The VW Project

Tom Valatka - Guitar/Vocals: Tom has played guitar for 28 + years starting out playing in a Latin Funk and Jazz/Disco band in high school called Vision. He played in the school Jazz Band under Princeton jazz director Joe Biancassino and was regularly hired to play in the pit orchestras for local theaters such as Artist Showcase Theater, Washington Crossing Open Air Theater, Hamilton Tomato Patch, McCarter Theater. This experience gave him the chance to work with directors and full orchestras. He studied with Chuck DeAngelo and Philadelphia jazz artist Joe Federico for many years and began teaching lessons at Frank Russos Music Box in Trenton. Tom attended Trenton State College as a classical guitar major and played with such notables as Stanley Jordan, Richie Cole, and Frank Pinto. He played in the 80s with Relayer who were the only band in the area playing Yes, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Rush, Bruford and other progressive styles and had amassed a sizable following. During and after this Tom honed his skills playing and singing solo with an acoustic guitar in many New Jersey and Philadelphia area pubs and eateries. Tom reflects; I even got to jam once with Cesar Rojas and Dave Hildago from Los Lobos, playing Elvis songs. Tom spent considerable time in New York hanging out and jamming with then unsigned NYC talents Vernon Reid and Living Color, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, and Jacob Dylan. A brief stint with Living Earth, one of the most popular east coast Grateful Dead cover bands followed and shortly after formed Alligator with Jeff Wandling. Alligator had a popular following and split up several years later with Jeff and Tom joining Raindance. Jeff and Tom went separate ways for several years and Tom played solo again and worked on songwriting and recording. Tom reunited with Jeff in 2002 to form The VW Project, an acoustic duo which absorbed many area players into the mix eventually leading to the electric quartet it is today. Tom continues to teach guitar at The Music Box in Hamilton, NJ and a vocal/ harmony/theory class at All Star Broadway in Bristol, PA. He continues jamming with area talents. Tom resides in Hamilton NJ with his daughter Angela.Jeff Wandling - Bass/Vocals: Jeff is a self taught bass player and has been playing the bass for 25 years, the first 10 spent on learning the instrument and developing his own style and approach to the bass. His experience includes playing with high school buddies early on, a brief stint with Nightwing in the late 80s, then he set out to start his own band and founded Alligator after meeting Tom Valatka at a chance jam session in is apartment shared with another bass player. Alligator was the top Grateful Dead cover band in the Trenton, NJ area from 1988 to 1991. After Alligator he joined the band Raindance out of Blue Bell, PA and played with Wax Lips and then Bears Choice before reuniting with Valatka to form The VW Project. Jeff plays Modulus electric basses and Michael Kelly acoustic basses. He uses SWR Engineering amplifiers and various processing equipment. Jeff resides in Bucks County, PA with his wife and their dog, Deuce.Matt Hahn - Keyboards and Vocals: Matt Hahn is a seasoned keyboardist having played most recently with King Cadillac and Aches & Pains. Matt was a member of Alligator with Tom and Jeff back in the late 80's, where he first leraned the music of The Dead and the like. Primariliy a blues player, Matt brings a new perspective to the material The VWP covers and a catalog of "new" material to the fold. Matt lives in New Hope, Bucks County Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter.Lou Zalvino - Drums and percussion: "Blue Lou" started playing drums at 12 years of age taught by Red Howe from Morrisville an ex-Lawrence Welk drummer. He kept it as a hobby until the 90's when he took jazz lessons from Dave Johnson at A-Z Music in Morrisville, PA which got him started playing out in Blues bands. He has played with “CatHouse" (1996 - 1997), "The Renovators" (1998 - 2002), "Wolf" (2003 - 2006) and other local blues and top 40 bands. Lou likes to pursue all angles of music and keeps active by playing in an original band, "Crossbow" and any other activities that would improve his skills and widen his experience. Lou was looking for a new project/band and The VW Project was a band playing music a lot to his own personal liking that he couldn't pass up on.
MySpace Contact Table by MySpaceLayoutSupport.com
Get your own free MySpace Layout at MySpaceLayoutSupport.com