Songwriter, singer, guitarist Gery Hatrix formed Accent On Travvel in the 1980s. After the initial starting lineup of guitar, bass, synthesizers and drums played by various college friends and friends of friends, Gery settled in with the classic lineup heard on these audio tracks. It featured Peter Giordano on bass, vocals, synthesizer and programmed drum loop machine, and Rich Mancilla on drums, percussion and vocals.
In the early years, friends joined the group on various keyboards and the flavor of the music was more electronic and experimental- which fit the times. BeBop Deluxe, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Wall of Voodoo and the Police were basic stylistic influences.
The group disbanded until the early 90s when the 3 members got together again and created the more streamlined sound of guitar, bass and drums. Gone were the electronics and quirky, disjointed rhythms. The new sound was more of the straight ahead guitar based alternative nature while retaining the strange stylistic range from hard edged rock to pop/Ska leanings.
The band played live shows throughout the 80s and 90s in the NY/NJ/Philly original music scene. CBGB, Bitter End, Stone Pony, Eastside Club, Live! Tonite, Dirt Club, Kenny's Castaways, Hurrahs, were a sampling of the venues AOT performed at.
They did a live radio performance at WFMU for DJ Holger Skurby - of the now defunct Upsala University.
The band had a record and video on Stardust Records, an independent record label based in NJ. The video was played on MTV and USA Networks "Night Flight" rock video shows. The video was also broadcast on Italian TV, CTN- a NJ based cable TV channel as well as cable TV outlets around the US.
The record was a college radio favorite in the NYC and NJ area. It also garnered commercial airplay in Sweden -of all places!
The band was also featured in a book about original artists in the NYC area-"Land of a Thousand Bands" which was first published in 1985.
The first audio clip on this site -"I, You, Me, You" - was requested and put on a CD compilation of original artists on the Los Angeles based Rodell Records label.
After having performed enjoyed several years of performing as AOT, the members decided to once again move on. Gery and Pete still live on the east coast and have played together in the classic rock cover band "EGO". Rick moved to California to pursue a career in information technology.
SunDog's very first CD of original music, "Painted Sky", is now available! Visit our myspace to hear song samples or visit www. sundogcountry. com for more info. Hope to see you at a show soon!
Hatrix, Yo--whats going down bro. Any gigs where I can hear them sweet guitars a twangin. Have you "hooked up" with any bands. I need to get out--if you catch my drift.
