About Me
It used to be that children dreamed of running away to join the circus. But after Elvis, and after The Beatles, some children dreamed of becoming rock and roll stars. When John Russell was about 11 or 12 years old, he began playing guitar and dreamed about rock and roll. Not long after, he met Tom Semioli, who was also 11 or 12 and who had also begun playing guitar. And Tom dreamed the same dream as John....................John and Tom put together a band with two more friends (Riz and Bob, we salute you!), wrote songs, and went from playing in Tom's basement to playing in front of bigger and bigger audiences, trying to find the spotlight under the big top............But after awhile, the band broke up, as many bands often do. John and Tom remained friends, but they went their separate ways. No more circus, no more rock and roll.....................Years went by and John married a woman named Gemma and had children, including a son named Jack. John listened to a lot of music in the house and, occasionally, he would take out his guitar and play. John's children heard all the music that John played. It wasn't long before the kids started singing with their father. Jack would sing and also played "drums" on anything he could find.....................John liked what he heard. So much so that he asked Jack if he wanted to perform in front of an audience. Jack said yes. So, in late 2004, John and Jack began performing together at The Internet Café in Red Bank at Open Mic Night on Sunday nights. They wrote songs, they played and sang, they called themselves Dark Horse. The circus had come back to town....................In Spring 2005, John asked his old friend Tom if he would like to record some songs with him and Jack. Tom said yes and enlisted his friends Joe and Stu to help them out. The result, completed in September, was a five-song ep called Around.
..................From Amplifier Magazine (May, 2006): "Dark Horse: Around - John and Jack Russell, aka Dark Horse, a father/son led collective embedded in a place called Red Bank, New Jersey, turn the rock ‘n’ roll clock back to 1972. Or is that forward to 2012? In the hallowed tradition of Todd Rundgren, Marc Bolan and pre-Ziggy David Bowie, the Horse makes music for pure pop pleasures sans commercial aspirations or ulterior motives, which is why they should be Big Stars (pun intended) some day. Check out Stu Richards’ blotto solo on “Wild Life.†Ronson lives! These guys could be the next Guided By Voices."...................In early 2006, Jack and John auditioned for The Middletown Talent Show, joined by Andy Greatorex (boyfriend of Amanda, Jack's sister, John's daughter) on bass. As one of 15 acts chosen to perform, out of over 150 hopefuls, Jack, John and Andy played "The Man Behind The Curtain" to an enthusiastic audience. Afterwards, Andy asked Jack and John if he could produce the next Dark Horse CD...................The group began recording The Man Behind The Curtain in late July of '06, and were joined by Andy's father Alan, Andy's brother Huw, Mike Zebd, and John's daughters/Jack's sisters Amanda and Victoria. The Man Behind The Curtain was completed near the end of the year....................It used to be that children dreamed of running away to join the circus. But maybe you're never too young - or too old - to rock and roll.
