Tony Choy | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Antonio Choy |
Born | Havana, Cuba | June 11, 1971
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, vocals, drums |
Website | https://www.tonychoymusic.com |
Antonio Choy (born June 11, 1971) is a Cuban-American electric bassist. [1] He was a session musician for some well-known technical death metal bands such as Atheist, Cynic and the Dutch band Pestilence. He is known for his use of the Slap & Pop playing technique, along with two-handed tapping. He was also the founding member of the Grammy nominated Latin pop group named Area 305.
Choy began his musical beginnings at age 14, where he taught himself bass guitar. His father had been signed to RC Records with a vocal group, which eventually inspired him to become a musician, although he had been interested in being a painter before. Choy created his first band, Asphyxia, alongside future Malevolent Creation drummer Alex Marquez. [2] When in Asphyxia, the band shared a warehouse with Cynic, where they eventually hired Choy to join the band. In 1991, while Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert had joined Death and Jason Gobel had joined Monstrosity, Choy joined Atheist. Choy was still in high school when he joined the band and would travel on weekends from Miami, Florida to Sarasota, Florida to practice. [2]
Tony has worked as a record producer and has over 300 releases in his discography, as well as worked on the Nickelodeon network as a music producer. [2] [3] By 2021, Choy created a TV show called Spotlight with Tony Choy, a religious ministry, and a podcast known as Talkbox. [3]
Sean Landon Reinert was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic until leaving the band in September 2015. Reinert credited Kenny Clarke, John Bonham, Neil Peart, Gary Husband and Vinnie Colaiuta as being important influences during his formative years.
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's growled vocals, they are often called the first band in the death metal genre, and paved the way for the 1980s Bay Area thrash metal scene, along with Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel. The band is also notable for featuring future Primus member Larry LaLonde, who was the guitarist for Possessed from 1984 to 1987.
Atheist is an American death metal band from Florida, founded in 1987 by the vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kelly Shaefer, lead guitarist Rand Burkey, bassist Roger Patterson and drummer Steve Flynn. The band is known for its highly technical playing style, and its 1991 album Unquestionable Presence is regarded as a landmark of the technical death metal genre. After disbanding in 1994, the group reformed in 2006 and has since released one studio album and a live DVD.
Unquestionable Presence is the second album by the death metal band Atheist. It was released in 1991 and added a new sound by using jazz-like harmonies, subtle Latin rhythms and unusual time signatures.
Elements is the third studio album released by American technical death metal band Atheist. It was released on August 30, 1993, by Music for Nations in Europe and by Metal Blade Records in the US. Elements was reissued by Relapse Records in 2005 and was digitally remastered with the addition of six bonus tracks.
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band founded in Enschede in 1986. They have been through various membership changes throughout their existence, with guitarist-vocalist Patrick Mameli as the sole constant member. After disbanding in order to pursue other musical directions in 1994, Pestilence reunited in 2008, and was put on a "permanent hold" in July 2014. However, the band reunited once again in October 2016. To date, Pestilence has released nine studio albums, and they are apart of "progressive death metal's Big Four", alongside with Death, Atheist, and Cynic.
Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting.
Monstrosity is an American death metal band formed in 1990 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during the Florida death metal scene. The original lineup featured Corpsegrinder, who later found greater success as the frontman and singer of Cannibal Corpse.
Focus is the debut studio album by American metal band Cynic, released September 14, 1993, through Roadrunner Records. A remastered version of the album was released in 2004.
Testimony of the Ancients is the third album by the Dutch death metal band Pestilence, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Records. This was their first release with a new lineup, with Tony Choy replacing Martin van Drunen on bass, while guitarist Patrick Mameli filled in for the latter on vocals.
Roger Patterson was an American bass player known for his work in the Florida technical death metal band Atheist. His playing style is characterized by its speed and complexity. Alex Webster, bassist with Cannibal Corpse, has acknowledged Patterson as "a big influence", describing his playing on the album Piece of Time as "phenomenal".
Jason Göbel is an American guitarist, best known for being a member of the technical metal band Cynic.
Cynic is an American progressive metal band formed in Miami, Florida in 1987 and later re-formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007, where the sole surviving member, Paul Masvidal remains to this day. Cynic incorporates elements of progressive rock, alternative, and metal.
Patrizio Marco Giovanni "Patrick" Mameli is a Dutch musician who is the founder, lead singer, guitarist and only original remaining member of the technical death metal band Pestilence, which he formed in 1986. Mameli remains the creative force behind Pestilence, as well as the primary songwriter.
Obscura is a German technical death metal band from Landshut, founded by guitarist and vocalist Steffen Kummerer in 2002. The band have released six studio albums, a compilation album and twelve music videos since its formation. Their latest album A Valediction was released on 19 November 2021 via Nuclear Blast.
Jupiter is the fourth studio album by the American technical death metal band Atheist. It is their first studio album in 17 years since the release of Elements in 1993.
Unquestionable Presence: Live At Wacken is a two disc live album by the technical death metal band Atheist. Disc one features the band's reunion performance at Wacken Open Air in 2006 and disc two features a compilation of Atheist tracks from previous albums.
Santiago Dobles is a Venezuelan guitarist, songwriter, producer and son of Venezuelan symphonic composer Gustavo Dobles. He is best known as the founding member of tech-prog-fusion metal band Aghora. He has produced with Dan Escuariza, and Neil Kernon. Kernon produced Formless cd. Dan did the self-titled debut cd.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades.