Dominic Angelella

How a UArts jazz student became a vital cog in the Philly rock scene.

by John Vettese

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Published: Sep 21, 2010

Mark Stehle ALL OVER: Dominic Angelella plays in Hop Along, Elevator Fight, Dragonzord and several other projects. "Almost every musician I know is as busy as they possibly can be," he says.

It's easy to spot Dominic Angelella in a crowd. He's tall and lanky with long, flowing red Jesus-hair and a scraggly beard. Also, you've probably seen him before, on stage somewhere.

The 24-year-old Port Richmond singer and guitarist has crafted a formidable résumé in recent years: infectious effects-pedal folk with Hop Along, blues-rock swagger with Elevator Fight, esoteric projects like Norwegian Arms and Patty Crash. He also fronts Dragonzord, his laboratory for myriad musical interests ranging from tape-hiss psychedelia to power pop.

But when Angelella's name pops up on another lineup, he shrugs it off. "Oh, that? It's just another project."

What seems like remarkable versatility to the layperson is commonplace, he argues: "Almost every musician I know is as busy as they possibly can be."

The Baltimore native was first exposed to this while gigging in his hometown's disparate DIY basement spaces that eventually conjoined into the Wham City artist collective. By the time it reached prominence in 2004, thanks to Dan Deacon's emergence on the national scene, Angelella had moved to Philadelphia to study jazz guitar at University of the Arts.

"I wasn't really a jazz guitar player," he recalls. "I had always thought about music in a rock idiom. It definitely helped me expand."

This growth accelerated when, on a walk home from class in 2006, he stumbled upon a nondescript flier for guitarist try-outs. He recalls laughing about it. "I was a lot more bougey back then," he says. "I wasn't doing this!"

But friends talked him into giving it a shot. Turns out the audition was for Nouveau Riche, the genre-defying band fronted by prominent Philly MCs Dice Raw and Nikki Jean. Angelella got the gig. It was his primary musical outlet until 2008 and helped him connect with future collaborators like Elevator Fight's Zoe Kravitz, Dragonzord co-conspirator Joe Baldacci and South Philly producer Ritz Reynolds, who's currently recording a Gorillaz-style pop flipside to Angelella's eclectic songwriting. He's calling the project Dragon King and plans to debut it at The Ox this October.

Angelella's versatility attracted Hop Along's Frances Quinlan — she was impressed that he went to school for his craft. It also kind of pissed her off.

"It's probably the part of his nature that I'm hardest on him about," she says. "At one time I tried to see him as more of a member-when-available, and attempted getting other guys to play in his place. But the fact is, if I were to do that now, Hop Along just wouldn't be what we've worked so hard to make it. Nobody can play like Dominic, with his voice. He's become completely indispensable to us."

Busy musicians are happy musicians. Ask drummer Eric Slick, who moves among Dr. Dog, The Adrian Belew Power Trio, groove-instrumentalists Paper Cat, and Lithuania, his informal indie combo with longtime bro Angelella. "Craft has re-emerged as an essential part of popular music," Slick says. "Just look at Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent or The Dirty Projectors. Those musicians are fucking incredible." Angelella is a busy guy, Slick says — and that busy-ness includes being "the most incredible freestyle rapper" in the city — but he's always learning. "The fact is: The more projects you're involved in, the more well-rounded and valuable you become."

Quinlan concurs. "Multiple-band people also seem to be a little less crazy than one-band people. Dom's in a lot of bands, but they're so different from each other that I think it's strengthened his scope of a song's potential."

Angelella is less analytic: "I love so many different types of music," he says. "I don't see why I can't do it all."

(j_vettese@citypaper.net)

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