The Guinnass

Biography

It’s March 2000 when three highschool mates join to play some music. Starting with two guitars and one bass, little later a drummer joint the band.
From the beginning idea of playing cover songs they quickly shifted to composing their own music, which is a mixed between the rock’n’roll of the fifties (Chuck Berry, Little Richard,...), the British beat of the sixties (Beatles, Rolling Stones,...) and today’s melodic rock (from U2 and Oasis till bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers). To make it simple ‘classic rock’ is the band’s music.
Once the band was complete (Martino Piccioli on guitar, on keyboard and vocals; Roberto Pellegrini on guitar and vocals; Nicola Bianchi on bass; and Stefano Lippmann on the drums) the name ‘Guinnass’ was chosen as band’s name (lately review as ‘The Guinnass’) and started to get down to it.
The lyrics tell about the band’s experience, without aiming to offend anyone.
After few months training the band started to perform in country parties, and clubs.
In 2002 the Guinnass decided to enter ‘Palco ai giovani’.
Though the band had to change bassist many times during 2003, it kept on playing live in public events such as ‘La Grande Notte Live’, sports events and for end of school year parties. However, at the beginning of 2004 the band broke off its exhibitions for half a year to have time to go through their songs and improve the quality of their arrangements as well as compose new songs.

The actual formation includes Matteo Germinario (Teo) on bass, and Nicolas De Ambrosi (Nick) on the drums. The two joined the band in two different moments (Teo at the end of the summer of 2004, Nick during the summer of 2005) improving further sound quality.

In 2006 edition of ‘Palco ai Giovani’ contest the band ranked 5th and won the 1st ‘Extra’ prize (offered by ‘Corriere del Ticino’) as best voted band by audience among 35 other bands.
Between 2006 and 2007, the band was very active and performed in many different pubs and clubs, and entered for the second time in two years the final turn of ‘Palco ai Giovani’.

In 2007 the band was also selected to enter the three-nights-selection contest of Blues to Bop (one of the two greatest blues open air in Ticino taking place every summer on the major plazas in Lugano and boasting international guests such as Freddie King, Bobby Cochran, the Swiss Silvan Zinng, and other famous blues men from the US and elsewhere worldwide).
At the end of the same year, The Guinnass participated at ‘Rock-Highway’ too - an outstanding rock contest in Zurich (Switzerland) - reaching the semi-final session and receiving enthusiastic feedbacks from both the audience and the jury for the old-original sound.

January 22nd 2008 the very first album of the band is finally printed out and ready to be listened to. The album, titled ‘The Guinnass’, is a 43-minute-12-track work of very sincere classic rock. Entailing groovy and sexy records, pure rock and roll tracks, rocky ballads, and sharpie hard rock rhythms, this album ranges a broad range of sounds based on sixties’ roots.

In less than one month from the launch of the album Sad Ballad and Mary (the two ballads of the album) are already on an international radio based in Milan (www.radiorelax.fm) and other tracks are played in Swiss Italian pubs and clubs.
Since the beginning of 2008 The Guinnass rely on an artist manager well known in the Italian network (Antonio Aki Chindamo, Auditoria Records, www.auditoria.it, www.myspace.com/auditoriarecords).