INTERVIEW: MICHAEL CARTELLONE – April 2024

According to a recent press release: “Michael Cartellone, drummer for the beloved rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, makes his Asheville, NC debut with an exhibit of his newest artwork. The exciting show takes place at the Philip DeAngelo Studio in Asheville’s iconic River Arts District. Adding to the excitement is a reception with the artists on Saturday, May 25th from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The show, titled Bella Italia will be a unique experience featuring paintings by artists Michael Cartellone of New York City and Philip DeAngelo, of Asheville, NC. Built around an agreed-upon topic for side-by-side paintings in celebration of one of the world’s most beloved and revered locations – Italy. The show will also include a display of additional works by each artist, expanding the depth of the event. Michael Cartellone was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1962. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art at the age of four, with his focus set on the Visual Arts. Indeed, Michael intended a career in Visual Arts for the next five years, until that is when he began drumming at the age of nine. He completely threw himself into drumming, playing his first professional gig at a bar at the age of eleven, although he never stopped painting. Cartellone continued studying both drumming and painting simultaneously, throughout his grade school and high school years. By the time he graduated high school, Cartellone was performing four nights a week, earning his living as a musician; yet at the same time, he had begun selling his paintings.” Michael and I jumped on the phone to discuss his art, the show, some music, and more…

Todd: Michael, thank you so much for taking time out. I really appreciate it.

Michael: Of course.

Todd: So there’s always stuff going on in your world on the music side, but let’s hit on something that strikes another creative side of your life. You’re an accomplished painter. I know you’ve got a show coming up. Tell us about that side of your life that fans of your musical side may or may not know.

Michael: Thank you for bringing the art side of my life up. I will tell you Todd, that the painting actually preceded the drumming. I started painting when I was four years old, and I began drumming when I was nine. Those two are, they’re kind of two halves of a whole as it were, because they have coexisted my entire life. I studied music and art simultaneously as a child and they have always been omnipresent. In my brain, they’re completely connected. They enhance each other and balance each other. I can’t imagine life without both. I wouldn’t be able to choose if I could only do one, I couldn’t do it. So the art part of my life is a huge part of my existence, and it truly is a second career. I’ve been showing in galleries since I was in my twenties. I have been able to combine the two parts of my life, music and art, literally by painting about my life as a musician. So there have been a fair amount of music-themed paintings that I’ve done. I’ve carried art supplies on tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd and painted in hotel rooms during the day. So when I say both are omnipresent, I truly mean it.

Todd: It’s interesting to me just looking at your stuff. There are other musicians out there that paint, and so many of them lean to the musical side. One of the pieces that I believe is going to be showcased when you’re showing in Asheville, North Carolina at the end of May is Bronte.

Michael: Yes, yes. That is.

Todd: The piece is beautiful.

Michael: Thank you.

Todd: From somebody in the music world, I expect music leaning art, but this piece is amazing.

Michael: Thank you, Todd. That painting, which by the way, was painted in hotel rooms during a Skynyrd tour, is the town in Sicily that my family is from. My grandparents are from that town, and I have many, many relatives down there and have gone down to visit them a few times. One day I just happened to walk by that scene and thought it was very picturesque and took a photo of it and then painted it. The thing that’s worth noting about the upcoming art show in Asheville is that the Italian-themed paintings that people will see, those are all from my life experiences. I’ve only painted places where I’ve actually stood. And since we’re talking about the art show, so it’s on Saturday, May 25, and the name of the show is Bella Italia, which translates to Beautiful Italy. I am doing that show with another painter, Philip D’Angelo. Phil and I met, and we realized we had this shared Sicilian ancestry, and we just thought it would be the great foundation to create a joint art show together. The show will be comprised of predominantly Italian-themed artwork that I’ve done, and that Phil has done. It’ll be rounded out a little bit by some other things that we’ve done. I will have a few music-themed paintings in there just to kind of round out the vocabulary a little bit. One painting in particular that will be noteworthy is what I consider to be the cornerstone of this show. Phil and I have both decided to do a painting of the exact same subject, and that is this ancient Greek theater that is in a town called Taormina, a beautiful town in Sicily. This ancient theater was built in 300 A.D. by the Greeks, and it’s these beautiful crumbly ruins now. Having visited that theater, I mentioned to Phil that it’s an instantly recognizable location if someone has traveled down there and they’ve seen this. We thought it would be interesting if we both did our version of that theater, which will look very differently because we have different styles. And so I think it’ll be a very cool thing to walk in and see at the gallery, these two paintings side by side, because the viewer will see it through two different sets of eyes.

Todd: That would be my thought. You mentioned that not only do you two have different styles, but you’re going to have a different angle or point of view as to what that theater means to you personally, just based on your feeling and your vibe.

Michael: Yes, yes. I should mention that Philip and I have purposely not told each other what we’re doing just to keep it kind of fun as a surprise for each other.

Todd: Not only the attendees, but you are both going to be surprised.

Michael: Yeah, it’s going to be a great unveiling for everybody involved.

Todd: That’s cool. Michael, when it comes to this, and again, I know there’s music stuff and I’ll hit on some of it. One question I do have – as a musician everything’s so personal. Your point of view, your sound, your feeling, your overall vibe of what’s going on is expected to be given to the audience. Your art is different. It’s digging deep and through your life. This is putting your family out there, your family’s history, your take on that history, your take on the stories you’ve heard. Is it different in your opinion to put that personal side of you out there than it is say a song or a groove or a percussion fill? If it is, how different does it strike you when you get feedback?

Photo credit: Todd Jolicoeur @ToddstarPhoto

Michael: That’s an interesting question. I will tell you regarding the fine art half of the answer, yes. Every painting that I’ve done is sharing some kind of personal expression. Even if it’s a portrait of Charlie Chaplin, which I’ve done more than one of because he’s a hero of mine. Even that, there’s something of me within that presentation. It is sharing a creative expression with the viewer, sometimes overtly personal where for example, I painted my father once and I’m sharing that with the world and could not be prouder to do that. Regarding the music part of this answer, I would say that I’m certainly expressing myself musically when I sit down to play the drums. It probably comes across differently to the person who’s receiving it because it’s not a visual expression, but it’s just as personal, no question about it. I think when you have spent your life working on your craft that you are striving to make your personality seen, felt, and known.

Todd: That’s a great insight into the different angles and artist components of who you are. Jumping to the music side, if you’d have told a young Michael years ago that you’d have had the musical career you have, would you have thought in a million years, in 2024, you’d still be talking about music?

Michael: I can tell you that when I started drumming, I was just fixated on it. Even as a nine-year-old kid, I knew then that that’s what I wanted my career to be. In fact, I played my first professional gig when I was 11 years old at a bar. So I would say if you were to talk to that little nine-year-old kid and say, “This is what you’re going to do for your career”, that nine-year-old kid would’ve said, “You’re damn right it is.”

Todd: Building on that, knowing what you know now, what piece of advice would you have given yourself then?

Michael: Follow your heart and stay true to yourself. I would like to think that I have been able to do that. The music business is a rollercoaster ride with a lot of twists and turns and learning how to stay on the ride and never fall out of the train is one of the challenges.

Todd: Absolutely. I’ve been lucky enough to see you in different incarnations. I saw you when you toured with the Damn Yankees back in the…

Michael: Oh you saw the Damn Yankees? Oh, very good.

Todd: Back in the day, you played at a small club in Norfolk called the Boathouse, and I saw you there, and I’ve seen you behind your monster kit with Lynyrd Skynyrd. You can see there’s a passion for it in your eyes when you play. How many times do you look around and think, “I can’t believe this”?

Michael: I would say every night that I sit down to play. I was in a garage band with friends from school when I was in seventh grade playing “Gimme Three Steps.” None of this is lost on me. I realized how, in a way, surreal it is that I get to play this wonderful Lynyrd Skynyrd music for a living and happily so. I’ve been in the band for 26 years now and it is not lost on me how fortunate and blessed and frankly lucky I’ve been.

Todd: Behind that luck, there’s a lot of hard work as well as blood, sweat and tears.

Photo credit: Todd Jolicoeur @ToddstarPhoto

Michael: Yes, there certainly is.

Todd: Michael, you played on one of my favorite albums – Hallucination by Shaw Blades.

Michael: Oh, no kidding. That’s a great record. And the brilliant Steve Smith, I shared drum duties with Steve on that one. That’s a cool record. Thank you for bringing that up.

Todd: I love that record. It was so unexpected. That said, looking back at your career, what’s the one project you’ve been involved in that you thought didn’t get the attention it should have?

Michael: That’s interesting. I will tell you that one album that I did that I wished more people would know about, because I’m so proud of it, this was a record that I had done back in 1996. It was with the German heavy metal band Accept, and the record is called Predator. Accept is the well-established German band that had a huge hit here in the States called “Balls to the Wall.” That was many years before I hooked up with them, but I did an album with them and then a world tour, and it was a great experience. I’m very, very proud of the drumming on that. It is aggressive German heavy metal, so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m very happy with that record and there’s some very cool drumming on it.

Todd: I’d agree. That’s a good album. Michael, I know you’re busy. I wish you well with everything going on. I hope everybody that’s in the Asheville area visits Phillips Gallery on May 25. I wish you well with the Bella Italia show and with all the pieces involved, and hopefully we’ll see you out there on the road very soon.

Michael: That sounds great, Todd. Thank you buddy.

MICHAEL CARTELLONE LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

INSTAGRAM

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Category: Interviews