Dennis' Bio
Welcome to my Bio Page. Below is my story and some other information you may or may not find interesting. Click on the links within the text for photos from a different time and place. Thanks for stopping by!
Photo courtesy of Mom Mahon, Scottsdale, AZ, Circa 1964.
Where it all started! Almost two years old, making new strides in musical theory by forming a chord consisting of C, D, & Eb with B & C bass notes...often causing an erie harmonious accompaniment from the pets of the house...quite avant-garde! |
NAME: Dennis Bernard "dManster" Mahon (Pronounced "MAN")
INSTRUMENTS: Vocals and Bass Guitars
BORN: August 30, 1962-Beth Israel Hospital, Passaic, New Jersey
HOMETOWN: Tempe, Arizona (Home of The Tubes, Alice Cooper, Stevie Nicks and The Gin Blossoms)
MUSICAL INTERESTS AND INFLUENCES: Bass-John Wetton, Dee Murray, Chris Squire, Doug Esterline and Jeff Gerdon; Singers-John Wetton, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry, Jon Anderson, Barbara Streisand, Mel Torme, Ray White and Vic Ackerman; Drums-Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford, Nigel Olsson, Jeff Porcaro, Carl Palmer, Larry Danson, Vinnie Colaiuta, Leon Murasaki and Thomas Lang; Keyboards-Elton John, Eddie Jobson, John Wetton, Steve Porcaro, Paul Raymond and Russ Ferris; Guitar-Robert Fripp, Alan Holdworth, David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, John Wetton, Mike Stern, Davey Johnstone, John Albright, Mike Belley, Adam Cruz, Stevie Bradford, Doug Esterline and George Manning; Other and Everything-Sergei Prokofiev, Modest Mussorgsky, Frank Zappa and the Fam.
FAVORITE BANDS: John Wetton Band, UK, King Crimson, ASIA, Elton John, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Toto, ELP, UFO and Yes.
HOBBIES: Edie!, John Wetton concerts...anywhere, playing piano, golfing, jogging, eating and voting.
DRINKS: Diet Dr Pepper, JWR Scotch & Water and an occasional Bud Light.
GIRL: Edie
THOUGHT: I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body.
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NARRATIVE: I first became interested in music when I would listen to my older sisters' Beatles, Jackson 5, Diana Ross and The Monkeys 45s. Both my sisters, Ellen and Susan, played in band throughout school and when I was still very young (about 7 or 8) they brought home a marching snare and this secured my interest in playing drums. I would listen to records and try to play along and hear what the drummers were playing. I took a beginning snare drum class in grade school but I didn’t have the discipline to learn to read music when it seemed easier to listen to a song and play from memory. My biggest fault as I later discovered. I remember listening to early Elton John records and became interested in his drummer, Nigel Olsson. In junior high, I met a friend named John Albright who introduced me to a lot of great music. He was a guitar player and through him I listened to a lot of ZZ Top, Robin Trower, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones and Rush. He introduced me to a friend of his who sold me my first drum set. It was a Ludwig 4-piece set with a marble finish just like Ringo’s. We formed a band and I played together with John and many people from school for a few years. John would also teach me to play guitar, or at least how to play a bunch of chords but I never got serious with it until later. In high school I met some other musicians including Jim Coleman who later became one of the Gin Blossoms' first live sound engineers, and we formed bands long enough to play at a few house parties and school functions. Through John I met a friend named Larry Danson. He was a drummer and we were the same age but he had much better equipment than I and more experience playing in bands with many people. Larry and I would share ideas and he would teach me beats. He taught me the beat to Ted Nugent’s "Stranglehold." He played more aggressively than I and I was impressed by his playing. I continued to play in a few bands through high school but never got hooked up with anybody for a long enough period of time to amount to anything. I began to work for Larry’s band while I was still in high school as a sound technician. I learned a lot working with him. Most importantly I learned I always wanted to be involved in music. A couple of years after high school I joined the Air Force and music was put aside except for playing in my room or just listening. I kept in touch with Larry, and along with him, I worked as a drummer on a studio session for a guitar player named Joey Marquez, which included Alan Zavod (former keyboard player for Frank Zappa and Jean-Luc Ponty) for an EP. This project lost funding and was never published. I began to play guitar more seriously because tuned instruments always impressed me and they were easier to carry around than drums. I continued to play with a few people here and there but nothing very serious. I started to become interested in piano and my long-time friend Mike Scannell gave me a quick lesson on how to form a chord, play major scales and a few other things. I continued to listen to more progressive rock bands and was intrigued by how much keyboards added to the overall sound and the classical influence they brought to the music. I got married and then I moved to Korea and bought a guitar and electric piano before moving and decided to devote my time there away from the drums and learn these instruments. I joined a country-rock band called Mustang Country there playing guitar and keyboards and we played at the clubs on base. I moved to Okinawa, Japan after a year and again bought a drum set and settled back to my first love. After about one year on the island I joined a band called White Lies. We had some good times but only played out one time before our singer left. I joined a band called Monster Box which became Pavlov’s Dogs shortly afterwards and began to play all around the island. We played many of the clubs on Okinawa and had a very busy time for nearly two years. We were able to play the Peaceful Love Rock Festival in 1997 being one of the very first all-American member bands to play this prestigious annual Okinawan Music Festival along with Clay Sun Union, Liquid Karma, Maria Howell, The George Murasaki Project and others and festivals with Survivor and Black Diamond but broke up because the other two members, Vic Ackerman and Adam Cruz left to go on to other military assignments. I spent a couple of months playing percussion with Stevie and Doug. I then joined a band called Industry and we enjoyed about six months of pretty steady work around the island which included playing a festival with Great White. After a short time, both guitar players left. We reformed Industry and I switched back to playing guitar and keyboards to play at Fujiyama for a Fuji-Fest but we couldn’t keep a permanent drummer. I got an offer to join Cry Wolf when their bass player was leaving. We played a lot of great shows including Peaceful Love '99. When a couple of the guys from Cry Wolf wanted a bring from things, I started Y2roK. We originally formed as a three-piece but then brought in Casey, an old friend from Industry to join Roger and Hisashi from Level III, along with me. Casey moved to Italy after about 6 months and we brought in Okinawan musician, Ikari. Ikari would introduce me to another Okinawan musician named Tohno whose CD I would help record playing drums and keyboard. Y2roK enjoyed nearly one year with this line-up of playing mostly every weekend in and around Goya City on Okinawa and producing six original songs. In the spring of 2001 I moved back to Arizona, this time winding up in Tucson. I took about one year off until I answered an ad for a band looking for a bass player. I auditioned for Yada Yada and the rest is, how they say in the biz, history. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come…
//DENNIS//