MellowMind

MellowMind's History
MellowMind started out in the summer of 2004 when good friends Paul Passano (Drums), Stefan Williamson-Fa (guitar) and Joey Oton (Bass) decided to put their newfound talents together to form a band. After a few months of trying to find a singer who was suitable for the band's musical tastes, Stefan became friends with Stefano Blanca who seemed to be the perfect choice of singer for the band seeing as he was into the same music as the rest of the band.
With the bands line-up in place the next step was to find a rehearsal room... conveniently a Music Centre with rehearsing facilities had just been set up allowing the band to start rehearsing as from the end of September 2004.
MellowMind's first live performance came in December 2004 when they volunteered to play at the Bayside School Christmas Concert. The band played three songs and proved to be quite popular seeing as they had only been together for a few months at this point in time.
After a short Christmas break the band continued to rehearse expanding their quickly growing repertoire with songs from bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Snow Patrol, The Ramones and Foo Fighters. The band became involved with the Gibraltar live music scene after attending many Jam sessions at The Lord Nelsons bar in Casemates. These Jam sessions allowed MellowMind to get the exposure they needed and also meant the band could progress through the help and advice of many local musicians.
When the Music Centre closed down the band was left without a place to rehearse. Fortunately enough the band was helped out by a friend who offered the use of his basement in order for them to have a rehearsal space. After having troubles with Joey's lack of commitment towards rehearsals the band decided to ask a friend of theirs to take up the duty of being the bass player for the band. This was Luke Bossano. Within a week of Luke's arrival to the band MellowMind had their first gig. This was on the 8th July at Rock on the Rock and by now the band had already progressed a lot since their appearances at jam sessions. MellowMind's next gig followed the next day when they were asked to support Seven Sins in a gig at Sax II. As the summer went on the band started to build a good reputation after appearing in many gigs, including the Unplugged Concert at the Fair and National Day at Rock on the Rock Club.
After an eventful summer for MellowMind Luke had to leave Gibraltar for University meaning the band once again were in need of a bass player. Stefano, Paul and Stefan decided to carry on gigging without a bass player, performing as a three-piece acoustic act in various venues in Gibraltar.
Eventually MellowMind found Daniel Ghio who would be their 3rd bass player in less than 2 years. The new line up began rehearsing straight away and within a month started to gig as a four-piece act once again. That December MellowMind played in many different events including Bash x and the GSA Christmas party at Lord Nelsons as well as the Rock on the Rock Christmas Party where they were awarded with a bottle of champagne for their contribution to the club in 2005.
2006 started with many more gigs for MellowMind but due to commitments to school and exams the band had to cut down the number of gigs they could play. In March the band played at ROTR for Earbash IV, which was one of their most well attended gigs to date. Although by May three of the band members were undergoing GCSE examinations the band still found the time to rehearse and play in 2 major events, One World Beat Festival at Lord Nelsons and the GLMS Acoustic concert at Inces Hall along with Gibraltar's biggest bands.
Once the band had finished their academic year at school they began to rehearse and gig again, aided by Luke's return on guitar. This Summer MellowMind has played many gigs including Summerbash and the Rock Alight Festival at Victoria Stadium.
MellowMind continues to perform at various local venues and will be working on original material in the future with the aim of recording sometime in 2007.