GINAHATESJOHNNY

"Rock meets electro, meets pop, meets dance, meets everything else."

This is how John Andosca of GINAHATESJOHNNY describes the electro-rock duo's music. John, along with singer and co-writer Gina Fontana, formed GINAHATESJOHNNY when musical sparks ignited between the two of them. What insued was a musical marriage of Gina's dance-like, electronic-infused, Euro-pop sentiments and John's rock, top 40, and classical ideals. Gina describes, "We were so surprised at how well our styles blended together. There's no real formula to it, we just do what we both like. Sometimes I have to pull John away from the the rock side when he goes too far and other times he challenges me to try on something I never thought I would sing. Somehow it works out."

GINAHATESJOHNNY finds influences from virtually every era of popular music in the past 50 years. "We have Used to It which kind of has a Rolling Stones feel to it, especially how the vocals are. There's Hitman...that's like a hybrid of the modern-day Lady Gaga sound fused with this 80s sort of throwback deal. We have other songs that have elements of disco, classical, and good old-fashioned rock n roll. It's very freeing to not have any rules and just go where the music takes us." says John, who serves as music director and producer for the duo. He adds, "She'd never tell you this but one thing I think is crazy is that Gina can be so vocally versatile. I mean, I really try and challenge her with stuff I'm not sure if she can pull off but she amazes me every time."

If anyone were to take a look at the home movies of Gina as a little girl, they'd see an entertainer that was dying to get out. For a 2 year old, she offered an amazingly coherent vocal styling of "Na na na na, hey hey hey kiss him goodbye" and would hold Michael Jackson dance parties with her friends. As she grew up her interests broadened and when she wasn't tearing it up on the softball field or striving for perfection in her latest art project, she took refuge from her admittedly-awkward teenage years in her poetry writing. Even with this outlet driven by prose and pen, the high school version of Gina had no idea of what was in store for her, "I just thought I'd go to college, get a degree and get a job like you're supposed to. Lucky for me, John screwed that all up." (laughs)

When Gina met John in college, they spent the better part of two years as friendly acquaintances until a chance conversation sent them off on their muscial journey. They soon began working together as John produced a Holiday album with the Delta Delta Delta sorority (of which Gina was a member) with proceeds going to St. Jude Children's Hospital. When that project was completed they were free to work on music together. After experimenting with a variety of musical sketches they suddenly found themselves in this elecro-rock fusion.

Gina describes, "Usually our songs start with some lyrics I wrote, then John takes them and somehow fits them to some music and we have a song. I think we slowly fell into our sound by just finding different ideas to explore, me with words and John with music."

Upon plundering through piles and piles of cassette tapes littered with musical ideas, fragments, and a 12-year old's attempts at covering his favorite KISS songs, John realizes how much music has been a companion for him in his life. "You always hear those stories of people saying, while all the other kids were out doing that, I was doing this. For me that's actually true. I would lock myself in my parents' basement for days on end making these recordings." Writing his own songs since the age of 12, John wrote many different types of tunes in many different styles, trying to find his own musical identity. "I have songs that were influenced by the Beatles and Kiss, which is obvious for me, but then I have other ones that sound like Megadeth, Paul Simon, and even Usher. I would try to learn how to craft a song by emulating as many different styles as I could."

Though they took different paths, all roads for Gina and John have led to GINAHATESJOHNNY. With their first single "Hitman" being recently released on iTunes and their music video premiering online, they are very hands on with every aspect of their music. From Gina doing her own styling and makeup for photoshoots, to John directing their videos and designing their website, they remain hopeful that their music can strike a chord with people. "Its such a good feeling when someone says hey I really like your song, or they say that totally describes my life right now. That's the stuff that matters most to us." says Gina.