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 Dino Covelli’s Mad Machinery. To promote the compilation, in early 1998 Dino built a web site that offered free MP3 downloads– a new concept at the time. 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. 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. 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, Reconnecting. "...with today’s technology, DIY should be the standard; there is no excuse. All you need are a few decent microphones, a Mac and recording software. The less hands that touch your music, the more personal it is." –Dino Covelli 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. 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. 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). 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” [Real 56k/256k] directed by Anna Gabriel and Adria Petty.