Johnny Bacolas
Johnny Bacolas (Greek: Γιάννης Μπάkολας; classical transcription Yiannis Bacolas) (born March 3, 1969, in Seattle, Washington) , is a composer, musician, producer, music video director, and videographer. He is best known for his work with the post-grunge band Second Coming.[1][2][3] He was also a founding member of the band Sleze, which was later renamed Alice N' Chains (a precursor to Alice in Chains that also featured vocalist Layne Staley),[4] The Crying Spell,[1] Lotus Crush.[5] and The Rumba Kings.
Johnny Bacolas | |
|---|---|
 Johnny Bacolas | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Yiannis Sotiris Bacolas |
| Born | March 3, 1969 |
| Genres | Hard rock, grunge, electronica, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, producer, songwriter, audio engineer, director, videographer, editor |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, guitar, Greek bouzouki |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | Capitol, Timestyle Music, Red Rocket, Electric Head Records |
| Associated acts | Sleze, Alice N' Chains, Second Coming, Darin Isaacs The Crying Spell, Lotus Crush, Yianni Bacolas, Owin' Soul, The Rumba Kings |
| Website | therumbakings |
Early life
Johnny Bacolas is a first-generation American born to Greek parents in Seattle, Washington. His father was a restaurateur, and leased jukeboxes that played in his cocktail lounges. The jukeboxes played 45 RPM vinyl records, which he rotated from month to month. Bacolas approached music through these records that his father brought home whenever he changed the jukeboxes. His earliest influences were The Beatles, Elton John, and old Motown. Some of his later influences were hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden; he was also influenced by Greek music and house music. As a child and teen, he spent the majority of his summers in Greece. Bacolas met his future bandmate James Bergstrom when they were both five years old on their first day of kindergarten. He then began playing the electric guitar at the age of 12.
Musical career
Sleze and Alice N' Chains (1984–1987)
In 1984, Bacolas started a garage band called Sleze along with James Bergstrom and two other Shorewood High students, Zoli Semanate and Byron Hansen.[4][6] At the suggestion of Bergstrom's friend Ken Elmer, they recruited Elmer's stepbrother Layne Staley, who back then also went by the surname Elmer, as vocalist.[4][6] In 1985, Sleze began performing live at various high schools with Bacolas on guitar. They mostly played Slayer and Armored Saint covers. Sleze went through several lineup changes before they eventually changed their name to Alice N' Chains. At one point, Bacolas briefly left the group to jam with another band called Ascendant, where he took up playing bass guitar. By the time he rejoined Sleze, the band had already written what would eventually be recorded on the two demos they put out under the moniker Alice N' Chains. The group continued to tour throughout the Seattle area before they broke up around 1987, which was the year that Bacolas graduated from Shorewood High.
A few months after Alice N' Chains broke up, Layne Staley joined the glam metal[7] band that eventually took the name Alice in Chains, which Bacolas later claimed was the name that the two of them along with the other members of Sleze had initially flirted with.[8] Throughout the rest of his career, Staley continued to stay in touch with Bacolas and the two of them shared an apartment during the mid-1990s.
Second Coming (1991–2008)
Meanwhile, Bacolas continued working with James Bergstrom in another band called Second Coming.
In 1994, they independently released their debut album L.O.V.Evil, which features a guest appearance by Layne Staley on the track "It's Coming After". In 1996 Bacolas and Bergstrom replaced the vocalist/guitarist of the group. In the subsequent months, the new members of Second Coming wrote, produced, and financed an 8-song demo (which was produced by Kelly Gray and Dudley Taft). The band performed cover songs on the outskirts of Seattle under the moniker, F.T.A. to finance the demo. Once the recording was finished, the band dropped their cover act, and began performing solely as Second Coming. The band subsequently generated a massive buzz in the Seattle area performing their original songs. On May 9, 1998, Second Coming signed an exclusive recording agreement with Capitol Records Inc. and released their eponymous second album Second Coming. Second Coming had three singles chart in Billboard's active-rock chart ("Soft" #9, "Vintage Eyes" #10, and "The Unknown Rider" #11). The band had one of its songs "The Unknown Rider" featured in the 1999 blockbuster Bruce Willis film The Sixth Sense. The band toured extensively throughout the US supporting and performing with acts such as Van Halen, Candlebox, Monster Magnet, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Fuel, Sponge, Sammy Hagar, and The Goo Goo Dolls.
The band split from Capitol Records in 2002 after the departure of Gary Gersh, the president who signed them to the label. Following the split, they independently released an EP titled Acoustic and third studio album 13.
Other projects (2009–2014)
From 2004–2007, Bacolas focused on his production skills by apprenticing as a producer and audio engineer for multi-platinum producer/engineer Kelly Gray. During this time, in 2006, Bacolas helped start another band called The Crying Spell, which played "Man in the Box" with Live vocalist Ed Kowalczyk at the 2009 Layne Staley Tribute Concert.
In early 2008, Bacolas partnered with electronica producer, Andrea Martini (Emotive Sounds, Copenhagen, Denmark) to produce Trance and House remixes, primarily of songs he had prior song-writing and/or production involvement with.
Also in 2008, Bacolas is credited for co-producing a track titled, "The Great Big Sleep" for Clive Barker's 2008 horror film, The Midnight Meat Train.
Bacolas left The Crying Spell early in 2010 to focus on his songwriting, music and video productions, and other endeavors with other recording artists. He started his production company, Johnny Bacolas Productions, in January 2010.
In 2010 Bacolas performed several shows as the bassist for the group Lotus Crush. The group features vocalist Terry McDermott, who was made famous on the third season of NBC's The Voice (2012) as the 2nd runner-up. Lotus Crush also features guitarist Peter Klett and drummer Scott Mercado from the multi-platinum group Candlebox.
In December 2011, Bacolas released a video for the Greek classic 'To Agalma' of which he produced and engineered the music and co-directed and produced the video. The song was originally recorded in the late sixties by Greek singer Giannis Poulopoulos and written by the highly respected songwriters, Lefteris Papadopoulos & Mimis Plessas. Bacolas is also credited as the bassist and keyboardist on the track. The project was an international collaboration, featuring several artists from Bacolas' hometown of Seattle, and well as well-known Greek vocalist Giorgos Sarris (formerly lead vocalist for Greek group Zigk Zagk) from Athens, Greece, and guitarist Josh Sulfaro, from Los Angeles, CA. To film the shots of vocalist, Giorgos Sarris in Athens, Greece, Bacolas partnered-up with Greek director Sherif francis.
In June 2011, Bacolas produced a track titled "Ophelia" by the Alexandroupolis, Greece-based group, INK. Bacolas makes a cameo appearance in the official music video.
In May 2012, Bacolas produced and released a remake of George Michael's Careless Whisper with X-Factor USA (2011) contestant Tiger Budbill.
The Rumba Kings
In June 2015, Bacolas formed the Latin & Mediterranean inspired group, The Rumba Kings, with Romany-Gypsy guitarist/songwriter, George Stevens. Bacolas and Stevens began recording The Rumba King's debut double-disc CD titled, "The Instrumental and Vocal Sessions, Vol I." Johnny Bacolas produced and engineered the record, as well as being a primary songwriter. Recording of the music took place in Lakeview Studio in Kirkland, WA., Northside Studio in Athens, Greece, Sofita Studio in Athens, Greece, and Robert Lang Studio in Shoreline, WA. Recording was completed in January 2018, with the release of the double-disc set on February 17, 2018. In June 2019, The Rumba Kings released their sophomore album titled, "The Instrumental Sessions, Vol. II," which was also produced and engineered by Bacolas. In early and mid 2020, The Rumba Kings released two more singles, "Mirame," (February 2020) which was written by Horacio Alcantar (lyrics) and George Stevens (music), and "Dance with me," (June 2020) which was written by Bacolas (lyrics) and George Stevens (music). During the pandemic of 2020, The Rumba Kings stayed busy re-crafting their entire live show, writing, recording and releasing new music, and publishing several videos, which they titled, "The quarantine sessions." The Rumba Kings began performing live in the greater Seattle area beginning in April 2016 to present day.
Discography
- Second Coming
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 1994 | L.O.V.Evil
|
| 1998 | Second Coming
|
| 2002 | Acoustic
|
| 2003 | 13
|
- Darin Isaacs
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Here with Me Now
|
- The Crying Spell
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Through Hell to Heaven
|
- Lotus Crush
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Half Light Morning
|
- Owin' Soul
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Warm August Day
|
| 2012 | Higher Place
|
| 2012 | Garden Stone
|
- Solo
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2011 | To Agalma
|
| 2012 | The Sin
|
- Tiger Budbill
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Careless Whisper
|
- The Rumba Kings
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2018 | The Instrumental & Vocal Sessions, Volume I
|
- The Rumba Kings
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2019 | The Instrumental Sessions, Volume II
|
- The Rumba Kings
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Mirame feat. Natalis
|
- The Rumba Kings
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Dance with me feat. Natalis
|
- The Rumba Kings
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Den tha se Ksehaso feat. Sofi Alexandrou
|
References
- "Johnny Bacolas Overview at Allmusic". Allmusic.com. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
- Gargano, Paul. "Second Coming Maximum Ink". Maximum Ink. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- Stav, Steve The Second Coming of Second Coming, "Intermittent Signals" September 1, 2001. Retrieved on June 8, 2011.
- David de Sola (April 5, 2012). "How Alice in Chains Found the Most Memorable Voice in Grunge". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- "Lotus Crush at Reverbnation". Reverbnation.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
- Prato, Greg. "Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music." p. 214. April 2009.
- Childers, Chad (August 21, 2015). "25 Years Ago: Alice in Chains Unleash Their Debut Album 'Facelift'". Loudwire. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
- Prato, Greg (April 2009). Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. pp. 215–216.
