Name:
Mister Neutron
Genre: Surf / instro rock
Geographical Area: New Jersey, New York, the East Coast and beyond
-- wherever cars, planes and giraffes will take us.
Interview with: Damian Fanelli by email on
2/26/07
1. What is the current line-up of your band (include band member
names)?
DAMIAN FANELLI: Guitar
TONY FANELLI: Bass
DREW PARADINE: Drums
2. How and when did you get started with your band?
We've been playing together
since August 1984. My brother (Tony) and I met Drew in 1983 at a vacation
community near Milford, Pa., called Trail's End. We didn't know he played the
drums until the next summer. I don't remember how or why it happened, but Tony,
Drew, me and another friend -- Gary Owen (who now makes great solo albums and
tours Europe frequently) -- formed a band called Feedback and played our first
gig Aug. 11, 1984, at the clubhouse at Trail's End. There has never been a
moment since that night when we were not in some sort of band together, whether
it be the three-, four- or five-member variety. In fact, from 1988 to 1991, we
were all in a country band, Katy Rudders and the Shotgun Band, which played
across New Jersey and did pretty well for itself. In 1985, Tony, Drew and I --
the same lineup as Mister Neutron -- were known as Damian Fanell and True Blue,
a cheap knockoff of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. My other current
band, The Blue Meanies, features Tony on bass, and Drew often fills in on drums.
In fact, he's playing five shows with us in Louisville, Ky., in May. Tony, Drew
and I have been known as Mister Neutron since 1998.
3. What bands or music have influenced you most?
From a purely instrumental point of view, we were
first influenced by The Shadows and a Shadows-inspired Beatles song called "Cry
for a Shadow." When "Pulp Fiction" came along in 1994, it awoke our hibernating
instrumental aspirations and got us into Dick Dale, The Lively Ones, The
Ventures and lots of the LA session "surf" such as "Out of Limits" and "My
Favorite Martian." A few years later, we discovered Link Wray, Los Straitjackets
and the whole Eddie Angel/Spinout thing, including The Kaisers and all the stuff
recorded at Toe Rag Studio in London. Then we discovered Slacktone, the
California band that has been our single biggest influence since we were 17.
Seeing and hearing Slacktone has led us directly to where we are today.
From a more general point of
view, as a band, our biggest influences are The Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughan and
Double Trouble, Albert Collins, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Cream, The Yardbirds,
Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, The Who and The Byrds. I like Eric Clapton,
Clarence White, Cliff Gallup, Jimmie Vaughan and Paul Weller, plus Hawaiian
music and Blue Note jazz albums from the mid-'50s through 1963. On his MySpace
page, Tony lists Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Bill Wyman, John Entwistle, Jack
Casady and Jaco Pastorius as influences. Drew lists The Beatles, The Who,
Slacktone, John Coltrane, Los Straitjackets, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
The Shadows, Art Blakey, Neil Young, Ry Cooder and The Abyssinians.
4. What is the breakdown
of cover vs. original material in your live shows and/or recordings?
If we play 15 songs at an
Otto's show, nine or 10 of them are originals. We'll probably increase that to
10 or 11 originals for the California tour. As for our recordings, our first CD
had 19 songs, 18 of which I wrote (one was co-written with Gary Owen). Our
second CD -- a longish EP -- had nine songs. I wrote six of them, Tony wrote
one, and two were Eddie Angel and Dick Dale covers. Our next CD will have 16 or
17 songs, and 10 or 11 of them will be originals, which is very much like the
breakdown of our live sets. Actually, the point of the next CD is to capture the
feel of Mister Neutron "live" -- without being live.
5. What recording have you done?
There's "Mister
Neutron Loves You," our first CD, which was recorded from 2000 to 2004. Our
second CD, "Red Triangle," was recorded between 2003 and 2006. Eight songs from
the next CD are either completed or very much in the works. Some of the tracks
include "Hang 'em High," which we recorded in July 2006 for a comp that never
came out; "Cat on a Hot Foam Board," which we did live in the studio in November
'06; and "Mambo Italiano," which we started in December and completed in
January. Originals include "Tiki Barber," "Neutron Summer," "Sea Girt Agent
Man," "Stratosfear," "Big Sur Prize," "Lava Land" and "Tahiti Throwdown."
6. What kind of gear do you use?
Drew uses Tama
Starclassic drums; it was cool when Dusty Watson played Drew's kit with Agent
Orange at Asbury Lanes in September '06. He also has an awesome
digital/electronic kit we use when rehearsing. Tony has 19 basses, but for
Mister Neutron, he sticks with Fender Jazz and P basses. His favorite at the
moment is a really nice '62 Fender Jazz reissue. I have a few guitars, including
a '66 Gretsch and a Rick, but like Tony, I stick to Fender products for Mister
Neutron purposes. My main setup is a Fender 50th Anniversary Strat through a
Fender Super-Sonic amp and Fender Reverb. My effects are by Fulltone.
7. What
is your band’s favorite food/beverage?
I have a thing for Red Stripe beer, and Tony
likes Bass Ale (probably because of the Bass/bass connection). Drew is very
strict -- grain alcohol only. Just kidding -- Drew drinks anything placed in
front of him. As for food, give us a bag full of California-grown dried white
peaches and we're quite happy.
8. How do you get
gigs?
Gigs just sort of happen.
9. What are the difficulties
you find playing your kind of music in your area?
I wish "our area" were New
York, because then I'd be able to say we have no difficulties of any kind. Or
Florida or California or Quebec. Unfortunately, our area is New Jersey, and, as
my father taught me, "If you can't say anything nice ... "
10. What positive attributes does your band have that sets you apart
from other bands (of any genre)?
Without getting into conjecture, theories or
opinions, I'll stick to the facts: What sets us apart is that we've been playing
together since the year "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released.
11. What have you
found to be the single most effective promotional tool you’ve used to further
your band’s musical path?
Our gigs are
pretty good promotional tools. MySpace.com is pretty nice, too.
12. What’s the most interesting performance
experience you’ve had?
Because we've been playing together for so long, we've had plenty of
interesting gigs -- like New Year's Eve 1989, for instance. But as for as the
Mister Neutron era, the gigs that stand out are our first Unsteady Freddie show
at Makor in NYC in February 2005, Bigsby's in Austin, Texas, in April 2005, and
Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, N.J., in September 2006. Also, the last two or
three Unsteady Freddie shindigs at Otto's in NYC have been incredible. We owe a
lot to Mr. Freddie.
13. What do you hope to get
out of being a NESMA member?
We'd like to get to
know more bands and play in more cool places. It'd be fun to set up a big NESMA
show in Montreal, for instance. Also, I like to think that if we travel
thousands of miles for gigs and make a positive impression on non-East Coast
audiences, they won't necessarily think WE'RE good; instead, they'll form
positive opinions about East Coast surf in general.
14. Anything else?
We love
NESMA and the cool people we've met since 2005. Thanks much to Ted, Mike, Sandy
and Unsteady
