Kris Ardolino - Drums,Percussion, and backing Vocals.
Influences
Nicko McBrain - Iron Maiden*
Morgan Rose - Sevendust*
Neil Peart - Rush*
Ian Paice - Deep Purple*
Mike Portnoy - Dream Theater*
Charlie Benante - Anthrax*
Dave Lombardo - Slayer,Grip Inc.*
Paul Bostoph - Forbidden,Slayer,Exodus*
Vinnie Paul - Pantera,Damage , Rebel meets Rebel , Hell Yeah*
Gene Hogland - Death,Strapping Young Lads*
John Bonham - Led Zepplin*
Scott Rockenfeld - Queensryche*
Eric Carr- Kiss*
Tommy Aldridge - Whitsnake,Ozzy*
Eric Singer - Alice Cooper,Badlands,Kiss*
John Tempesta - Testament , White Zombie*
Chris Adler - Lamb of God*
Jason Bitner - Shadows Fall*
Ginger Baker - Cream*
Shannon Larkin - Wrathchild (America), Souls at Zero, Uglly Kid Joe,Candle Box,Godsmack*
Phil Collins - Genesis,Phil Collins*
Mark Zonder - Fates Warning*
Jean Paul Gaster - Clutch*
And so many more....
Sounds Like
Jamming along to Iron Maidens Losfer Words...great tune!!!
Gettin a Rush off of YYZ...great tune to jam to.
Death - Crystal Mountain...jamming on some heavy stuff.
I have been playing Drums for 27 years. Playing Drums has kept me out of trouble and taught me so much, it has shaped who I am, it has presented me with opporunities that had I not been involved in music I probably never would have had.Playing Drums has taught me the value of hard work, dedication,drive,imagination,independance , teamwork, and desire, as well as tasting failure and success. I have molded my entire life around playing drums and making music....everything I have learned through music I have been able to relate and use in the rest of my life making me successful and a better person.
Originaly from the East Coast, Baltimore - Maryland, I started playing at the age of 7. I grew up playing in school as any kid typically would by 14 I was jamming with friends in our first throw together highschool Metal band playing cover tunes the best we could, but that was all right with us because as far as we were concerned we were destined to be rock stars! Through the years as I grew with my friends our Music ventures and experience became more and more serious and as we grew and learned with our craft and abilities we moved on to bigger and better things. Pl aying local clubs and out door arena's by the age of 16. By 17 our band at the time was an underground speed metal band called SADISTIC - appropriate for the time and the music. back in 1989-1992 we were opening for the likes of Nuclear Assault,Prong, Sepultura,God Flesh, Napalm Death, Wrathchild (America), and many other local and national acts up and down the eastern sea board.
As music and the times changed we all changed as well , maturing and growing apart. I moved into the city to continue my music career and find other like minded players . For several years I played around town never being able to find the right chemistry to make a solid band, but kept working at playing and recording with available competent players.
Finally in 1995 after about three years of trying I finally found the right location to put together a studio and stumbled across the right group of players to make some things happen. For the next 5 years I played with the guys in Voodoo Highway, trying to find that right niche to do what we wanted in an original project playing good marketable music with a heavy edge while not being labeled or dated. Definately not an easy task to accomplish, but we did make some accomplishments. While we had no major releases, we did manage to get in on two movie scores. Time Warp Films , the movie Harvesters and the movie Stakes. Shortly after that said good bye to my brothers in that band and headed south to Texas.
Shortly after arriving here in Texas in 2003 ,I hooked up with a progressive rock venture called Spillshadow, that had already released one CD and we were working on the softmore release. We had some good mainstream marketable material and were doing well on the live circut. We had just released a three song demo to shop to the labels when things fell apart, so again I moved on.
After my stint with Spillshadow I met up with DIRT, a project in the midst of rebuild. I went to work with Bass player Rick Wiggins on finding new members and writing new material. We were working on the folow up to the first release ...From Dirt We Come. After 2 years of steady working ,writing , recording ,and live playing in 2005 we released the CD Ashes to Ashes under our own label ( Pounded out Productions). We took on full responsibility for production ,engineering,duplication,merchandising, and booking over the next year while we supported the Ashes CD. In 2007 while working on the third release the band decided to split and go seperate ways due to creative differences.
The DIRT experience was a good time for me. Thanks to the Ashes to Ashes CD and the drumming that I did on that CD , I was published in the December 2006 issue of Modern Drummer magazine , the "On the Move " article.From that point on I knew being published was an extremely important priority for me.
Currently I am working with two different projects. ONE FINAL STAND is a Metal project in the genre of Iron Maiden,Killswitch Engage,Shadows Fall,Pantera ,and Agnostic Front- just to name a few. A musically skilled blend of old and new style Metal that is in line with our influences and what we like to play...plenty of power speed and aggression. SIGNS OF TOMORROW is more of a blues based classic rock/biker rock machine. It is very guitar driven with a dirty southern /bluesy feel , while still being very technical musically. Allowing for plenty of complexity and musicality while still maintaining a strong groove thats easy to get in to.
While I am happy with my work with both projects and have tentative releaes scheduled in May '08 with both bands, my goal this year is to go national.
After 27 years in this business and of perfecting my craft/art. The blood ,sweat ,tears , and tireless dedication needs to come to a head. I am pushing to go pro and get with a national act that can use my abilities and talents that I can become a integrated and valuable part of. I practice my craft visciously and competitively and can handle most anything set before me. I like to think of myself as open minded and enjoy working on things that might be "out side the box" to expand my own horizons.But at this point in my life I am ready to move to a professional project and a professional paycheck to boot. I have no pipe dreams about rock stardom. I will do what it takes to get there and be able to play music as my career. For years I have had a day job to pay for my night job. This year that has to stop. I want to make it this year!
Hey Kris Ardolino , what's up! Thanks for your friendship and support. It really means a lot to us! Our new album "The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A" is out and should be in stores, at least that's what our record company told us. ha,ha. If you can't find it at your local stores, please ask them to order it. You can listen to some of the songs from the new album on our MySpace page. We hope you check it out! Buy it, download it, steal it ... just tell all your friends, send out a bulletin or a message to them and help us spread the word about our new album around the world. Hope to see you on tour.
Hey Kris Ardolino , what's up! Thanks for your friendship and support. It really means a lot to us! Our new album "The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A" is out and should be in stores, at least that's what our record company told us. ha,ha. If you can't find it at your local stores, please ask them to order it. You can listen to some of the songs from the new album on our MySpace page. We hope you check it out! Buy it, download it, steal it ... just tell all your friends, send out a bulletin or a message to them and help us spread the word about our new album around the world. Hope to see you on tour.
