***** PLEASE NOTE - a detailed history of the origins
of PHANTOM'S OPERA dating back to the late 60's
is forthcoming from the Phantom himself, this bio only
details how the present lineup got together... Who
knows, maybe one day you'll be in PHANTOM'S
OPERA! *****
The line up featured on the first PHANTOM'S
OPERA album, was formed in 1989 when Colie Brice
the founding member of GEMINI , a rock band from
Sayreville, New Jersey , decided to revise the
group's line up.
His first recruit was drummer Bob Nelson , a musician
he'd known and admired since childhood. Bob
Nelson was Sayreville's first rock star! People were
absolutely mesmerized by his talent as a drummer
and singer. Colie recollects, " Bob was such an
inspiration to me as a kid, he was unbelieveable,
talent, charisma, he had it all. There are so many
memorable incidents that it's difficult to isolate one
over another, but as an example, I can recollect one
time during highschool after a football game when
everybody in the marching band was going to the
band room to put away their gear. Bob just sat down
on the kit and started jamming and singing. People
were absolutely spellbound. Before you knew what
was happening, a hundred kids are cramming into
this reheasal room and singing and dancing like they
were at a concert or something. It was just a
spontaeous and natural reaction to bonafide rock and
roll talent. It was pure and beautiful!"
Next on board was Frank Dill on bass, a local hero in
his own right, who had been a bit of a mentor to Eric
Walz, GEMINI 's original lead guitarist. As a kid, he
was also on TV shows like Wonderama and Kids are
people Too for his incredible Elvis ipersonation! Colie
recalls meeting Frank, " Frank came down to help out
GEMINI as a stage manager and so forth. He was
Eric's friend, and I didn't know too much about him.
One night during rehearsal I was struggling to figure
out a vocal harmony for a song, when all of a sudden
Frank jumped on the microphone a starts wailing out
harmonies effortlessly. To tell you the truth, I felt like
an ass, because it became immediately apparent to
me, that our head roadie could play and sing circles
around all of us combined. Soon afterwards I started
hanging around with Frank and tried learning what I
could from him. To this day, I have never met a
musician with a better ear or more natural talent..."
After a few jam sessions, Colie, Bob, and Frank
hooked up with Jack Young , the founding member of
the original PHANTOM'S OPERA and someone Colie
had worked with a couple of years earlier on a
GEMINI project. Throughout the eighties,
PHANTOM'S OPERA was the premiere club band of
the region, and at one time included Alec Jon Such
and Tico Torres , who later joined BON JOVI . (An
earlier line up also included Dean Fasano formerly of
PROPHET and MESSAGE. ) Colie recollects, " I can
clearly recall the first time I heard "Moonlight", I was
recording at Louie Roussamano's (belated former
guitarist for PHANTOM'S OPERA) studio with
GEMINI and after our session Jack came
down to work on some PHANTOM'S OPERA stuff.
When I heard "Moonlight", I realized that I was in the
presence of a gifted and divinely inspired
songwriter..."
A few months later, Michael Romeo joined the group
as it's lead guitarist. Colie and Mike had attended
Sayreville Jr. High School together and started
playing the guitar around the same time. Colie recalls
the time vividly, " We were both just learning power
chords and riffs from our favorite songs... A year or
two later Mike calls me up and I'm all proud because I
can play the blues a bit and dabble with the "Eddie
tapping thing". Mike's like 'that's cool' and started
playing "Mediteranean Sundance" by Al Dimeola.
After I picked the phone up off the floor, Mike
continued playing all the Randy Rhoads stuff,
"Eruption", "Spanish Fly", and anything else I could
think of that had been recorded by that time . It was
quite evident that Mike would one day rank himself
among the "guitar gods". History is proving me
correct on that speculation..."
After several months of rehearsal the group began
performing. The new group debuted itself opening up
for Glen Burtnik (formerly with STYX), at the Club
Bene in Sayreville, New Jersey. Several months later
Frank Dill left the group and was replaced by Eric
Walz. Throughout 1990 the group showcased and
refined their repertoire. In the fall they began
recording at TRAX EAST with engineering being
conducted by Steve Evetts ( of American Angel) ,
Plinky Giglio , and Eric Rachel .
By the spring of 1991 the group had completed their
album. Around this time, the group decided that a
name change was in order that more accurately
reflected the group's direction and style which often
incorporated rich vocal harmonies and dramatic
chord structures. Thus it was suggested to revive the
name PHANTOM'S OPERA.. During that summer,
the group had a album release party at the STONE
PONY in Asbury Park, New Jersey. This was
followed by an opening slot with Southside Johnny
and the Asbury Jukes at the Garden State Arts
Center . The band was soon picked up by a
management company and pursued by several major
labels in America. However their progress was halted
abruptly when NIRVANA and other grunge acts burst
out and changed the face of popular music in
America.
In the spring of 1992, PHANTOM'S OPERA returned
to TRAX EAST to record two more songs, "Portrait of
Dorian Grey " and "Word From the Master ". Both
these songs reflected the band's evolving style which
included more sophistication and power.
Unfortunately, as a result of their lack of progress,
the band started developing internal problems.
Consequently, Colie soon left the band, as did Bob
and Eric a few months later. Mike and Jack tried to
maintain the group and brought in new players.
However the band was never able to find a vocalist
that worked out so their progress was limited to some
additional writing and recording.
In the meantime, Michael Romeo recorded a solo
album entitled " The Dark Chapter " which received
critical praise in many guitar oriented publications.
Consequently he was offered a record deal by ZERO
Corporation of Japan and formed Symphony X .
Then when the PHANTOM'S OPERA album came
out, Colie and Jack resolved some differences and
started recording another album entitled "So Long To
Broadway" with Eric and Bob under the PHANTOM'S
OPERA banner. Currently the band is hard at work
on their third effort tentatively entitled " Following
Dreams"...
