Band Geek

You knew this was coming... Check out our Star Wars Rise of Skywalker review, featuring Phil Castellano, Ray Magnuski and Jarrett Pressman via force face-time. 

This week's guest is Matt Beck, one of the most in demand guitarists in the business! Check out Matt's work with Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20, Gwen Stefani, Andy Grammer and many, many more!

The Band Geeks are joined by freak of nature Mike Tirelli, as he shares his incredible rock vocal talents. The guys discuss vocal techniques, metal festivals and of course...weddings.

Our buddy Rob Kipp joins us in the studio to record some tricky Genesis covers and to discuss prog rock and gigging.

Richie was recently invited to Ohio State University to headline their 42nd Annual Jazz Festival. Here's what went down.

In arguably the nerdiest episode ever, Richie visits recurring Band Geek guests Tony Hanson and Damian Scro on the high tech set of their brand new D&D inspired web-show, Audio Dungeon!

Richie and Andy are joined by special guest Steve Sterlacci to discuss the recent Music Convention in Anaheim, CA.

By popular demand (like 4 people) Richie and Andy take you through the Band Geek studio's unique blend of state-of-the-art and janky equipment that is responsible for creating the "Band Geek Sound."

Watch Richie and Andy trace Freddie Mercury's genius from "Mozart to Liberace" as they attempt to analyze what makes the opera section of Bohemian Rhapsody so incredible.

Richie and Jarrett review the new Aquaman movie along with some ambitious fan films from Star Wars Theory and Galactic Battles.  They also take some live questions from YouTube and Facebook.

“A little Bohemian Rhapsody gentleman?” By popular request Richie and Jarrett review the brand new Queen biopic. SPOILER ALERT… they really dug it! They talk about Richie’s brief encounter with the band, and Jarrett is all of a sudden proficient in guitar.

Richie and Jarrett are back and they got a lotta problems and projects to share. In a previously recorded live stream Jarrett shows off his completed proton pack build, Richie displays his modded Les Paul Tribute, and find out that everything they hate is cause of Russian bots. They also answer some live fan questions to which the answers are yes, no, and it’s Kathleen Kennedy’s fault. Enjoy!

Brand X keyboardist Chris Clark knows all the Prog Rock!  In this episode Chris schools the Band Geeks on gear and heavy duty music theory followed by a cover of the classic Yes opus, Close To The Edge!

You guys asked us to review Solo… so… uh… we did. Can we do it in less than 12 parsecs? Turns out it doesn’t matter. But hey… Khaleesi is in it! And Jarrett plays with his toys for your amusement. Also we learn the answer to a question Star Wars fans have been asking since 1977. Where did Han’s gold dice come from? Right? Haven’t they? Everyone should totally go see Solo.

Killer rock guitarist Angus Clark (Trans Siberian Orchestra, Kitaro, Joe Lynn Turner, Daredevil Squadron) joins the Band Geeks in the studio to discuss music, stage footwear, and his nerdy little secret. Angus also leads the band on some more Rainbow and breaks the record for most current song on Band Geek with a Demi Lovato cover!

It’s here. The war to end all wars… or half the people in them anyway. It’s the INFINITY War! Richie and Jarrett with help from Phil, and newcomer Joseph Albano Feiger review the culmination of ten years of Marvel movies. SPOILERS but we discuss our favorite things… which there were A LOT! Even Jarrett liked things! PLUS we’re in the newly renovated studio! New paint, new equipment, new technical problems! Same Band Geeks. #ItsAMold

Richie and special guest Tony Hanson, debrief Jarrett on their recent trip to Artemis Armada IV in Cleveland, where they took part in a giant Sci Fi themed LAN party.

Grab your VR goggles and get ready to come with Richie, Jarrett, Ann Marie and Tony into the OASIS. You’ve asked and we are bringing you our review of the new film Ready Player One sans all of the RUSH. Give this episode a listen and find out why we needed more robots, less Simon Pegg, and for once… a fat man represented on the screen as a lead. Come on Hollywood. Get with it….

Richie brings Band Geek to the high seas with a live show from the Rock Legends Cruise VI. This show was recorded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and features guest appearances from Buck Dharma, Kasim Sulton, the Radino Family!

To celebrate Valentine's Day we take on Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes. Richie, Andy & Ann Marie recreate the classic ballad track by track, while explaining the frequent key changes making this one of the most complicated love songs of all time!

Richie returns from the 2018 NAMM show, discusses new products, shares some stories and gets to jam with Gary Hoey!

WALK!!! ...to this weeks replay of our first live stream of Encore for 2018. We get a little silly with songs about historical figures, see if opposites attract, and then get to break-a your stride!

It’s a porg filled movie review of the latest Star Wars installment, The Last Jedi! Richie decides Jarrett should always be on a view screen, we learn what Luke and his fish nuns have been up to, how important it is to free space horses, and who is the lastiest Jedi of them all! Also Richie, Jarrett, and Ann Marie met Gal Gadot and are still in shock!

It’s a “Hole” lotta fun this week when we crossover with our RiotCast buds Rob Sprance and Chris Fortney from ‘The Glory Hole’. We get an incredible amount of information about Rob’s colon, go round the room with our go to Karaoke jams, and learn why macaroon’s are important for picking a wedding venue. Then Rob and Chris step it up with performances from some Fine Young Cannibals, Tom Petty, Matthew Sweet, and Weezer.

Last week, Richie launched a new series of live streaming shows.  In this episode he takes us behind the scenes to share insight to the musical and technical aspects of the project.

Meanwhile…. at the Hall of Justice… Richie, Ann Marie, Andy, Jarrett, and Brandi review the latest DC film, Justice League! SPOILERS!!! We find out if it was worth the wait and where it ranks among the 5 DCEU flicks, who the heck Steppenwolf is, why Amazons giggle, if Gal Gadot looks better in IMAX, and what Superman’s safe word is…. btw… it’s Martha.

During a live stream, Richie & Andy recreate the classic Kansas song, Carry On Wayward Son, playing all the instruments and singing all the parts.

Richie spends the evening taking live questions and requests (including a few originals) from Band Geek viewers. 

Dressed as England's loudest band, The Band Geeks perform a 5 song set of music from our favorite film, This Is Spinal Tap.  This is a VERY important movie for us so we took great care in getting it right, from the bad guitar solos, all the way down to the pelvic thrusts. Such a fine line between stupid and clever.

LA audio mix engineers Rusty Smith and Robert Edmondson talk to Richie via Skype and walk us through what it takes to mix an episode of the Marvel comics TV show, The Gifted, currently airing on Fox.

The Band Geeks have been making it a point to go see more live music and some of our viewers have requested our concert reviews, so here you go.  Also, Jarrett and Richie get new toys.

This episode is a replay of our live stream from 10/3/17. We celebrated our keyboard player, Vin Innocente's birthday with a little Billy Joel, a Tom Petty tribute, and an epic game of Encore with the most people we've ever had in the Band Geek Studio!

Richie goes to see the NY Philharmonic perform The Empire Strikes Back. His high school music teacher & former boss Lou Mannarino is the sound engineer for the gig. Lou gives a rundown of the process of mixing & designing a performance of this complexity.

In this episode of Band Geek, we play 3 very special requests from some of the show's SUPER-FANS! This is an eclectic mix of songs by Porcupine Tree, Budgie and even an old gem from our college band, Progeny!

This week's guest is singer Emily Nacchio. Emily is Ann Marie's sister!!! They cover some Black Sabbath and perform their own version of Valerie. Watch the full video for this episode at youtube.com/richiecastellano

  In one of the best rounds yet, Band Geek's signature game Encore is back! Streamed live on 8/9/17 we get songs about pets, with the words way, cruel, God...zilla, and we even bookend it with some Whitney Houston and Rupert Holmes.  

Richie, after a very long recent run with Blue Oyster Cult, crosses three items off his bucket list by getting tours of DC Comics, Music Man Guitars, and the Saber Forge lightsaber showroom along with many other stops along the West Coast.  

Fresh off of a European Blue Oyster Cult tour, Richie Castellano streams a live Q&A session discussing BOC gigs, songwriting, guitar playing, gear and much more.

  We're back with our long awaited and highly requested review of all things Wonder Woman! We talk about Ann Marie's love of Robin Wright's neck, Jarrett's best Amazonian accent, and how Diana is no longer wearing satin tights. Even Andy liked this movie!!!  

  On our recent live stream, Richie sat down with his Blue Oyster Cult band-mate, Eric Bloom, to discuss video games, TV shows, gear, road stories and more!   

Richie, Jarrett & returning geek Tony Hanson review our favorite Marvel franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We've got several impromptu acoustic versions of the Guardians soundtrack including Mr. Blue Sky, Brandy, and Fox on the Run! We Are Groot!

On this week's live stream, our viewers requested that Richie and Andy record Toto's "Rosanna." It took nearly 5 hours, but they finished it! Here are the highlights from that session with an added bonus walk-through of the audio mix and post production.  

The Band Geeks are joined by the incredible Tom Brislin for some prog rock and power pop! Tom has played keyboards for Yes, Meat Loaf, Renaissance, Debbie Harry and his band, Spiraling.

  Richie's back from Orlando and regales Jarrett and Phil with stories of Star Wars Celebration 2017. Dope cosplay? Yep! Waitin in lines? You bet! Lightsaber builders parties? The best! And to top it all off? Richie spends 23 seconds meeting the Skywalkers!  

Richie visits DJ/Producer/Composer Phil Moffa at his incredible studio, Butcha Sound Studios in NYC. They discuss software vs. hardware, their secret love of the Sopranos, Kung Fu, & they play a clip of the final project they produced back in college!

Richie, Andy, and Danny are backing up Kasim Sulton on his April 2017 gigs in NY, NJ, and PA. This episode is an audio replay of the Facebook Live stream after our rehearsal on 3/28/17.  Go to Richie's YouTube channel to see the video version.  

  You guys requested a review of Logan & here you go bub! With the help of filmmaker Corey Machado we cut deep down to the adamantium skeleton to see if superhero movies need big budgets, the state of heroes on TV, & how confusing the X-Men universe can be.  

This episode is an audio replay of Richie's live Facebook stream where he recorded all the parts to Life In The Fast Lane by The Eagles in under 2 hours! To see the finished split-screen video and the actual stream replay, checkout Richie on Facebook!

It's time to give thanks to our biggest fans by rockin' their song requests. This also marks the first time we tackle The Scorpions, The Police, AND perform an original song! We also have a Skype chat with Australian musician & super fan, Joshua Batten!

  Game night is back yo! We're joined on drums by first timer Mike DeConzo while live streaming our favorite game, Encore. Don't forget this was previously recorded. So if you yell answers at this episode from home... we can't hear you... probably...

Our yearly viewing of the musical performances from the Grammy Awards is a wee bit out of control since Ann Marie is out of town and can't make us behave. This SUPERSIZED episode is as weird as Beyonce's interpretive Cirque du Soleil show...