........ small town singer/songwrestler
........ small town singer/songwrestler
Electro-acoustic phantasmagorician. Consumate showman. Chaos weaving wizard. Puppeteer. Post apocalyptic campfire crooner. Harmonica harmer. Mandolin mauler. Gitbox whomper.
Masterful wordsmith. Fiery saloon singer. Bar seasoned bard. Beer loving balladeer. Dog fan. Beardy guy. Insouciant tunester. Intrepid liminal space explorer. Mythic minstrel.
DEan William Bonzani is a
song scrawling musician/creator
in Cedaredge, Colorado — the red hot rock epicenter of the Western Slope.
His debut solo album, “Windows In The Sky” is available on his Bandcamp page (along with legacy recordings).
A diary of grief, loss, and the promise of a new day.
"Windows In The Sky" is full of quiet strength. Alternately brooding and hopeful, its stories ride the fractal borders between light and shadow.
It's a tense lullaby that hangs in the air, softly swaying like ragged curtains in the blown out windows of a long abandoned home, before fading to stillness.
“I think this man is amazing. What a really gifted, talented man that I would love for lots more people to know how fabulous he is. What a quirky, weird, interesting, fabulously affectionately… whatever man.”
— Jeanine Renée, Singer/Songwriter/Pizza Lover
He brings a zesty hybrid of alt folk and acoustic rock in the style of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, The Pixies' Black Francis, David Bowie during his Ziggy years, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, with a splash of Robyn Hitchcock. From tender, heart-wrenching confessionals to full on celtic blues-soaked raga interludes, Bonzani brings out the power and delicacy of the acoustic guitar in a way that's all his own. Classically trained in musical theater, he brings an unmatchable fierce tenderness to the stage, engaging the audience with his candor and survival-based improvisational skills, honed to a razor sharp edge by hard won experience. He also makes awesome chili.
Caution gets tossed to calamity’s winds
“Last Thursday, I was really busy getting ready for the Treetop Poetry Regional Slam in Flagstaff and I took a breather to watch a couple of wonderful live musical acts. I have seen Dean before in his band, Buddha With A Gun, but I had not seen him perform his acoustic set. I ventured to Rendevous on Aspen and this is what I saw: The set was a fantastic mix of original tunes and guitar licks that made me feel the way I felt when I first saw Frank Black play. Dean is a character, no one else is like him, and I’m very thankful to have him as a crucial part of the Flagstaff art and music scene. At times, his voice reminded me of the lead singer from the Toadies, and other times his off-beat humor was reminiscent of King Missile. If you even know any of the bands I just name dropped, then Dean Bonzani is for you.”
—Aaron Johnson, champion slam poet
“Dean Bonzani and another dude were ripping it up at the sandwich shop connected to the Orpheum. They did a song about nude women and automatic weapons, something about which, hopefully not the lyrics, made me stay for the whole song and I did so by an Echinacea plant…”
— Chipotle Frank, The NOISE
“Bonzani seamlessly moves between lighthearted irreverence in the vein of Neil Young or Black Sabbath, and the pensive, maudlin, deeply poetic ruminations of a DEVO or Weird Al.”
— Sverd Herpderper, Free Icelandic Press
“If one takes an exegetical approach to his lyrics, Bonzani’s songs reveal themselves to be richly coded semiotic landscapes of meaning. Questions scurry in and out of the verses like wee mice along a wainscotting. Haunting, charming, oft times unsettling in its raw honesty …but ultimately satisfying. ”
— Gwendoline Cummings-Burkett, New Folk Journal
“Pretty sure he’s got more than an acoustic guitar kind of thing going on up there.”
— Brenda Nochin, The Times of Dublin
“My favorite part of the night was when he played the songs that his dog wrote.”
— Ted Harboz, Boulder Sentinel
DEan is a veteran of the Flagstaff, Arizona music scene, who left the big city to live a life of quietude on the Western Slope of Colorado.
Bands, trios, duos, solo gigs. DEan paid his dues in saloons and on stages across Arizona, whether holding down the whole night by himself or with his musical cohorts. He’s opened for artists like Ben Harper, Oingo Boingo side project Food For Feet, Big Drill Car, ALL, Major Lingo, Buckethead, Brant Bjork and the bros (formerly of Kyuss), and many more.
His professional career began at downtown Flagstaff’s historic Mad Italian Public House, where Bonzani went on to host his infamous Thursday Open Mic Nights for seven long years.
He’s recorded seven albums, and appeared on local compilations “All You Can Drink, Volume One and Volume Two,” and the tragically flawed “Second Saturday Songwriters Walk” CD’s volumes one through some number higher than one.
Bonzani also took the stage for nearly all of the “Cover Up” charity extravaganzas produced by Flagstaff Live! arts and entertainment weekly, where local bands would cover the songs of a featured artist or band. He contributed his fearsome presence and oblique take on the tunes for nights featuring the music of KISS, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Led Zeppelin, and Nirvana.
With a musical style that’s been described as “a mesmerizing blend of the powerful, delicate, and sublime,” DEan’s robust performances are as perplexing as they are permanently disabling memorable. A potent mix of befuddlement and pure bronze-stringed* rock rambunctiousness, he injects a refreshing complexity into the simplest of tales, rendering them impenetrable and startling. His songs are the perfect accompaniment to post-breakup despair, or a sizzling bison burger grilled over mesquite charcoal briquettes.
A unique and eldritch performer, DEan engages the audience with humor and candor, taking them on an emotive journey full of vivid imagery, intricate rhythms, and the occasional side excursions into lemon-fresh permutations of familiar tunes using gizmo wizardry and raw gumption. He’s also known for his “portmanteau” songs, like “Bang A Cactus,” “Tangled Up In Killers,” “Gilligan Grove,” and “Every Day Is A Creamy Road.”
*unless he’s playing electric guitar. Then, it’s nickel strings, gauged .010- .046, rather than Phosphor Bronze, gauged .013- .056.
Past bands and combos:
-V1
-Gode Ater
-Buddha Witha Gun
-Babushkas of Doom
-Wee Shites
-Sonic Wombats
-Way Gone Liza
- Wall of Bile ( a supergroup collab with The Charles’ Chaz Siu)
-Ice 9 (whose music appears in the Vision/Sims snowboarding video “Snow Daze”)
-Torpedo Edison
-Amber Bambis
-Mahogany Ape (featuring the late Steve Kranz on electrofalse-a-tron and bongos)
-Brine
Musical influences/inspirations:
DEan Bonzani, Robyn Hitchcock, David Bowie, Paul Westerberg, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Adrian Belew, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, The Pixies, The Cars, The Toadies, Chris Whitley, David Lindley, Tom Petty, Bruce Cockburn, Richard Thompson, Pink Floyd, The Vapors, Violent Femmes, Lou Reed, Pete Townshend, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Waits, Strong Bad, Sifl and Olly, Johnny Cash, Flight of the Concords, DEVO, Thomas Dolby.
Musically celebrating Whuppitty Scurrie’s Eve at Uptown Pub, Flagstaff, Arizona.
To book live performances, or for press inquiries, please email: deanbonzani at gee mail dot com
In concert with the Thunderbunny at Grand Mesa Arts and Events Center, Cedaredge, August 27th, 2024.
Thrift store finery.
Live at the Horsefly Brewing Company, Montrose, Colorado.
“I forget which song it was, but in the middle of one of your songs, your guitar sounded like a bomber was flying overhead.”
— bass player from one of the other bands, that one afternoon at the fairgrounds
Profuse sweat solo.
A Variety of Gruels
This rare collection is full of the warty charm that characterizes the heart and soul of Bonzani’s creativity. At once endearing and annoying, it’s sure to become a favorite of anyone who’s grown tired of high recording standards.
Songs of Stinkytime Theater— Season One
Select tunes from the series, “Stinkytime Theater.”
V1- Semper Forte
Bonzani’s final rock and roll project in his longtime home of Flagstaff. Dubbed “prog rock” by well meaning banjo fans, this album, in its full length titled “Blood Smoke Mud Rain,” was released at the moment that the band imploded, due to the departure of original bassist, Bassist X.
Songs For My Wee Doggies
Fourteen captivating compositions written and performed solely for the enjoyment of three Rat Terrier/ Chiweenies. Ranging from gentle bedtime moods to full on pre-dinner rave ups, this album is sure to delight a trio of small, energetic mammals.
