Having grown up in Rye, musician Chris Berardo is elated about an upcoming gig close to home. His Americana, roots rock band, Chris Berardo and the DesBerardos, will be performing at The Capitol Theatre’s new side venue, Garcia’s, September 27.
By Janice Llanes Fabry
Having grown up in Rye, musician Chris Berardo is elated about an upcoming gig close to home. His Americana, roots rock band, Chris Berardo and the DesBerardos, will be performing at The Capitol Theatre’s new side venue, Garcia’s, September 27.
“We’ve always considered Rye the wheelhouse, so to play locally looks like a great time. We’ll be seeing old friends and meeting new people, too,” said Berardo, whose band played The Capitol Theatre as the backup band for Little Feat back in the late 1990s.
Berardo’s local friends go back to his days at Resurrection Elementary School and plenty of nights at the old Mug and Ale (now Rye Grill & Bar). His production company, Greenhaven Music, is named after his old neighborhood.
“My parents, who still live close by in Connecticut, are funny and wild and eventually adapted really well to our musical aspirations,” said Berardo, referring to the career paths of both he and his brother Marc Douglas Berardo, who sings and plays acoustic guitar for the band and is a prolific songwriter in his own right.
Other band members include Bill Kelly on guitar, mandolin, and vocals; Arturo Baguer on bass guitar; and Paul Triff on drums. Also playing guitar for the last few years are Eric “Roscoe” Ambel and Andy Aledort. Stepping in at Garcia’s, the Capitol’s bar, which hosts live music regularly, will be Boo Reiners, who plays with Demolition String Band, as well as Phil Lesh. Lesh played bass for the Grateful Dead, for whom Garcia’s was created in partnership with the family of Grateful Dead icon Jerry Garcia.
“I’ve been lucky with my band. All the guys are friends, who care about music more than the music business. We take music seriously, not ourselves. It’s a personal thing,” said Berardo, who is currently working on an album for the band and recently released their latest single, “Somebody Like Me.”
In addition to lead vocals and playing the harmonica and percussion on stage, Berardo writes the music. He taught himself to play piano as a child in order to compose and has sung in a band since the age of 15.
“When I got tired of singing other people’s songs, I started writing my own,” he recalled. He was inspired by WABC radio, which played an impressive range of genres back then from The Monkees to The Beatles. Chris Berardo and the DesBerardos’ albums on Lamon Records, “Pure Faith” and “Ignoring All The Warning Signs,” received critical acclaim. Their roots rock and soulful sound has been likened to Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and The Eagles.
The band has toured the country’s most celebrated clubs, where they have opened for America, The Doobie Brothers, The Marshal Tucker Band, NRBQ, David Allen Coe, Levon Helm, Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers, and Molly Hatchet. Next month, they’ll be playing at the Jersey Shore festival and doing a ten-city tour with Reckless Kelly, a fellow roots rock band from Austin.
In the meantime, Berardo hopes everyone heads to Garcia’s on September 27. Marketing firm 360 Degrees is raffling off a Gibson Maestro acoustic guitar with case, strap, strings, and instructional DVDs. Berardo will draw the winning raffle at the end of the show.
To buy tickets and have a listen, log on to www.chrisberardo.com. Check out concert schedules and buy the band’s CDs and merchandise, too.
