Gonzalo Carrera - Keyboardist and Composer

Gonzalo Carrera
(Keyboards and composer)
(Señor) Gonzalo Carrera is from the north-western area of Spain and has studied jazz and modern harmony. An admirer of classic progressive band's such as Jethro Tull, Genesis and Yes, he formed his first band, the award winning 'Madeleine Green'.

In 1992, Gonzalo moved to Madrid and joined established prog band 'Galadriel', with whom he recorded two albums (Musea).
1996 Gonzalo made the move to the UK and is in demand playing various styles of music with many of the top names and his friends in the industry.

HEIDI JO HINES has been invited to appear at The Carling Academy in (Islington) London by the Jar Music Group on Novenber 14th, accompaniment by GONZALO CARRERA.

Classic Rock Society Favourites involved in Fund Raising EP

Gonzalo Carrera & Dave Winstanley

Several of the Classic Rock Society's favourite musicians have been brought together to raise funds for the CRS by means of a limited-edition EP.

CRS associate DAVE WINSTANLEY has been busy writing some songs and music, and has enlisted the aid of some very familiar names to perform and record these, which will be released on an EP entitled 'Dave Winstanley's CRS FOLLIES'. As well as instrumentals performed by keyboardist ROB GOULD and multi-instrumentalist MARTIN ORFORD, there will be two versions of the ballad 'Everything I Ever Wanted', featuring very special guests DENNY LAINE ( of Wings/Moody Blues fame) on guitars, and former ELO/Wizzard member HUGH McDOWELL, who, as well as playing cello, is co-producing and engineering.

Also featuring on this track are Denny's daughter HEIDI JO HINES (lead & backing vocals); our great friend and keyboard ace GONZALO CARRERA, who along with Hugh has masterminded the production in addition to his ivory-tinkling; and reknowned enginer ANDY THOMAS, who has added his great talent and experience in pre-production and programming.

Present plans are to release the EP as a 200-copy limited edition, which will be available at CRS gigs, and possibly by mail order.
All proceeds will go to the CRS. Expected release date is to be early next year. More news on this soon.
by Kris Hudson-Lee Credits Classic Rock Society

Gonzalo has recently been recording with The Indigo Road. Single out 16th June 2008 featuring 'Simple' and 'Goodbye To You' written by Mark Herbert who is collecting a great team of musicians for his recording projects. Vocalist Heidi Jo Laine has been receiving rave reviews this year, she is sure to be doing great things in the future.
‘ A striking single from the daughter of Denny Laine, folk’ish and peppered w ith stunning melodies, sky high and superbly crafted in to something w arm and absorbing. ’ Subba Cultcha

Gonzalo is on 2008 Spring Tour with Whimwise (Nick May ex The Enid) who have been booked to play more dates with Dutch chart topping legends Focus .

March 9th - Johnstock Festival , The New Inn , Littlehampton , Sussex
April 4th - The Fawcett Club, 176 Fawcett Rd , Southsea , Portsmouth , Hampshire
April 17th - The Ferry , 25 Anderson Quay, River Clyde North Bank, Glasgow , G38BX , Scotland. - (with Focus)
April 21st - The Stables , Stockwell Lane , Wavendon , Milton Keynes , MK17 8LU - (with Focus)
April 26th - Montgomery Hall , Wath-Upon-Dearn , Nr Rotherham - (with Focus)
April 29th - Astoria 2 (formerly Mean Fiddler) , 165 Chaing Cross Road London WC2 OEN - (with Focus)

Also Whimwise have secured a date in May, opening for Nik Turners Space Ritual, whose entire current line-up comprises members from the first Hawkwind line-up (1969 - 70 ) . Ex Space Ritual member - Jaki Windmill has also joined Whimwise and will be playing selected dates with them on their upcoming tour and beyond.
May 7th - The Robin 2 , 20-22 Mount Pleasent , Bilston , Wolverhampton (with Space Ritual /Ex Hawkwind)

There will be another German tour later in the year .
This is still in planning but a couple of dates have already been confirmed for it. They will be :
Sept 12th - "Mausefalle" , Weberstr. 41 , Bonn , 53222 , Germany .
Sept 13th "Eich Kult Festival" , Dorsheim Bei Bingen , Rhine Valley, Germany .
More German dates to come
Summers End Festival video of Whimwise playing there last September

Gonzalo Carrera is performing with 'Heidi Jo Hines Band' : featuring Heidi ( Denny Laine's ( Moody Blues, Wings) daughter) at
WE WILL ROCK ASCOT HRH 2008 - THE GATHERING - 15th & 16th MARCH - Royal Ascot Racecourse.
Her first live performance was in 1996 at Woodstock singing with David Peel and the Lower Eastside Band (who played with John Lennon) Since than she has been developing her musical skills playing live in such venues as the Cavern (liverpool).Having spent this time homing her talents, she has now decided its time for the world to see the heart and soul through her music with her first solo album, which she truely believes represents her love for music and performing live.Although the album has not been finished yet (she is currently also writing with Jacqui Doherty on new material), her solo songs have already been well received by radio,industry,press and the most important to her, her fans!
Heidi Jo Hines (vocals/guitar) Gonzalo Carrera(keys) Marc Gardner(drums) Danno sheean (bass)
www.myspace.com/heidijohinesmusic7

Denny Laine will be appearing with his band on the Sunday
(Tickets available at the Main gate Royal Ascot). MORE

Apart from being a rock festival this is the number 1 auction event for entertainment and music collectables in the uk.
The auction includes a thirty three year collection of 'Freddie Mercury & Queen' items from a dedicated fan & avid collector more at www.cooperowen.com

Db Infusion performance at the london's premier jazz venue " Spice of Life" was a great success and it featured as guests guitar legends John Etheridge( Soft Machine,Andy Summers) and former Yes guitarist Peter Banks + great review from legendary music journalist Chris Welch.

26th and the 27th of May 2007

Db Infusion will be performing as backing band for legendary movie star; Christopher Lee( Dracula, Lord Of the rings, starwars,the wickerman, etc,etc) Christopher Lee will be releasing new dvd featuring video performances from his album "revelation" the Uk release is July the 2nd,2007.
As a prelaunch promotion and to celebrate his 85th birthday,Christopher Lee will be performing live on stage at the london excel centre on the 26th and the 27th of May.
His versatility and ability to be of any age,together with his willingnes to take on new challenges,giving him some of the most unusual collaborations including Paul Mccartney's" Band On the Run" R & B boy band Damage or heavy metal band Manowar.
The performances are being organized to celebrate his up and coming Dvd release " Revelation".Mr Lee will Be performing in different styles of music,for example : heavy metal,jazz/flamenco, and a broadway musical.
He will be joined on stage by guests artists from various musical fields such as singer Lola Rueda,world renowned flamenco guitarist Juan Ramirez and introducing Db Infusion a progressive jazz/rock fusion band withc they will performing also tracks from their new album "Dreamscape"
the revelation dvd is a special collectors edition avalaible exclusively at the London expo,nearly 2 months before its official uk release date.

Some history

(Señor) Gonzalo Carrera is from the north-western area of Spain and has studied jazz and modern harmony. An admirer of classic progressive band's such as Jethro Tull, Genesis and Yes, he formed his first band, the award winning 'Madeleine Green'. In 1992, Gonzalo moved to Madrid and joined established prog band 'Galadriel', with whom he recorded two albums (Musea).

1996 Gonzalo made the move to the UK and played various styles of music including a stint with soul singer Angie Brown. Following an approach from Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornick, Gonzalo joined the ex-Jethro Tull members in their new project called 'Oak'. The band undertook a tour during 1998, culminating in an appearance at a Jethro Tull convention in Northern Italy.
Gonzalo is included in the extensive Jethro Tull family tree, as documented in the book by David Rees, 'Minstrels In The Gallery' (Star Cluster, ISBN 3-925005-60-9), which chronicles the complete history of Jethro Tull. Gonzalo's connection is that he played in the band 'Oak', which was formed by Tull's own drum and bass, Clive Bunker and Glen Cornick.

1999 On his return to the UK , Gonzalo met up with ex-Quasar bassist Keith Turner. Keith had teamed up with ex-Enid band member, Nick May, and they invited Gonzalo to join them. However, at the same time he also learned that a 'Yes' tribute band (Fragile) were looking for a new keyboard player and as a life-long 'Yes fan', Gonzalo joined 'Fragile' for some extensive touring both in the UK and Europe.

In December 1999, Gonzalo also recorded a CD with drummer Les Binks (Roger Glover, Judas Priest, Ray Gomez and Steve Lukather). In fact, Les saw Gonzalo's first gig with 'Fragile' at the Bull's head in Barnes, W. London, and was suitably impressed!

2000 Gonzalo was working with Tony Ciniglio (ex-bass player for 'Cafe Racers', Mark Knopfler). Through Tony, Gonzalo met Huw Lloyd-Langtonguitarist for (Hawkwind, Leo Sayer, Ginger Baker. Huw) invited Gonzalo to join him for his regular Sunday night residency slot in West Kensington, London.

Gonzalo joined Lanmarq and was able to introdce some of his own compositions to their material which was played live but not recorded for release until 2006
Gonzalo joins a with a few notables to form a Supertramp tribute band.'The Logical Tramps' http://supertrampers.online.fr
Line-up includes ex-Landmarq vocalist Damian Wilson and drummer Bob Dalton (It Bites, John Wetton), Anthony Clayton (guitar), Jerry Cunningham (bass and vocals), Nick Slack (Hammond Organ) and Laurent Hunziker (sax) Also,

Gonzalo plays 2 dates with the Anthony Clayton and Siemy Di Group http://www.clayton-di.com supporting Japanese female prog band Ars Nova.
Classic Rock Society, Rotherham, Sat 27th March & The Underworld, London, Sun 28th March.

During this period Gonzalo can be seen with his 'other' outfit the Anthony Clayton/Siemy Di Group when they make a return appearance at the Underworld, London, on Sunday 6th June 2004. The band will be supporting guitarist Jan Akkerman.

Plays at the Wembley Conference Centre's Expo 2004 show with producer/engineer Paul Wiffen and vocalist Simone Kaye.

2005
February - Argentinean songstress, Alisa Kaufman, will be performing at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, Waterloo Park London N6 5HG on 1st March at 7:30pm to promote her latest album, Epilogo Lunar (Moon Epilogue). Alisa's music is influenced by Brazilian music and jazz and a touch of that great Latin flavour. She will be accompanied by that keyboard wizard who gets everywhere, Gonzalo Carrera and Danny Berdichevsky. More about Alisa can be found at http://www.alisakaufman.com.ar/index_en.htm.

March - The Nice Legend David O'List UK Tour - David O'List of The Nice fame commences a UK tour kicking off at Camden's Underworld on 26th March The set should include classics such as Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack and America, and David's band for the tour includes Landmarq's Gonzalo Carrera on keys and Dave Wagstaffe (drums), with Jerry Cunningham on bass. http://www.prog-live.de/davidolist.htm.

April - The keyboard skills of the talented Gonzalo Carrera will be finding their way on the new album by Chasing The Monsoon, the new project from ex-Karnataka man Ian Jones and featuring Ian Simmons and Steve Evans. www.chasingthemonsoon.com.

May - Gonzalo has also started recording the new Landmarq album. www.landmarq.net. He is, of course, currently touring with David O List of The Nice (see www.davidolist.com for reviews of shows so far), and spoke to us about the first gig of the tour which was at Camden's Underworld. "Last Saturday was fantastic!! On the bill was Instant Flight, David O List and Audience and we performed all the classic The Nice stuff like Flower Kings, Rondo, America, Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack, and the reaction of the crowd was fantastic!!"

Much in demand keyboard player, Gonzalo Carrera and Landmarq have parted company due to other commitments. Gonzalo, who has recently been touring in David OList's band, will be performing with Nick May at The Spitz Club, London, on 29th May 2005 for the launch of Nick's new album Whimwise. Landmarq will announce a replacement keyboardist in due course.

Nick May Album Launch Gig
Nick May will be launching his new album, Whimwise, at The Spitz Club, London, on 29th May 2005. Joining Nick will be his ex Enid colleague, Steve Hughes, on drums and the ever versatile Gonzalo Carrera on synthesisers. See www.nickmay.co.uk.

Karnataka Official Website
A chance meeting with keyboard player Gonzalo Carrera, considered by many to be one of the finest keyboard players working in the UK today, culminated in a ... www.karnataka.34sp.com/news.htm

June
Karnataka Back With New Line Up
With one original member of the band, Ian Jones, Karnataka are about to return with a new line-up. Joining Ian are Gonzalo Carrera (keys/vocals), It Bites' Bob Dalton (drums/vocals), ex-Enid guitarist Nick May, and Mexican born vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Alquimia who has performed with luminaries such as Michael Nyman and Jah Wobble. As Ian says, a new era has begun - expect some classic Karnataka. A date has yet to be set for the release of the new album, The Gathering Light.

2006
(Señor) Gonzalo Carrera is to be the main keyboard player in the live incarnation of 'Whimwise' .

Before Gonzalo moved to London from Spain in 1996 he had been a member of two Spanish bands - the award winning 'Madeleine Green'and then the Madrid based 'Galadriel' . Once resident in England Gonzalo quickly established himself as one of the most in demand keyboard players around . In recent times he has worked with David O`Lists version of 'The Nice' , members of Jethro Tulls offshoot project 'Oak', Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton , plus many many other bands , including 'Quasar' , 'Landmarq' and 'Infusion' . Currently , alongside his work with 'Whimwise' , he is recording with John Etheridge and John Helliwell ( from Soft Machine and Supertramp respectively ) and orchestral arranger Michael Gibbs , for the debut album of the aforementioned band 'Db Infusion' .

Festival At the Vines East Sussex

Gonzalo always brings not only great musicality but boundless enthusiasm and energy to all the projects with which he involves himself Truly - the live sound of 'Whimwise' is greatly enriched by his presence . Gonzalo Carrera keyboard player coming originally from Vigo North West of Spain,has quickly established as a very much in demand session player keyboardist, composer, arranger, songwriter. currently finishing an album with london based outfit -
DB Infusion: jazz, rock,world music
Tthe band has been recording recently a great album with a host of fantastic well known musicians and great people too as very special guests: on sax Mr John Helliwell (Supertramp) On Cello Hugh Mcdowell (Elo) as arranger and trombonist Mike Gibbs (Peter Gabriel,Elton John,Withney Houston) on flute Rowland Sutherland (George Benson, Incognito), on guitars John Etheridge (Andy Summers, Soft Machine) and Pete Cater on drums (Arturo Sandoval, Jeff Berlin). The album should be out at any time this year.The band features Danny Berdichewskie on guitars, Rob Statham on bass and Olie Usiskin on drums.

March - tour dates of Gonzalo Carrera with the '3 Of The Essence' project featuring Ex Yes guitarist Pete Banks, (King Crimson) David Cross, and Nick May (The Enid) . Gonzalo has also recently joined folk prog band Karnataka award winning band from the classic rock society as best band , with also four cds and 2 dvds. also great reviews form journalists such as Bob Harris from BBC2 radio, Chris Welch.

Also other contributions from Gonzalo since his arrival in london from Spain. He has worked with (Ex Glen Cornick, (It Bites) drummer Bob Dalton, guitarist Huw lloyd Langton (Hawkwind) , David O'list (The Nice, Roxy Music), Mike Parlett Sax (Simply Red, Mica Paris, Take That) R& B female singers Angie Brown, Kym Mazelle, Antoinete Weekes, Gonzalo also works with keyboard programmer Andy Thomas (Stevie wonder ,David Bowie ) and Paul Wiffen from Sound on Sound (Paul Mccartney, Keith Emerson, Geoff Downes,etc).

Gonzalo is also a very versatile musician with loads of different styles such as:jazz, rock, classical, R&B, Sould, Blues, Country, Celtic, Afro Latin, etc. He has gained great experience in the UK as a live musician playing tribute and touring the whole of the UK and Europe with the music of 2 great classic bands, in which the keyboards they are such a star and very important role ; Supertramp and Yes. Been :getting great comments and support from current and former menbers of Supertramp and Yes such as: John Helliwell, Roger Hodgson, Carl Verheyen , Rick Wakeman,Geoff Downes and Pete Banks.

Gonzalo has joined early Pink Floyd tribute :Ummagummaa: featuring some superb musicians and great guys too: Ian Ellis on bass and vocals (Steve Hackett(Genesis), Savoy Brown, Chris De Burgh and Pete Townshend). Guitarist and vocalist Chris Staines (Steeleye Span, Simon Philips, Asia, Geno Washington) A quirk for die hard floyd fans:Ian and Chris they worked together with superb Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour on Pete Townshends 'Deep End' tour, the line up is complete with Geoff Cooper on drums. for more info regarding tour dates with different bands and projects, please check the gig list. Gonzalo's influences; Mozart ,Chopin,Debussy,Celtic Spanish,Gregorian Chants, Gospel, R&B, Supertramp,Saga, Jethro Tull, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Genesis, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Radio Head, Beatles, Beach Boys,etc ,etc ,etc.