Rock Paper Elephants is actually me, John Gabriel Castello Jr.; I'm the guy behind the Elephants here. The actutal Elephants are my synthesizers. It's a sort of strength in numbers thing. So I'm going to tell you a lot about myself and try not to bore you along the way--that is if anyone even bothers to even look or care about this.

   I've been playing music since grade school. I began guitar at 14 in 1979 and still play to this day. That's me at 15 years old in the photo below on the left playing an Ovation acoustic with my band, SECOND LOOK. I struggled with guitar for a long time and I think I got really good by the time I was 42 years old. In the photo on the right with my band TWEED, you can see; I have facial hair and I'm wielding a 1996 Guild Starfire IV, only 27 years later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    So at 57 years old...why ELEPHANTS? Having been a die-hard English major with an emphasis on poetry; I simply love wordplay. Rock Paper Scissors became Rock Paper Elephants and Elephants beat everything. Rock Paper Elephants is about self-reliance. I became very discouraged about working with people; mostly due to lack of commitment and the willingness to sacrifice. Since I have such a strong desire to create and could not find people willing to collaborate on my terms; I decided to do everything on my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   My advice to young people; if you want to make it in music be prepared to give up everything. When I was young I wanted to give up everything and when others did not I found myself very alone. It gets more difficult to make it as you get older. There is a very precise window of time and most of the time it has to do with luck just as much as it has to do with talent, but the idea of "making it" now has a whole different meaning to me.

   Making it in the eyes of some people usually has to do with money and fame which creates power. That's really not what it's about. If your sole purpose in making music is for money and fame, you're really not in touch with your passion. Passion is power, not money and fame. I made it in music and I am still making it in music today. Instead of money and fame I have an abundance of personal and musical growth. Yes, I would love to work with famous people, compose music for George Lucas or play Madison Square Garden, but that is probably not going to happen. I still continue to be creative and make music. So, here is how it all began:

   My brain was wired differently; I didn't care for sports because there was nothing to gain in my eyes and rewards seemed fleeting. When I was 13 my cousin Vincent gave me his collection of vinyl: Genesis, YES, Santana, Todd Rundgren and so on, but the one that I really connected with was the one by Cat Stevens called Catch Bull At Four. I made the connection with the bull later when I discovered astrology. I am a Taurus born on May 1st and I am a stubborn bull. Anyway, I played that album to death and all I wanted to be was Cat Stevens or be just like him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I was 13 when I received my first guitar and I had no idea how to play it. I made a lot of noise and pretended to be Cat Stevens. Eventually I took lessons from this guy Don Wolf at Pitta's Music in Whitesboro NY and learned from a MEL BAY book. It really sucked and was no fun. I pretty much taught myself after 10 lessons. I was still horrible, but less horrible. What I remember about that summer of 79 the most was my teacher's cheesy floral silk collared shirt, the way his Gibson Les Paul Custom sounded, and the Pina Colada song by Rupert Holmes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   When I started high school at Utica Free Academy I was looking for musicians. By this time I had stepped up my game with a black Electra guitar and a Westbury 1000 amp thanks to my grandparents. The Westbury advert below is what won me over. It was the same feeling that Ralphie got in The Christmas Story when he saw the advert for the Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I was timid my freshman year in high school. Luckily, I met this kid Joe Siciliano in 9th grade English. Joe knew a drummer who lived on his street, Brinkerhoff Ave., and his name was Dan Kupiec. I was brash and bold enough to walk to his house after school not knowing him and knock on his door in the middle of winter. His mom answered the door and wore a wonderful welcoming smile on her face. Mrs. Kupiec was a sweet and tolerant woman; she put up with us in her attic, basement and garage for the longest time of all our families. 

    Hi, I play guitar is Dan home? Dan came down and didn't act weird at all because of not knowing me. We went up to the attic and their were his drums; I was blown away. He played really good. We jammed a few times and got another guitar player who was a few years older than us and was really into Alice Cooper, but it didn't work out. Finally we put an advertisement up at BIG APPLE MUSIC and Tony DeFelice answered. He went to Notre Dame high school. Tony was far better than me on guitar and a year younger than Dan and I. It worked though. Eventually Dan and I met up with Herb Liebhaber. We first saw Herb playing bass at Hanna Park with some band. We were blown away because Herb was in an established garage band and playing gigs with PA and lights. Dan was impressed. We had to whoo Herb into the band. I think Herb and Dan connected immediately and that is what got Herb to play with us. Herb was out of high school and he was willing to play with kids. Herb was almost 19 and he had a punk haircut, full-time job, drove a TRIUMPH TR7 and had two Rickenbacker basses. It felt great to be a part of something. We got a lot of gigs and practiced really hard. I was still the weakest link and people in the band didn't have a problem letting me know it. I quit the band before high school ended because I didn't feel a part of it anymore. It was tough leaving, but it felt good just the same.   

   Below is a photo of two buildings in Utica, NY. The building with mirror windows is THE BOSTON STORE showing the brick building opposite where SECOND LOOK rehearsed as did most bands in Utica. It was cheap because it was like a ROCK & ROLL Frat House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                             ABOVE (left to right): Dan, Herb, Me and Tony FEB 1982

 

                                                 LEAVING SECOND LOOK PART 1: CRUISER 1983-1984

 

   I actually left Second Look twice. The first time I left was in Dan's garage. It was a setup. The guys purposely pushed my buttons and I stormed out, but I came back after a week because they asked me to come back.   Their plan worked and backfired at the same time. Later I found out after I quit the second time from the guy they auditioned to take my spot, Rob Lawless. I was jamming over at Ron Cardillo's house and I asked Rob over to maybe get something going; Mike Coluzza was there too on bass. Rob was the nicest guy and a fantastic fluid guitarist. Rob and I got to talking and told me that the guys (my SECOND LOOK bandmates) asked him over to tryout, but he didn't care for their style. I was hurt about that, but now I think it's terribly funny as I look back; oh the garage band drama.  

   So just before graduating high school at UFA after quitting the band a 2nd time for good, I began playing with Aaron Grywacz (keyboards), Mike Coluzza (bass) and Ron Cardillo (drums) in the late spring; we were called Cruiser. I know, it was a terrible name. It didn't really go anywhere though and just faded away. I had a lot of respect for Aaron, Mike and Ron. Aaron was kind of arrogant and brash, but he didn't realize how talented he was; he didn't love piano, but he was amazing at it and it came really easy to him.  Mike played upright bass in orchestra and also played piano very well, but electric bass was not his thing so we dropped him for Marc Catera. Now I was a jerk who kicked someone out. Ron was an accomplished drummer for his age playing like a young Steve Gadd from Steely Dan. Ron was technical and formally trained, whereas Dan was an intuitive drummer and self-taught. It was a short gig, so short lived that we had no gigs.  

 

JOINING THE BAND PART 2: SIDE TWO and ENVIOUS MOON

 

   After that whole experience I found out that SECOND LOOK ended not long after I left. Mike Robinson, an Alex Lifeson/RUSH type of guitar player took my place from late 1982 to summer of 1983. At that point I was up for anything and oddly went back with two of my SECOND LOOK bandmates Dan Kupiec and Herb Liebhaber and new addition Loren Gualtieri (lead guitar) to do a project called SIDE TWO. In this band I was playing guitar, synthesizer and an Arp Odyssey that belonged to Herb. I left in less than 3 months because of personal reasons and I didn't want to play cover material ever again, but later I became their sound man.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  So after abruptly leaving SIDE TWO things changed for the better. I met Marc Catera in English 101 and that was serendipitous. Marc came from a very old world Italian family like mine and we had music in common.  Marc was a really mellow dude who loved progressive music and we furthered our friendship with the band. Marc is still a really great friend to this day. Together we started looking for people to play with. It was not a difficult process and since Marc had gone to a different high school than me; he knew a whole other group of musicians that I was not aware of--enter again Aaron Gryzwacz. 

   Aaron was a cocky half Italian half Polish teenager who wanted to pickup girls, smoke cigarettes and act like Rodney Dangerfield; he was also a phenomenal keyboardist and eventually went to CRANE SCHOOL OF MUSIC. When we got Aaron hooked, I approached Ron Cardillo for another try and that was it. Ron was really laid back for a drummer, but he was committed to practice and his parents let us practice at their house.    

   In the winter of 1983 Marc, Ron, Aaron and myself started to rehearse, but none of us could sing.  We were all 18 years old at the time and out of high school  when 17 year old Tom Griffiths came along to tryout as a singer. Tom was so unassuming and he looked older than us because he had a full beard and blew us away; he could sing as high as Freddie Mercury or Elton John and he had soul. Once we got going we started doing a lot of Genesis, but Tom wanted to do some songs from some of his favorite artists like Foreigner and Bob Seger. I knew we would never do originals in this band, but I was having so much fun with the camaraderie. We would have geat rehearsals

and get pizza and wings after and joked around like siblings. We hung out together a lot, but not Tom as much because he had his high school friends. In the end we called the band ENVIOUS MOON borrowing from Shakespeare; it was Marc's idea. We all agreed because it could have been any name, we did not care like most bands; we just wanted to get out and play. We only had three great shows before disbanding. The 1st Show was at my old high school Utica Free Academy. The 2nd Show was at  a bar in Rome NY; we opened up for a heavy metal band called Visigoth. Marc and I knew the guitar player Dean Dimore and he went to college with us and we all got along great. It was Dean's idea to play in front of his metal band at his parent's bar. Dean was an out of the box thinker. Anyways, the METAL HEADS actually lapped up the progressive GENESIS material and no one threw beer bottles at us. The 3rd Show was at our college MVCC. It was a great show and well attended. We hired a sound company and their PA was in stereo. By that time my gear had really stepped up. Roland GR-300, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and a Roland JC-120. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We all had fun and never had any expectations except to perform well, and we did, we were tight mostly because of Ron, Aaron and Tom. Marc and I were good, but those guys really brought it. I had just gotten the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer just before our MVCC gig thinking that we were going to be around for awhile, but some members had other plans. Guitar cover bands from 1980 to 1984 was all I could handle; I just wanted to hang up my guitar because I didn't feel connected to it. I wanted to live and breathe synthesizers. I loved doing sound for a SIDE TWO because it was something new to learn and being a musician made it easy. I also knew their material their expectations and I made Loren's guitar sound huge. It was a great cover band, but not for me as a musical participant. 

                                                                                       -1984-1985-

                 

   In the spring of 1984 I left college, or rather the college told me to leave and I had to get a job. I was delivering balloon-a-grams at Hi Roller T-Shirts for about a year for the owner Steve Waskiewicz, but that ended because I went to work stoned one day in March. In May Dan Kupiec got me a job at Grand Union as a clerk. It was humbling and awful at the same time. Fall of 1984 I was dating a girl named Christine Kunkel. I traded my Les Paul for a YAMAHA RX-15 drum machine and bought Herb's Arp Odyssey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I was also doing sound for SIDE TWO. A lot was going on. I never had a girlfriend in high school, and so Christine was my first love. I was 19 years old and just going with the flow, but things would be changing really fast. Loren and I became really tight as friends and found that we had a lot of things in common. We were both interested in writing original music and enjoyed listening to experimental music by Adrian Belew, Laurie Anderson, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno just to name a few. I thought that the synthesizer was a better fit for me after watching what DEVO did; I could play one note at a time. Guitar cover bands from 1980 to 1984 was all I could handle; I just wanted to hang up my guitar (just when I started to get good) and get into synthesizers. 

   While doing SIDE TWO, Loren Gualtieri made time for a side project called BAM BAM with Jeff Macris a neighbor on his street. We used tupperware for percussion. I do not lie...tupperware. We were not going to gig with this project, it was just experimental fun. Anyways this is what eventually happens: After Christine breaks up with me SIDE TWO is going through a a whirlwind of gigs, Herb gets married, SIDE TWO breaks up, Dan joins a dance band and makes really good money. Loren, Jeff and I start University Lab and start looking for drummers. We first get Mike Cameratta who was awesome, but Mike was going to the Percussion Institute in Texas. We then found Scott Madonia and he was great, but he got sick of us, and that was around the time Christine got sick of me. During this period I was using the Arp Odyssey and a KORG Poly 61. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I recorded a lot on a little Tascam 4-Track recorder onto cassette tape. I used a Casio keyboard for rhythm and bass along with the ARP for soloing and melody. I soon got a hankering for something bigger and begged my grandfather Gabriel Castello for a Korg Poly 61 in 1985 for a Birthday gift. My grandfather thought I was crazy, but he loved me and gave in because he could see in my eyes that I really wanted it and that it wasn't a fickle distraction. I could now see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was 20 now with no girlfriend, no band and a synthesizer addiction. I gave Loren the synthbug and he bought a Roland Juno-106. We went through two drummers before convincing Dan Kupiec that this was the opportunity of a life time. Dan finally joined and that grew into what would be called University Lab. Through all this Dan Kelly our lightman was with us since the days of SECOND LOOK and endured all the drama. 

1986

 

   My grandfather died on April 9th 1986 from a terrible bout with lung cancer. I would be 21 years old the following May 1st, but he would never see that. My grandfather did so much for me. I think it was because his son John Gabriel Sr. (my father) abandoned me when I was 8 years old and lived the rest of his life in Italy where he was attending Medical School. From my grandfather's death I was left a large some of money where in most people's eyes was squandered away on a foolish dream. If I had purchased Apple Computer stock in 1986 with that money I would have been remarkably wealthy today. Instead I bought an Emulator 2+ and a used Subaru that broke down so bad after a month that it was junked. I got around on my bicycle and bummed rides until I could afford a car with my own earned money. I never had the chance to thank my grandfather properly and that will always bother me. He died in 1986 just before the band got off the ground and in 1990 my father died when everything musically in my life came to a screeching halt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Having left college meant getting a job. I had been working as a stock clerk at Grand Union Supermarket when I was 19 after leaving college as a flunked out Computer Science Major who's only care in the world was making music. If you worked hard it didn't take long to make it up the SUPERMARKET LADDER to Assistant Night Manager and for 1986 the pay was huge. Of course the work was boring as hell for someone like me who had aspirations of something much greater.

   And so with that money from the job I purchased a SAAB 900S in 1987 and a Roland D-50 after getting the Emulator 2+. As usual having a band meant practice and getting a place to practice was always a chore and difficulty. We were all in our early 20s and we could not encroach our family's basements or garages as we did in our teens. Winter was setting in and we had to move fast. I found a house for us to rent for $500.00 a month which was really cheap and it had a dry basement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We spent so much time rehearsing as we did working and we never made money at gigs; we put all money into sound, lighting, televisions on stage and of course gear. We all worked night shift so we would go into work at 10PM and leave at 7AM. We would make breakfast, go to sleep, wake at 2PM and rehearse at 3PM for 3 or 4 hours a day. It was like a well oiled machine, but eventually machines stop working, even before their time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The band ended in August 1988 and I was the only one in the band who wanted to keep going. We had risen to the tightness of a professional group and recorded 5 songs and made a music video with our friend Steve Le Fleur who was a video genius. Dan had left for Chicago, Loren moved in with his girlfriend and soon left for Boston, Jeff went to college and I moved back home with synthesizers in tow for  a few months and then got an apartment.

   In 1989 there was a new hope. Loren and his girlfriend Carol asked me to join their band called Unseen World. We only performed live once because we spent most of our time writing and recording music. We recorded at SYNCRO SOUND in Boston and it was there where I met Greg Hawkes from The Cars. We had something really great with Carol's amazing voice and Loren's ability for sequencing and looping.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The band ended for me when they asked me to go to NYC in 1990. In June of 1990 my father who I had been estranged from for 17 years died overseas and it was a major blow for me. I went into a state of depression, hopelessness that led to soul searching and many more learning experiences along the road of life. After I buried my father I went into a downward spiral. I wanted nothing to do with music. I purged all my gear except for an acoustic guitar, and I was a gear head. I always took great care of my gear and loved using it. I recorded two songs I wrote at Loren's home studio before he moved to NYC with Carol. After that I didn't do music for almost 11 years.

It's crazy when I think of it now. I met someone who shall remain nameless through a friend in 2001 and we dated for a few weeks. Things were going well until she dumped me out of the blue. She was a catalyst for me getting back into music. I started writing songs like mad in my apartment in Clinton, NY and I recorded them all at a friends recording studio called Gecko Recording owned by the engineer Lyman Christensen. I did a 12 song album called ONE SMALL STEP, and most of the songs were about unrequited love.  Getting dumped breathed life into me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   In 2006 I started playing coffee houses and in 2008 I did an EP called Self- Portrait; it was all acoustic and recorded live with only a couple of takes per song. In 2009 I started the band called TWEED after recording another EP of 8 songs that was very electronic.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Tweed was a 3 piece project that featured Me on guitar, Dan Crissey on drums and Tim Parker on keyboards. All the songs were written by me, but Tim took my songs to places that I did not know existed. The band played 5 gigs in the area. We stopped in March of 2012. The three of us had a lot of fun. After Tweed ended it was ELEPHANTS and synthesizers all the way.