Johnny Bacolas
Johnny Bacolas born March 3, 1969, in Seattle, Washington, is a composer, musician, producer, music video director, and videographer. He is best known for his work with the post-grunge band Second Coming. He was also a founding member of the band Sleze, which was later renamed Alice N' Chains, The Crying Spell, Lotus Crush. and .
Early life
Johnny Bacolas is a first-generation American born to Greek parents in Seattle, Washington. His father was a restaurateur, and leased jukeboxes that played in his cocktail lounges. The jukeboxes played 45 RMP vinyl records, which he rotated from month to month. Bacolas approached music through these records that his father brought home whenever he changed the jukeboxes. His earliest influences were The Beatles, Elton John, and old Motown. Some of his later influences were hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden; he was also influenced by Greek music and house music. As a child and teen, he spent the majority of his summers in Greece. Bacolas met his future bandmate James Bergstrom when they were both five years old on their first day of kindergarten. He then began playing the electric guitar at the age of 12.Musical career
Sleze and Alice N' Chains (1984–1987)
In 1984, Bacolas started a garage band called Sleze along with James Bergstrom and two other Shorewood High students, Zoli Semanate and Byron Hansen. At the suggestion of Bergstrom's friend Ken Elmer, they recruited Elmer's stepbrother Layne Staley, who back then also went by the surname Elmer, as vocalist. In 1985, Sleze began performing live at various high schools with Bacolas on guitar. They mostly played Slayer and Armored Saint covers. Sleze went through several lineup changes before they eventually changed their name to Alice N' Chains. At one point, Bacolas briefly left the group to jam with another band called Ascendant, where he took up playing bass guitar. By the time he rejoined Sleze, the band had already written what would eventually be recorded on the two demos they put out under the moniker Alice N' Chains. The group continued to tour throughout the Seattle area before they broke up around 1987, which was the year that Bacolas graduated from Shorewood High.A few months after Alice N' Chains broke up, Layne Staley joined the glam metal band that eventually took the name Alice in Chains, which Bacolas later claimed was the name that the two of them along with the other members of Sleze had initially flirted with. Throughout the rest of his career, Staley continued to stay in touch with Bacolas and the two of them shared an apartment during the mid-1990s.
Second Coming (1991–2008)
Meanwhile, Bacolas continued working with James Bergstrom in another band called Second Coming.In 1994, they independently released their debut album L.O.V.Evil, which features a guest appearance by Layne Staley on the track "It's Coming After". In 1996 Bacolas and Bergstrom replaced the vocalist/guitarist of the group. In the subsequent months, the new members of Second Coming wrote, produced, and financed an 8-song demo. The band performed cover songs on the outskirts of Seattle under the moniker, F.T.A. to finance the demo. Once the recording was finished, the band dropped their cover act, and began performing solely as Second Coming. The band subsequently generated a massive buzz in the Seattle area performing their original songs. On May 9, 1998, Second Coming signed an exclusive recording agreement with Capitol Records Inc. and released their eponymous second album Second Coming. Second Coming had three singles chart in Billboard's active-rock chart. The band had one of its songs "The Unknown Rider" featured in the 1999 blockbuster Bruce Willis film The Sixth Sense. The band toured extensively throughout the US supporting and performing with acts such as Van Halen, Candlebox, Monster Magnet, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Fuel, Sponge, Sammy Hagar, and The Goo Goo Dolls.
The band split from Capitol Records in 2002 after the departure of Gary Gersh, the president who signed them to the label. Following the split, they independently released an EP titled Acoustic and third studio album 13. Second Coming were purportedly working on a fourth album that was due to be released in 2007, however, the band has since broken up.
Other projects (2009–2014)
From 2004–2007, Bacolas focused on his production skills by apprenticing as a producer and audio engineer for multi-platinum producer/engineer Kelly Gray. During this time, in 2006, Bacolas helped start another band called The Crying Spell, which played "Man in the Box" with Live vocalist Ed Kowalczyk at the 2009 Layne Staley Tribute Concert.In early 2008, Bacolas partnered with electronica producer, Andrea Martini to produce Trance and House remixes, primarily of songs he had prior song-writing and/or production involvement with.
Also in 2008, Bacolas is credited for co-producing a track titled, "The Great Big Sleep" for Clive Barker's 2008 horror film, The Midnight Meat Train.
Bacolas left The Crying Spell early in 2010 to focus on his songwriting, music and video productions, and other endeavors with other recording artists. He started his production company, Johnny Bacolas Productions, in January 2010.
In 2010 Bacolas performed several shows as the bassist for the group Lotus Crush. The group features vocalist Terry McDermott, who was made famous on the third season of NBC's The Voice as the 2nd runner-up. Lotus Crush also features guitarist Peter Klett and drummer Scott Mercado from the multi-platinum group Candlebox.
In December 2011, Bacolas for the Greek classic 'To Agalma' of which he produced and engineered the music and co-directed and produced the video. The song was originally recorded in the late sixties by Greek singer Giannis Poulopoulos and written by the highly respected songwriters, Lefteris Papadopoulos & Mimis Plessas. Bacolas is also credited as the bassist and keyboardist on the track. The project was an international collaboration, featuring several artists from Bacolas' hometown of Seattle, and well as well-known Greek vocalist Giorgos Sarris from Athens, Greece, and guitarist Josh Sulfaro, from Los Angeles, CA. To film the shots of vocalist, Giorgos Sarris in Athens, Greece, Bacolas partnered-up with Greek director Sherif francis.
In June 2011, Bacolas produced a track titled "Ophelia" by the Alexandroupolis, Greece-based group, INK. Bacolas makes a cameo appearance in the official music video.
In May 2012, Bacolas produced and released a remake of George Michael's Careless Whisper with X-Factor USA contestant Tiger Budbill.
The Rumba Kings
In June 2015, Bacolas formed the Latin & Mediterranean inspired group, The Rumba Kings, with Romany-Gypsy guitarist/songwriter, George Stevens. Bacolas and Stevens began recording The Rumba King's debut double-disc CD titled, "The Instrumental and Vocal Sessions, Vol I." Johnny Bacolas produced and engineered the record, as well as being a primary songwriter. Recording of the music took place in Lakeview Studio in Kirkland, WA., Northside Studio in Athens, Greece, Sofita Studio in Athens, Greece, and Robert Lang Studio in Shoreline, WA. Recording was completed in January 2018, with a release date schedule for February 17, 2018. The Rumba Kings began performing live in the greater Seattle area beginning in April 2016 to present day.Personal life
Bacolas has admitted to using cannabis back in the mid-1990s. In August 2006, he checked into a holistic treatment center in Malibu, California to address his on-off addiction to the prescription drug Xanax, which had initially been prescribed to help him cope with his anxiety from constant anonymous homosexual encounters. James Bergstrom and another friend drove Bacolas all the way from Seattle to Malibu, which took them approximately two days, where he then checked-in for a 30-day treatment program.Discography
;Second Coming| Year | Album details |
| 1994 | L.O.V.Evil
|
| 1998 | Second Coming |
| 2002 | Acoustic |
| 2003 | 13 |
| Year | Album details |
| 2007 | Here with Me Now
|
| Year | Album details |
| 2008 | Through Hell to Heaven
|
| Year | Album details |
| 2011 | Half Light Morning
|
| Year | Album details |
| 2012 | Warm August Day
|
| 2012 | Higher Place |
| 2012 | Garden Stone |
| Year | Album details |
| 2011 | To Agalma
|
| 2012 | The Sin |
| Year | Album details |
| 2012 | Careless Whisper
|