Here's some information on the musicians in Lady Gaga's live touring bands, for the World Tour of 2009 and the theatre version of the Monster Ball.
The band on the Fame Ball 2009 World Tour consisted of:
Nico and Tommy used to play in Program the Dead. Nico first joined Lady Gaga on stage as DJ Nicodemus (substituting for Space Cowboy) in Philadelphia on May 1, 2009. He also played on Gaga's early demos with Rob Fusari. Tommy was first with Gaga when he played guitar on various songs of The Fame that were produced by Fusari, with whom Tommy had recorded a solo album in 2005. Andreas is a musician who played in hard rock and metal bands in the US and in Sweden, his native country. Brian is a keyboard player, originally from North Carolina, who has been recording with many r&b and pop artists, including Salt 'n' Peppa and Katy Perry. The first show Gaga played with this band was the Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2009. Their last show was in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2009. Since their Gaga days, Nico and Tommy have played in the band Dirty Pollyanna, whereafter Nico founded Institution Media and worked with singer Brooklynn and the band StarBenders. Drummer Andreas now mostly writes music and plays solo as well. Brian has most recently played keyboards for Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Bruno Mars, and Adam Lambert, amongst others. Brian tweeted to have seen Gaga at one of the L.A. Monster Ball shows in 2010.
Washington, DC, September 29, 2009.
Rob Fusari
The live band for the (theatre version of the) Monster Ball consisted of:
- Adam Smirnoff (guitar)
- Charles Haynes (drums)
- Pete Kuzma (keyboards)
- Mitch Cohn (keyboards/bass) (second part of the tour)
- Jeff Bhasker (musical director) (first part of the tour)
All these musicians have most of their background in the world of jazz, soul, and funk music. Adam (nicknamed Shmeeans) has played in various bands, including Lettuce, the Squad, and Soulive. Charles (nicknamed Chally Dogg) has played with dozens of artists, such as Stanley Clarke and Patti LaBelle, and also played in Lettuce. Pete is from Philadelphia and has played with Jill Scott and Kanye West, among many others. Mitch is another Berklee graduate, who has played in the jazz band Waking Vision, and toured with Chris Brown. Here's an interview with Pete and Charles.
The original musical director of the Monster Ball tour was Jeff Bhasker, who was also the musical director for Kanye West and worked with Alicia Keyes and many others. Jeff would have been the musical director on the Fame Kills tour. He produced the Lady Gaga song Fever that was recorded by Adam Lambert. Under the name Jeff Bhayshka, he also played keyboards for the New York soultronic band Kudu and for Lettuce as well.
Jeff Bhasker | Pete Kuzma
Monster Ball Montreal
Adam Smirnoff | Charles Haynes
It was reported at some point during the tour (around the Boston concerts) that Jeff Bhasker was fired. The original three-member band of Charles, Adam, and Pete were rehired, and Mitch was added as the fourth band member.
Mitch Cohn | Pete Kuzma
The Monster Ball band's original bass player would have been Sylvia Gordon of Kudu. Sylvia had the website Say Sylvia set up to report from her tour diary. However, she only wrote one entry: "Just landed in L.A., and already I feel like I am in another world. Bombarded with new people and oppurtunities, my head is swimming... I still need to learn all these songs!". It was not meant to be... On her blog Eat a Blog Dog, Sylvia wrote on November 9 that she would be playing bass on the Monster Ball, but ten days later she wrote that she would not be playing after all. She mentions that the band is hardly visible behind the video screens and that her bass parts would be mainly to boost the synth sound, although she would have loved to do the tour. Sylvia then joined up with Telepopmusik.
Sylvia Gordon
See also more info on the Enigma band, the artRave band,
the Born This Way Ball team and the Monster Ball band.
the Born This Way Ball team and the Monster Ball band.
Also see contact info on the Gaga musicians.
