The Aquatudes

Tom Bittel has been singing and playing guitar in various bands since he was 18 years old.The first band Tom played with performed rock and roll songs of the 50's and 60's. He played lead guitar in a style combining elements of Chuck Berry, Carl Wilson, the Ventures, and early-Beatles George Harrison.In 1984, Tom joined an original Hartford band called "The Broken Hearts," who released a 9-song LP in 1985 titled "Want One?," with three songs written by Tom (re-released on CD on the Paisley Pop label in 2003).Tom was later a member of "See Jane Run," a Connecticut band who released their first CD in 1994 and a second titled "Weird Reality" in 2004.In 2002, Tom self-released a 13-track CD titled "Dad's Noisy Basement," (www.dadsnoisybasement.com). He released an additional DNB EP with 4 more tunes in 2005. Several instrumentals were in the mix.Tom wrote and recorded the first songs for the Aquatudes in 2006. In June of 2007, he met drummer Dick Bascom through the North East Surf Music Alliance (NESMA) and the real fun began! • •Dick Bascom began hitting the hides at the age of ten in the mid-1960's. "Having chops" back then meant being able to thump a respectable "Wipe Out" surf rock drum solo on the the school bus seat cushions.Dick spent his fist years as a drummer terrorizing several school band directors by day, and then by night playing the central CT bar scene in the country rock band "Anonymous." Dick played a regular schedule of bar gigs, social club dances and weddings, which included the surf classics Pipeline, Walk, Don't Run, and of course, Wipe Out.After taking an extended time-out to live the American Dream, Dick expanded on the theme and hooked up with some other old guys in 2006, and played drums in Connecticut's Classic Rock scene for a bit. He also helped satifsfy his need to play and coach by offering drum lessons to beginning drummers, where the "surf beat" is required learning. Dick found the NESMA Surf rock classified ads in the spring of 2007, and soon made Tom's aquaintance to provide the drums for the emerging Aquatudes. • •Fred Magetteri provides the pumpin', thumpin' bass lines for The Aquatudes. Fred has played the Rock 'n Roll scene around Connecticut in a variety of bands since the late 1970's. He has loved playing it loud and heavy with such bands as "Diamond Back" - a southern rock and blues rock band, the rock band "Alta" from his home town of Durham, CT, "Blind Date" - a wedding/party/bar band, and "The New Ruins" - an original heavy rock band out of Middlefield, CT that played some of the best venues around the state.While Fred's first bass setup was a Fender Precision Bass played through and Earth amp, he has chosen a a Fender Jazz Bass to add his special brand of bottom to rock the Aquatudes shows. • •