Baked Potato. Compelling, improvisational and explosive. Josh is currently touring worldwide in support of the live album.
Josh lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.
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Fab's Movie Night Exclusive Interviews: The Wrecking Crew director, Denny Tedesco
Fab's special guest in this episode is The Wrecking Crew director, Denny Tedesco. This interview is free for all registered users. If you are not yet registered, register now, it's completely free and unlocks more exclusive content.
Music lovers will be astonished at the influence The Wrecking Crew wielded over rock and pop music in the 1960s and early 1970s. These unsung instrumentalists were the de-facto backing band on hit records by The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Elvis, The Monkees and many more. These dedicated musicians brought the flair and musicianship that made the American “West Coast Sound” a dominant cultural force around the world. Starring: Brian Wilson, Cher, Dick Clark, Glen Campbell, Lou Adler, Nancy Sinatra.
directed by: Denny Tedesco. documentary: PG. 2015.