Asylum

m1984

In 1984 Steve Roney (of Millbrae) was looking to start an original band after producing his own 5-song Demo Tape, 'Roney Rock and Roll Asylum'. Steve enlisted Bass Player Bob Campbell (of Millbrae), and Bob had previously been in a band with Singer Shawn Fitzpatrick (of Burlingame) in '79/'80 and suggested him. Shawn was impressed with Roney's demo, and accepted the invitation. With Fitzpatrick on board, it was time to look for a drummer. After placing an ad in Bay Area Music (BAM) Magazine, and receiving roughly 50 calls, and auditioning several drummers, the 3 guys were impressed with a drummer from San Jose, Paul Monteiro.  The music style was exactly what Paul was looking for. Taking a cue from Roney's demo tape, the four guys decided on the band name "Asylum". Soon after, and yet to play their 1st show, Bob Campbell left the band.

1985

The search began for a new Bass Player, and after a few auditions, the guys were pleased to find seasoned Bass Player Martin "Mars" Ramos (of San Francisco). Marty brought experience to Asylum, as to this point most of the guys had only played at high school dances and parties, but not clubs. Marty was in a club band called Idyl Wild, before signing on with Asylum. In order to get club gigs in 1985, a demo tape was needed. In addition to rehearsing 3 days a week, the band booked time at Linear Productions Recording Studio in Millbrae, CA and recorded a crude but effective self-titled 4-song demo tape. Asylum played its first gig on July 3rd, 1985, at the world-famous Mabuhay Gardens (The Mab) in San Francisco. The groups 2nd show would be back at The Mab 2 weeks later. The demo tape did its job landing the band several gigs on the Bay Area Peninsula, South Bay (The Keystone Palo Alto, Stage Photo at the bottom of this page), San Francisco, and Sacramento. Asylum received favorable press and exposure in 1985, as after only a few shows they were featured on Bay Area radio station KFRC's "Catch a Rising Star" segment, spending an hour on air, being interviewed and outlining the new band's goals for the coming year.  They even played a couple of acoustic songs live on the air. Asylum was also featured in the hometown newspaper of Steve Roney, The Millbrae Sun. A good review of just their second show, along with a photo-spread and feature length article. In September Asylum opened for the band Keel, which was significant at the time as marked the first time opening for and playing with a National act. Asylum finished out 1985 by appearing on  The Jay Show, an Access TV show in San Francisco.

1985 Road Crew: Dale Miller, Dominic Bregante, Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Rene Morales, Tony Taylor, Glen Summers.

1986

As 1986 began, Asylum made a change and brought in the versatile Jessie Roman (of Daly City) at Bass Guitar, backing vocals, and (later) keyboards. Early in 1986 the band began work on their 1st real studio recording; a 4-song EP album titled "That's Showbiz". Working with Producer/Engineer (and friend) Tim Azzaria, the EP was recorded in July of 1986 at The Music Annex in Menlo Park, CA, and mixed at Starlight Studios in Berkley, CA. Released in late 1986, the EP included the tracks; 'Knock on Wood', 'No Tomorrow', 'The Ambitious One', and 'Nothing Will Hurt Me Anymore'. The album was sold at record stores and Asylum performances.  At this time, Asylum was managed by Donna Chadwell, and were performing shows in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including The Stone, and The Rock On Broadway in S.F.

1986 Road Crew: Dominic Bregante, Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Jim Salgato, Andy Ganju, Rene Morales, Tony Taylor

1987

While Asylum had many performances in late 1986 thru 1987, some of the Highlights were opening for Pat Travers (12/10/86), the sold-out record release show/party for 'That's Showbiz' (02/07/87), and an afternoon performance at the Santa Clara County Fair (August 1987). In late 1987 Donna Chadwell announced that she would be moving to LA and resigned her role as Manager. Friend of the band and Asylum's main videographer, Rene' Morales temporarily stepped into the Manager role to help out. Rene' had been working with Donna in a limited capacity. In order to grow their fan-base, the group played regular monthly weekend shows at the unlikely venue, Pony Express Pizza in Redwood City. Asylum packed the "All Ages" small venue regularly, and even held their Record Release Party for 'That's Showbiz' there to an excited sold-out crowd. It was in mid-1987 that Asylum started working with (the late) L.A. Producer, Peter Glindeman. Mr. Glindeman, or "Coach" as he was known to the band, used his vast industry knowledge to help mold and shape the band for commercial success, and would eventually shop the group to record labels. Peter Glindeman played guitar in the 70's group "Driver".  In 1987 Asylum was playing clubs and venues all around the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including The Omni in Oakland, and The Cabaret in San Jose (to name a few).

1987 Road Crew: Dominic Bregante, Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Rene Morales, Tony Taylor, Kenny Sinatra, Tony Fonseca, Andy Ganju, John "Woody" Wood

1988

In 1988 Asylum added more clubs to their circuit of venues, including three that would become regular, or frequent stops; Puma's (Downtown Campbell), The Mountain View Theater (Mountain View), and Niles Station (Niles, Fremont).  In mid 1988 Asylum knew they needed a new album, as they had not been in the studio since mid 1986. Working with Peter Glindeman, the group began working on new material to record. By now the band had added some limited keyboards into some of their songs thanks to the multi-talents of Jessie Roman. In order to add keyboards into some of the songs without adding a keyboard player, the songs were arranged in a manner that Jessie could play both Bass and Keyboards in the same song, even when playing live. Glindeman had a friend in the Bay Area who he introduced to the band as a potential Manager, Michael Valenti. After a brief trial period, Valenti became Asylum's full-time Manager. For some time, there had been internal debate about adding a second guitar player to the Asylum line-up. In late 1988 the band was getting closer to recording a new album, but a decision had finally been made to add a second guitarist. This would allow a fuller sound on stage and allow for new ideas and creativity. Asylum began auditioning guitar players in late October and played their last gig of the year on November 3rd at Niles Station. After auditioning many very talented players, the guys hit it off with Manny Raposo (of San Mateo).  Asylum felt lucky to have landed Manny as he was already in another band (Solution'), but Manny liked the versatility and the vibe in Asylum. With the addition of a new member, the band took about 2 months off from performing to get Manny up to speed. Once the decision was made to add a second guitar player, the pending recording project was pushed to the following year.

1988 Road Crew: Dominic Bregante, Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Rene Morales, Kenny Sinatra, Tony Fonseca, John "Woody" Wood, Dave Byers, Scott Thomas, Dave Fleming

1989

Asylum had a lot going on in 1989, and it all started on January 11th, with the 1st public appearance, a short 3 song set at a Jam Night (The Route 66) with new guitarist Manny Raposo. This night was followed by a full set at The Route 66 thirteen days later on January 24th, while opening for Jimi Hendrix tribute artist Randy Hansen. Asylum Manager Mike Valenti brought in a Stage Manager for live performances, Mary Hendrick. Mary coordinated the road crew, sound, lighting and the movement of equipment, and was extremely efficient. With Manny on-board the band was working hard on material to record. Peter Glindeman came up from L.A. several times to help hone the band for the recording. Glindeman had lined up recording time in April at Take One Studios, in Burbank, CA. Before heading to L.A. to record, Asylum was performing every weekend and some weeknights in the East Bay, South Bay, the Peninsula and San Francisco. Asylum worked with a Bay Area Video Production company (Avid Productions) on a music video for a new Asylum song 'Much To My Surprise'. The video contained live shots of the band and some off-stage footage of the band, during a performance on Broadway in San Francisco at The Stone. Years later, Fitzpatrick would enhance the video with more live clips, and also updated the audio track to the studio recording of the song (extended). A writer (Gina Davis) for a Bay Area Music Magazine "Front", traveled with the band to Southern CA for the (new) recording sessions, and wrote a feature length article in the June-July 1989 edition. Gina Davis had covered other milestones of Asylum for Front Magazine such as the addition of Manny Raposo. Soon after the L.A. recording sessions, Asylum was signed to an  Independant Record Lable, Ossum Possum Records. Working with the Record Lable CEO Dennis Wolfe, the company was working on the album cover, duplication, and distribution once the project was completed.  After the recording sessions in L.A., Asylum went on a rigorous performance schedule playing all over the greater S.F. Bay Area, and perhaps culminating on Saturday, August 19th at a sold-out show at The Stone in San Francisco - opening for (the then new) supergroup Mr. Big (Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Pat Torpey). In late 1989, Asylum was being hired more to be the only band at a venue for the night. As a result of this, Asylum began writing more, and performing more Cover tunes in order to be able to play 2, and even 3 sets of music a night. Asylum covered songs by Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, UFO, Whitesnake, Montrose, Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, Kiss, The Beatles, and more. As the year went on the release of the 2nd EP Album kept getting delayed for various printing, production and distribution reasons. Dennis Wolfe had worked out a deal with Asylum Lawyers to sell the and distribute the Album in Europe once it was finished and released. The actual release of the album wouldn't occur until early 1990. On Tuesday October 17th, 1989, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the San Francisco Bay Area. The devastating earthquake caused much damage and major disruption to life in the Bay Area. Despite this, Asylum performed the very next night (Wednesday) at Puma's in the South Bay, as the only band. "A strange night indeed" recalls singer Shawn Fitzpatrick. "No one really knew what was going on, but we all managed to make it to the club. It was a small but appreciative crowd." Asylum played the next night too (Thursday) in the East Bay, at Niles Station. On Friday night of the same week, Asylum was scheduled to play The Stone in San Francisco, but had to cancel due to it being nearly impossible to get into San Francisco following the earthquake. On December 7th, 1989, Asylum performed what would end up being (many years later) their live album, at Niles Station in Fremont, Ca. The album "Live at Niles" would be released in 2006. Asylum would finish out 1989 by playing a packed New Years Eve Show, with the band Flame, at Niles Station in Fremont.

1989 Road Crew: Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Dominic Bregante, Rene Morales, Kenny Sinatra, John "Woody" Wood, Dave Byers, Scott Thomas, Freddie Walker, Dave Fleming, Mary Hendrick, Bob Tiwana, Joe Raposo

1990

Asylum was busy playing many shows in January and February of 1990. On January 13th, Asylum opened up for the Russian band Gorky Park at The Stone in San Francisco. On the night of February 17, 1990, Asylum would finally "officially" release their long awaited album "A Matter of Time", with a celebration and Record Release Party/Performance at The Stone in San Francisco. The EP album was well received, and included the tracks; 'Much to My Surprise', 'Hold Me', 'Not Foolin' Anyone', 'In the Cold' and 'Drastic Plastic'. Asylum singer Shawn Fitzpatrick had been experiencing vocal issues associated with the vigorous performance and rehearsal schedule over the previous year and a half. Shawn was faced with a decision to continue on, or take a significant amount of time off.  Coupled with Shawn's scenario, the band fell prey to the music scene of the time, where there were problems with band members and crew around drugs, alcohol, and arrests. Although it was not a unanimous decision, Asylum would disband (for now) in the middle of March 1990 amidst the many complicated issues.  Originally, Asylum was going to honor all of the shows the band had scheduled, but with the possibility of permanent vocal damage, Fitzpatrick needed to call it quits. At least 2 additional band members had also had enough, and Asylum was finished (for now). 

1990 Road Crew: Jeff Boynton, Mike Gogliano, Rene Morales, Kenny Sinatra, John "Woody" Wood, Scott Thomas, Freddie Walker, Bob Tiwana

The 1990's

After Asylum broke up in March of 1990, most of the guys went on to work on other projects, most notably Steve Roney joining the band Voyeur. In 1993, Asylum (minus 1 member) got together for a reunion jam and party, with many of the original road crew and their families. This would be a sign of things to come as there would be more gatherings in the 1990s. Roney's run with Voyeur would come to an end in 1995, mainly due to the changing music landscape, and few places to play. Like Asylum however, Voyeur would regroup in later years, and play out again in a limited capacity. In the early 90's Drummer Paul Monteiro went on the road working for bands such as Lizzy Borden, Prong and Badlands. In 1995, Shawn Fitzpatrick began working in video, and got the idea to make a documentary on Asylum, utilizing existing concert footage, and to conduct a series of interviews with band and crew. Although this project was started with interviews in 1995 of Jessie Roman, 1996 with Steve Roney, and 1997 with Paul Monterio, the project was never finished (it could still happen). During the interviews it was revealed that everyone seemed interested in jamming together again, so a few sessions were lined up, and held. Manny Raposo was unable to join due to time commitments, but the other 4 primary members got together. During those sessions, the guys got the idea to record a full album of songs Asylum never had the chance to record. The plan was to get together for 2 days to record basic tracks for up to 10 songs. However due to time constraints, Jessie, Paul and Steve were only together for 1 day, which resulted in 5 songs recorded. Steve, Shawn and drummer Kelly Fasman added a sixth song, the Title Track 'Silent Scream' in the following months. Asylum released their 3rd Album in 1999, 'Silent Scream' which included tracks 'Long Gone', 'The Fuse', 'Roses on the Floor', 'Framed', 'Immigrant Song', and 'Silent Scream'. As this was Asylum's first release on CD, a special CD cover and Lyrics booklet was designed (beautifully) by Sally Lacy.

The 2000's

Despite putting a new EP record out in 1999, Asylum was no longer playing together in the early 2000's. In 2003 however, Steve Roney was a year away from turning 40, so his wife Kathy threw him a surprise "39 and Holding" party. Kathy invited band members from all 3 of Steve's former/current bands to play at the party (Asylum, Voyeur and Cover band Rat Bastard), and lots of friends and family. Asylum played a short set, but it would mark the only time all 5 Asylum band members would play together again (to date). The private party crowd, and the band members were ecstatic about being able to play together again. Manny Raposo, Shawn Fitzpatrick and Jessie Roman were all raising young families, so at that time there was not much hope of any more reunions anytime soon. In 2005, Roney and Fitzpatrick began working on releasing a live album, based on a solid recording of the band from late 1989 at Niles Station. Steve worked with engineer Brad Barth to digitally remaster the recording and get it on to CD. Asylum released (limitedly) 'Asylum Live at Niles' in 2006. Live Tracks include: 1. Roses on the Floor 2. The Fuse 3. In and Out 4. Framed 5. In the Cold 6. Zep Medley (songs of Led Zeppelin) 7. Much To My Surprise 8. Not Foolin' Anyone 9. Pack It Up and Go (UFO) 10. Lola 11. Hold Me 12. She Said 13. Walkin' the Dog (R. Thomas) 14. Doctor Doctor (UFO) 15. Only You 16. Talk About Love 17. Knock on Wood.

2010 - 2020

In 2010 Shawn Fitzpatrick began working on an idea to convert the two Asylum cassette-tape (only) EP albums from 1986 and 1989 to digital files and release them on CD. Working with a friend (Alan Le) Shawn was successful in the conversions, however the source of the conversions was 24- and 21-year-old cassette tapes. Steve Roney liked the idea and a few years later was (amazingly) able to locate the half inch master tapes from the original studio recordings. As many studio tapes are of that age, they were in poor condition and required an arduous restoration process in order to salvage them. The tapes were brought back to The Music Annex in Menlo Park, which is where in 1986 Asylum recorded their 1st EP Album 'That's Showbiz'.  The tapes were 'baked' in special low heat ovens to remove any moisture and make them playable once again. The process was a success, and now Roney and Fitzpatrick took the digital masters to the studio Audio Voyage in Livermore, for more remastering work including on the 3rd Asylum EP Silent Scream from 1999. This process, concept and design would take many years to complete, but the end result was a fabulous compilation of all 3 of Asylum's studio EP's called Asylum Studio Works (would not be released until 2023). Asylum (the original 4) began jamming together in 2013, on a somewhat regular basis, even if that meant just a few times a year. Asylum was covered (Media) by several Bay Area music magazines over the years, and one of them (Informant Magazine) announced an anniversary celebration to feature many acts from the late 80's and 90's. Asylum was invited to play at this special event. Asylum performed at the Swiss Park Hall, in Newark, CA on March 31st, 2018 in what has been the bands only public performance since 1990 (so far).

2020 - Current

Asylum had been jamming together on a regular basis right up to March of 2020, and in fact were working towards another planned performance in June of that year. But, like the rest of the world, Asylum was shut down indefinitely. Shawn and Steve worked together on getting the long awaited compilation CD ready for distribution. Even that went slowly during the pandemic. Asylum worked with Sally Rankin on completing original artwork and design for the CD packaging. Sally's work exceeded the band's expectations by producing a professional CD package complete with liner notes and a beautiful design. What started as an idea of Shawn's back in 2010, finally came to fruition in March of 2023. In October of 2022, Asylum began releasing their music on all digital platforms. 'Drastic Plastic' was the 1st single released, followed by 'Not Foolin' Anyone' in November, and 'In the Cold' in December. All 3 songs were from the 1989 EP 'A Matter of Time'. In January 2023, the band released 'Knock on Wood' from the 1986 'That's Showbiz' EP, then in early February released 'Roses on the Floor' from the 1999 'Silent Scream' EP. By this time, the production and duplication of the compilation album 'Asylum Studio Works' finally had a release date of March 1st. The final single to be released prior the full album being released was 'Much to My Surprise' in late February. As March 1st rolled around, the band was very excited to finally have their music available for those who still want to hear it, and for those just discovering it now. Since the songs and album have been released digitally, they have been played tens of thousands of times all around the world. Asylum decided to give away a limited amount of physical CDs on Facebook. Steve Roney remembers being worried that no one would want them...the CDs designated to be given away got snatched-up in less than 24 hours - the band was blown away by the love and support of Asylum fans both old and new.

All Songs from the 'Asylum Studio Works' album (and the whole album), are available on all digital music platforms. Track 1. Long Gone, 2. Not Foolin' Anyone, 3. Much to my Surprise, 4. Roses on the Floor, 5. Knock on Wood, 6. The Fuse, 7. No Tomorrow, 8. Drastic Plastic, 9. The Immigrant Song* (*CD only), 10. In the Cold, 11. Framed, 12. Hold Me, 13. The Ambitious One, 14. Silent Scream, 15. Nothing Will Hurt Me Anymore.

**The members of Asylum give a sincere thank you to all those who have supported us over the years, and a SPECIAL THANK YOU to all who worked for the band in any and all capacity (moving gear, building and setting up stages, live sound engineering, stage managers,  studio sound engineering, lighting techs, photographers, videographers and video production, band management, producers, guitar & drum Techs, vocal coaches, merchandising, promotion, artists, graphic designers, and all the acts we performed with).