Devil You Know - Tougher than the Bronx

Monday, June 15, 2009

Well here we are, pretty much where we wanted to be. The last 3-4 months have been absolutely fantastic. I will speak on behalf of the band and say THANK YOU again to all our fans, families, and friends who make every show we've played really awesome. We just wrapped up our 4 month long 'show cycle'. We definitely ended it on a good note at Big Johns Pub this past weekend. We have to thank the crew at Big Johns and alllllll the ppl who hung out with us alllll night. So now We have off until August 15th where we will be playing at Dudleys in New Rochelle,NY. It is def a well deserved break being that it felt like we've seen eachother more in the last 4 months than anyone else. DYK has been a hard working machine since the day it started. It is just great to be involved with a group of guys who really work hard at this. I feel none of us want to let the other guy down. we've said it from DYK's inception and we still say it! " just man up and make it happen"........... i think we've stayed true to that haha.

On our break we have actually kicked around the idea of writing some original tunes. We've tried this in the past but with just gigging and learning new cover tunes we never really gave it alot of attention. We'll see if we can produce something on the time off.

Some of us will be taking vacations this summer and just spending some time off. Phil and Phil will be doing a combo Fragale/Salveggi family style vacation down in Maryland for like 9 days or something like that. We've often joked around and said something to the effect that there wives are gonna hate them orrrr Phil and Phil are just gonna hate eachother. haha we'll see how it pans out.

I will be heading to Memphis TN with my girlfriend this weekend to see the graceland mansion and whatever else Memphis has to offer. I'm not sure what but we'll def find something. My gf is a huge Elvis fan so i was told to get the Elvis jumpsuit and try to seduce her in the heart break hotel.(which is where we are really staying haha) Little weird to me but we'll see what happens haha

As for Scott and Bobby, i have no idea what either of them are doing.

Thank you again to all....... we will see you in NY in August and we will see you in NJ in September!

Sincerely,
Dave, Bobby, Phil F., Scott, and Phils S.

Friday April 24, 2009

Hello All !

Dave here to update and announce everything that has and will be going on in the DYK camp. First off i know i can speak for the rest of the band and say THANK YOU ! to everyone who has come out to our shows hte past 3 - 4 weeks - that including Whiskey (which was huge for us) Riddles, The Grasshopper, and High Velocity. I know its said over and over again by every band ever but we can't thank you enough, you make it so enjoyable for us. For me, there is rreally nothing like sitting behind the drums and playing songs that everyone is singing along to and enjoying. Thats where its at for me and i'm sure for the rest of the guys. So thank you thank you. We are super excited on how some of the songs in our set list are going over.
We are currently in the midst of lining up some shows for late summer,September, October. We're also working on a few new tunes and also trying to think of some more to learn. We have 4 killer shows coming up and then we'll be off until the end of August. Our next show is this coming Friday at the prime times sports bar in Sayreville, NJ. We had a great show in South Jersey last weekend and are hoping to carry it over into Sayreville. After that is our next local show at the speakeasy in Belleville, NJ. This night will be sponsored by Starlight Tattoo, in between sets they will have giveaways and prizes and i also heard a ' worst tattoo contest' Should be awesome. I'm not a big tattoo guy, in fact i dont have any but i'm sure the other guys will be more excited than i am. Our June consist of Hoboken and New Foundland.
Just a little update on the guys in the band -

Phil Salveggi has solidified himself as one of the funniest in between song stage 'ranters'? in Northern NJ and NY. He works a ton and dedicates himself to his family and the band. Phil is the epitome of rock icon. Brett Michaels who?

Scotty has been coming up with very funny photoshop pictures of all of us, and now has started photoshopping family members and friends alike. no one is safe. You can find these photoshopped pictures under our pictures section http://www.devilyouknow.tv. He's also been ripping the solo in "Walk" and ripping Eddie Vedders part in "Hunger Strike"

Bobby just gave away all his fish and bought two new (illlegal) turtles for the garage. We have still yet to give them a name but Phil suggested Cuff and Link. He's also been ripping the rap part in the Linkin Park 'in the end'. He has officially became Salveggi's favorite band mate and recently hurt his playing hand while lifting weights.

Phil Fragale has been throwing alot of small backyard shlamotz boombotz with his neighbor Lisa and Ron, We finally almost stumped him with the bassline for Freak on a Leash by Korn. But give him kudos bc he did rip it at practice yesterday. He's also become an avid tee-ball dad. Staying up til 3am on friday nights only to wake up 7am saturday morning to take his kids to tee-ball.

Me well i've been listening to alot of Korn lately(mostly self titled , Life is Peachy, and Follow the Leader) To me the 'real' korn albums - mainly due to the fact i am reading Fieldy's (korn) new book "Got the Life". I recently got pretty ripped at our show in Beachwood and f*cked up one of my favorite parts in RATM's 'Killing in the Name'. I will be opening my tiki bar tomorrow and couldnt be more happier. I'm also happy that the new season of Rescue me is on and the new season of Deadliest Catch. My new favorite song in the set list is 'The Beautiful People' I was recently asked to join Johnny Fragale's tee ball team but had to turn it down due to artistic differences.

Til next time

Dave , Phil F., Scott, Bobby and Phil S.

Friday, March 13, 2009

I'm going to first start this bulletin by plugging Phil and Phil's former band Driven reason being is bc they just popped up on my itunes shuffle list. In Salveggi's words " One of the greatest unsigned acts to hit the music scene " haha and i agree this cd is greatttt. Speaking of Phil Salveggi, he will be the featured subject in the upcoming DYK Webisode 4 "Phil Salveggi Stage Rants" Volume 1. Due out soon.
Onto band news, We just had 2 realllllly awesome shows. The end of February we played the Riverside Bar in Clifton, NJ. Very cool place, had sort of an old school underground (literally) music show feel to it. We thank all our friends, family , and fans who came out to make the night such a success and just a straight up fun show! I posted a video for our cover of Marilyn Mansons "Beautiful People" on our myspace page from that show (www.myspace.com/devilyouknowtv).
This past weekend we played for the Blue Knights MS Benefit which was for a great cause and a huge success #1 and #2 was just a kick ass show. Total attendance of 250 people! Def the most people we've ever played in front of. Shit, we sound checked in front of more people than i think we've ever played in front of haha. We appreciate everyone who came out for that and we appreciate the new fans we made from that night.
We have a pretty big string of shows coming up (at least by DYK means) next weekend we will be back at one of our favorite spots in New Rochelle NY - Dudleys bar. Also, during the following week we have a big show at the Whiskey Bar in Hoboken. We will play a 1 hour set and if we do well on performance and draw we will be invited back for a full Saturday night gig! We'll def do our part and we need all our friends and 'fans' to do theirs. And i must say they do not demand a huge draw which is great bc its reasonable and possible for us. We tried to play Dexters in Riverdale and they demanded 50 ppl on a tuesday night. What????haha! They couldnt get 50 ppl there on a tuesday night if Bon Jovi was playing !! But you can check out Dexters website and see how they are doing now. www.dextersentertainment.com.
We have alot of new tunes we are throwing into the works and also playing live so stop down and rock out and come visit the devil you know.
Again and again thank you all for the support
Dave, Phil S, Scott, Phil F, and Bobby

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Whats up everyone,

All has been good so far in 2009. We've only managed to be 3/5ths sick in the band, that including Me, Bobby and Phil Salveggi. None the less this past weekend we pulled through for our Speakeasy show in Belleville. This show was an absolute blast, we appreciate everyonneee who came out and endured the freezing cold weather. We banged out pretty much 3 fulllll sets of Rock and Heavy Metal. 2 days prior to the show i was absolutely puking my guts out from a 24 hour bug? i was afraid how i would manage but i can honestly say the rock carried me through the show haha or some shit like that. Salveggi was also having huuge throat problems but he really put all that aside and just ripped. Bobby's method was to drink until the cold temporarily went away haha and according to him it worked. So the show turned out to be an absolute success, thank you to the staff at The Speakeasy for taking care of us and our friends.
As you can see on the main page we have a ton of shows coming up. We are very excited for the warm weather to start setting in first off and then getting on the road and playing for all these new places. We've even managed to get a few gigs with no cover charge!!!! A special gig includes a benefit show for multiple sclerosis, which we are very excited to be a part of. Details on our Show's Page.
I can probably say one of the reasons we started this band was to trek outside of the box for cover music. We're trying to do something very different. I can see more and more just by talking to friends and club owners that it IS starting to translate. Is our plan working? Is our plan getting the attention it needs? Will we be able to give the time for our plan to effectivly work on the cover scene ? Only time will tell. The one thing that really gets me is that alot of these clubs Phil and I have called have been saying the same thing. "we're not so much booking cover bands, we're trying to book original bands. the cover scene is slowly dying" Wow that makes me think that maybe we came into this at the wrong time?? Nah fuck that, i say the cover scene is dying bc every cover band soundsssssssssss the same. Right?
Anyway, sorry about the rant but these are some things i have been thinking about and dealing with lately haha. On a greater note (no pun intended), I think i had mentioned in a few blogs ago that our friend had been working on a school project for his music and video class. Well he delivered the dvd to me this past week and him and his group did a great job. Its' basically a documentary on how we started this band. why we started this band. Almost like a VH1 behind the music haha. Very cool stuff. There is some interviews and live music from our practices. Check it out. Credit Raul Romero, Jonathan Coia and Mat Biggs for the directing and editing of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNu3baAwsc

- Dave

Monday, January 05, 2009

We hope you had a great holiday. We just played our first ever New Years Eve show at Dudleys in New Rochelle NY. It was really a great time, the staff at Dudleys is great to us and despite the freeeeezing cold temperatures we had a pretty good turnout. We thank everyone, friends and family who came out. you can check out some pics from the show in pics section.

So we've wrapped up 1 year in the DYK camp. I think we actually started jamming together in August of '07 soooo technically its been longer but so far the past year has been great for us. I think i can speak for everyone in the band and say that we are really at where we want to be. That being just having gigs and playing and having a blast doing it. I think it was 2 years ago on NYE me and Bobby were talking and i remember saying (half in the bag) this year(07) we will make this shit happen, and its funny about two years later to the day after saying that, we're PLAYING a gig on new years. Good Stuff. i guarantee if you ask Bobby that he'll never remember but i do. haha I hope the New Year has some good stuff lined up for us and our families and our friends. Here is a small collage i put together from the pics we have gathered from the year.

Our next gig is in Belleville, NJ at the renowned Speakeasy bar. Come join us for our first local gig since late October. We have some new tunes lined up and we cant wait to blast them out. Til then stay classy San Diego.

Thank you everyone for all the support

Dave, Phil, Bobby, Scott, and Phil

Whats up everyone, As always the DYK campaign is moving along great. Last month we had our first chance to play in NY and it did not disappoint. Dudleys bar in New Rochelle NY was a great show for us. Thank you to all the wonderful family and friends who came out to support us. I remember that day i was not feeling so good, almost as if i was coming down with something. When we got to the venue i ordered a vodka and orange juice to build up on my vitamin C and i swear it worked! I felt great afterwards and actually played pretty good along with the rest of the guys in the band. We will actually be playing Dudleys on New Years Eve and it will obviously be our first New Years Eve gig. Please check the shows page for more information, it will be a great night. Now after the Dudleys show me and Bobby trekked back to our awesome town of Lyndhurst. There is absolutely nothing like crossing the GWB at 3:30 in the morning. As we approached our town, Bobby ordered a cheeseburger deluxe and cheese fries from the diner. The cheeseburger deluxe didn't have a chance against Bobby. I was not hungry i just wanted to go and go to bed. I think i wound up getting into my bed at 5:00am that night. These are the non-benefits of being in a cover band haha. Oh yea another thing, i have been getting alot of questions on why we sometimes refer to eachother as Wayo (why'you). this is something me and bobby came up with, it bascially means 'kid' in italian.One day he just started calling me that and then a week later i started saying it back to him. It actually rubbed off on the rest of the band and now they all say it too. Its also gonna be the name of the title track when we record and original EP. haha Ok back on track, So throughout the month of October we were preparing for what was to be one of our biggest shows yet and it was our Halloween Bash at Hartleys. Between learning some new songs, ordering shirts, figuring out costumes, figuring out how to run the costume contest, figuring out decorating the stage it was a semi rough process, but in the words of the Devil You Know, we'll man up and make it happen. Everything wound up coming together just fine. If you really want to get a laugh at our costumes please check out the Pictures page. I dont think you'll be disappointed. We had an awesome crowd at Hartleys, so many people dressed up and alot of people came out. I can say at this show there was alot of people i did not know, which is real cool. I want to personally shout out the kid with the Devils jersey who was at the bar just hanging out. I think he liked our song selection, he would run up to the stage and sing 'run to the hills' and start walking back to his seat at the bar only to run immediatly back to the stage to sing 'Holy Diver' hahaha. He'll probably never read this but i thought the whole sequence right there was funny and you should all know about it. As far as playing in a ghostbusters jumpsuit, i didnt think it was gonna be too bad but it was hotttttttttt! I think i can vouch for the rest of the band too. Otherwise it was definitly a fun show, please check out our costumes and the awesome stage set up which we have to give kudos to Scott and his wife Tara, they ripped it. We just recently received all our Bill Pador picture day pics. They came out sooo good, you can also go to the pictures page to to see some of them and also see the awesome works this guy does with photography. We will be inserting some of these pics into our press kits that we are continually sending out. If there is a bar by you and you would like to see us play there, please drop a line and bobby will give you a free tile estimate! But in the meantime we are gearing up for our gig in Sayreville next month and also helping my friend out with a school project for his sound and production class. It's almost like a VH1 behind the music type thing but basically on how we started the cover band. I still like Phil Salveggi's angle on it. 'We are all failed original musicians so we went to the next best route, a cover band' haha. I'll have more details as my friend finishes up the project.

Once again thank you everyone for the support. Sincerely Dave, Scott, Bobby, Phil S. and Phil F.

Just a small check in from the Devil You Know camp. Things have been going real good as per the norm. Our press kit is finally done and we've been sending them out to nuuuuuuuuuuuuuumerous bars in the area. Hopefully these places will give a shot to play one night and we can rock their socks off? Anyway, in the meantime we've been hard at work learning some new tunes for our upcoming shows, we've also been planning our Halloween Bash at Hartleys November 1st which shoud be a blast. Bobby has rearranged the practice space AKA the gayrage and so far its pretty cool. He also bought a new fish tank for the gayrage, it's 30 gallons and last i checked the fish seemed very pumped up about it. Unfortunatly, he has lost one fish and i'm sure will replace it with 5 more. In other sad news, the Tiki Bar in Lyndhurst, NJ will be closing in the coming months. This is always a sad time but for those of you who have hung around for the post show after parties its always a great time. But have no fear we still have a few more weeks left to rip it.

This past weekend, we had set up a 'photoshoot' or as i liked to call it Picture Day. We wanted to get some group photos and what not for some promotional use. We actually hired a friend of Phils - Bill Pador ( www.billpador.com ). We went to numerous locations and so far the results are tremendous!! Bill Pador really knows his shit and was great to work with. We allll had fun doing the shoot and i think Bill did too. Alot of those pictures are posted on his website www.billpador.com under clients - portraits. There you can get a sneak peek but if you realllllly wannna see what the day consisted of you can check out Scotts new webisode on our website.WWW.DEVILYOUKNOW.TV under webisdoes. Scott pretty much captured the whole day and you can see it was just alot of fun.

Our next gig is this Saturday in New Rochelle NY. Our place of play is a bar called Dudleys. I dont know about the ohter dudes in the band but i am reallllly excited to play this Saturday 1. bc all gigs rule, i dont care if we are playing in front of the other bands and their gf's 2. We have not played in NY yet and i'm excited to see how it goes over. 3. ALL GIGS RULE! For this gig we are playing 3 sets pretty much all night. We have figured to squeeze in as much rock as we can. 3 sets consisting of 13 songs each. You say 'WOW that is alot' Chyeaaa it def is but it is for the better. The one thing i've noticed about most cover bands i've seen is that they almost short change you, the fans. I'm not knocking or down talking any of the local cover bands but to play only 2 sets consisting of 7 songs each is kinda lame. But i guess its a matter of quality or quantity? Well we try to bring you both so hopefully it pays off for us in the long run. Besides, if your in a band how could you not want to play as many songs as you cann !??!! haha So once again i'm real excited to play in NY this weekend.

For now please check out our webisode and keep the song requests coming!! Like i said we loveeee the challenges.

Friday, August 22, 2008
Darts, Punching Bags, Leather Recliners and Electronic Drum Sets.......

All this good stuff makes up the Gayrage. Devil You Knows premier practice space. So this past weekend we played one of our favorite spots at Hartleys in North Arlington. Once again our friends and 'fans' did not disappoint. We had a great time as always and the staff at Hartleys always treats us greeaaaatt! Thank you so much for everyone that came out! With that being said, we are in the works of putting together a Halloween Show in October at Hartleys! More details to follow, please check our shows page. And as I write this, i just recieved a text from my friend Laura who just showed up to Hartleys to rip a few beers and play some pool with her boyfriend saturday night and instead she got hit in the face with the rocknroll sonic assault by yours truly Devil You Know. Thank you for the info for the club in Bayonne ! So, we currently have shows booked for October we are trying to get something for September to keep the DYK ball rolling. We will be finishing up our press kits by the end of the month to send out to your favorite clubs. In the meantime myself and Scott will be putting together webisodes to keep everyone posted on how we man up and make it happen. or lack there of. So please check back for those. they should be real cool. Until then keep your requests coming in and we hope to see you all sooooooon.