Dave Meniketti - Meniketti

Dave Meniketti - Meniketti - 2002

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Dave has been an icon for guitar players worldwide and a Bay Area guitar and vocal hero for three decades. Through his childhood, Dave was influenced by some of the great varied rock, R&B and Jazz artists of the ’60s and ’70s such as Hendrix, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Allman Brothers, Coltrane, and so many others. Dave’s love for many types of musical expression is one of his great strengths & is evident in his soulful approach to playing & singing.

At sixteen, Dave was blown away by the guitar mastery of Jimi Hendrix, and he was inspired to pick up the guitar & he never looked back. Even though he started playing guitar late by most standards, Dave’s fire and passion for music allowed him to learn at an accelerated pace. Self taught, Dave quickly developed his unique style and found himself in a national recording band, developing a guitar hero fan base-all within only a few short years of picking up a guitar.

After being so impressed with Y&T and Dave’s playing at a live performance, Bay Area manager Herbie Herbert (Journey), a guitar player fanatic himself, signed the band to a management contract in 1974. Dave released his first record with Y&T (Yesterday & Today) on London Records in 1976 and started on his way to a long career of making records and touring the world. Early on, Dave’s bluesy style of rock guitar playing came to the forefront. When at a show in a Hollywood club in 1979, John Mayall was so impressed with Dave’s performance in Y&T that he grabbed the club owner and demanded to go backstage to meet Dave and asked him to collaborate on a record. By 1983, as Y&T had achieved worldwide respect & was continuing to gain popularity, Dave won a Bammy Award for “Best Bay Area Guitarist”, beating out other great players such as Neal Schon (Journey), Craig Chaquico (Starship), and several other guitar heroes. Dave has been listed in Guitar Player Magazine’s “Best of” polls numerous times over the past several decades.

When Y&T decided to break from recording and performing, Dave knew it was time to move on to other musical avenues. Though he’s been primarily a rock guitarist for most of his career, Dave felt his passion for “blues” drawing him toward his first solo recording On The Blue Side-made up of a passionate blend of blues/rock material, knowing in his gut that it was a natural thing to do. Coupled with a band of all-star players including bassist Myron Dove (Santana, Robben Ford), this first solo effort outsold previous Y&T records in Japan & Europe and met with critical acclaim worldwide.

With newfound solo inspiration and a great live band behind him, when Dave went back in the studio to come up with new tunes, he felt a pull back to his rock roots for his second solo effort. More rock-oriented, yet still a hint of blues in the mix, Dave’s sophomore solo CD Meniketti was released in summer 2002.

01. Messin' With Mr. Big

02. No Lies

03. Hard As I Try

04. Tough Luck Avenue

05. I Remember

06. Storm

07. It's Over

08. All In This Together

09. I Can't Take It

10. Lay Me Down

11. The Other Side

12. Tell Me (Why I Should Wait)

13. Take My Time

14. Train (Bonus Track)

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