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The Knot has been at the forefront of improvisational rock and roll for many years. They play a variety of musical styles and extended jams, mixing original compositions with tasty covers, all with their unique spin!

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VIDEO CLIPS

A few original songs by The Knot and a few covers!

Clear The Sky

From the CD Slip Into Somewhere @1997

The Promise

From the CD Slip Into Somewhere @1997

Night' Aglow

From the CD Slip Into Somewhere @1997

Sitting On Top Of The World (live)

The Knot perform a cover of Sitting On Top Of The World. with their own unique arrangement based on a New Orleans style groove.

The Letter (live - excerpt)

The Knot was always willing to take chances and try out a new cover at a gigs without rehearsal.  Sometimes it was a complete failure and other times it created some spontaneous playing that was truly improvisational.   They had their friend Paul Ahlstand sitting in on Saxophone one night at Harper's Ferry and thought The Letter would be a fun tune to try.

Wild Horses (live acoustic)

The Knot played acoustic sets from time to time and sometimes covered Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones (given more of a bluegrass feel like the Old & In The Way version)

You Ain't Going Nowhere (live acoustic)

Another acoustic tune, this one featuring Bruce on Mandolin!   A cover of Bob Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere!

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JOIN THE KNOT MAILING LIST

Get notified by email when The Knot has upcoming gigs!

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COMMENTS & CRITIQUES

What they are saying about The Knot

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"The Knot is doing what all the Dead's musical children should be doing: Taking the spirit of Grateful Dead music in a direction all their own, integrating the source material with their own songs and creating something new that honors what came before without being a slave to it."

David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour

"The Knot is a bright sounding band that rocks hard and knows how to jam. They are one of a few Boston acts still on a positive upward curve."

Steve Morse, Boston Globe

"The Knot is willing to take risks with its music, to walk out on a limb and hope a bear doesn't walk out after them. If there's a good crowd and a lot of energy, almost anything can happen"

Walter Crockett, Worcester Telegram

BIO

Electrifying audiences wherever they perform, The Knot has been at the forefront of improvisational rock and roll for many years. Their marathon sets of 90 minutes or more are packed with a variety of musical styles and extended jams. They enjoy playing creative, high energy music that is sure to keep everyone dancing. They mix original compositions with the music of classic artists like The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, The Band, Traffic, Little Feat, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, The Who and many others.

In 1997, The Knot released their first CD of all original material called “Slip Into Somewhere”.  The CD features 11 original Knot songs recorded at Knot Studios with engineer Rod Libby (who worked live and in the studio with Joe Cocker on all those gold records).  The band is currently working on their next CD of original material, recording basic tracks at Wellspring Studios.

The band has received many favorable reviews in newspapers and magazines including Relix Magazine, The Boston Globe, Boston and Worcester Phoenix, The Worcester Telegram, Worcester Magazine, The Boston Journal, and The Tab.  The Knot was voted "Best Local Groove/Jam Act" in the Worcester Phoenix's 1997 & 1998 music polls.



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BAND MEMBERS

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Bruce Mandaro

Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals

The founding member of The Knot, Bruce has been a performing musician since the 6th grade, playing drums and then trumpet in school bands. At 15 he picked up a guitar and fell in love. Inspired by the music of Louis Armstrong, Eric Clapton, and the Doors, he formed a band that featured improvisation and plenty of weirdness. Later influences were the Dead and the Allman Brothers, and modern bluegrass musicians David Grisman, Tony Rice, and New Grass Revival. Whether performing with The Knot or one of his many side projects, Bruce is looking to connect with the audience.

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John Brigham

Bass, Vocals

John has been playing music since he was seven years old, taking classical piano and bass lessons. With his father being a professional trumpet player, John was exposed to a great variety of music. Upon getting his first electric bass guitar, he played in many local rock and roll bandshis versatility and ability to play anything by ear kept his services in demand. His love for the improvisation styles of the Allman Brothers and the Dead led him to Slipknot in 1983, and he's been with the band ever since.

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Mark Munzer

Keyboards, Vocals

Mark is keyboardist/singer/songwriter hailing from New York City.  Initially self taught, he went on to study piano with David Frank and T Lavitz.  Mark joined the Knot in 1987 for a short stint, rejoined The Knot in 1991, and has been playing with them ever since.  He is also the keyboardist/vocalist for Grateful Dead tribute band Playing Dead.  Mark has written many original songs that he performs with The Knot.  Mark’s musical influences include:  Chuck Leavell, Brent Mydland, Melvin Seals, Bill Payne, Steve Winwood, Bruce Hornsby, Dr. John, Elton John, Art Neville, Lyle Mays, and Keith Jarrett.

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Greg DeGuglielmo

Drums, Vocals

Boston area native, Greg “DeGug” graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors.  He studied Drum Set privately with the late great Jazz legend, Alan Dawson, as well as with Rod Morgenstein and Dave DiCenso. Greg toured extensively with Max Creek for several years during the band’s full-time era. As a freelance drummer, Greg has performed and/or recorded with a wide variety of talented musicians including former Phish bassist Mike Gordon and Edie Brickell & New Bohemians bassist Brad Houser, to name a couple.  Since 1996, Greg has been a regular member of The Knot.

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Perry Seigle

Guitar, Vocals

Perry Seigle is from Brooklyn, NY  and came to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.  He joined The Knot as rhythm guitarist in Jan of 2000 and has been playing with them ever since.   His musical  influences include Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Aaron Von Cello, B.B. King, all of the Beatles.

Previous Members:

  • Larry Mancini (guitar, vocals)

  • Barry Paul (guitar, vocals)

  • Jack Howard (drums)

  • Mike Zecco (drums)

  • Jamie Prosser (keyboards, vocals)

  • Jeff "Tree" Riley (drums)

  • Paula McCusker (vocals)

  • John DeAscentis (drums)

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SLIPKNOT: THE EARLY YEARS

by Bruce Mandaro

I always envisioned a band that could collectively improvise while playing songs that people could dance to. My high school band, Karma Syndrome, had that approach, and we were heavily influenced by everything from Cream to the Doors to the Beatles and all the amazingly diverse music on the radio in the late 60’s. I was also greatly influenced by many concerts at the Fillmore East, none more than the Allman Brothers Band. During my first and only year at college I became immersed in the music of the Grateful Dead. Inspired by them I decided to leave college after a year to take a shot at being a musician.

The first few years were hard, as in hardly working. I was in a country rock band (Driftwood) in 1975, but it wasn’t what I was really looking for. In the spring of 1976 I joined up with Richard on autoharp & guitar and Mark Schatz on mandolin & banjo and boldly dove into the life of a starving full time street musician. Playing mostly on Boston Common and in Harvard Square that summer, I couldn’t get enough. The street performing was an incredible experience, where I found, among other things, a lifelong passion for the mandolin – thanks Mark! – but I yearned for an electric band of my own.

Towards the end of that summer I had an opportunity to play at an impromptu party at AKS in 1976, a Northeastern University frat in Jamaica Plain, Mass. There may have only been 10 people there, I brought the street band, added another musician or two, and we plugged in for the first time. Our electric/acoustic sets went over well enough that I was asked back the next spring to play a real party.

I came to play at this frat house because I had gotten shut out of 3 of the first 4 shows in the first ever Grateful Dead ticket mail order. This was the spring of 1976, the Dead were going to play the Boston Music Hall, and I had to go to every show! So I waited overnight on line, and got my tickets for the other 3 shows, and met some AKS members who mentioned that they had a frat brother who sang and played a little guitar. So my friend Sue and I made our way over to AKS to meet Sobo (Ken Sobocinski), who knew about 3 or 4 chords and 2 or 3 songs. He was a natural, and we fell in love with his musical vibe instantly.

Although the contract filled out by the frat for some reason named us “A Slipped Knot Revue”, the first official gig of the band “Slipknot” was this AKS frat party in 1977. For this party I called on 2 bandmates from Driftwood: Hanley O’Connor on drums and Jim on bass, John Rosenberg aka JP from Philly and Ian Simon from high school. The gig went well (we jammed! people danced!), and I saw my musical vision come alive. That vision would have to wait, as I was by now committed to making my living playing music. Of course many told me I was insane to attempt this, and of course they were pretty much right! I took a gig with a country band that played all over New England, Vince Albert and the Country Travelers, where I met bassist/vocalist and future Slipknot member Jonathan Perkins. We toured small clubs in New Brunswick, Canada for 2 months, got thrown out of the country – a story for another day – and returned to start the first real edition of Slipknot, as we would be known for the next 25 years or so.

Things started slowly, as we began jamming and writing songs. During the famous Blizzard of 78 I was stranded at Jon’s house in Hingham, after a crazy drive to get to practice during the storm. A bunch of new songs appeared while we were stranded together for a few days waiting for the highways to open. As 1978 rolled on we found a new drummer, Charlie from Chicago, and a second guitarist, Steve from Westford. There was a woman on electric fiddle for a while, and then a second drummer. By the end of the year we recorded a 4-song demo and began looking for more gigs. Early in 1979 Steve hooked us up to play at The Cutoff in Northborough, the best dive ever! We had a place we could play often and pretty much do whatever we wanted and it was fun – the kind of fun I had always envisioned. The reality of making enough money to eat hit hard though, and as people went their separate ways The Knot went into hibernation. In 1980 Jon and I joined rockabilly piano player Jackie Lee Williams’ hard-working band. For 2 years we played from 3 to 8 shows a week, from New Bedford to Presque Isle, Maine. We played mostly country bars on the John Penny circuit, and it was an amazing opportunity to back up and learn from a seasoned performer who knew how to work a crowd. When Mike Williams joined the band on drums, the new core of the Knot was set. With Jon, Mike and myself being on the road so much with Jackie Lee, we took every chance we could to practice our own music, and by the end we were opening most shows with a set of our own before Jackie Lee came up. We were performing as Captain Jackie Lee Williams and Frigate. We booked a few of our own gigs at Bunratty’s in Allston, playing as Frigate opening for our friends Storm. At this point I was missing having that second guitar player – one who I could trade leads and harmonize with – and I found that missing piece when I met Barry Paul. In his 13 years with the band, he never missed a gig.

Barry and I kept hearing about each other from our mutual friend Sobo. He often told me “You’ve got to meet Barry – he’s into the Dead and plays great Allman Brothers lead guitar.” Meanwhile he was telling Barry about this guy who knew a lot of Dead tunes and that we should get together to jam. We had an acoustic jam on one of my off nights it was really fun. Before long we had our first an electric jam with Jonathan and Mike, I was impressed with Barry's command of the Allman Brothers style and ability to improvise. When Barry joined us for the Frigate gigs at Bunratty’s the 4 piece band was set. Soon we parted ways with the Captain, and Slipknot was reborn as 2 bands: a country band that played the John Penny circuit and jamming rock band that made appearances at Bunratty’s and other Boston area clubs. Karen Leader was our lead vocalist on the country gigs, and also contributed to Slipknot the rock band. The country Slipknot band was pretty short lived, and without income the both versions of the fizzled out again.

I tried keeping the music career going with teaching guitar lessons and pick up gigs, but around 1981 it was time for a change so I decided to give up on making a living playing music. I couldn’t afford it anymore, so I got a shipping/receiving job at Stately Wallpaper near South Station. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that would become a key to the band’s future success. It didn’t take long after getting that job that I found myself playing with the Can’t Stay Out of Jail Band, filling in for one of their founding members who, as I recall, was doing some time in jail. Not long after joining them the other guitar player left, so Barry joined what was now The Jail Band. This was a really fun band. We played a lot of blues, country, swing and the occasional Dead and Allman Brothers tunes.

One fateful day at the wallpaper job I had an accident with a razor knife and cut my left hand pretty badly. When the doctor told me that the cut was a mere millimeter away from ruining my hand for guitar playing for life, I swore right then I would never work with knives again! I ended up getting into computer programming and working at DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) for a while. By the beginning of 1983 I lost my job, the Jail Band had broken up, and I had split up with my partner of 9 years. I was not in a good place. On 4/20/83 the Grateful Dead played a show at the Providence Civic Center. Alone and feeling a little sorry for myself, I settled into a seat in the upper deck. Next thing I knew Billy Kaz, who ran The Cutoff, sat down next to me and asked if Slipknot was still playing. When I said no, he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: put the band back together and come and play The Cutoff every Thursday and Friday for the next few months. Now to put the band back together. Of course I called Barry first, and he knew a drummer, Seth Getlin. With Mike Williams also on board for drums, we were a 2-drummer band again. I called Terry Eggleston, bass player for the Jail Band, and he was willing to play a few gigs to get us started. When Terry bowed out, Big John Doherty from the Sty Monsters played a couple of shows.

Then one fateful evening, Mr. John Brigham showed up. As John remembers it:

“Tom Andrews and I came over from The Dew Drop to catch the last few tunes (and last call) of you guys with Big John playing. Tom had been encouraging me to see you guys but I wasn't so sure I would like another band playing Grateful Dead tunes. I met you at the end of the night, you said that you had heard I could play, you showed me a song list, I confirmed I could play it and you asked me to come back the next night to ‘sit in’ and check it out. I did come back, Big John played the first couple of tunes, I came up and played what I think you stated, and Big John and Con took off to go to another party in Worcester... I played the rest of the night....”

As I remember it, when I had asked him if he could fit in, his response was: “I will knock your socks off!” Well, I thought, at least he was confident! During the first song Brigham played , Sugaree, Big John packed up his bass, waved goodbye and left. I haven’t been able to keep my socks on since! Except for a brief period a few years later when Brigham was playing hard to get (or in another band) he’s been a steady presence in the band. During his absence we had other bass players, including Pete Connolly, Tony Defontes and Ofer. It was near the end of the Ofer period, when we played during and after a 1987 Dead show in Worcester at McGillicuddy’s. The second half of our show was broadcast on the radio immediately following the broadcast of the Dead show. That’s the only time we can say the Dead opened for us. I’ll always remember that that was also the night that I asked John to rejoin the band. (I believe it was more like begged.)

Returning back to 1983, during our Cutoff days, a deeply tragic event hit our scene. We had met soundman/recording engineer Jack McCusker and his wife Paula who lived in Framingham. We did our first professional quality recordings in his studio and became fast friends with them. That winter they made the decision to pack up their 2 children, and head west to California to start a new life. There was a blizzard and an accident in New Mexico with a tractor-trailer, and Jack was killed in the crash. After a couple of weeks in the hospital out there, Paula and the kids returned. We were all devastated, and we did what we could to help. Paula eventually began singing with the band. We practiced at her house, renovated the basement into a recording/practice space, and tried to create a scene around the band. It was slow going. Sometimes we had two drummers, but we weren’t able to find a keyboardist. Brigham’s friend from Northboro, Donnie Lavin, added his Hammond Organ to the mix now and then, but as he was always committed to another band, we carried on without a keyboardist.

The next few years for the band had their ups and downs, with more downs than ups, but gradually we got some momentum. In 1986, burnt out on the computer work and life in general I took some time off and immersed myself in music. At this point I was in Somerville in a full-fledged a hippie house full of MIT students and graduates, with plenty of interesting folks passing though. I started playing on the street again in Harvard Square with Kevin MacNamara, using battery powered amps and adding leads to Kevin's crowd-pleasing blend of classic rock and kids tunes (think Gloria->Raffi, and yes I played Raffi songs even before I had my own kids!) Through that connection Slipknot played an epic show in Harvard Square at Au Bon Pain. We soon scored a regular slot at Molly’s Deadhead Sunday’s night and started our mailing list with the help of a fan of ours, Phil Davidson. Phil had his own mailing list, the Dead Head Directory. These were the days when sending flyers was a lot more work than the click of a mouse: it was copy, fold, stamp, label and repeat! We also flyered everywhere that might find us a new fan: Dead shows, posters around Boston, and little by little more people came to our shows, and we got more offers from clubs. This was around the time John DeAscentis became our drummer. In late 1986 Keith began joining us on keys, and when he left Mark Munzer played keys for a short while in his first stint with the band. When Paula left the band we moved our practice space to my place in Somerville and Jamie Prosser joined as our first full time keyboardist. Jamie also sang lead vocals and wrote some great songs. 1988 brought another shift in the Knot’s direction: We got our first manager, Geoff Keller. I met Geoff through DEC, where he also worked.

DEC in the 80’s was an interesting place. When I returned to work at a location in Hudson, MA I was introduced to a very early version of digital social networking. It was called VAXnotes, a forerunner of Lotus Notes. This was before widespread use of email, before any WWW, and it allowed the more than 100,000 DEC employees to participate in discussion groups inside the company. Most of the groups were technology-related, but we were also allowed to have DEC employee-interest Notes conferences – sports, music, cars, etc. Someone started the GRATEFUL group, and eventually Massachusetts and New Hampshire DECHeads like Cosmic, Mystery Hill, Fog, and Mr. Universe were meeting in person for lunch. Also, this is where TOLKEIN:MANDARO met RAINBO:INGMANN (that would be Tina, and we got married 6 years later!) Tina ended up designing the artwork for many of the mailers and flyers. Naturally I posted upcoming Knot gigs on GRATEFUL, and we made lots of new DEChead friends. Geoff, aka Mr Fejj, was one of the DECHeads there, and he offered to help us as our manager

Now that we had a manager we soon were playing almost every weekend, often twice, in many new venues. The Whitehorse Inn in Milford, Harper’s Ferry in Allston, The Blue Plate in Holden, Gilrein’s and Sir Morgan's Cove in Worcester, Chet's Diner Northboro, and many more. For the next few years we averaged around 70 – 80 gigs a year, and began a tradition of playing our Memorial Day weekend outdoor festival, Slip into Summer, in Northboro. Within a couple of years we added Slip Out of Summer in early September, and they became 2 of our biggest and favorite shows of the year. We always had 2 or 3 openers starting at around 2 pm, and then Slipknot would get to play some nice long sets from 6 – 10 pm.

One day around 1987 Phil Davidson, who had been taping our shows (something we already did ourselves, with mixed results) mentioned that he had access to some PA equipment, and wondered if we were interested in using it. Next thing we knew we had a sound engineer who was a true member of the band. He had a natural talent as a sound engineer, and went on to create one of the best sound companies in New England, Taft Sound.

As we rolled into 1989 Jamie left the band to a career as Doctor Jamie Prosser, and Mark Munzer began filling in on more shows. John DeAscentis left around this time also, and was replaced by Jack Howard, who stayed with us until 1991 when he took a break from Slipknot for school. Stepping into the drum chair at that time was Jeff (Tree) Riley. Around this time we had the good fortune to be introduced to one of my musical heroes, pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage from the New Riders of the Purple Sage, who at the time was living across the street from Phil in Uxbridge. The Riders were not playing at that time, and since Buddy lived in central Mass we were fortunate enough to play many shows with him, and that was always a treat!

Somewhere around 1990/1991 Mark officially became a member of the band, contributing, along with his excellent keyboard skills, lead and harmony vocals and superb songwriting. Also in 1991 we released our first official recording (a cassette tape!) called Knot Live, with originals and some of our favorite covers. We were on a roll. The band had plenty of gigs, people were packing the shows, we had a manager, a sound engineer and even our own lights for most shows – what could go wrong? Well, as our favorite band sang so prophetically, “When life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door”. By the fall of 1992 the dreaded “musical differences” surfaced and Barry was asked to leave the band. Although it was a group decision, it was difficult for me. I missed his friendship and the musical bond we had.

That is where Slipknot the Early Years comes to an end. Someday I will continue with the years from the end of 1992-Present.

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CONTACT

Leo Gauthier

Email:

Phone:

1-508-981-7258

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