Mike Visaggio, all keyboards and vocals;
Michael Murray, drums and backing vocals;
Tony D'Amato, bass;
Todd Russell, guitar.
On the "Starship Universe" CD most drums were done by programming and the bass was done on the Alesis synthesizer, before Michael and Matt Harris cast in with Mike V. On "The Powered By Light" EP the drums and bass are by Michael and Matt.
Matt had to leave the band in June 2008 and has been replaced by Tony.
The music on this page was recorded before Todd joined and so there is no guitar on these recordings. "Powered by Light" is finished recording and new posts will be made of the band's new music with the current lineup. One of these is now up, number 7 on the player, See The Children.
Man, where to start? The biggest ones are Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but the Beatles, Genesis, Gentle Giant, the Moody Blues, Uriah Heep, David Sancious, J.S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, The Incredible Jimmy Smith, Al Kooper, Brian Auger, Return to Forever, Argent, Pink Floyd, Asia, The Who, Ambrosia, early Chicago, Ethos, Gentle Giant, Glass Hammer, Happy the Man, Iron Butterfly, Triumvirat, Kansas, Led Zeppelin, Lee Michaels, Marillion, Mountain, Le Orme, Renaissance, Rush, Saga, UK, The Strawbs, Spock's Beard, Neal Morse, Transatlantic, Vangelis, Zebra and now Niacin, among many others helped form Kinetic Element's musical direction.
Sounds Like
People say that they can hear the Yes and ELP influence. But some of it is like Pink Floyd, Lee Michaels, and there's some romantic piano, baroque organ and symphony orchestra bits thrown in. But you'll have to hit Mike's website to hear those.
View Mike Visaggio and Kinetic Element's EPK
KINETIC ELEMENT is a symphonic progressive rock group that began in the heart and mind of MIKE VISAGGIO, a multi-keyboardist in Richmond VA. After recording his first solo album, STARSHIP UNIVERSE, in 2006, Mike began the arduous task of making himself known to the prog world. Selected to perform at the Pop Montreal Festival in 2006, Mike was driven to put together a band, and KINETIC ELEMENT was born. They have been playing out at selected venues and aiming to shake up the music scene with some classic prog/classic/new age style thunder. After 23 days during May, June and July 2009 in Sound of Music Studio in Richmond and a day at The Kitchen Mastering in Chapel Hill NC, their new CD POWERED BY LIGHT finished and is available. Many thanks to those who have pre-ordered.
MIKE VISAGGIO is a keyboard artist who stayed away from the music business too long, returning in 2000 after a 15-year absence, and now with his fourth band in Richmond, KINETIC ELEMENT, with MICHAEL MURRAY on drums, TONY D'AMATO on bass and TODD RUSSELL on guitar, performing the new originals which comprise POWERED BY LIGHT, and some pieces from the STARSHIP UNIVERSE CD and some surprising classic rock and classic prog covers.
Mike is the former keyboardist of Billy Falcon's Burning Rose, a singer-songwriter rock band of the late 1970s that made three LPs and an EP on Manhattan Records, United Artists and MCA. He also performed with The Strokers, a well known Richmond band, and the Richmond Rock Exchange, where he met Michael and Tony. Mike has taken a somewhat oblique approach to incorporating his Christian worldview into his music so that people who love prog and classic rock can enjoy it whether they are believers or not. Over the last two years Mike has been building a name for himself in the prog world, having at present 30 reviews of Starship Universe, many of which can be read in The Reviews So Far in the Blogs section or at www.sonicbids.com/kineticelement, the band's Sonicbids EPK. KINETIC ELEMENT has supported such prog rock acts as CIRCA:, RARE BLEND and IZZ, and in August 2008 opened the PROGDAY festival PRE-SHOW. This year they have supported MORGLBL (so far!).
In this day when progressive rock is coming back out of the shadows thanks to the Internet, Kinetic Element has been performing for diverse audiences and has seen firsthand how prog crosses all ethnic and age demographics. When prog is heard, it is loved. People who never heard the great prog bands of the 70s, or today's awesome prog artists, have reacted with enthusiastic acceptance of the band's vintage prog ethos on hearing Kinetic Element in concert.
P.S. Anyone interested in purchasing STARSHIP UNIVERSE or POWERED BY LIGHT after hearing the posted pieces: Please e-mail Mike at bigroad3@gmail.com. OR YOU CAN GET STARSHIP UNIVERSE AND POWERED BY LIGHT AT CD BABY by hitting the CD BABY buttons below. You can also find STARSHIP UNIVERSE at MELODIC REVOLUTION and NIGHTMARE RECORDS (two of Mike's top friends!) and can get legal downloads at iTunes, MusicIsHere and 34 other download sites. Just google "Mike Visaggio" to find them!
P.S.: The "Starship Universe" CD has been favorably reviewed on ProgressiveEars.com (Thanks Sean!) and Prognaut.com (Thanks Ron!) and 28 other places online! Please see www.sonicbids.com/mikevisaggio and go to "Press" to read some reviews. There's also a review of the Powered by Light Suite (an EP of three PBL songs we released last year) on Sonicbids.
..This profile was edited with Thomas' myspace editor™ V2.5.... --> --> --> --> CDBABY LINK for MIKE VISAGGIO: Starship Universe -->
I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)
Your thoughts on "Navigation" are deeply appreciated, Mike.
Looking for a bass player, eh? I'll keep an eye out. Unfortunately the only people I know that are capable to handle the gig in technical terms are are already gigging pretty hard locally. I'd consider doing an online ad if you haven't already.
Congrats on the sales of PBL; I'll probably order a copy myself next month now that things are settling here. I've been a little preoccupied, as you can imagine.
Please allow me to present the long-promised “Navigation”, an instrumental collaboration with guitar wizard Al “Lavaman” Murdoch. “Navigation” is slated to become track three on my upcoming CD “Tales of a Life Beyond Me”.
Since writting thie review for ProgNaut I've given this about a dozen more listens and with each listen I'm picking up somethig new each time. So I just want to let you guts know the album has grown on me and its part of my regular rotation along with Blackfield, and Knight Area. Still have minor problems with the vocals, but they are no longer the distraction they once were. If you feel the need to rip-up my Ghosts Of Pompeii music feel free to do so if you feel I've been unkind to the band and did them a disservice with my review. I perfonally hate writting reviews in which I'm less than enthusiatic about a band. I try to accentuate the positives and downplay the negatives. As independents We're all in this together - and Who knows one day you may be reviewing my next project - and payback can be a bitch if I don't treat you with respect. LOL I tried to be honest without the sarcasm ... I hate scarcasm. spewing venom is the work of the big New York types with their glossy magazines - I write reviews because I like music. My ulitmate goal is to get members to listen regardless of what I write. I try to leave them with the feeling it's worth a listen ... then once they hear it they can judge for themsellves. I just want to get them to put the platter on the CD player and make their own damn decision. Music is subjective. Most reviews are self righteous assholes with a big opinion of themself. I on the other hard was born with an inferiority complex and a love of dinosaurs and Universal Classic Monsters. So you can bet your ass a guy like me would never intentionally try to sabbotage your groups chances at success with some bullshit review that going to make youi look inept. With lines comparing your keyboard skills to Wakeman and Emerson were no exageration. I meant it. But maybe writing lyrics isn't your strong suit, Might consider handing lead singing to a
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We had a great interview w/ 'Bruce Hornsby' at 'The National' (RVA) this month ... You can check out our entire interview at: www.richmondmusicforum.com
We just had a great interview w/ 'ZOSO' - Led Zeppelin Tribute Band at 'The National' (RVA) on 10/16/09 ... You can check out our entire audio interview at: www.richmondmusicforum.com
Hello ! In preview of the release of my second album "Le 3ème Equinoxe (The 3rd Equinox)", listen to my new track "Les bousiers (Dung beetles)". I hope you will like ! Give me your opinion...
Hey Kinetic Element, Great! We'd love to see the cover art for your new cd! You can send a jpg in, etc please check out our blog for all the details. See you at Magazine33.com in October! --Leigh
