Damiano Christian

There are not many young musicians nowadays that list the likes of Randy Rhoads, Mozart, Ritchie Blackmore, and Liberace as their top influences. And soon, the music world will learn that Damiano Christian is not your typical teenager rocker. At the time of this writing, Damiano is a 18-years-old guitar and piano virtuoso (who hails from Middletown, Connecticut). “My goal is to definitely get signed to a label and be able to tour,” explains the musician. “But I would also like for an established band/artist to hear my work and want me to play, tour, and record for them. One of my dreams since I was 11 is to be able to play guitar for Ozzy Osbourne and play what Randy did on the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman tours.” Damiano isn’t kidding when he says he is a major admirer of the late/great Rhoads. “Randy Rhoads is important to me because he is the reason why I decided to pick up the guitar, why I kept practicing and why I was driven to perform live and write music. If it weren’t for him I would have never played the guitar nor played Randy Rhoads Remembered with Rudy Sarzo and Brian Tichy. His music was so inspirational and influential to me, and gave me the drive to do things I thought I could never accomplish. Hearing the solo to “Revelation (Mother Earth)” off the live Tribute album is what made the lightbulb turn on in my head.” And the same goes for the late/great Liberace. “Liberace made me want to take up the piano again. I had stopped taking lessons at 13 and focused solely on teaching myself guitar till I was about 16. I looked up Liberace on YouTube out of curiosity. The first clip I saw was from his TV show, of him playing “Boogie Woogie,” where at the end, he plays it in double time at 16 to the bar. His showmanship, technical skill and prowess and his flare gave me the drive to start playing piano again. I gained the aspect of being a showman from him and to be ‘a bit daring’ too, as he would say. His influence got me back into playing the classics too - from Chopin to Beethoven, as well as playing pop music with a classical twist to it.” If you’re wondering what Damiano’s music is stylistically comparable to, he offers a description as to what to expect sonically. “I would describe my original music as old school hard rock n’ roll and metal with influences from Ozzy, Dokken, Van Halen, Green Day, and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, with vocals like Motley Crue. Some of my favorite original compositions are ‘Must of Been the Devil’ and ‘Straight Between the Eyes,’ because with the solos I can go more classical like Blackmore, and I like how it jumps to double time in the outro solo. ‘Straight Between the Eyes’ because it has what I think is the classic Dokken sound and feel, with Iron Maiden inspired vocals, and these songs in particular are able to embrace my stage perfomance style preferences.” Damiano has issued several videos on his YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/FOREVERnostalgic - that showcase his talents, and one forthcoming clip pays tribute to the Fab Four. “Well I had wanted to do a cover because I believed that it would be pressed out more and do better than my original material. Like when Van Halen came out with ‘You Really Got Me’ by the Kinks. I was a big Beatles fan at the time, and ‘She Loves You’ was my favorite song by them. After the recording process and listening to all the songs on what originally was supposed to be an album, Jay Reason thought the Beatles track was the most promising and would have the most success because it had the sound of today and related to teenagers/adults in my age group. After working with Jay, we met filmmaker/producer Edwin Escobar of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who filmed and edited the video.” Lastly, what does this talented multi-instrumentalist hope to accomplish with his music? “My main goal is to entertain people with my music and to have them experience some great feeling - whatever that may be when they listen to my music. I am all about making the audience and listeners happy when they listen and see me play and not letting one go home dissatisfied. I am all about and all for the audience and and my fans. 19 yr old virtuoso guitar shredder Damiano Christian