Artist description Ciao Bella is Cleveland's four piece Rock/Jazzesque/Experimental/Lounge Act

Music Style Rock / Jazzesque / Experimental / Lounge

Similar Artists Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Morphine, & The Doors

Artist History Rick and Fred spent the majority of the 90's touring the U.S. with a heavy underground band called Ripped. They recorded and licensed albums for various labels such as Wildrags (Montebello, Ca.), Lethal (Vienna, Austria), and Chaos (Italy). Gaining influence from the likes of Brian Wilson, Diamanda Galas, Kreator and the Accused they composed heavy, but intelligent lyrics and music. Their dedication gave them the reputation as "the band that would drive to Canada tomorrow for fifty bucks". That reputation got them a lot of opportunities to play shows in what seemed to be every dump from the Mississippi East. Occasionally setting up shop in NYC, Tampa, St. Louis and Austin they followed a course that included small towns as well as large cities, theaters, clubs, civic centers, backyards, barbecues, pizza shops, skate parks and yes even a couple laundromats...So it wasn't pretty, but it worked. During those years they learned a lot about the workings of the industry as well as the art of crashing on floors, expressway rest stops, parking lots and dumpster diving. Around the same time frame Mike was doing his own stints on the road with Punk/Hardcore bands like The Aggrevators and One Beat Off as well as building found object instruments and percussion kits of junk. His interest in the avante garde microtonalist musician/artist Harry Partch inspired him to build a string instrument based on his own unique microtonal tunings constructed from a gasoline can. Both bands stayed busy recording 7" EPs and building a loyal following in Cleveland and surrounding cities. When the three hooked up in late 99, there was a definite chemistry that allowed them to explore writing in many different styles of music. During one of these sessions Mike suggested bringing down an old Fender Rhodes keyboard and everything pretty much fell into place. They all agreed that they were going to write what needed to be written, "don't try to pull off something you can't pull off". After a year of writing steadily they came to the conclusion that they needed a solid bassist, and although both Rick and Mike were bassists in their previous bands neither felt it was something they were interested in pursuing with this project. Chuck was a well rehearsed bassist who's love for Psychedelic/Garage acts the likes of Beefheart and Zappa gave him the inspiration to make himself accessible to many different genres of music. A mutual friend of both Rick and Chuck suggested he step in to add some volume to this crazy Rock/Jazzesque project that they were doing, all members agreed that Chuck's style and influences were exactly what they were looking for. The following year was spent fine tuning the music as a four piece and recording an album that they have appropriately titled DOWN.

Group Members Band: Richard A. Fisher(The Vocalist), Michael J. Lindow(The Pianist), Charles M. Wingerter(The Bassist), Steve D. Olson(The Percussionist) Support: Lisa Thomas(graphic designer) & Scott Cooper(webmaster)

Instruments Vocals, Piano, Drums, Bass

Albums DOWN

Press Reviews Lounge punk: Ciao Bella By Dan Kane Repository entertainment writer Their name means "hello beautiful" in Italian. Their eclectic and atmospheric music has been described as demented lounge. The Cleveland-based combo Ciao Bella is not easy to pinpoint. "Some people may find it strange that we have moved from death metal to a more smooth, jazzy sound," pianist Mike Lindow says. "Our music, however, does not recognize the two as mutually exclusive." Ciao Bella will appear at Art is Alive, a celebration of art and music running from 5 to 10 p.m. next Friday at McKinley Centre, 800 Market Ave. N. The band will perform from 8:30 to 10. Vocalist Rick Fisher, whose crooning style is dramatic, theatrical and somewhat menacing, spent most of the '90s touring the U.S. with an underground heavy rock band named Ripped. Ciao Bella percussionist Fred Meyer was also in Ripped. Formed in 1999, Ciao Bella's influences range from Beach Boys popsmith Brian Wilson to avant-garde vocalist Diamanda Galas. There are definitely hints of Morphine and Nick Cave. The band, which performs in thrift-store retro garb, is nothing if not entertaining. "We're pretty enthusiastic about what we do," says Fisher, a Hoover High School grad. "The live show is based on a real strong stage presence and crowd participation. We try to emulate a '50s Las Vegas lounge act, but we have a real strong punk-rock kind of feeling as well." Audience participation is a Ciao Bella goal. "I use a pretty long mike cord," Fisher says. "I go out and make people get involved. Occasionally people don't find my humor as interesting as I do. But I like to go out and really let 'em have it." Ciao Bella's debut album, titled "Down," was recorded in North Canton at Kopperhead Studios. Copies will be available at Art is Alive. Twenty area visual artists will display and sell their work at Art is Alive. Also performing during the evening will be singer-songwriter Ben Payne, Native American flutist Dan Fladung, country rocker Chris Reins and the Living Fountain dancers. Admission is $1. -- Dan Kane, The Repository - CantonRep.com 03.29.02 - http://www.cantonrep.com/cantonrep01/menus.php?ID=38109&Category=20

Location Cleveland, Ohio - USA

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