About Pipe
Pipe was slowly formed from 2006 to present day. The original members Frank Damiano and Stephen Favarato met on-line, wrote 2 songs through e-mails and Frank’s mp3s before they ever had a chance to shake hands or even size each other up. An hour after finally meeting face to face, they were on stage performing classic metal tunes at a Chicago pub’s open mike. The chemistry between them was as natural as a shot and a beer. The foundation for Pipe was laid.
The chunk, the riffs and the groove of Pipe’s music begins with Frank Damiano’s guitar. A disciple of Gibson and Mesa Boogie, Frank began playing and was addicted to the fret board by age 11. Growing up in New York, the only punishment his father could deliver that had any impact on him was to lock up his guitars. His influences and heroes range from Billy Gibbons to Zakk Wylde to Buddy Guy and the ripping Randy Rhodes. Pipe’s autobiographical and dark music is therapy for Frank and allows him to appear as a normal human being to the outside world. “I have this intense knot inside me that is always building up, and I strain to keep a lid on it. When I play with Pipe, it’s cathartic, and the music serves as a release valve to the twisting and kicking around up inside me.”
Jimi Hendrix seeped into Stephen’s mind at age 12 and forever altered his life. Growing up a rowdy, brawling teenager on the edge of South Florida’s Everglades he formed his first band with close friends from his neighborhood by age 14, jamming in every garage, living room and warehouse available Originally a terrible trumpeter Stephen turned to singing and song writing as a release for his constantly swirling, pent up energy. Stephen did not have to look far from home to find talented musicians. His neighborhood was a hot bed of hard driving rockers all seeking that same rock-n-roll dream. The competition, at first, drove him to be better than them and later to be better than himself the night before.
Stephen put himself in the position to be near any kind of music at work or play. Working as a cook at The Fireside Lounge in his teens he befriended the circa 1940s band The Inkspots, along with countless other traveling club bands, and peppered them with free booze, listening to their stories and lessons about the music business. It was not until his later teens however when working as a security guard at the Hollywood Sportatorium, known as the “The Sport Hole”, (long since torn down) that he met dozens of classic rock’s finest outfits like Van Halen (twice), Rush, The Scorpions and Yes, to namedrop a few. Moving Amsterdam in the late ‘80s, however brought him face to face with his true (alive) hero Rob Halford of Judas Priest, where he also hung out with Dimebag and the very cool guys from Pantera. Stating that rock-n-roll has been an influence on Stephen’s life is truly an understatement.
Like many new bands Pipe was plagued by the nagging problem of finding a “decent” bass player. After burning through a couple of mediocre and quasi dedicated string poppers Pipe, was more than lucky to land Wayne Landino. Wayne found the band on-line while looking for a “jobbing” band and his melodic thunder was the final piece of Pipe’s puzzle.
Wayne Landino, lifelong Chicago resident with over 35 years as a musician, vocalist and song writer has a straight forward, no-nonsense approach to the bass and his back up vocals. After a brief period with Chicago Conservatory of Music at the age of 18, Wayne was lucky enough to meet and be instructed by professional musician Tom Dziallo, now Chicago’s top session guitarist. “He was the greatest single influence I had as a young musician and became my good friend and a great mentor.” Wayne also has a strong background in theater and played the lead understudy role in the The Jeff Award nominated musical “Turntables”, that was aired on WTTW Channel 11. “It was arguably the most fun I’ve ever had on a stage.”
Wayne has played in many prominent before Pipe in the Chicago area, often as the opening act for national acts such as Humble Pie, Savoy Brown, Franki Valli, Joe Perry Project, The Busboys, The Buckinghams, Off Broadway and has also performed with the Chicago Honeybears Cheerleading Team. All of that was “nice” for a while, but Wayne now feels most at home with Frank, Stephen and Keith. “The tunes are ultra-heavy, the way I like it. I relish playing with these guys because there is no ego involved; just hard driving, well-written music.”
The band chemistry mixed well from the beginning and once they put some polish on their songs, Pipe hit the local club scene in Chicago. A few gigs later they naturally gravitated into the studio. With 11 original songs in the bag, the band enlisted the expertise of Matt Mercado of Sonic Palace Studios in Oak Park, Illinois. Matt sharpened their sound further and after Trevor Sadler of Mastermind Productions mastered it in Milwaukee there hard work left them with the daunting debut CD Shovelmouth.
Pipe is:
Stephen Favarato (vocals)
Frank Damiano (guitar)
Wayne Landino (bass)
