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nickw · April 18th, 2007, 01:29 AM

I am a free lance writer with a passion for music. I have been writing about the music business in Canada for about 30 years. Back in the 90's I had the good fortune to interview Dom Troiano. I had been a fan and admirer of his for years and was excited to finally get the chance to meet with him. One of my goals was to get the real story about the rapid and unexplained break-up of one of Toronto's great bands, Mandala. I have a great respect for Dom's talent and his accomplishments through the course of his great career. Not only could he play guitar like a wizard, but he could also write songs!

I had heard rumours that their break-up was caused by an unexplained personality change of their guitarist, Dom Troiano. In talking about this with Dom, I learned that he came into that band after the album Soul Crusade had been recorded. Dom told me directly that he had absolutely nothing to do with Soul Crusade and was not looking for accolades for any of the early Mandala work. The guitarist on the Mandala album (I can only say his name was John S at this time) was forced to relocate for family reasons. This came at a time when Mandala was very popular and the rest of the group wanted to continue playing. It was decided that they would find a replacement guitarist. They chose a very talented Michaele Antonio. He had been in 3 or 4 bands by this time and was known to be a great guitar player, but he also carried a less than desireable reputation as being very hard to work with. In order to keep the band in the spotlight, they decided that Michaele should use the same name as their original guitarist. Having made this decision, they continued as a band, but this only lasted for a short while. They began having problems both on and off the stage. In less than a year, Mandala disbanded.

This same kind of thing happened with all of the bands Dom played with. He was the first to admit he did not work well in a group setting. He was very much the perfectionist, and demanded the same from everyone he worked with.

None of this has been openly discussed before. It hasn't been a secret, but not many have been privy to this story. This is in no way meant to denigrate Dom's reputation, his talent, or his accomplishments. He was truly a great guitar player and a master musician. I have spoken with John S about it. He has a great respect for Dom and all that he accomplished and has never gone public with this information. He is in no way trying to take away from the success Dom had.

April 18th, 2007, 01:29 AM	#17 (permalink)
nickw NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 2	Domenic Troiano I am a free lance writer with a passion for music. I have been writing about the music business in Canada for about 30 years. Back in the 90's I had the good fortune to interview Dom Troiano. I had been a fan and admirer of his for years and was excited to finally get the chance to meet with him. One of my goals was to get the real story about the rapid and unexplained break-up of one of Toronto's great bands, Mandala. I have a great respect for Dom's talent and his accomplishments through the course of his great career. Not only could he play guitar like a wizard, but he could also write songs! I had heard rumours that their break-up was caused by an unexplained personality change of their guitarist, Dom Troiano. In talking about this with Dom, I learned that he came into that band after the album Soul Crusade had been recorded. Dom told me directly that he had absolutely nothing to do with Soul Crusade and was not looking for accolades for any of the early Mandala work. The guitarist on the Mandala album (I can only say his name was John S at this time) was forced to relocate for family reasons. This came at a time when Mandala was very popular and the rest of the group wanted to continue playing. It was decided that they would find a replacement guitarist. They chose a very talented Michaele Antonio. He had been in 3 or 4 bands by this time and was known to be a great guitar player, but he also carried a less than desireable reputation as being very hard to work with. In order to keep the band in the spotlight, they decided that Michaele should use the same name as their original guitarist. Having made this decision, they continued as a band, but this only lasted for a short while. They began having problems both on and off the stage. In less than a year, Mandala disbanded. This same kind of thing happened with all of the bands Dom played with. He was the first to admit he did not work well in a group setting. He was very much the perfectionist, and demanded the same from everyone he worked with. None of this has been openly discussed before. It hasn't been a secret, but not many have been privy to this story. This is in no way meant to denigrate Dom's reputation, his talent, or his accomplishments. He was truly a great guitar player and a master musician. I have spoken with John S about it. He has a great respect for Dom and all that he accomplished and has never gone public with this information. He is in no way trying to take away from the success Dom had.