At a recent concert held at the Ritz the prestigious New York club, a crowd of enthusiastic fans was on hand to check out Atlantic recording artist Fiona. The band performed an exciting set of powerful hard rock. Near the end of the set, the spotlight went to the drummer, as he began his solo. Normally at this point in a Ritz show, the audience unceremoniously heads for the bar, but not on this night. Building from a driving pattern, the drummer composed contrapuntal melodic lines around the set that caught the audience’s ear, and from that point, the audience was hooked. His solo peaked in a breathtaking display of double-bass chops, and the near-frenzied audience responded with gaping jaws, lit lighters, and screaming enthusiasm: business as usual for drummer Joe Franco. The crowd that night was unaware of the many years of work and dedication it took Joe to […]

August 1986 Issue