Our Bios have been found!!. They were completely
finished and FACE! left them on the beach in St Jo's so,...... we had to start over. Coconut Joe probably found it in the Mango grove and has it covered in his famous aloe preservative. It will keep the paper from burning. It was returned by
Keith Richards as he stumbled from the woods after another close encounter with a tree.
THE COCABANANA BAND BIO: The Evolution of their Carib Rock Genre
The seeds of The Cocabanana Band’s sound were planted back in 1997 when John Burrows and FACE!
began their 6 year, Wednesday night run at John Stone’s Tavern in Ashland, Massachusetts.
Burrows’ seagoing, nautical background led to set lists of original songs chronicling his Caribbean island and sailing experiences.
As the band’s primary songwriter, the song that predicted the evolving Cocabanana Band sound was his “Hey There” a simple song written “to the audience from the band”.
What emerged from those several hundred Wednesday night sessions was a sound built on Crosby Stills and Nash, Orleans, and Poco- like harmonies singing Burrows’ Carib Rock lyrics, soon to be stacked upon a very hot and spicy Latin Rhythm section.
Sonically, the duo had a big sound.
FACE! a Berklee College of Music grad from New York City played keys with left handed bass and sang the mid and top harmony, while Burrows sang lead and played acoustic guitars, banjo, and a racked up harp.
FACE was gradually shaping the musical standards of the new band. With perfect pitch, a rare gift, every nuance within the act was scrutinized. FACE’S! musical mantra: “Less is More” is the musical motto of the band
Burrows explains the next step:
“The melody lines I was writing needed a third part (high) harmony, a la Poco’s Timothy B. Schmidt, to fully exploit the dynamics of the songs. So one night at rehearsal when our bass player was MIA, we asked our roadie if he knew the lyrics and high harmony to our practice list and he nailed it pretty solidly that night.”
Dan Landry, Danbo” became the band’s 5th member going from “Roadie to Rock Star” in record time.
At this point, the band was a 5 piece, smokin’ acoustic guitar, Island Rock band, but several personal moves within the rhythm section led The Cocabanana Band into it’s own unique and unexplored genre: Carib Rock on a Latitude 18 degrees Latin back beat.
An explosive sound nurtured in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Auditions were held with some pretty hot, "rep" drummers showing up.
Danbo explains: “We are watching this drummer set up and get sound hitting his Toms and Kick and John says aside to me: ‘This is the one!’ His DW custom drum kit sounded like fireworks !”
Playing 7 days a week and often 3 gigs a day in Puerto Rico led to monster chops.
Roberto Juarbe won the Latin Grammy in 2003 with the salsa band Grupo Mania.
To compliment a drummer of Roberto's skill, the band needed a very strong and creative percussionist.
Burrows: “Our new percussionist came highly recommended from a super- star player.
Andres Espinoza is from Chile. His dedication to making songs work rhythmically is unmatched.
He paid his way to study percussion in Cuba at The Havana Institute for the Arts.
And we grabbed him before he graduated from Boston’s Berklee College of Music with a degree in Composition”
A “tasty, smokin’, rhythm master”, best describes Andres.
By late 2003, The Cocabanana Band had established its own niche sound and following. Weekly rehearsals fine tuned the group’s harmonies.
Musical Director FACE! explains: “Singers with good intonation could pretty much ad lib a 2 part harmony and sound pretty good. But,…..adding the third and fourth parts takes exponentially more effort to get the intervals right.
That’s why we have a weekly 4 hour rehearsal, to get it right”
The Cocabanana Band's sound was dynamic, tight and rocking, but the band felt it needed some visual sizzle and a vocalist who could really wail in the tradition of a Southern Baptist choir’s lead singer.
Burrows explains the audition process: “We tried the ‘model who sings route’ but after 4 months of auditions and rehearsals, realized we were expecting more vocally from our model Babana Babes than they could deliver so we went looking for a ‘singer with sizzle on stage’ . We found Kristina Cook on a stair climber in a gym! “
Kristina is a Chicago transplant, via Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas (where she was a double music major) and The New England Conservatory of Music where Kristina became a mezzo soprano opera diva.
In 2003, gradual evolution from acoustic based sound to an eclectic blend of electric and acoustic was taking place.
It made good sense to find a smokin’ guitar player to put some frosting on the live sound complimenting Burrows’ Taylor T5 and Fender Stratocaster.
“This was a no brainer” said Burrows. Eric “Homeless Yeric” Yanaway from New London, CT was a Berklee grad who not only had the chops, but also the right approach, restraint and taste to drive the sound. Yeric is also a phenomenal bass player.
The final hunt was for a keyboard player with extraordinary vocal chops and the ability not only to play the band’s music, but to perform it for the audience.
After an exhaustive search, The Cocabanana Band found solo performer Ed McCarron on line at Gigmasters.com. Ed has the vocal range to sing any interval from baritone to soprano and is a very tasty and talented multi-keyboard specialist.
“In this MTV era the show’s the thing.” says Kristina.
“Once the music is tight, the band has to deliver the sound to the audience. When we have fun and cut up on stage, the audience has fun. AND we always have a good time with the music.”
DETAILED BIOS OF EACH COCABANANA BAND MEMBER
“El Banandero”, John Burrows: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Harmonica, Vocals,
The Band's founding father, John is from Boston, MA where he began playing music at the age of 7. He founded the original Franconia Notch Band. A true “son of a sailor” and fisherman he captained North Star, his 52 foot offshore sailboat thru several survival storms. Attending Columbia College in New York City, he made the "Village music scene” performing as a solo/duo in the local coffee houses and then toured nationally . His various writing and playing styles include Country Rock and Carib/Island Rock. John was an accomplished award wining Pedal Steel guitarist, who also played Dobro, and Banjo. He now focuses his efforts on Guitars, Harp and utilizing his songwriting skills composing The Cocabanana Band’s trademark Caribbean Rock songs. "El Banandero" is now enjoying the most fun he's ever had in music. “We work hard in our weekly rehearsals so that we can just let it all flow in shows. It’s very "adrenalistic" on stage when thorough preparation precedes our performance!” Banandero’s advice to young musical wannabees: “The song is a painting, the band is the frame, you are not getting paid by the note.”
FACE! Korman: Bass, Keyboards and Vocals, Musical Director, Founding Mother Banana of the The Cocabanana Band. New York born, FACE! is a 1985 graduate of the Berklee College of Music and occasionally exhibits the talent one has come to expect of such training. Within the circle of his contemporary musicians , the buzz is “Man, that FACE! has ears down to the floor!”. Translation: He hears music in a very detailed way…every nuance in the interplay of instruments and vocals is noted and adjusted if necessary. Most often heard comment from FACE! As musical director is “let it build, don’t overplay”.
FACE’S! Trademark is his natural ability to hear and then play the right note much like an artist has many choices of colors, but only the right ones reach the palette. His amazing versatility shines as he tastefully supports the eclectic mix of styles played by the band. FACE! has some truly impressive working credits via his association with Harvey Robbins Productions including the Harptones, Diamonds, Belmonts, Frankie Lymans’ Teenagers, Big Bopper Jr., the Marsels and a long list of local notables. In addition to his musical talents, “Face” provides the band with a healthy dose of teen appeal.
“Danbo” Dan Landry:–Vocals and Percussion. Leader of The Corona Liquid Bottleneck Tropical Wind Ensemble
It’s hard to find a song or music genre he doesn’t like, with rare exceptions like Aardvarkian goat-herding chants, Danbo finds himself at home and comfortable with everything rockin, popin, bluesy, Caribbean, world beatish, jazzy…... All the way back as far as history extends, to music that’s now being brewed up by The Band.
Born in “Everett by the Sea ”, he went thru the Sudbury, MA, school system from grades 1-12. Beginning in 1966, Danbo started tracking everything he heard on AM radio until he amassed a huge personal catalog of LPs, cassettes, CDs and music trivia, like some kind of flesh and blood data base.
In The Cocabanana Band, Danbo expertly sings lead and the high harmonies and adds the “We are down on the beach feel” to the show. “Captain Corona” is singing an increasing number of the band’s lead vocals, and has a long list of songs he may never sing with his beloved Cocabanana Band.”
“Homeless Yeric”, Eric Yanaway: Electric and acoustic guitars, bass and vocals Eric was born in New London, CT at an early age. “Homeless” began his musical adventure at age 8 playing the trombone. At age 12, the young musician began playing bass after viewing the theatrics of Gene Simmons of Kiss. Eric then gravitated towards the styles of Jaco, Stanley Clarke and Jeff Berlin. After moving to the left coast, followed by a stay in America's heartland, he came to Boston to attend Berklee where he graduated in 1987. After college, Eric played in several bands notably Lord Bane. Early on, Eric lived in more towns than most people have even heard of. Hence his nickname “Homeless”.
After many years on bass, Eric decided to expand his talents and begin playing guitar in an acoustic duo while simultaneously teaching music full time. Along with teaching he has recently followed his true passion , playing sizzling lead guitar and singing high harmony in The Cocabanana Band.
"Banana Babe" Kristina Cook: Vocals and Eggs: Classically trained on Viola and Violin, Kristina grew up and coming in the windy Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills.
After graduating from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth Texas with a double music major, Kristina attended Boston's prestigious New England Conservatory of Music. Her operatic talent was obvious from the beginning, and Kristina graduated as a mezzo-soprano opera star with some awesome vocal chops. She later developed a passion for exercise, and now pursuing both music and fitness, Kristina is a personal trainer and fitness buff. She is a "natural" on stage and brings sizzle and spark to the band's Tropical Rock genre.
Ed “Coconut Joe” McCarron: keyboards, vocals, trumpet. Ed now lives in Northborough, MA but hails from Lowell raised along with NINE brothers and sisters. Mom was self-taught pianist and like his other siblings, Ed was sent to piano lessons at age 10. He also learned flute and trumpet in high school and attended U of Lowell as a Music Major for a few years. Life and kids kept Ed living a low profile in the music scene and has limited him to lots of solo work, most recently as a Billy Joel imprersario. Through the years, Ed’s vocal range, voice impersonation and comedic performance has earned him a faithful following. On The Cocabanana Band “I have finally found the band that has top notch talent from top to bottom and am humbled to be a member! To make it even better, the music and people are equally fun.”
He has been exposed to just about every music style as a musician and a DJ with his favorite being danceable rock.
Carrie Jahde : Carrie earned a great deal of notoriety in the past several years as the drummer for a number of Eugene, Oregon musical groups including Carmizin, Ritmo de la Noche and the Neil Bjorklund Trio. During her seven-year residence in the Pacific Northwest, she maintained a full recording, teaching and performing schedule with musical groups ranging in style from jazz to Latin to funk to world folk.
Carrie's unique drumming style comes from her non-traditional approach to learning and playing the drums and her involvement in many different styles of music. The first thing you will notice at a live performance is her relaxed movement yet intense musical energy and time feel. The thing you will not forget is the way the drums helped to create a musical whole that allowed all of the musicians the freedom to improvise, expand, and express.
Carrie's musical training began with classical piano at the age of 8. By the age of 13 she had added singing and trombone into her studies, and began performing locally with musical groups. It was not until the age of 24, however, that she discovered her love for drumming. Carrie immediately exploded onto the Northwest music scene, recording her first full-length album only six months after purchasing her first drum set. Though initially self taught, Carrie has studied with jazz drummers Alan Tarpinian and Alan Jones, and attended the University of Oregon as a percussion performance major, studying with Charles Dowd and Sean Wagoner.
In 2004, Carrie received a talent scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston and began her drum set studies there, under the tutelage of great artists including Jamey Haddad, Kenwood Dennard and Terri Lyne Carrington. She completed her B.M. degree in December 2006. In additional support of her schooling, she has received several prestigious music awards, including the Eubie Blake Musicians Scholarship; the John Kittredge Educational Grant for Artists; the USA Funds Scholarship; the Sumasil Grant; the Mensa Scholarship Award and the Miller Charitable Trust Tuition Grant. In March 2006 she represented Berklee alongside Berklee faculty performers in an international jazz festival in Lucca, Italy.
Roberto Juarbe: Alternate/Sub Drums (acoustic and electric kits)
Roberto provides the rock solid rhythmic foundation upon which The Cocabanana Band builds its sound. He has been a professional drummer since 1980. Roberto was in such demand at home that he often played 3 gigs a day… in 3 different locations. In 2003, Roberto won the Latin Grammy award with the meringue band Grupo Mania . He comes from Puerto Rico, the capital of Caribbean music, and grew up in Carolina, Puerto Rico. His varied and different drumming styles include Latin, Jazz, Pop-Rock, R&B, Classical and Funk. His solos on his sonically explosive DW drums sound like fireworks firing in complex rhythms.