Rob Bonstin (Now and D'Angelo)

Rob Bonstin was the lead singer for the band Now, from San Francisco, California, in the early eighties, having recorded a demo tape in 84, and later, in the late eighties, the lead singer of D'Angelo, also from San Francisco, California, having recorded also a demo tape in 88, called "The Rogue".

Q. - So tell me Rob, how did your interest in hard rock and heavy metal music start?

I’d say it started with KISS.  Before KISS I was in to Peter Frampton and Elton John.  Once I’d discovered KISS, I was all about the heavy metal, hard and spectacle from then on!

Q. - What other bands did you play before Now?

Before NOW I was in a band Called Ruffians with Devin (also from NOW). It was straight up classic NWOBHM ala Maiden and Priest. Look them up, I’d be surprised if you hadn’t heard of them too!

Q. - What were your main influences at the beginning? 

My main influences were Dio, Geoff Tate of Queensryche, Plant, Tyler and Ian Gillan.  The front men with the voices and personalities to keep the night going.

Q. - At this time did you play some covers too, or was it only your own songs?

Back then it was all about the originals. I didn’t dive into covers till much later.  We wanted to write our own songs and have our own voice if you will. I’d been super into imitating the voices of the bands and music I grew up on. Boston, Journey and UFO but we were always focused on writing compelling, catchy original music.

Q. - Did you play around Sacramento, and the rest of California or was it hard for a heavy metal band to be booked in the area?

It wasn’t hard back then at all. We had good connections and we played all the clubs like The Omni, The Stone, Keystone Berkeley and Palo Alto and a few places I don’t even remember.  We didn’t get to Sacramento too much, we stuck to SF, San Jose and The East Bay mostly.

Q. - The demo tape came up in 1984, tell us a bit how it was received by the heavy metal community? Did you try to approach some labels at that time?

I’m not sure how well the NOW demo was received back then.  We pushed it locally and tried to play a lot of shows in the area but it was a tough sell back then. We were trying to be a bit more sophisticated when everyone else was discovering the Sunset Strip scene, Aqua Net (hair spray), our girlfriend’s clothes and looking good and making an impression.  We wanted to make an impression with our music but it didn’t seem to connect at that time.

Q. - Does the fact of not being signed a record deal lead to the end of the band? Were you working on new material before you broke up?

I think we were ready to keep going despite not getting a record deal, the fact was that an opportunity came along for one of us to join a more established band came along and he couldn’t pass it up. We all completely understood but it was still a bit distressing.  We were constantly working on new material and we had a bunch of songs worked out we wished we’d been able to present to the world but life takes you in directions where those things just don’t happen I guess.

Q. - When did "Now" broke up exactly? What happened that lead to the break?

Well I answered that in the last question.  One of us decided to pursue an established offer and we all couldn’t blame him.  I think it was sometime in 1985.

Q. - Next step you went on to form D'Angelo with Randy Ferreira, Steve Quartarola and Terry Montana, how did that happen?

Well it’s funny because Randy had been in a band with a couple of the guys from NOW years before and they were all Alameda (California) guys like me.  So was Terry and we all just kind of knew who we were so it wasn’t a big stretch. Randy came to my door one day and said “hey I hear your available and we have this band we’d like to do” and that’s how D’Angelo started.

Q. - For how long did D'Angelo last?

D’Angelo lasted about a year or two.  Our first priority was to record the D’Angelo album.  Done on a 4-track with a lot of bouncing down tracks it pretty amazing how well it sounds despite how it was recorded!  But the songs really stand out no matter how well they were recorded.  We only did maybe 1-2 gigs in the life of the band but it’s a very memorable musical time in my life that I’m very, very proud of.

Q. - Did you stay in touch with former members of Now and D'Angelo all over the years?

I am in touch with every member of both of those bands and we are close brothers and dear friends. Some of us are still working together musically and I love each and every one of those guys.

Q. - Do you think it would be possible to do a compilation with all the recordings that you have done in Now or D’Angelo?

I’d love to do a compilation of both those bands but some of the recordings are not quite up to par with today’s digital recordings.  But you never know!  We might be able to pull something together!

Q. - Do you keep an eye to the metal scene of today? What do you think are the main differences between now and back in the day?

I do keep an eye on the metal scene today.  It’s so much different and diverse then when we were doing it.  I have some favourite new and current bands I keep up with like Ghost, Dream Theater, TesseracT, and Starset.  I think today a lot of the bands have a very definitive style and ‘schtick’ that I LOVE! And also the music prowess we came to admire from before the ‘style over substance’ of the ‘80s. I’m really glad to see some of these bands really get it and understand what’s great about music and what you can accomplish. I feel like we had a hand in ushering in the bast of music, what you can do with talent and ability as well as creativity and imagination.  I feel like that’s where we were headed and it’s so good to see bands taking that baton and running with it.

Q. - So what are you doing these days? Do you still play in any band? Tell us a bit about it.

Well, I’m still driven to be creative and write and record music.  I just finished “Weather” by my band Bonstone.  It’s on Spotify and Apple Music. And Bonstone has a new album in the works “Summer Sons”.  Hopefully that’ll be out there within the year!  Also, I have my Heavy Metal band and persona “Lucious Bloodfire”.  We’ve recorded an album and are in the midst of mixing it so watch for it soon!

Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say?

I’m really excited that you know about NOW and D’Angelo, two bands I’m so very proud to have been a part of that I didn’t think got nearly the recognition they deserved.  I’m so glad to see that folks have discovered both bands and we worked so hard to do what we love that it’s just so inspiring to see that this music is being appreciated.  Thank you for acknowledging this music and it does my heart good that you appreciate it!

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!