Tony Gambino, a senior music industry and production major set to graduate this May, and he is already kickstarting his career with the release of a unique EP blending indie, jazz, and punk influences for his capstone course.
The release, called “Aliens,” will feature Gambino on guitar, bass, and vocals, and Connor DeVries on the drums. Gambino plans on using all the gear he has: his Fender Stratocaster, tube amplifier, and his collection of Boss pedals to try to get as many sounds as possible. This release will his first time doing all the mixing and mastering for the tracks, something he has previously delegated to those more experienced.
“One of the options was to do a three-song EP final project and I figured it’s good opportunity to promote new music and just get it out there to the world,” he said, explaining the options his professor, Ben Neill, gave for the project.
Gambino, 22, has been making music for years, citing hard rock and grunge bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains as influences, but only released his first two official EPs in 2018 under the name Tony Lio. To garner some attention, the Ramapo Music Club hosted a show for his second release in October for which he assembled a band he named, The Rogue Jax Band, which was significantly heavier in terms of genre than what is planned for this EP.
For this new collection of songs, Gambino tried to go in a different direction, adding jazz influences he took from his two years at Mercer County College before transferring to Ramapo. He is making this EP more exclusive with no release on any streaming services and simply an upload to YouTube.
The track listing will consist of “Bing Bang Boom,” “Solar ET,” and “Some Song.”
“Bing Bang Boom” will be more grunge-influenced than the others and Gambino says it is more similar to what he has done before. The title comes from a line from the musical “Urinetown” in which he was part of the ensemble.
The second song, “Solar ET,” is where he starts to branch out more, using more indie influence and less hard rock. The riff was written years ago, but the rest of it was put together over winter break. This song most directly contributes to the title of the EP as it.
For “Some Song,” the closing song, Gambino decided to do an acoustic song that utilizes the jazz skills he acquired years ago. He wrote this as a song anyone can apply to their lives to try to allow everyone to relate to his music further.
Fans of Gambino have expressed their excitement for the upcoming release.
“I think there are a lot of factors that make me like Tony’s music: the confidence, actual music, and intense energy when performing live that makes it so memorable,” Pam Martinez said, a freshman who did audio engineering for The Rogue Jax Band’s release show last semester.
Post-graduation plans
After this short album is done, Gambino plans on using the experience from this and his internship at Barbershop Studios in the real world after graduation.
“After I graduate [I’ll] definitely relax for a good week or two and then I’m gonna go back to work either at a tech job at Six Flags or some other place like Guitar Center or Russo [Music] or something like that too and then save up money to eventually – and this is still in planning – but I’m hoping to make my first album this summer,” he said.
“Hopefully when that’s done then [I’ll] promote that with some live shows and then go back to work again, raise up money then maybe move out to some music center city.”
Though Gambino’s desired career is foremost to be a performer, he also wants to be skilled in other areas, knowing basic music engineering skills and especially try to learn the industry side of music. He is aware success in the music business is not guaranteed as only .9 percent of artists become mainstream, according to a study by Next Big Sound, and is not always the most lucrative career path.
Screw the music business #musicbusiness pic.twitter.com/VZcdT0N0Mk
— J S Lawrence (@Jeffslawrence1) February 20, 2019
“The industry is very cutthroat so you need to learn all you can and need to learn to survive. I told my business professor that I want to be successful but I want to be smart too.”
Gambino recorded the first tracks for his album in the Les Paul Studio on Sat., laying down the guitar and bass. The drums and vocals are to be recorded during spring break. He also plans on making another EP later in the semester for his Recording Arts 2 class.
His ultimate goal is to become successful as a performer in the music industry and be played regularly on the radio, but wants to focus on what he is doing right now without worrying too much about the future.
“I’m taking it one step at a time with it.”
I think the reporting is spot-on. I get a sense of feel of Gambino and his personality through this article. It is well written and is interesting, while giving information about the music industry.