31 December 2009

Last News update of 2009!

In early December Jungle and I were once again reunited on stage after three years of living in separate cities. He joined the ABBA Gold show as the bass player and traveled with us to the Poconos. What a great treat to spend time with my brother from another mother. While he was in Toronto for rehearsals we also managed to get the drums recorded for his band RaevenScry's new CD. Below are some pictures from our trip. YES - that is a heart-shaped tub!

Gerry Alvarez and I will be visiting Tim R. Branton at Joao Carvalho Mastering next week. We've completed the mixes on the new Odyssey CD - a record I am very proud of. With every new project I hope to do better than the last. I think this new 10-song collection is the best drumming and producing I have done to date! Look for an early February release on Ricochet Sound (same label as the entire Gruesomes catalog).

I recently started working with a young Toronto band called Shepherd's Bush (named after a Tube station in London). This trio is comprised of 17-year-old friends Alexander on guitar and lead vocals, Jake on Bass, and Troy on drums. At left is a photograph of Alexander recording a guitar solo for one of the three songs to be included on this EP. I'll keep you posted on our progress. I'm having a blast. It's great to see their enthusiasm for the process!

Happy New Year and I hope to see you in 2010!

Flav

17 August 2009

Well, once again I've fallen short of the monthly updates, but not without good reason! Summer has been chock full of excitement (read really busy!) so I shall endeavour to fill in the blanks from the last three months.

I had the opportunity to work with some great people recently. I did a show with Tommy James, traveled with my little brother Canadian Idol runner up Mitch MacDonald, and was at the Much Music Video Awards with Classified.

I've also been in the studio working on a number of projects. Gerry Alvarez and I have been hard at work on his new CD. We're recording eleven tracks and have most of the beds down. We'll be starting on the fun stuff shortly including relocating for a bit to do the drums. His old band The Gruesomes are doing well with a few re-releases of albums that are now available on CD. Chantal Fry has been in the studio as well putting together music for her latest show and Paul Noonan and I have been recording the scores for Peter Pan and Beauty And The Beast for the Deep Water Theatre School. I've also started putting together promo spots including voice overs for the Classic Theatre that are screened before their shows.

I decided in January to try to play live a lot more in 2009. The past number of years have seen me spend most of my time in the studio and less time actually playing drums in front of an audience. I usually play drums on the records I produce, but playing live is a great buzz I've been missing.

The audiences have been great! I played a number of shows with Abba Gold in the last three months culminating with a street festival in Decatur, Illinois in front of an estimated 22,000 people. At right is a photograph taken at soundcheck. It was a hot 104 degrees and the stage was not covered! We left Toronto at 2am, drove to Buffalo, flew to Bloomington, drove to Decatur, did soundcheck, played three shows - the last ended at 11:30pm, slept for three hours and made our way back to Toronto. I arrived in time to soundcheck for an amazing gig with Trish and Aideen O'Brien with Paul Noonan and Bruce Longman at the Taste Of The Danforth street festival. It was great to play with them again and it was great to see all their fans.

Perhaps the most important event of the summer was the first performance of the 80s Hit Parade. It took place at SilverFest in Cobalt and was a great show. The band is sounding killer and everyone involved had a great time. If you ever see a posting for the show, you should get out your 80s finest and come party with us. I promise it's a blast!

Back to Pro Tools for me! I've got Gerry Alvarez edits to finish! Hope you're all enjoying your summer. See you soon! Flav

19 May 2009

I performed with Gerry Alvarez on Saturday night at the Velvet Underground. We're gearing up to start work on his new CD and the show was used to test out some of the new songs. The next morning I flew to Charlottetown for the first time. Eva performed at a oneXone benefit on Sunday night. Prince Edward Island seemed like a nice place, and I hope to go back soon. The people were warm and hospitable, though the weather was cold and rainy.

I've been working on an 80s show for a long time now and it's finally rockin! It's a live musical spectacle with a very involved multi-media component. So far the response has been fantastic and there are a number of additional bookings lined up for the summer and beyond. You'll have to come out to a show and check it out. You can visit the site by clicking the photo at left.

Latte D. Kyd's new CD "Meanwhile" was released last week. It's a collection of songs she co-wrote with a number of producers including yours truly. I co-wrote two of the tracks and mixed a third. She's done a great job with this new disc and you can listen to the tracks I worked on with her by visiting the AUDIO section on this site. Congratulations to Latte and best of everything!

More soon! Flav

25 March 2009

Just a quick note today. I got back from SxSW in Austin, Texas yesterday. I had a great time and got to see some old friends. At left is a photograph of yours truly with members of The Orchid Highway. I played with Macdonald brothers Derek, Jamie and Rory for two years before moving to Toronto. Scott Perry is pictured at left in the photo. We discovered that, at different times, we both played with Todd Fancey in Orbit In Bloom in the early '90s! Not pictured is drummer Adrian Buckley. He was cut out of the picture by accident! You never know who you'll run into when you're buying street meat in a southern American city! Best of luck to you all on your upcoming new release.

Tomorrow I leave for 4 shows with Eva Avila. We're opening for Beyonce on the west coast. I'll post pictures upon my return.


All the best, Flav

18 February 2009

Wow! Mid-February already! I can't believe what's happened so far this year!

At the end of January I spent three days in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic playing the Hard Rock Cafe with Abba Gold. We were there for only three days, but had a wonderful time. The crowd was over capacity and loved the show. The papers and television stations were out in full force and the reviews were fantastic! Thank you to Andrew and Greg for all their help bringing me into the fold and for guiding me through an easy book - with a couple of serious sharp turns! I've gained a new appreciation for the music of Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Fältskog! Here I am backstage. Notice the WHITE pants!!!!

A week after returning from the Caribbean, I tour managed a short trip to Vancouver with Eva Avila to perform at the Surrey Winterfest. Once again we were only away for three days, but had a great time. Mark Inneo, Eva's usual drummer couldn't make the trip so young rookie Jeremy Kleynhans filled in. He earned the name "ROOKIE" by being 20 minutes late for lobby call and had to be stirred out of his deep slumber by yours truly! At left is a picture of Eva with Collin Barret (Bass and MD), Peter Kadar (Keys), Othello (BGs), Rich Grossman (Guitar), Jeremy Kleynhans (Drums), Anthony Wright (Keys), and ME!

Coming up: Latte's new disc drops in the next month. Looking forward to hearing it done. Tyler's long anticipated disc is almost done and I'll start working on Gerry Alvarez' new Disc. The 80s Hit Parade is getting close to hitting the circuit. There will be a few surprises from The Elusive Project X. I'll be on the road with Eva very soon - AND - I'll be hanging out with the fine folks in Cobalt at the Classic Theatre (the best theatre I've ever been to) helping with the music for their production of The Sound Of Music!

As an aside... I recently went through my collection of Masters and came across a very old recording of a band I was in called The Obelisks. Anyone who knows me is aware of my love of The Cure. When they started they were called The Obelisk. In May 1991, Owen Belton, Mike Rashed, and I formed a cover band and recorded a demo of six Cure songs. Here they are. Hope you find listening to a 19 year old Flavio Monopoli and friends as amusing as I did today! (these are off of cassette and after 18 years, they've lost some of their original quality!)

1- Hot! Hot! Hot!
2- The Walk
3- Fascination Street
4- The Lovecats
5- Close To Me
6- Catch

Looks like another crazy year ahead! Check back often, Flav

PS - If ya visit my site - sign my guestbook. I miss hearing from y'all!