Count Dante

"Are you ready to rumble?  Mullet-rockin', black-belt sportin', kung-fu punk
Count Dante returns to San Francisco after a lengthy, endurance-testing
jaunt across Europe with those Incredibly Strange Wrestling dudes.
The local grasshoppa' seeks to inspire those whom good fortune seems to
perpetually pass over with another one of his trademark jung-fu/rock'n' roll
success seminars, a mojo-heavy, late-night infomercial and motivational
speaker-inspired thrash-fest.  Think Tony Robbins meets the Dead Kennedys
and you've almost got it.  Read more at www.count-dante.com."

9pm Friday night at the Red Devil Lounge, 1695 Polk St., San Francisco. Call
(415) 921-1695 or visit www.reddevillounge.com.


- San Francisco Examiner, 2004

Here's the mental picture for you: take Chris Farley's "motivational speaker" character from SNL, crossbreed him with Farley's Beverley Hills Ninja kung-fu cretin, then train him at the Deadbolt College for Greaser Comedians. You also have to make him 6-feet-4-inches tall and nearly 300 pounds and imagine he fronts a trash-rock band that plays songs about Wonderbras and speedqueens betwixt mini success seminars for aspiring rock 'n' rollers. Yes: while it may seem like too much for one man, Count Dante is indeed all that. Assisted by the Black Dragon Fighting Society, this announcer and grappler for Incredibly Strange Wrestling will teach you his own unique methods of self-empowerment. Let your ass be kicked. And, oh yeah, the Automatics album, Murder/Suicide, is an absolute knockout, too. (JG) - WILLAMETTE WEEK (Portland, OR)

San Francisco-based bellower Count Dante, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound blob of sweaty sequined fury, is a force to be reckoned with. Dante’s carrying on the great rock/wrestling tradition of The Crusher with his "Kung Fu Rock & Roll Success Seminar" presentation, which features the corpulent grappler roaring out a blend of twisted motivational palaver and thrash-and-trash hard-rock originals that feature such engaging titles as "Beware the Wonder Bra" and "Deadliest Man Alive." With the equally beefy Black Dragon Fighting Society band wreaking musical havoc, it's a recipe for sublime disaster, and while it is rather traitorous to ballyhoo a performer involved with the Frisco troupe of turkey necks who flat-out hijacked beloved local madman Johnny Legends’ "Incredibly Strange Wrestling" concept and format, the degree of bizarro behavior Dante deals in justifies the lapse. (Jonny Whiteside) - LA WEEKLY

San Francisco's Counte Dante and the Black Dragon Fighting Society have been kickin' ass --literally. Anyone that has seen Incredibly Strange Wrestling has seen this man's wrestling tactics or you've seen him announcing the shots, blow by blow from ringside. You don't hear much heckling in the crowd when Count Dante appears standing at 6'4" and weighing in at nearly 3 bills.The new album called The Deadliest Man Alive is a blistering attack of force that can't be overlooked. Their sound is straight up, no nonsense rock and roll but yet it has the cutting edge punk attitude. Count Dante fronts the band but is also known to step in the ring and put his opponents into submission while they beg for mercy. One thing about this band is that they know how to put on one hell of a show. You are guaranteed to see action and not another shoe gazing band. Counte Dante is the vocalist-bassist of the group and is backed up by Andy "The Beast" Davis on guitar and Ed "Zen Machine" Faine on drums. Count Dante and the Black Dragon Fighting Society has conquered the San Francisco club circuit and now they're ready to move on to the rest of the world.
- ZERO MAGAZINE (SAN JOSE, CA)