Featured Artist: Neil Citron
/Neil's cousin Howard Leese, of Heart & Bad Company fame, taught him his first chords and he fell in love with guitar at the age of thirteen.
During his summer break, he hung out at Cherokee Studios (Rod Stewart/David Bowie/Jackson/Zevon), where he was mentored in music recording and mixing by some of the greats.
He had the opportunity to work with Roy Thomas Baker during the recording of The Cars, Foreigner and Journey. Neil knew then that recording and mixing would be a big part of his music career.
Like the Doors and Van Halen, Neil's band "Prodigy" became the house band at Gazzarris’ famous club on the Sunset Strip. Not long after that Neil and the band were signed to Mercury Records and toured the states for several years opening up for “Manfred Mann”, “Y & T”, and Triumph.
Later, his two engineer friends, Greg Ladanyi (Jackson Brown, Toto) and Dusty Wakeman (Dwight Yokam, Lucinda Williams), inspired him to fine tune his recording and mixing skills.
Neil also excels in song writing, and has co-written music for projects with Dino De Laurentiis, Chrysalis Records and Playtone Productions, as well as bands like Quiet Riot and Wasp.
He ran and produced at three-time Grammy-winning rock guitarist Steve Vai's Studio called “The Mothership;” which has housed artists such as Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, The Yardbirds, and the Wallflowers.
After building a portable recording rig for Steve and recording his year long tour, Neil recorded the "Live at the Astoria” album, which earned him a Platinum record. Neil is well versed in recording multiple genre’s including Acoustic, Metal, Rhythm and Blues, Folk, and Hip Hop. Neil has also mixed a Steve Lukather (Toto) & Larry Carlton (Steely Dan) live CD called "No Substitutions: Live in Osaka" for which Neil won a Grammy.
Some of the movie soundtracks he’s worked on have included “That Thing You Do” (Tom Hanks), “My Big Fat Greek Wedding I & II, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" (Oprah Winfrey,) “Ricki and the Flash” (Jonathan Demme) featuring Meryl Streep, on which Neil personally coached Meryl on the guitar.
Currently, he owns his own own mixing room and continues to record, mix and master many major artists including the new Quiet Riot CD from 2017 and music for the film and entertainment industry.
Lately he’s been playing with his band BangTower. The band was formed with Percy Jones from Brand X. Percy returned to Brand X, but the band continued as: Neil Citron (Vocals, Guitar and Keys), Joshua Seth Eagan (Drums), and Jon Pomplin (Bass). Check out their latest song, “Shag Time”:
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Gear Profile:
Video:
Neil with his T Classic
