Mike Panessa

Age:34 and holding

Gear:

Hotrodded tube amp,

Yamaha pacifica combo

Favorite Band:

Jeff Buckley

Favorite Drink:

Captain and coke

Once upon a time,... just kidding. I picked up a guitar when I was 6,took lessons from some hippie guy my parents knew, he moved to Europe so my learning stopped but my impersonations of Elvis kept me busy for 6 years. I got really interested in guitar when I was 12. My Uncle Phil played bluegrass guitar and started teaching me licks. I worked on a farm to afford to buy a functioning Harmony guitar from Sears. I practiced enough to get calluses on my fingers then my uncle gave me a Yamaha acoustic which I played until I was 18. I went to college and enrolled in a jazz guitar class with a very cool instructor. I convinced myself that I needed a electric guitar to be able to play the upper register parts and the solo "Battleaxe" by Carlos Cavaso. I thank the federal government for financing my first electric guitar, hey it was less expensive than some of the books I had to buy

I hung out with musicians and played in guitar circles and impromptu jams for a year. Then I moved to Florida, learned how to surf and joined an 11 piece 50s and 60s band for about a year. That planted the bug to play out in front of the public. I answered an ad for a bass player( Scott Fowler) looking to put together a hard rock band. We clicked and found ourselves a place to play in a storage facility. Yes a storage facility. We covered the walls in roadside carpet findings and had our carpenter/drummer build us an interior door behind the overhead door. More importantly, was the addition of a frig for beer and a big old trash can for empties. We called ourselves Fuel For Fire .

We played on the ocean at a place that paid you in Shuckerbucks (money that could only be spent at "Shuckers") It was cool, we would play for an hour and then eat and drink for 5 or 6 hours.

This band ended as most do and a new band was put together, a reunion of an old hardcore band called MD5 or mostly drunk 5. This band was a bit wilder, louder and more fun than the last band. Our highpoint was playing the "Moonbutter Festival". This was a show at the historic Lyric Theater. We went on third out of 7 or 8 bands and flat out, blew the place away. Yes, there was moshing and people stage diving. What a blast.

Soon there after I moved to Rochester, NY for business purposes. I really missed the comradery of being in a band but I didn't want to just settle for any old band, so I decided to work on my songwriting for a few years. I did and eventually formed a new band called Redfield which Mike Putorti (our current bass player) was a member of. We had fun ,worked hard and played our brand of hard rock, all over Western NY.

Eventually members moved away and lost enthusiasm so Meegs and I decided to start a new band with a little bit more adventurous style of music. That band is called Seven Green. Honestly one of the coolest and most challenging bands I've ever been lucky enough to be part of.