Mad Machinery

Hailing from Westchester, New York, Mad Machinery began as a one-man
operation. Dino Covelli was taking recording classes with his college
buddy, Dan "Pop" Papandrea, and put together a compilation of his works
he titled <i>Dino Covelli’s Mad Machinery</i>. To promote the
compilation, in early 1998 Dino built a web site that offered free MP3
downloads– a new concept at the time.<br> <br> A buzz began when a song
from the compilation, an homage to Type O Negative, started appearing on
Napster. As with many MP3s traded on file-sharing networks, a user
labeled the track incorrectly and caused some confusion among Type O
Negative’s fans as to the artist's origin. "Possession," originally a
Sarah McLachlan song, was a favorite of Covelli’s as he chose to cover
it in the style of Type O Negative for a class project.<br> <br>But the
compilation gained the most attention when the demo for “Chasing Your
Tail” aired on Homegrown, a Cape Cod-area radio program featuring
unsigned artists. Homegrown generated a buzz for many bands early in
their careers, including Godsmack and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The
show's founder and host, Suzanne "Rockbabe" Tonaire, gave Mad Machinery
their highest praise in the summer of 1999. Getting flooded with
requests, Rockbabe opened the show with a weekly dose of “Chasing Your
Tail.” Covelli performed the song, acoustically, live on the air that
summer.<br> <br>In 2000, Covelli set out in a more serious direction
with a great concept; make a professional sounding album on his own with
minimal gear, an extremely low budget and some killer Pro Tools skills.
Rock radio was dying– it was slowly becoming 24/7 payola. Covelli knew
he could make something better than what the major labels had to offer
at the time. He decided it was time to remind the industry that rock
music is not about spending or making a fortune. Covelli teamed up with
fellow Oneonta alumni and high-school-battle-of-the-bands rival, Edward
Roddy. The two began writing recording and producing what would
four-years later become their debut album, <i>Reconnecting</i>. It is true, Mad
Machinery is a self-contained unit: Writing, arranging, performing,
engineering, producing, mixing and mastering on their own. Lyrically,
the album touches on topics such as armageddon, spiritualism,
heartbreak, abuse, self-realization and desire. The sonic palette
consists of two vocalists with sometimes complex harmonies, multiple
layers of guitars, mid-range bass riffs which flow in and out of the
forefront, acoustic and electronic drums and drum loops, and a touch of
both analog and digital synths.<br> <br> With their roots digging deep
into late 60's prog-rock and branching out through the 90's grunge
movement, Mad Machinery's wide array of influences include Led Zeppelin,
Peter Gabriel, Faith No More, Pearl Jam, Tool, Stone Temple Pilots,
Alice In Chains, Radiohead, Type O Negative, A Perfect Circle, and Nine
Inch Nails.<br> <br>Mad Machinery currently performs sporadically in New
York City, Westchester and upstate New York. The line-up consists of:
Dino Covelli (vocals, guitars), Dan Papandrea (guitars, vocals), Jason Fresta
(bass, vocals), Akil James (drums), Adam
Colangelo (keyboards).<br> <br>Covelli also continues to do session
work with various artists including The
Rosenbergs, <Brooke Hogan, Jordan Knight, Amanda Latona and others. Catch him
in The Rosenbergs video for “After All” directed by Anna
Gabriel and Adria Petty.