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Elan Portnoy | |
|---|---|
| Genres | 1960s rock and roll |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Labels | Russian Winter Records, Screaming Apple Records |
| Associated acts | The Fuzztones, The Waspmen |
Elan Portnoy is an American record producer and a guitarist in three bands: The Headless Horsemen, The Fuzztones and The Waspmen.
In the late 1980s, Portnoy was a guitarist for The Headless Horsemen, a New York City based 60s Rock-n-Roll group. The band reunited in 2013 and opened for Billy Gibbons'(ZZ Top) band The Moving Sidewalks at BB King Blues Club & Grill in New York City.
Between 1982 and 1985, Portnoy was the lead guitarist for The Fuzztones. [1] This 1980s Garage/Psychedelic band was the first US band in the genre to tour Europe and the UK in 1985. The Fuzztones regularly appeared at The Peppermint Lounge, Irving Plaza, CBGB, and The Dive. They also appeared at The Elixir Festival in Brittany, France, in 1985 alongside The Clash and Midnight Oil.
The Fuzztones released over a dozen recordings on vinyl and CD in Europe and the US during this era, and they have played on bills with The Bangles, The Lords of the New Church, The Damned, The Cramps and R.E.M.. They have also played on a special Christmas show with Screamin' Jay Hawkins which was released as an LP in the US.
Portnoy has played onstage with Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lenny Kaye Patty Smith Group, Roy Loney of the Flamin' Groovies, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and The Raiders, Jimy Sohns of The Shadows of Knight, Tony Valentino of The Standells, Mitch Ryder Detroit Wheels and Hilton Valentine of The Animals. He has also recorded with The Shadows of Knight, Teisco Del Ray, Herrera and The Handouts, Lone Wolves, Savage Suns and The Roamin’ Numerals.
Since 1984, Portnoy has produced dozens of records and CDs [2] for bands in New York City such as his bands The Fuzztones and The Headless Horsemen, The Outta Place, The Primeval Unknown, The Bohemian Bedrocks, The Twisted, and The Lone Wolves. Portnoy is currently working with a new group, Screamin' Mikey and The MoKan Sharks.
The Cramps were an American punk rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist and occasional bass guitarist Poison Ivy comprising the only ever-present members. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Balam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976.
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remained together until September 8, 2010, when Portnoy left the band and he was replaced several months later by Mike Mangini. James LaBrie has been the lead singer of Dream Theater since 1991, replacing Charlie Dominici who had left the band two years earlier. Dream Theater's first keyboardist, Kevin Moore, left the band after three albums and was replaced by Derek Sherinian in 1995 after a period of touring. After one album with Sherinian, the band replaced him with current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1999.
The New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial success and their original line-up fell apart quickly, the band's first two albums—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—became among the most popular cult records in rock. The line-up at this time comprised vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Sylvain Sylvain and drummer Jerry Nolan; the latter two had replaced Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia, respectively, in 1972. On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, satin, makeup, spandex, and dresses. Nolan described the group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today". After Thunders, Nolan and Kane all left in spring 1975, Johansen and Sylvain continued the band with other musicians until the end of 1976.
Cowpunk is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and Southern California in the early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in its sound, lyrical subject matter, attitude, and style. Examples include Social Distortion, The Gun Club, The Long Ryders, Dash Rip Rock, Violent Femmes, The Blasters, Mojo Nixon, Meat Puppets, The Beat Farmers, Rubber Rodeo, Rank and File, and Jason and the Scorchers. Many of the musicians in this scene subsequently became associated with alternative country, roots rock or Americana.
Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as "I Put a Spell on You", he sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock. He received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the 1989 indie film Mystery Train.
Ian Robert Astbury is a British singer and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and lead vocalist for the rock band the Cult.
Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based in Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", which had music videos noted for their sense of slapstick humor.
Lone Justice was an American country rock band formed in 1982 by guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and singer Maria McKee.
Firefall is an American country rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, United States, in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at No. Billboard charts in 1976. Other hits included "Just Remember I Love You", “Strange Way”, "Cinderella", "Headed for a Fall", and "Staying with It".
Sha Na Na is an American rock and roll doo-wop group. Performing a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs, Sha Na Na has been simultaneously reviving and parodying the music of 1950s New York street culture since the group's formation in 1969. After gaining initial fame for their performance at Woodstock, made possible with the help of their friend Jimi Hendrix, the group hosted Sha Na Na, a syndicated variety series that ran from 1977 to 1981.
Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a recording session with Charlie Parker. He is notable for playing the electric tenor guitar, a four-stringed instrument.
The Fuzztones are an American garage rock revival band formed in 1980.
MacHouston "Mickey" Baker was an American guitarist, best known for his work as a studio musician and as part of the recording duo Mickey & Sylvia.
"Deep Purple" was the biggest hit written by pianist Peter DeRose, who broadcast, 1923 to 1939, with May Singhi as "The Sweethearts of the Air" on the NBC radio network. "Deep Purple" was published in 1933 as a piano composition. The following year, Paul Whiteman had it scored for his suave "big band" orchestra that was "making a lady out of jazz" in Whiteman's phrase. "Deep Purple" became so popular in sheet music sales that Mitchell Parish added lyrics in 1938.
"I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written and composed by Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, whose own recording of it was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)—and ranked No. 313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The selection became a classic cult song covered by a variety of artists and was his greatest commercial success, reportedly surpassing a million copies in sales, even though it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.
Kid Chaos also known as Haggis is a British rock bassist and guitarist who played in incarnations of hard rock bands Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Cult and The Four Horsemen as well as guesting with Appetite for Destruction era Guns N' Roses.
Rudi Action Protrudi is an American rock musician, songwriter, record producer, artist, and actor best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the garage band The Fuzztones.
Lysergic Emanations is the debut studio album by the American band The Fuzztones, released in 1985.
Leroy E. Kirkland was an American arranger, bandleader, guitarist and songwriter whose career spanned the eras of big band jazz, R&B, rock and roll and soul.
The Winery Dogs are an American rock supergroup formed in New York City in 2012 by Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan and Richie Kotzen.