Tom Bittel - All instruments, vocals, and other noises
Influences
Beatles, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Hollies, Animals, Monkees, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Bonzo Dog Band, Byrds, Harry Nilsson, The Clash, Tom Petty, The Cars, Joe Jackson, Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Frank Zappa, Les Paul, Spike Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, They Might Be Giants, Dave Clark Five, a hundred Doo-Wop groups, Stax/Volt records, the Who, Dion Dimucci, etc., etc., etc.,
Sounds Like
Various combinations of my influences and myself ground up and spat out in varying proportions - but usually rocking.
Tom Bittel (aka Noisy Dad) has been singing and playing guitar in various bands since he was 18 years old. His first band performed rock and roll songs of the 50's and 60's. Tom played lead guitar in a style combining elements of Chuck Berry, Carl Wilson, the Ventures, and early-Beatles George Harrison. •• In 1984, Tom got into a really cool original band called The Broken Hearts in Hartford, Connecticut. The Broken Hearts released a 9-song LP in 1985, with three songs each by songwriters Jamie Beckett, Bittel, and Michael Mazzarella (now available on CD). The album received college radio airplay around the U.S. and also got noticed in France, Belgium, and the U.K. The Broken Hearts made the big move to New York City and had some great times, but the band eventually broke up and Tom returned to Hartford. •• Tom's next band involvement began in 1992, when he joined "See Jane Run," who released their first 10-song CD in 1994, and a second CD titled Weird Reality in 2004. In 2001, SJR was honored to be included in a compilation CD released by The Wiz stores in NYC, which was the end result of a contest called "Little Steven's Cavestomp Garage Rock Band Search." Bittel's "She Let Me Go" was one of 20 songs selected from over 640 entries!. •• In 1997, Tom acquired a 4-track cassette machine and wasted no time in recording a series of songs that later became the 13 tracks of "Dad's Noisy Basement," released in 2002. In 2005, Bittel released a DNB EP with 4 new tunes. •• Tom's latest venture is a surfy instrumental trio called the Aquatudes (also on myspace), which makes good use of his anachronistically twangy style, and has enabled him to acquire some groovy new gear including a Fender Jaguar and a tube reverb unit.
