| Tony Vella
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| Tony always had an interest in the drums from an early age. He had a
cousin who showed him some basics around age 10. At 14 an Uncle gifted him with a drum set
and he had his first band within that year playing for his grammar school. At the age of
around 16 he was introduced to the latin sound by the same cousin ( Dennis Nuanes ) who
was a stage hand at San Francisco's famed Fillmore West for such artists as Mongo
Santamaria. That cousin got him into a band that was forming with famed percussionist,
Francisco Aquabella. Here he met bassist Bert Baca
and began learning not only who Francisco was, but a sound that would follow him into the
future. Francisco unfortunately after only a few rehearsals took the project to L.A. and
recorded the tunes with studio musicians. Going into Jr.High at James Denman in San Francisco he met up with John Calloway and some neighborhood friends of John from which "RACE" was formed. ( Race was briefly mentioned in Chuy Varela's review of the book "Voices of Latin Rock") This was the beginning of the "classic latin" rock influence. RACE giged at a lot of the local High Schools, Mission Y.M.C.A. dances and played frequently at the Amphi-Theater in McClaren Park. RACE eventually became "The Elements of Love" after teaming up with a group of 3 singers they met while at Balboa High School. This was a great cover "big band", the first to feature a large brass section, percussion section and multiple vocal leads…..a true showband. This new venture now cultivated Tony’s drumming skills toward Funk & Soul. Sapphire was the last group to evolve out of the late 70’s for Tony, now a funk and soul band with mostly new members which lasted until 1978 when ‘Saturday Night Fever" came out and destroyed the live club band circuit. The band broke up and Tony followed the trend into mobile Disco and eventually a regular spot at San Francisco’s "Jolly Friars" nightclub where he hosted live bands and played D.J. music in between ala Dick Clark which ended in 1984. By a chance phone call more than twenty years later, Tony rented a drumset and was invited to a memorial day jam with some old friends and former band members……this eventually was the beginning of Mestizo……Tony has since been able to study with one of his early mentors, David Garibaldi of Tower of Power fame. Tony is also a professional actor, Stuntman and Stuntcoordinator most recently working on the film "Harrison Montgomery Starring Martin Landau Stunt Doubling one of the Principal Actors for high falls and fights, the film version of "Rent" as a Stunt-Cop "Zodiac" ( Lead Stunt Driver-multiple vehicles ) soon to be released. Commercial spots have included the Sprint TV ADs as one of "The Sprint Cowboy's". Tony also appeared for several seasons on Nash Bridges as the stunt double for the Evan Cortez character as well as several "bad-guy’s", Other Stunt credits include "The Division" 6-Flags Marine Worlds Batman and Jungle Theater Shows…and also the driving coordinator and double on the Mercedes Benz "C" Class spot with the catchy tune: all I wanna do, is thank you even though I don’t know who you are! ( you know the one with guy driving around town with Kleenex floating around in the car ). Other Coordinator and Driving projects have included 2nd unit camera car shots for the 2004 Pontiac Gran Prix commercial |