Ross Bellenoit - The Wreckage Release & More

Gallo, Bellenoit, D'Agostino @ Fergie's Pub

A few years back, I went to Fergie's Pub for a late night music hang.  It was still early into my indoctrination of the Philly music scene and really didn't know just how amazing those nights would/could actually be.  I just knew a friend or two were likely to play and my child and wife were already asleep.  Ron Gallo would be playing that night, and the lanky front-man was flanked by a guitarist who just walked in, a dude on bass, and the host of the night was at the drums.  There's no way it was going to be any good; Gallo and two random dudes?  It couldn't be good, right?  It was a Wednesday night, late as hell, and a bunch of jokers at the upstairs "dive" portion of a great Irish bar were about to rock out without a set list.  What could actually be good about this? What I didn't know was this host Jonas guy, was Jonas Oesterle (of Purples and other projects), the bassist was Phil D'Agostino (Hezekiah Jones & more) and that guitarist was Ross Bellenoit (Arc Divers, Birdie Busch & more).  Each song was amazing, no matter what the crowd and Ron Gallo would pick randomly to play, but the guitar parts always stood out.

And that's how it was each time I came across Ross Bellenoit.  There was that time I saw Arc Divers, last fall in Boston and I was caught off guard by their killer guitar riffs.   Also last fall, when I saw Birdie Busch at the Communion Club Night over at Underground Arts, with Ross Bellenoit it was more spectacular guitar.   Fantastic music and great guitar.

The Wreckage by Ross Bellenoit (Photo by Elizabeth Thorpe)

So when I sat down with Ross Bellenoit this week to talk about his brand new album The Wreckage (released June 6th, 2015), I wanted to know with all this great music he's part of; Why the self-release?  He told me, "The Wreckage is written, vocals, and produced myself; all of it is done with my direction.  Other bands I'm in like Arc Divers, I've got input on arrangement and such, but this is a Ross product."

Turns out, presenting a "Ross product" is tougher than it seems.  The album has been done for about a year, with demos of the songs starting as early 2013.  But according to Ross "with other recording projects and bands in-play, it's a tough balancing act of when to release my own material."



Luckily for fans, now is the time to release Ross Bellenoit material.  First we have The Wreckage; a great listen with song after song chronicling one particular torrid affair and subsequent breakup.   With scene stars Joe Baldacci (DRGN King, Viv & The Revival on drums, Todd Erk (Hoots & Hellmouth, Birdie Busch) on bass, and featuring Sonya Sofya on vocals; it's lush, it's pop, it's passionate.  This wasn't your standard breakup album as this wasn't your standard relationship and break-up.  Ross explained "there was so much dark break-up stuff covering all the stages of the break-up, " making The Wreckage much more apt of a title.  Even single "Sayonara", started as "an attempt to write something goofy at a Maine songwriting retreat" according to Ross, but the end result was a "tongue-in-cheek telling of a date gone bad."

The Wreckage won't be the only Bellenoit release to look forward to this year.  The plan is that Ross will release 2 more LP's in 2015: next is an album of original Jazz material and later this year is a full length folk album.

If you're struggling to keep up on all things Ross Bellenoit, you can try out a new patronage vehicle Ross is using.  Bandcamp.com offers a subscription, but it's not to a gazillion artists, and songs.  This one is just for Ross.  You get the entire back catalog (including The Wreckage) and more!  To steal straight from his Bandcamp page:

Tonight come see Ross Bellenoit / Madalean Gauze / Morgan Pinkstone at Johnny Brenda's for the live release of The Wreckage!     Get Tickets HERE