Domenic Troiano

[casterway]

I just clued into this guy, after seeing his records around for 20+ years. Freaking amazing guitar player!! He replaced Randy Bachman in the Guess Who, and went on to a solo career. I have 5 of his records now, and they all blow my mind. I think he could give Zappa a run for his money. Any other fans out there?

[Eric Karonen]

While in the Mandala and playing regularly around town, he was instrumental in creating something that was called the Toronto Sound, an R&B/soul vibe that influenced everyone from Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks to John Kay and The Sparrows (read: Steppenwolf). It may seem a bit passe now, but in the 60s, the sound was very distinctive.

[Bill Ashton]

I remember seeing an article about them in some teeny magazine...Hit Parader or something...and then stumbling onto a record...man! They were great! "World of Love" Didn't they wear big wide striped suits? I remember a photo in the mag of don playing a tele with the finsish striped off.

UH...this must have been in the mid to late 60's, sorry...

Domenic Troiano also went on to replace Joe Walsh in the James Gang. didn't he pass away relatively recently?

[woodman]

when i heard Dom's first solo album, i immediately went out and bought a Tele, much to the consternation of my bandmates -- that was 35 years ago, and i've never looked back!

a great musician and one of the first i heard take the Tele to new heights.

[teleman65]

I remember seeing him back in the late 70s doing some killer fusion stuff.
The James Gangs album he did was one of my favourites at the time.
He did some music for Canadian Television in the 80s/90s.
Sadly he passed away from cancer in 2005. RIP

[Oster]

I love that Mandala song 'Love-itis' - What a great riff, just leaps right out at you.

[Tango]

A great guitarist.

Dom's guitar: Modded to the max?

http://www.12fret.com/VintageGallery...ribute_pg.html

[casterway]

Here's some useless trivia for you. If anyone remembers a 90's band called Bush (singer Gavin Rossdale married Gwen Stefani), they had to be marketed in Canada as Bush X, because someone (maybe Domenic) still owned the rights to the name here. 'The road to Hell', and 'War Zone', from 'The jokes on me' just blow my mind!!

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by casterway

He replaced Randy Bachman in the Guess Who, and went on to a solo career.

He was a really, really great player, but it needs to be noted that he actually replaced the guys who replaced Randy. Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw (who was replaced by Don McDougal) were really quite fine guitarists, too, in fact Kurt Winter should have been a household name (great player, great songwriter, great advertiser for Garnet Amps! ).

The first rock concert I ever saw was the Guess Who in August, 1973, and it was the best show I've ever seen...

Cheers, Tim

[E.D. Patton]

I think that a thread dedicated to Toronto/Michigan players is in order.

A lot of heavy talent came out of those parts.

[webvinyl]

Hi,

This is my first post here at the TDPRI and it also involves my first hands on experience with a Tele and Domenic Troiano.

Back in Jr. High School in 1969-70 or so I started hanging out with a guy in my class named David Winter who was the first "real" guitar player I ever knew. We ended up becoming buddies and he was the one who first showed me a bit about playing guitar and a lot about music in general - he was the first to turn me on to both the Isley Bros. and The Bonzo Dog Band so that give you an idea of how wide ranging his taste in music was! As it happened, he was a Tele player and, the reason that I've put this post here, the Tele he played was one formerly owned by Domenic Troiano. David's father Norman Winter was / is a famous big time PR / Promoter type guy in the music biz (Elton John and many others) and I think it may have been some connection of his that was how David ended up with Troiano's old axe. At any rate, it was not the average 15 year old's guitar! I'm sorry to say I don't remember all the details but I do remember it being a heavily modded Blonde, Maple neck model. I think that it was set up with 3 Humbuckers and a Tune-a-matic Bridge but, to be honest, I didn't know enough to pay that much attention at the time. One real distinctive feature it had was a Pickguard that, I think, had been adapted from a Gibson SJ200 Acoustic - the Flower motif thing. I was a hell of a guitar and he had a nice Twin Reverb to play it through too. Definitely a nice axe for me to try my first chords on!

David and I eventually tried forming a band in the mid to late 70s but, sad to say, we had a falling out over his drug problems and he passed away in 1978 or so. We did actually record a song using the Troiano Tele as a College recording class project. I'm not sure if his family still has the guitar or not.

Despite the influence, I've never actually owned a Tele till very recently - maybe it was the Icepick in the ear thing of a Tele / Twin combo on 10 in a closed up suburban bedroom.... Actually, I still don't own a real Tele but I do have a nice cheapy J3 Atlantis copy and have almost finished putting together my own Scrap-o-caster parts box version so I'm getting there!

Well, there's my little story. A toast to all the great Tele players who have passed before their time!

Kevin King

[mildwild]

In the August of 1966, I saw The 5 Rogues at the Canadian National Exhibition (the CNE ).

They changed their name to

The Mandala shortly after as I remember.

Here is a scan of Domenic Troiano from Canadian Teen magazine.

It was the first time I saw anyone playing a tele onstage.

[Telemarkman]

The story of Mandala is actually more intriguing than most people are aware of. Of course the band members know (though they have kept it a secret), and Domenic Troiano knew, but he was in fact not the one who's credited as guitarist, songwriter, horn arranger, producer and vocalist on the "Soul Crusade" album.

One of our TDPRI members, who's a good friend of mine, though we haven't actually met, lived in Canada from 1964 to 1968. He was a guitar player and was asked to join the band Mandala. (If I remember correctly, they still called themselves 5 Rogues). He played with them from 1966 to 1968 and recorded the album "Soul Crusade" with them. He wrote most of the songs, and also co-produced the album for Atlantic. (He was only 16-17 at the time !)
All the guys used "stage names" - they were "stars", weren't they - and my friend used the name Domenic Troiano ! (Says he found it in the Toronto telephone catalog). The album was a minor hit, but the single "Love-itis" topped the Canadian charts in 1968. It also did well in the US - at no.9 I think.

My friend had to leave Canada and Mandala in '68, when his family moved back to the US. (Legal age was 21 - he was 18). He was very frustrated, and for personal reasons he didn't touch a guitar in almost 20 years !

What he did not know at the time, was that a hot shot guitar player had taken his place in Mandala, and also used my friend's stage name Domenic Troiano ! The guys real name was Michaele Antonio, and he was actually Italian. I won't go into the reason why he took my friend's stage name - it was actually the boys in the band who persuaded him - but he kept that name for the rest of his carreer.

So there's actually a "first" Dom and a "second" Dom. The second Dom made his fortune and fame, mainly as a solo artist, but also in bands like Guess Who, Bush and James Gang. The first Dom got married to a girl of Norwegian descent, and never joined another band. BUT.....he should be credited for his work on the "Soul Crusade" album ! The second Dom had absolutely nothing to do with that album whatsoever, he only played with Mandala for a short time before they broke up.

I've asked my friend about the picture in mildwild's post, and though he's never seen it before, he's 99% certain that it's him and not the more famous Dom#2.

I have my friend's permission (and his wife's ) to write this story of Mandala, but I promised I wouldn't reveal his real name. A Canadian journalist has planned on revealing the "story behind the story" next year however - by then the "Soul Crusade" album enjoys it's 40th anniversary.

[Oster]

I know someone who knew Domenic Troiano pretty well and I'll have to remember to ask them if they know about it.

At any rate, that riff in "Love-itis" still rules after all these years! Nothing like a big chord break like that - even beats a great solo IMO.

[Telemarkman]

Thanks Oster !

But my friend follows this thread with interest himself, after I made him aware of it. I'm sure it warms his heart to hear the things people say about the Mandala album.

[telejake]

Originally Posted by Tango

A great guitarist.

Dom's guitar: Modded to the max?

http://www.12fret.com/VintageGallery...ribute_pg.html

Thanks for that Tango. I was in a band that opened for Bush for a week in LA in the late '60s. The band I was in worked out about half the tunes on the Bush album after that. He was a great player and a nice guy as well.

[nickw]

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.

[slauson slim]

As to Dom #1 and #2...whew.....

I remember the great single "Opportunity" by The Mandala. It really rocked.

[Telemarkman]

Thanks a lot nickw for confirming my story, which I must admit is almost unbelievable. I sure hope you're not angry at me for revealing it in advance.

Even though the "famous" Dom Troiano never tried to take credit for the work John did on the Mandala album, people nonetheless will assume it's the same guy, and I wanted to put the story right.

I had never heard "Soul Crusade" before John sent me a CD copy some months ago - in fact he hadn't told many people about this at all. (I almost had to pull the story out of him). But he really deserves some recognition for his great work with Mandala, both as a guitarist, songwriter and arranger/ producer, especially at his very young age.

Many of us who played Telecasters in a rock band in the '60s, know how great a Tele sounds distorted, and John's Tele can be heard all the way through the album, even if he only plays one actual solo. (On the bluesy "Come On Home"). But his licks and fills are very tasty, like a distorted Steve Cropper.

[nickw]

I learned about this discussion thread from a guitar enthusiast friend of mine. He knew I am a Domenic Troiano admirer and thought it would interest me to read what was being said.
I have planned to do a more thorough story about Dom and Mandala. This story should be ready later this year, probably in the fall. I hope to address all aspects of this issue at that time.

[mildwild]

What an interesting thread !!!

I prefered "Opportunity "to " Love itus "and still have both as 45's

Sorry about the quality of the scan, it came from an old magazine and poor quality to start with. Orginally I tried to post a larger image but it looked awful.

George Oliver was the singer and might still be playing around around.

There is a great picture of him on the cover of same magazine clutching his heart before throwing out his white tie to the girls in the audience.

[woodman]

Dom Troiano was directly responsible for my becoming a Tele freak -- as soon as i heard his first solo album ('72 or thereabouts), i immediately traded in my 335 for a Thinline...

[Eric Karonen]

Boy, I miss those 60s sometimes. If anyone wants to relive some memories, here's a decent website re Dominick Troiano:

http://www.geocities.com/domenic_troiano/

[fjohn]

Hi all. I am John S and I am deeply humbled and surprised by what I have read in this thread. I would like to jump in here and say thank you to all of you who have taken the time to post your comments and opinions. It does indeed warm my heart to know that there are still some people out there who remember Soul Crusade and think it is an album that can still stand up.
I also want to say that the Domenic Troiano you all know is indeed a great guitarist, producer and songwriter who is sadly missed by all who were familiar with his work. His contribution to music is undeniable. I have the deepest respect for all that he accomplished.
I involuntarily quit Mandala in 1968 because my family left the Toronto area, and I had no choice but to go with them. This was a very traumatic experience for me and it left me disillusioned, disheartened and depressed. I didn't pick up a guitar again for almost 20 years. I had absolutely no contact with any one in the music business. I left Canada and went on to a new life with new challenges. Only recently did I learn that the band had gone forward with a different line up, and that this only lasted for about a year.
I am very proud of my contribution to Mandala and to Soul Crusade. I was shocked to learn that another person had taken my place and my stage name and, through assumption, was the one credited with the Soul Crusade album. I was also gratified to learn that he had told Nick W (during his interview) that he claimed no contribution to that album or the early Mandala work, and that it was not his to claim. He was candid enough in that interview to admit he joined Mandala using my stage name and that he had a hard time working in a group setting. His collection of work far exceeds mine, and his accomplishments are certainly well regarded enough that he felt no need to claim my work.
I am really very happy this story is now out in the open. It was not only shocking but also hurtful to learn that my role in Mandala had been obliterated. I am very proud of my role as Dom Troiano and of the songs that I wrote and produced.
I would especially like to express my gratitude to my friend Telemarkman for bringing this out of the darkness.

[refin]

He was an amazing player,who flew under the radar.I still have some of his solo stuff with the Domenic Troiano Band.

[stantheman]

I mean WOW....
That's got all the makings of a Hollywood Movie.
And it's TRUE.
John S whether or not You realize it this whole
thing is amazing, absolutely amazin'.
I've never heard something/anything in Music that
tops what I've read here today on The TDPRI.
Actually it's TWO fantastic stories.
So John, what have You been up to for 40 years?
Maybe things turned out better for you going the
route You went.
Respect.