#388 Pete Antunes- Drummer for Tower of Power, Macy Gray, Matthew Morrison and More!
Pete Antunes currently plays with the Tower of Power. Before that he has toured, recorded and/or worked with: Macy Gray, Chali 2na, Matthew Morrison, House of Pain and Everlast, Cassie Steele, El Debarge and more. He has subbed on the Michael Jackson Immortal Cirque du Soleil show and started his own wedding convention band that he musical directs. Before all that he was a member of the 10 time DCI world champion drum corps, The Cadets.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Joe Bergamini! Joe maintains a diverse career as a drumming performer and educator. Enjoying various styles of playing, he is known for his progressive rock drumming in the bands Happy the Man and 4Front, and he is the current international touring drummer for The Doo-Wop Project. Based in the New York area, Joe has worked extensively on Broadway. In 2018, he held the drum chair for the Broadway production of Gettin’ the Band Back Together, and he has also performed at over 15 other shows including Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Beautiful (The Carole King Musical), Hamilton, The Lion King, Million Dollar Quartet, and others. Joe has also appeared on the first national tours of Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys and Beautiful, and with major symphony orchestras including the Philly Pops and the Detroit, Nashville, Seattle, San Diego, Indianapolis and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.
A best-selling drum set author, Joe has won four Modern Drummer Readers Poll awards for his drum books, including best drum book of 2013 for Neil Peart: Taking Center Stage. He is also the author of The Working Drummer’s Chart Book, Stewart Copeland: Drumming in The Police and Beyond, Drum Techniques of Led Zeppelin, and several other books. As the Senior Drum Editor for Hudson Music since 2009, Joe has worked closely with many of the world’s greatest drummers, acting as editor on books with Steve Gadd, David Garibaldi, Steve Smith, Liberty DeVitto, Mark Guiliana, Tommy Igoe, Stanton Moore, Todd Sucherman, and many others. He is also the co-owner, with Dom Famularo, of the independent publisher Wizdom Media, with books distributed by Alfred Music. Since 2015, Joe has also been Education Consultant for Sabian, designing and directing the Sabian Education Network for drum teachers.
Recognized internationally as an educator, Joe has given hundreds of drum clinics in schools, retail stores, and conventions. He has appeared at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) multiple times, the Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Melbourne, Australia), the Cape Breton Drum Festival (Nova Scotia, Canada), KOSA (Vermont, USA), and the Sonny Emory Drum Camp (Atlanta, USA), and has done two clinic tours for Tama Drums. He has been teaching privately at his own studio for over 30 years. Among Joe’s many private students who have gone on to pro careers is world-renowned jazz drummer Mark Guiliana. Joe proudly endorses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans drumheads, Latin Percussion, and Cympad.
Happy Birthday to Paul Amorese! Paul is an American drummer and percussionist from Rochester, New York. He has performed and toured with a variety of musical groups, including Bacci, the WMDs, The Commuters, Jack Dishel and Only Son, Visible from Space, Bryan Scary, Hypnotic Clambake, Boutros Boutros, and goodbyemotel.
He also started a company called Buddi Systems.
Happy Birthday to Ian Hale! This week’s guest is Ian Hale. Ian Hale received degrees in percussion performance from the University of Calgary and the University of Massachusetts Amherst where his teachers included Dr. Glenn Price, Eduardo Leandro, and DCI Hall of Fame member and past Associate Director Thom Hannum. Ian was a member of the music faculty at UMass from 2007-2008 and has served as a percussion instructor and clinician ever since. He was the Assistant Director of Bands for the Calgary Stampede Showband from 2009-2011 and has served as Percussion Director for Spirit Winter Percussion from Orleans, Massachusetts since 2012. Ian has worked with many national and international ensembles including the Calgary Stampede Showband, Spirit of America, Thomas Jefferson High School, Dartmouth Indoor Percussion, United Percussion, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band. He was a member of the percussion staff for the Madison Scouts, Carolina Crown, and the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. He is currently on the percussion staff for the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps. He can be reached at ihale@umass.edu.
Happy Birthday to Julian Loida! Called “one of the Boston music scene's most valuable players” by The Art Fuse, Julian Loida is a percussionist, composer, and producer. Loida’s musical curiosity and open-mindedness has propelled him towards a wide-range of sounds, genres, and artistic endeavors. He’s performed jazz, folk, and classical, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, songwriters/composers, and musicians of all stripes. The thirst to participate in and experience this range of sounds is partly a product of Loida’s synesthesia. Music is a full- body experience for him, with sounds often invoking involuntary sensations of color, texture, or even taste.
Loida often writes and arranges for his projects and ensembles (the Cuban/Brazilian band INÃ, jazz quintet Mojubá, chamber-folk band Night Tree), and his music has been featured in film, ads, and dance performances. His interdisciplinary projects aim at breaking down artistic barriers. The evening-length solo-project Recital of Dedications incorporates speech, visual media, and music into a series of dedications to individuals, historical moments, and more. In 2018, he released the album Bach LIVE!, featuring J.S. Bach’s music arranged for percussion. Loida’s 2019 release, Wallflower, marks his solo-album debut, and also provides the clearest distillation of his voice as a composer to date. Loida’s discography continues to grow with singles and EP’s featuring vibraphone and electronics to solo piano. Julian is preparing to release his second full-length solo record in the spring of 2023.
Loida has toured internationally as a featured artist at Korrö, Sweden’s largest folk music festival, and played some of the most prestigious music festivals in the U.S. such as Spoleto, New World Festival, the Exit Zero jazz festival, Caramoor American Roots Festival, and Round Top Music Festival. He has performed with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Castle of Our Skins, Parsonsfield, the Callithumpian Consort, Tonina Saputo, Fabiola Mendez, Veronica Robles, Taylor Ashton, Alkinoos Ioannidis, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, The New Bedford Symphony, and MassOpera.
As an educator, Loida shares his scores and deep rhythmic knowledge with students of all ages. In 2017, he received his Master’s Degree in Classical Percussion from New England Conservatory.
Gig Alerts
Pedrito Martinez is playing at Robert F. Smith Center for the Performing Arts at Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park Saturday, June 15, 2024 at 6 PM.
Join Djapo Cultural Arts Institute for our 15th Annual Juneteenth African Dance & Drum Fest with Special Guest Artists teaching traditional dances from Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Haiti, Ivory Coast, USA and much more. Weedie Braimah and Magatte Fall will be involved.
Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Brittney Spencer & More Set for White House’s 2024 Juneteenth Concert
The event took place on June 10 at the White House's South Lawn. -Article
The Jazz Foundation of America has their summer concert series in New York City and New Orleans.
There is a website to see who is playing where in New York City daily. It is called Tapped In Live.
Educational Spotlight
The educational spotlight for the week is the composition contest hosted by the Percussive Arts Society. You can enter the 2024 Drumset + ___________ Composition Competition by 9/15/24 for a chance at $3000 and a feature in Percussive Notes. Compositions must be for 1 drumset performer, at least 1 acoustic musician, and be completed after 2020. Details HERE.
Iconic Recording
Pete chose two iconic recordings. The first one is “Workin Day and Night” by Michael Jackson from the ‘Off the Wall’ album. The personnel is listed HERE. John JR Robinson played drums and Paulinho da Costa played percussion.
The other iconic recording chosen by Pete is “Rat/Ps & Qs” by Squarepusher from the album ‘Hard Normal Daddy’
Music News
A man celebrating the April 20 (4/20) weed holiday took a fat rip on a bong he smuggled into The Sphere to see Phish. Now he’s been banned for life.
Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.—the holding corp founded by James Dolan that operates Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, the Chicago Theatre, and now the Sphere—has banned the Phish fan who wanted to celebrate. The fan ‘@acid_farts’ posted a video on Instagram of himself taking a big rip from a bong. -Article
AEG has announced it will stop using single-use cups at Crypto.com Arena and Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
AEG is teaming up with hospitality partner Levy to allow both venues to replace their single-use plastic cups at all food and beverage destinations with the r.Cup. Both venues will announce the change during the 2024 Green Sports Alliance Summit on June 11-13 at the L.A. LIVE campus. The program will debut on August 15 with the Los Angeles Sparks vs. New York Liberty WNBA game at the Crypto.com Arena. -Article
The average concert ticket price has hit a record high of $123.25 in Q1, but with some artists struggling to sell tickets, is that number sustainable? Here’s what’s really going on.
Artists like Taylor Swift and Beyonce continue to sell concert tickets at record numbers, with Swift’s Eras Tour becoming the most profitable concert tour in music history. So why are some artists, like Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, The Black Keys, and even Bad Bunny, unable to sell out their recent shows? -Article
Friend of the show, Stefon Harris and his group Blackout, have a new album coming out on Friday June 14th called ‘Sonic Creed: Volume II’.
Pete Antunes Interview
The song leading into the interivew is “Soul Vaccination” by the Tower of Power from Pete’s new gig.
Pete talks about his experience with joining the band Tower of Power. He got the call from Dave Richards.
Shout-out to Herman Matthews for filling in with T.O.P.
Damon and Pete met in 1997 at the Cadets.
Pete also leads a wedding and convention type band through West Coast Music called Feel Good Inc.
Pete prepared for his audition by shooting videos at Amp Rehearsal Studios.
Damon mentions Cody Tucker.
Pete mentions Dave Weckl and “Tower of Inspiration”
Pete talks about the rigors of travel with the band.
Shout-out to friend of the show, Tom Aungst.
Pete went to Dartmouth High School. Shout-out to King Phillip High School.
Pete mentions Neil Larrivee and Jamie Eckert.
Pete talks about leaving drum corps to work on drumset.
Pete talks about some injuries he worked through.
Pete and Damon finished drum corps in 1999.
Pete has a musical family. One of those members is his cousin Kevin.
Damon points out that New Edition was from Roxbury (aka Boston) Massachusetts.
Pete mentions Johnny Wright and some of the groups he put together like New Kids on the Block and New Edtion.
Aside from Kevin and Derrick Antunes, some of the other band members for NKOTB were: Greg McPherson, David Dyson, Yasko Kubota, and Nerida Rojas.
Pete is also cousins with another musical group called Tavares.
Pete mentions Eddie and the Cruisers.
There are a lot of Antunes.
Kevin and Troy Antunes have helped Pete navigate the music industry.
Barry Squire is someone who facilitates auditions.
Pete talks about subbing for Jonathan “Sugarfoot” Moffett and goes into detail about his kit.
Pete talks about the Immortal World Tour personnel and his experience in preparing for it.
Pete chooses the iconic recordings for the week.
Shout-out to Squarepusher.
Pete attended Berklee College of Music. Pete mentions Yoron Israel.
Shout-out to Francisco Mela.
Pete uses Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, and Remo Drumheads.
Shout-out to Bobby Carreiro, Tom Aungst, and Willy Higgins.
You can follow Pete on Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is “Dreaming” by Tyler Conti from the album with the same name.
