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Neil Citron | |
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Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Guitar |
Associated acts |
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Website | neilcitron |
Neil Citron is a Canadian, Toronto-born guitarist, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, and songwriter who played with the California-based rock bands Hero and Lana Lane as well as briefly with heavy metal band Quiet Riot in 2006, among numerous other music industry credits. He has also worked on the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding , That Thing You Do! , and Ricki and the Flash .
In his younger years, after playing other instruments for some time, Citron switched to playing guitar on the advice of his older cousin Howard Leese, who played with Heart. By the age of 17, Citron was a formative member of the band Hero, who were eventually signed to 20th Century Records, releasing two albums, Hero and Boys Will Be Boys. [1] Eventually, the band would evolve into Head Shaker, fronted by David Donato, whose later credits would include Black Sabbath and the Geezer Butler Band.
By 1995, Citron had joined the band of symphonic and progressive rock singer Lana Lane and played on many of her albums, including her 1995 debut Love Is an Illusion and Curious Goods , released the following year, which both enjoyed success in Japan. Touring would follow, resulting in the release of live material and several follow-up albums and the DVD Storybook: Tales from Europe and Japan , in which Citron is featured in both live performances and interviews. [2]
By 2002, he became more involved in solo projects as well as extensive studio work with artists such as Steve Vai, Steve Lukather, and Larry Carlton. That year, he received a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category for engineering No Substitutions: Live in Osaka by Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather. [3] His contribution to Lana Lane's albums would largely be guest spots in the studio from that point on.
In 2006, he joined Quiet Riot and played guitar on, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album Rehab , but later left and was replaced by Alex Grossi. A musical relationship with Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali continued and together they collaborated on two blues rock albums, I've Got the Blues (And It's All Your Fault) and the Vanilla Fudge-inspired cover album Peanut Butter Fudge.[ citation needed ]
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Citron first recorded and released Guitar Dreams in 1998, an album which had liner notes penned by Steve Vai and was released initially on Think Tank Media. It was later re-released with bonus material as In Search of Higher Ground. Other solo projects would include Absolute (2001) and Flavored Jam (2006), which featured a rhythm section powered by Matt and Gregg Bissonette.
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In 2010, Citron formed the progressive rock group BangTower with virtuoso Welsh bassist Percy Jones and Los Angeles drummer Walter Garces, and the trio released the album Casting Shadows in September of that year.
In December 2016, BangTower released their sophomore album, With N With Out, which together with Citron, Jones, and Garces, featured guest performances by Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot), Rodger Carter (John 5, Rick Springfield, Lita Ford), Robbie Pagliari (Ohm), Jon Pomplin, Joan Fraley, Justin Stone, Chris Colovus, and Josh Greenbaum. The album was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Citron and much of the material was written by him, including two songs, "Kitty's Real Groove" and "My Father's Eyes", dedicated to his parents.
In August 2017, he released a seven-track digital-only BangTower EP titled Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?, again teaming up with Robbie Pagliari on bass and Frankie Banali on acoustic percussion. This EP was mixed and mastered specifically for digital distribution by Citron.
September 2019 saw BangTower release The Road We Travel, which, in addition to Citron and Pagliari, featured drummer Rudd Weatherwax with horns credited to Maynard G. Krebs.
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In late 2019, Citron got together with drummer Luke Fattore as well as bassist and Declassified Records owner Jon Pomplin (Sea of Monsters) to form the rock band Black Cat 6. Their album Scratching My Itch was released in December 2019.
Citron has contributed music to a number of films throughout his career. He worked on the 1996 Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do! as a musical instructor to the actors as well as performing guitar parts on the original band songs for the soundtrack. He also worked on the 2002 hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding as editor for the film and sound engineer on the commentary for the DVD release. In 2015, he worked on the Meryl Streep movie Ricki and the Flash as Streep's guitar mentor, [4] as well as doing work on song composition, recording, and other sound duties.
While being credited with extensive work as a sound engineer and producer, notable is his custom-designed virtual guitar amplifier featured as part of Waves GTR3 from Waves Audio. [5]
Citron has been training in martial arts for over 35 years. He holds a third-degree black belt in American Tang Soo Do style of Karate under former Chuck Norris black belt Dennis Ichikawa. [6] He also holds sixth-degree black belts in several Korean styles - Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Sib Pal Gi.[ citation needed ]
Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal band founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni. The band is ranked at No. 100 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Kevin Mark DuBrow was an American heavy metal singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot from 1975 until 1987, and again from 1990 until his death in 2007.
Frankie Banali was an American rock drummer, most widely known for his work with multi-platinum heavy metal band Quiet Riot. His signature tone and iconic drum intros first became famous on their album "Metal Health" which was the first metal album to hit number one on the Billboard charts and ushered in the 80's metal band era. He had been the band's manager since 1993. He played drums in the heavy metal band W.A.S.P., as well as with Billy Idol. Banali was briefly a touring drummer for Faster Pussycat and Steppenwolf. In the last few months of his life he was also an abstract painter.
Juan Croucier is a Cuban-born American hard rock bassist and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist for the heavy metal band Ratt.
Johnny Kelly is an American musician, best known as the former drummer of gothic metal band Type O Negative. He is the current drummer for the bands Silvertomb, A Pale Horse Named Death, Kill Devil Hill, Danzig, and Quiet Riot.
QR III is the fifth studio album released by American heavy metal band Quiet Riot. It was released in 1986 on Pasha/CBS. It is the last album to feature lead singer Kevin DuBrow until the 1993 album Terrified.
"Metal Health", sometimes listed as "Metal Health ", "Bang Your Head" or, as it was listed on the Billboard Hot 100, "Bang Your Head ", is a song by the American heavy metal band Quiet Riot on their breakthrough album, Metal Health. One of their best known hits and receiving heavy MTV music video and radio play, "Metal Health" was the band's second top 40 hit, peaking at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was ranked #35 on VH1's Top 40 Metal Songs.
Anthony James Franklin is an English rock musician, best known for his work on the fretless bass guitar with Roy Harper, The Firm, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, John Sykes' Blue Murder, David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Whitesnake, and most recently with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Terrified is the seventh album by American heavy metal band Quiet Riot. It is the band's first album in five years, and marks the return of singer Kevin DuBrow after his firing in 1987. It is bassist Kenny Hillery's only studio album with the band, and drummer Bobby Rondinelli plays on several songs. Many of the album's songs were featured in Charles Band's movie Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, with the album itself being released on Moonstone Records, the soundtrack offshoot of Band's film company Full Moon Entertainment.
Alive and Well is the ninth studio album by heavy metal band Quiet Riot. It was recorded following a reunion of the classic 80's Quiet Riot lineup of Kevin DuBrow, Rudy Sarzo, Carlos Cavazo, and Frankie Banali. It featured eight new songs alongside updated versions of six of their classics, including "Cum On Feel The Noize", "Metal Health" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", as well as a cover of "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. This track had previously been released on the AC/DC tribute album Thunderbolt: A Tribute To AC/DC.
Guilty Pleasures is the tenth studio album by Quiet Riot released in 2001. It was produced jointly by John Rollo and Quiet Riot. It is the last to feature guitarist Carlos Cavazo and bassist Rudy Sarzo as official members, though Sarzo would later appear as a guest performer on the band's 2014 studio album Quiet Riot 10.
Live & Rare Volume 1 is a live album released by heavy metal band Quiet Riot.
Rehab is the eleventh studio album released from the heavy metal band Quiet Riot in 2006. It is their first studio release since 2001's Guilty Pleasures, and is their final studio album to feature lead singer Kevin DuBrow before his death in November 2007. Since DuBrow's death, there are no original members remaining in Quiet Riot. The album has received mixed reviews from fans.
Animal Instinct is the title of the 1993 début release by instrumental rock guitarist Gary Hoey. The album featured his version of the hit "Hocus Pocus", originally done by 1970s Dutch progressive rock band Focus. His band at the time consisted of a few notable names of 1980s hard rock, including ex-The Firm bassist Tony Franklin, keyboardist Claude Schnell (ex-Dio), and drummer Frankie Banali.
Alex Grossi is an American guitarist, best known as the guitarist of heavy metal band Quiet Riot and the hard rock supergroup Hookers & Blow.
'89 Live in Japan is a DVD released by American heavy metal band Quiet Riot on November 16, 2004.
Hughes/Thrall is the self-titled, debut album by musical collaborators Glenn Hughes and Pat Thrall. It was released in 1982 on Boulevard Records and is, to date, their only album. The single "Beg, Borrow Or Steal" peaked at #79 in the US in early 1983.
Quiet Riot 10 is the twelfth studio album by the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, which was released on June 27, 2014. It is their first studio album since 1988's QR not to feature longtime and founding vocalist Kevin DuBrow in any newly recorded material, due to his death in November 2007. It is also the band's first album since reuniting in 2010. Although a studio album, the final four tracks on Quiet Riot 10 are live performances taken from some of the band's final shows with DuBrow in 2007. Love/Hate vocalist Jizzy Pearl joined the band in November 2013 and performs lead vocals on the six studio tracks.
Hollywood Cowboys is the fourteenth studio album by the heavy metal band Quiet Riot. It is their last album with vocalist James Durbin who left the band in September 2019 and was replaced by previous vocalist Jizzy Pearl. It is also their first album to be released since drummer Frankie Banali diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the last album to feature him before his death in August 2020.