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OD TAPO IMI
OD TAPO IMI. OD TAPO IMI plays traditional island music and today's current & world hits - each song does not sound like the others. They create a unique and appealing visual experience with island scenery, special effects, props & clean equipment. No electrical device, cord or speaker is seen from our stage. OD TAPO IMI is "Summertime, Anytime!" By way, the band's name is actually an acronym... OD TAPO IMI = "Oil Drums That Are Pounded Out Into Musical Instruments."
OD TAPO IMI is more than just music, they’re a Broadway/Tropical musical review with dancing, singing, drumming & high energy fun!! OD TAPO IMI is most definitely a one-of-a-kind show. Steel drums, guitars, assorted percussion, drum set, horns and vocals with four part harmonies power this exultant, wild musical show/review. Complex layering of sonorous ringing steel drums and boiling percussion grabs you immediately and doesn't’t let go. You’ll hear “Conga,” “Day-O,” “Jump in the Line,” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” and even “Twist & Shout” with energy, chops & humor.
In addition to singing, dancing, steel drums, percussion, horns and guitars, we create an island atmosphere with FX, tropical scents, garden lighting, tropical backdrops, beach balls & market umbrellas.
You can listen to their music on their Myspace site
http://www.myspace.com/odtapoimi
Gerard Brill. Gerard (www.FunConcert.com) is recipient of a full four year scholarship from UW-Madison and majored in Applied Percussion. Although Gerard admits that Math and Computer Science were his favorite elective classes. Gerard has lead OD TAPO IMI throughout the US, Europe (Germany and the Netherlands) and to the birthplace of the Steel Drums (Trinidad, West Indes) learning valuable lessons from every culture. Although Gerard is one of the busiest steel drum players in the Mid-West, his strength is the business side of Music Performance. He contracts out over 30 musicians and 7 bands out of Chicagoland IL area. Gerard has been part of several pop bands and recorded on several albums ranging from Kindermusik’s “The Drum Circle” to a soundtrack from Marvel comics, “Dark Knight” series.
Aaron English.
Aaron English is leader of the
Seattle-based ensemble the Aaron English Band, a world-beat/rock sextet that
has toured the U.S. festival circuit since 2003. The band was a
semi-finalist in the Coca-Cola/American Music Awards New Artist Competition
in 2003, and a finalist in Atlantic Records' Soul City Music Quest the
following year (toured with Jewel as an opening act on her 2004 world tour).
Aaron's 2003 debut album was a Top 5 Finalist (among over 400 candidates) in
the 'Male Singer-Songwriter Album of the Year' category of the 2004 Just
Plain Folks Music Awards, and the follow-up was named to 11 "Best of 2007"
lists in national media . Aaron is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist
including world-beat percussion and steel drums. Aaron is a professor of
songwriting at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA.
Jeffrey Bella. Jeff, along with being the bass player with OD TAPO IMI, works with John Condron & The Benefit, aljala, Amy Shoemaker & The Mighty Rhinos, & Burn Rome Burn. He has performed as opening act for national recording artists at South x Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX (R.E.M. headlining); Summerfest (Pete Yorn headlining) and in Chicago (10,000 Maniacs headlining). From 1997-2003, he was bassist for the Russ Morgan Orchestra which toured throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, & the Canary Islands. He has recently joined the backing band along with Megan Thomas for the world-champion Trinity Irish Dancers of Chicago. Jeff has worked as a music educator for the past six years on guitar & bass in Chicago & as an arranger/composer/technician with the Lincoln-Way Central High School Drum Line Pit Ensemble in New Lenox, IL since 1993. He is also St. Peter's United Church of Christ Handbell Choir Director. Jeff arranges all OD TAPO IMI music.
Bob Milan. Bob plays drum set for OD TAPO IMI and was the drummer for 80s bands, Surgical Steel, Rob Halpert, Leif Garret (movie appearance) and Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac. Bob is the in-demand rock and roll drum instructor in Wisconsin since he left Los Angeles and purchased a farm in Fort Atkinson, WI – home of Fireside Theater…the quintessential Pocono wanna-be dinner theater.
Megan Thomas. Meg (www.MegThomasPercussion.com), percussionist from Chicago, is an active performer and teacher who received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Milliken University. Meg performs and teaches several different percussion instruments including congas, drum set, bongos, timbales, tabla, cajon, doumbek, djembe, berimbau, cuica. Meg recently returned from Europe on tour with Trinity Irish Dancers. She Meg in addition to being an in demand session percussionist; puts on world percussion seminars, facilitates drum circles, and writes the Drum and Percussion Tips of the Month column for the Chicago Music Guide. Meg also belongs to the Vic Firth drumstick and Mallet Company’s Education Team as a Vic Firth Private Drum Teacher. Meg along with Gerard can be heard on the recent Kindermusik CD titled, "The Drum Circle."
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