Marc David Gambino Biography

In Kimon & The Prophets, Marc David Gambino finds himself in the situation he has waited for his entire bass playing life. Though he spent a considerable amount of time playing various styles of rock in other bands he helped make successful over the years... funky and hard-edged blues is where his heart has always been.

The son of an accomplished composer and musician (alto & soprano sax, flute), Marc’s interest in music came early when he took up the saxophone at age 9.

His father toured extensively with Lionel Hampton’s big band during Marc's early years, and he also toured with the Joffrey Ballet in the mid '70s as part of the first American rock band to visit the now-defunct Soviet Union.

It was later, when Thom Gambino formed The UMANO Orchestra (a 26-piece, New York City-based progressive rock/jazz powerhouse), that Marc’s interest in the bass guitar was born by watching Deano Vali perform on that instrument in the project’s rhythm section.

Deano played the intricate parts of the orchestra’s arrangements with a commanding technical excellence and a solid, driving feel that was full of funky soul.

When Marc started playing, he took lessons from Vali, who taught him The Smandl Method, a 3-finger (on the left hand technique) primarily used on upright bass.

While in high school, Marc helped form the fledgling NYC trio No Limit with John Pilizota on guitar and George Didiot on drums. They built a repertoire of classic rock cover tunes while also working on and recording original music.

When he returned to New York City from one year of College in Marietta (Ohio) in 1982, Marc joined forces with (his brother) Michael Gambino(on drums) and guitarist Chris Young in Sacrifice. Marc began taking on lead vocal responsibilities as well at that time.

Marc studied bass with legendary luthier Ken Smith for a while during that time. A couple of years later, the band decided that (as the musical parts grew in complexity) it needed a front man that would allow for a more energetic live performance. California transplant Adam Paskowitz answered an ad they placed in The Village Voice, and the band took off shortly after that.

Their 1985 four-song EP “Running Free” garnered local acclaim and made them a top draw on the Manhattan and Queens hard rock club circuits. The recording was produced by Eric Klastaad, who was appointed to the band by Bob Roberts. Roberts was a close friend of Motley Crue manager Doug Thaler (a main cog in McGhee Entertainment), who was interested in expanding his clientele and was watching the band closely at that time.

In early 1987, “Sacrifice” parted ways with Paskowitz because of stylistic differences and because he wanted more of a share of the writing. Adam moved back to California to successfully front the bands Mozart and later The Flys (whose 1999 hit “Got You Where I Want You” was also on the soundtrack of the movie Disturbing Behavior).

In late 1988, Sacrifice re-emerged with new singer J.C. Ryan as glam metalists Concrete Jungle, and partnered with Ozzy Osbourne producer Max Norman to independently release the full-length record “Wear and Tear”. The debut did little in the months after that in the States, so the bulk of the initial, 25,000-copy pressing was packed up and sent to Europe.

In early 1989, KERRANG! Magazine’s Derek Oliver got a hold of the album and praised it in a review and subsequent full-page article. Sales took off, and the album climbed to #3 on the UK Import Charts in less than 2 weeks. While the soaring vocals of Ryan and blazing fast guitar work of Young propelled the band to popularity, industry people noted that it was the toe-tapping grooves laid down by the group’s rhythm section that set them apart from the rest of the genre at the time.

Then known as Marc David, his infusion of a funky style on bass complimenting the syncopated drum twists of his brother (a.k.a. Michael X) produced songs that were heavy, and made people want to move to the music at the same time. Unfortunately, the sudden success of the band caught their independent label off guard. The album had sold out in weeks, and slow reaction to press more records due to lack of funds let the opportunity to capitalize go away. The band broke up while working on their follow-up record in 1990.

Ryan and Young each approached the Gambinos about taking the rhythm section with them on their next projects. Michael joined with Ryan to play for a while in Hip Joint Chamber… Marc declined on both offers and took a 6-year hiatus. In that time he moved to New Jersey, got married to his wife (Debbie), and started a family with 3 children (Chris, Nicole and Marc Julian). Musically, his focus shifted to learning more about the engineering, recording and production aspects of music.

As he put it: “When Concrete Jungle broke up, glam/hair Metal was in its twilight. I wasn’t really into the new grunge scene, and I told them I didn’t want to someday find myself in my 40’s pretending to be someone I’m not.” Even though Concrete Jungle only released one record on an independent label, the band had an international impact on the genre, and the rare compact disk version of “Wear and Tear” still fetches between $150 and $400 on internet auctions all over the world. In 1996, cousin (drummer) Lou Corio asked Marc to join with him in Saving Grace and he accepted.

Once again, he found himself in a rhythm section that was family, and it wasn’t long before Marc shook the cobwebs off his playing to provide a drive that helped propel his new band to notoriety. Their 3-song, self-titled debut EP drew rave reviews and opened doors for the hard rock trio, as they were given the opportunity to open for The Tom Tom Club, Eric Johnson and Quiet Riot.

In early 2001 (after more than 3 years with the group), frustration over how long it was taking to release their full-length record (and the reluctance of the band’s leader to relinquish some of the lead vocal and writing duties) prompted Marc to leave for a startup group called maybe pete.

Saving Grace did finally release the LP almost 2 years after Marc left (with all of his original bass tracks), self-titled under their new name, Highway Jones.

In maybe pete, Marc saw good roots rock songwriting potential, an opportunity to expand his musical horizons, and he quickly connected with the band’s founders (spouses Frankie & Kelly McGrath). Marc’s goal was once again to do as much as a bass player could effectively do to make them stand apart from the standard sound of the genre. The McGrath’s interest in putting a punk-rock twist on a roots style gave Marc the idea to add his a hard rocking groove on bass.

The recipe worked, and their 2005 debut “Between the City and the Stratosphere” made it to many music critics’ Top 10 lists that year. Maybe pete were becoming a big part of the Asbury Park music resurgence, and they were nominated in at least 4 categories in each of the next 3 Annual Asbury Music Awards.

Marc was finally recognized with a nomination of his own (“Top Bassist”) in 2007. During his 6-1/2 years in maybe pete, Marc weathered an unsettled situation in the band’s rhythm section, having played with 6 different drummers in that time span.

“It was particularly challenging to try to add a diverse flavor to a genre of music I was still learning more and more about with each passing day. What really made me a better player was trying to stay true to that vision while adjusting to the changing styles of the drummers we had. It made me really focus on listening.”

One of those drummers was Rob Savoy, who maybe pete approached to help finish the aforementioned disk. Savoy wound up playing on half of 10 total songs, and Marc enjoyed the bass/drum interaction on those 5 tracks the best.

Savoy and Gambino had met in a North Jersey club called Quincy’s Junkyard a year earlier. Marc was performing that night with maybe pete, and Rob was drumming in his band (Kimon). After both bands performed, Rob approached Marc to ask him to help finish the disk his band was working on at the time.

Playing on 4 tracks of Kimon’s “Discorporated” in 2004 was an extremely positive experience for Marc. He instantly liked Kimon’s style of writing and playing, and the political aspect of Kimon’s lyrics (backed by the solid groove on drums by Savoy) made things particularly intriguing. In addition, Marc did some live fill-in work for Kimon while he was in maybe pete, and Rob did the same for maybe pete while he was with Kimon.

A bond was solidly formed during those times, and Marc and Rob connected on rhythms with an uncannily natural ease. Towards the end of the recording of maybe pete’s second album in early December of 2007, Marc found himself needing to take a month off for personal reasons. The rest of the band felt it was too important a time to be idle, so Marc bowed out. He knew it wouldn’t be the end of the road for him musically, but wanted to take that time to make sure he would return in the best scenario possible (knowing full well it might be his last chance to be in an impactful situation). In mid-January of 2008, after he adjusted to changes in his personal life, Marc started thinking of what his next musical step(s) would be.

He was leaning toward doing his own thing, recording the best of the songs he had written over the years with a conglomeration of friends and family performing on them.

As he put it: “Basically, the idea was to produce the best possible disk to showcase my bass, vocal and songwriting abilities. I wanted it to be extremely positive, fun for everyone involved, and of the best sonic quality possible as well… Something that (even if it only sold a dozen copies) I could enjoy for years to come, never getting old to my ears or to my heart.” One of the people Marc was sure he wanted to be involved in that project was Rob Savoy.

In mid-February of 2008, Marc started contacting the musicians he wanted, and Rob was the first person he called. Even though he had stopped playing for a while, Rob was back and playing with Kimon again. When he returned the call and heard what Marc wanted to do, Savoy agreed to help him with it.

However, Kimon and Rob had just lost their bass player, who decided to return to her native Ireland… So, Kimon called Marc shortly after he had talked with Rob and had a proposition for him.

A meeting between the three a couple of nights later was extremely positive, and Marc decided to join forces with Rob and Kimon in “Kimon & The Prophets”.

Within weeks, they started working on songs and recording them. Less than eight months later, their first disk (“Roadhouse Party”) was done and ready to be duplicated.

“It has been a truly great ride… I feel as though we have all stayed true to our individual musical styles and interests, and blended them together to really make a sound of our own.

“I’m not sure if I could possibly be happier, even if I had been able to do my own thing. I definitely would not have been able to put something together of this quality and anywhere near as quickly. It just all came naturally, and the admiration we have for each other as musicians and people has grown exponentially over that time.

When Kimon suggested that one of the record’s tracks, “You Beautiful Thing (You)” could use some horns, Marc’s father was enlisted to write the parts, and the band loved what he came up with. “Kimon, Rob and I have a great time whenever we’re together, whether it’s on our way somewhere in the van, performing live, or just hanging out at the clubs we play. I think all of that shines through in our music and I believe it’s good stuff… “Now, it will be interesting to see how many people get it, and dig what we tried to do... REAL interesting, and REAL fun!”