Prodigal Son/Gateway

More Prodigal Son Hits can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/tonyflyingsquirrelmusic or Click on Tony Flying Squirrel on the top of the "Top Friends List"Gateway and later Prodigal Son were the brainchild of two very close friends, who not only share a passion for music, but also shared a common goal, to feed a common muse, to create something from scratch, to write original music, to play for a live audience, and in the process, have a lot of fun at it. In a world of selfish, back-stabbing, egotistical prima-donnas, such steadfastness, drive and friendship is a rarity indeed.Lionel Quinteros and Todd Hurley were both graduates of Granada High School, in Livermore, California, and met through a common friend, Todd’s brother, Jack Hurley, while going to a concert in San Francisco in 1988. They had a lot of things in common, and even liked the same bands, Y&T, Dio, Dokken, Sammy Haggar, Van Halen, Queensryche, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, AC&DC, Motley Crue, Dream Theater. Todd mentioned he had played rhythm guitar in a few bands, and Lionel said he had played the drums before. This conversation led them to get together a week later to jam at Todd’s house, and in a span of five hours and a few odd assorted jams, something clicked, and a 12 year creative musical friendship was born; as coincidental yet as simple as that sounds. Todd moved to work in Arizona for a couple of years, and when he came back to California in 1991, he was determined to hook up with Lionel and get something going. The seeds of Gateway and Prodigal Son had been sown.In early 1991, after a year of jamming and writing stuff together and with a few other musicians like Mike Green, the two put out an ad at Gil’s Music, in Antioch, California, for a bass player. Enter Eric McHugh, a bass player, classically trained and whose style was heavily influenced by bands like the Beatles. Now there were three, Todd, Lionel, and Eric, and after three months of auditioning each other the three hook up locally with Frank Abono, a singer, and Bob Henry, lead guitar. Now there were five. The project took a life of its own.Frank Abono was a great vocalist, frontman, and had a knack for storytelling. Bob Henry, his buddy, an accomplished lead guitar player, who began playing guitar in Germany, while in the US Army, an Eddie Van Halen/Steve Vai kind of player, was playing with the band Express, a local hard rock act, and wanted in on the project. They all shared similar influences, styles fit each other, and there was chemistry. Soon thereafter, and after a few gigs, 1992’s EP Gateway to a Dreamland is recorded, at Little People’s Studio in Livermore, California and the original Gateway line up is born. Songs like “Cold Day in Hell”, “Lost in a Dreamland” moderate hard rock pace tempo tunes are contrasted with the oddities of “Shipwreck Mary” which hints more of new wave band hit.The band then began to play regularly the local east bay scene in northern California, acquiring a following, growing their fan base, and was getting ready to move into their next phase, mid 1992, when as it is common with almost every band, life throws you a curve. A series of personnel changes delayed their second studio recording project. Bob Henry, lead guitar, wanted to pursue other interests, and for Eric McHugh, bass player, family duties became priority. Frank Abono, Lionel Quinteros, and Todd Hurley then decided to audition for a new lead guitar player and a new bass player.The two new members, Dean Richards, lead guitar, and Danny Gonzales, bass, had very different styles and personalities. Dean was a Randy Rhoads, AC/DC, blues-heavy-metal-hard-assed kind of guitar player. His solo work can be said to come from the soul. He had played lead guitar in a few local bands for a few years. Danny was more of a line driven player, whatever the song needed, he provided, a heavy metal, yet can jazz it up, kind of bass player. Together with Todd’s rhythm guitar can of “crunch”, Lionel’s solid latin percussive drumming, and Frank’s guttural voice and story line, this second Gateway line up went on to gig and produce 1993’s EP Gateway Insanity, also recorded at Little People’s studio in Livermore, California.This recording features “London Bell” a balls out forward rock tune, the military rudiments of “Could have been so different!” and the sonic angst of “Frustration”, songs now more of a high energy feel, heavy metal, hard rock template. The band got a darker tone and sound this time around, with a bit more experimentation effects and keyboards. This version of Gateway also went on to play a variety of different clubs, now moving into the wider northern California bay area, Hayward, Newark, Fremont, San Jose. The EP got lots of airplay at KVHS and the band made their first appearance at the Hayward Battle of the Bands. In 1994 there was momentum and things were looking up until Dean Richards had to make a very tough choice. Family is always priority one. Gateway lost its lead guitar player, and was facing yet one more personnel change. The band puts out an ad at Gil’s Music once again. Call it coincidence, destiny or providence. Call him Tony Wilson, otherwise known as “Flying Squirrel”, lead guitar player.Tony Flying Squirrell was a technical type of player, an Yngvie Malmsteen/Joe Satriani/Fates Warning kind of shredder, with lots of arpeggios and effects, and in particular, played keyboards. His solo’s were outstanding and complemented the already solid rhythm section, led by Todd, Lionel and Danny. After a round of local gigs to solidify the overall band cohesiveness and introduce the new member to the fans, Gateway went into the studio to record 1995’s The Awakening. The band chose a different studio this time around, Masaki Liu’s in Concord California and hired a producer to help with the recording of the album. This version of Gateway retained the darker tone, quality and aggression of previous versions, while it displayed a fuller, refined, experimental, progressive kind of sound. Songs like “Simple Man”, “No Reprieve”, ”Unspoken Knowledge” now displayed a variety of tonalities, chops, and commercial potential. Danny now introduced effects and different textures, while Todd included harmonics, solid melodies and different keys. Lionel now introduced a more progressive style of latin drumming, while Frank got even better at his vocal delivery.This album got a lot of mileage on the radio, and the band played it aggressively on the local scene. This version of Gateway also went on to earn second place at the prestigious Hayward Battle of the Bands amongst very tough competition. Gateway was on a roll, the fan base kept growing, the music was getting airplay, the shows were getting bigger, yet the member turnstile had a few more turns to go. Just as quickly as the band had gotten back on its feet, Tony Flying Squirrell let everyone know he had to go due to very personal family reasons. The band had also done a trademark search on the name Gateway and another local band in the East Bay had the copyrights on it. Todd, Lionel, Frank, and Danny decided one more time it was time to re-think, re-group, re-tool, and re-grow. In fact it was time to be re-born The name also had to go.Thus, in 1996, Gateway legally became Prodigal Son. The name came out of a short list that Lionel and Todd had compiled for the band while auditioning the new lead guitar player, James Schmidt. As it happened, the band voted, and the name stuck. James Schmidt had been playing lead guitar in the LA area previously. He was a Rhandy Rhoads/Blues/Van Halen/Kenny Wayne Sheppard type of lead player, and had just recently moved to the Bay Area. There was chemistry, style and purpose once again and after auditioning each other for two months and playing a series of shows arranged by PalmTree Promotions, the band’s new booking agent, Prodigal Son is signed by independent, Berkeley California-based record label, Richter Scale Records. Prodigal Son then went into the studio and released 1997’ Prodigal Son’s “Endangered Species”, recorded at Antioch’s “O” Street Studios and One Way Studios in Concord, California The band also hired Mike Anderson, engineer, and Rob Beaton/David R. Mackie as producers.The result of the re-think, image, sound and professional approach was outstanding. Prodigal Son benefited from the already well established prior promotional effort, previous band audience, member recognition, radio airplay, and word of mouth fan advertising. New versions of standards like “Unspoken Knowledge”, “No Reprieve” and “Simple Man”, were complemented by the new melodies of “Going Down”, “The Other Side” and “I Stand Alone”, the earth-shaking arrangements of “All is Clear” and “This is Real”, the emphatic “Only You” and the epic “Too Much Time.” The band now had a solid hard rock, progressive heavy metal sound, and the fan base loved it. KVHS radio in Concord, KSJO radio in San Jose, and The Bone gave the album a fair shake, and the multiple CD release parties, along with a professional web presence, booking agency, and label support, allowed Prodigal Son to continue to grow and expand its fan base. This recording was by far the most distributed and promoted album in the history of the band.1998 was a year of transitions for Prodigal Son. It saw the return of Tony Flying Squirrel on lead guitar, replacing James Schmidt, and it also saw, sadly the departure of lead singer Frank Abono and of founding member Todd Hurley, rhythm guitar. Both left due to personal reasons, family, and work commitments. This version of Prodigal Son also released the single “Broken Promises”, as a tribute to these two individuals who had meant so much to the group.1999 saw Lionel Quinteros, drummer, Danny Gonzalez, bass, and Tony Wilson, lead guitar, regrouping and after an exhausting audition process, welcomed newcomer Jason Faith into the group. Jason was a solo artist, vocalist, guitar player too, who had been playing the local scene, and who also had released his own music. In the interim, drummer Lionel Quinteros and bassist Danny Gonzalez, along with guitarist Harald Bassette formed a hard rock group called Hangman, which also began playing the local scene to solid critical acclaim. It was very common to see both Hangman and Prodigal Son playing venues together, since both bands depended on the same members. By 2000, Prodigal Son was now ready to enter the studio, and in June of that year released the self titled album “Prodigal Son”, recorded at Emeriville’s Digital Center for the New Media Arts, also released under Richter Scale Records.This final Prodigal Son recording featured a new sound, tonality, textures, a different lyrical and vocal approach, more effects, and saw the maturing of the progressive experimental heavy metal move the band had made during the 1997’s “Endangered Species” venture. Tony Flying Squirrel was now playing full time lead and rhythm guitar, as well as keyboards, and sequenced effects, particularly in songs like “Red Dawg” and “Boredome”. Danny Gonzalez continued to add subtle touches, on bass, and vocals, as evidenced in songs like “Denial” and “Alex.” Drummer Lionel Quinteros arrangements, back up vocals, and aggressive style of progressive latin percussive drumming came alive in songs like “Unnatural”, “Beaten”, and of course, “Red Dawg”. Jason Faith also added support to the mix with outstanding lead vocals, rhythmic parts, and solid back up vocals. All accounted for, this last project was a true balls out rocking successor to “Endangered Species” and paid homage to the previous versions of Prodigal Son. It also got extensive airplay, and saw Prodigal Son lend support and tour with bands like 40 Grit, Barbee Killed Kenn, and Oval. Prodigal Son continued to increase its fan base all throughout Northern California and Nevada.2000 was also the end of an era. The last founding member and longest time player in the band, drummer and percussionist Lionel Quinteros, departed the band, citing personal reasons and professional work demands. Like rhythm guitarist Todd Hurley and vocalist Frank Abono before him, the time for Lionel had come to move on. Lionel would later hook up with old time friend and prior Gateway guitarist, Bob Henry, in 2001, and form the alternative rock group Swoll, eventually signing on with LA based Record Label SBEN.Tony Flying Squirrel, Danny Gonzalez, and Jason Faith continued to play in Prodigal Son for another year. In 2001, everyone decided to move on with their personal lives. Prodigal Son was no more. However, for ten intensive and productive years and over 7 recordings, the lives of these individuals were intertwined. Those were some of the best times of their lives. This is their story. This is their musical legacy.Above: "GATEWAY" Live In 95. "Simple Man" and "No Reprieve" Below: "PRODIGAL SON" Live Club Kaos 1998 "Too Much Time"Below: "GATEWAY" Live In Concert 94 "Could've Been So Different" and "London Bell"Below: "Gateway" Morphs into "Prodigal Son" and performs "Calling On You" by "Gateway" at Hobies Roadhouse in 1995.
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