Toast Machine

A TOAST FOR TWO: Members of the bass-fronted rock group Toast Machine have a rather bold mission statement: Spread the joy of true rockage across the world and defeat once and for all those who rock falsely. It’s a pretty ballsy statement, but if such a thing is possible, bass player Giovanni “Gio” Benedetti and drummer Brandon “Brando” Warner may just be the boys to do it. It all started back in 1996 when, playing in a now-defunct outfit, they got tired of waiting for the rest of the band to show up for practice and set off on their own. As a result, the bass-driven rocker duo boasts no loop and no vocals, instead opting for the type of primal noise first explored by Primus, RHCP, and Suicidal Tendencies. They’ve taken to the road to tour their recently released album, Rock Wattage, and are not to be missed. Check them out at I.V.’s Caliroll Express on Saturday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m.  — Sarah Hammill - Santa Barbara Independent

...The night concluded with Toast Machine storming the stage. They basically rocked everyone out of the joint. Shockingly enough, they consist solely of drums and bass and they were the loudest act there.

If there are any gods of rock then Toast Machine must certainly be their most devout worshippers. The ringing in the ears they create could last a lifetime, yet every second of hearing damage inflicted was worth it. Rhythmically the instruments played as one, each player pounding in sync like a human metronome - indeed only a handful of people could pull off playing such tight rhythms at high speed and with spot-on accuracy. - Sonoma Index-Tribune

The dudes in this drum and bass duo from Cotati rock. It's all they know how to do and all that they did do during high school, when bass player Giovanni "Gio" Benedetti and drummer Brandon "Brando" Warner spent days on end rocking out in Warner's dad's house. When destiny called and the two were invited to play their first gig, they had to come up with a band name. If you think about it too much, naming a rock band can be the most un-rock task to complete. They went with Toast Machine because of a random memory from their senior retreat that involved eating warm toast in the redwoods, where they tried to bond with people they were about to abandon forever. "We were chosen at birth to fulfill the prophecy as foretold in the 'Books of Rockage,' " they say of what really matters. "It is our lot in this life only to obey the 'Rockage' and to bring about the utter destruction of 'Those Who Rock Falsely.' "

Lineup: Giovanni "Gio" Benedetti, electric five-string bass; Brandon "Brando" Warner, drums.

1. Toast Machine's music should be filed between:

Gio: 20 sticks of dynamite and your dancin' shoes (the actual things, not the bands).

Brando: I just let my iPod take care of filing my music, so Toast Machine falls right between "Tenacious D" and "Tool." I'd say it's a warm and cozy place to be.

2. The soundtrack to what movie would your music best match?

Documentary footage of a volcano blowing up. Note: not erupting, but blowing up.

3. If you could collaborate on a song with any person, living or dead, who would that be?

Chris Isaak. But only if it was a rendition of "Wicked Game" and the deal included a remake of the video, and I (the drummer) was the one who got to roll around the beach with Helena Christensen.

4. If a junior high school asked you to play a cover song at the next talent show, what song and school would you choose?

As homage to our own junior high days, an early '90s medley: The Intro of "Jeremy" (Pearl Jam) going into "Repeater" (Fugazi) for the first verse, merging into "Birdhouse in Your Soul (They Might Be Giants) becoming "Outshined" (Soundgarden) to the chorus of "Unsung" (Helmet), segue to Metallica's black album (the whole thing). Then, to bring it on home, the outro to "Jeremy." End.

5. What is the meaning of life?

Gio: To rock. In whatsoever one is called to do, one must Rock; with truth, with integrity and with love. Such is the way of True Rockage.

Brando: For Toast Machine? To rock harder than anything imaginable. And if you listen to us rock, you might discover what the meaning of life is for yourself. Listen and epiphanies await you ... - SF Chronicle

Poppin' Fresh

Local fans warm up to Toast Machine

By Greg Cahill

When everything is firing on all cylinders onstage, it's the difference between trying to surf and actually being up on the board and having the wave carry you along," says 24-year-old bassist Gio Benedetti who, with drummer Brandon Warner, comprises the local jazz-inflected, punk-funk, bass-and-drum fusion duo known as Toast Machine. "I've gone surfing just a handful of times, so all I know for the most part is the struggle--you're paddling and you're exhausted and you're fighting everything--but there comes that moment when you stand up and it's like, wow!

"When Brandon and I are able to lock in and create that enormous pocket onstage, it's pretty amazing. Playing that music in concert is the most enjoyable thing I do. It brings out an energy in me that is the only time I can find it."

Sonoma County band Toast Machine are part of a small but vibrant movement in modern rock that includes such bass-and-drum duos as the Lightning Bolts from Sacramento and the Rhode Island-based Hella--bands helping to turn rock on its collective ear. "I'm just excited to see people mixing it up with all these different instrumentations while staying in that heavier rock genre," says Benedetti during an interview from his Cotati home. "Strangely enough, I even had an orthodontist hook me up with a tape he had from high school that had a totally kick-ass bass-and-drum duo named Watts Gnu that just ripped it up."

Benedetti, a senior at Sonoma State University's jazz studies program, and the 26-year-old Warner, a Sonoma resident and technician who spends his days at Industrial Light and Magic's special effects department (he worked on The Hulk and Pirates of the Caribbean), didn't start out with the intention of creating a smoking standalone rhythm section. In 1993 the two musicians began playing together with a St. Vincent de Paul High School rock band. "We've been together so long that I feel like we're married," Benedetti says with a laugh.

The duo emerged innocently enough as a way to pass the time while waiting for the other band members to show up at rehearsals.

"It wasn't like we were trying to create a duo--this began as very informal jamming," says Benedetti, whose style has developed into a powerful blend of deep groove-laden thumb-slapping action and melodic bass lines.

It clicked. Three years later, Toast Machine popped up for the first time. Initially, Benedetti was hesitant to take the act onstage, so Toast Machine eased into its status as a full-fledged band by performing casually in the lobby at the Phoenix Theatre. "Because of the style, I figured people would think I was just trying to rip off [Primus bassist] Les Claypool," he says. "I didn't want people to think I was some lame poseur, but it ended up being really cool."

The comparisons to Claypool are inevitable, but Benedetti cites the late jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius as his main influence. "I used to play his stuff at practice, and the Jaco thing really got me thinking melodically," he says. "But we really wanted to rock out and make as big a sound as we could, so a lot of our early stuff has a Tool-like guitar rhythm sound."

In true DIY spirit, Benedetti and Warner have started their own Brother Maynard label, a name coming not as an homage to Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, but from the character in Monty Python's Holy Grail who leads a small prayer before someone blasts a rabbit with the Holy Hand Grenade. A couple of weeks ago, Benedetti and Warner reissued Toast Machine's self-produced eight-track debut CD, The E.P., and they are soliciting other bands for the label.

More recently, the duo have launched a grassroots campaign to get the word out, enlisting an enthusiastic fan base that includes Norwegian web surfers. "The fans have been so supportive," Benedetti says. "We're hoping that if we can keep that momentum going then we should be able to do really cool things without having to go to L.A. and audition for the labels and stuff.

"We want to be able to play for more people and do it on our own." - The Bohemian

...If I had been able to find a drummer at the time, I would have totally started a band like Toast Machine, a bass-and-drum outfit whose wordless, thundering jams recall my early teenage years with spot-on precision. "Funk the World," from the band's 2002 EP, with its "John the Fisherman" -esque bar-chord triplets, hits like a wall of oncoming molasses, both thick and fluid; there's more hammer-ons and fret-tapping than even Bily Sheehan could shake a stick at.
Yet the NORBAY award-winning duo's music isn't exclusively a venue for technical wankery. Once acclimated to Toast Machine's language, it's possible to sort out a mesage from the medium, a structured conversation between bass whiz Gio Benedetti and drum lord Brandon Warner. The band have two reasons to celebrate this Saturday, when they not only unleash a new CD, Rock Wattage, but also have the honor of filling an opening slot for the most innovative jazz piano trio on the touring circuit today, the Bad Plus. - The Bohemian

A CD came across my desk this week from a band called Toast Machine. This is by far one of the most interesting configurations of musicians of any band I’ve ever heard and they create some very interesting tunes. You see, there’s only two of them, Gio Benedetti on bass and Brandon Warner on drums. What, you ask, no guitar? Believe me, these guys don’t need one. The full sound that these two put out is plenty. The CD is called Rock Wattage and you can get it on iTunes now - Sonoma Sun

The duo of Toast Machine has been spreading the gospel of the "Book of Rockage" since 1996, but unlike 90 percent of cults - er, bands - they haven't collapsed within the first 10 years. They're about to explode.

Stephanie Gomez digs it. So does Caitlin Moe. The Oaklandians have been fans since 2003 and 2000, respectively. Lawrence Hood of Petaluma took the bus to RP, got lost, missed his bus home, but wasn't disappointed when he showed up and told his epic tale while Toast Machine played epic background music.

The three were part of the many friends and fans stopping by the Comic Book Box in Rohnert Park Saturday, Nov. 4 for the pre-release party for the Petaluma-based band's latest effort, "Rock Wattage." The band defines "Rock Wattage" as: "A completely organic and renewable energy source - created via extreme and honest rocking - which supplies joy, goodness, euphoria and extreme rockage to those who are exposed to it."

The duo released their first full-length album of drum and bass cacophony Tuesday on their own record label, and will host a CD release show Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma headliners The Bad Plus.

The band would have been larger, but after getting tired of band members to show up at practice, the two decided to do it themselves. But they had no idea that just bass and drums could generate such a strong fan base.

But this is not your ordinary bass and drum combo. The bassist, Giovanni Benedetti, has drawn comparisons to bass virtuoso and Primus front man Les Claypool. He holds a music degree from Sonoma State, teaches music lessons full-time and blows away audiences with the technical skill and memorable riffs created by just his 5-string Modulus bass, his oft-bloodied thumb and fingers and his endless imagination.

The yin to that yang (or is it vice-versa?) is Brandon Warner. The drummer is a digital artist for Industrial Light and Magic during the day, and plays music just for fun. But his rhythmic control and flowing beats combined with the ability to rock harder than diamond when necessary (which is often) suggest otherwise. Though not always as complex as the bass, Warner brings to the table a very solid and necessary accompaniment to odd-timed songs such as "The 7/8th song" and "5's & 6's."

Kathy Bottarini, owner of the Comic Book Box said the store has sold copies of Toast Machine's first CD since 2002, and will sell the new release as well. The store was located in Petaluma until 2005, then it moved to RP's University Square. She said that Benedetti helped her out during the move, and decided to host the pre-release of Toast Machine's new album.

Like an artist would draw a sketch and sign it, Benedetti made riffs based on the fan he was talking to, write it out on music staff paper and sign it. Wedged between comics and action figures, Toast Machine created personalized musical sketches for their loyal fans, a select group invited only by a special email list.

The album itself is a very polished sonic representation of the energy of Toast Machine's live performance. Though it is layered with effects at times, the tunes still remain bouncing around the brain after listening. When asked what he thought of the album now that it was finally finished (the band received the limited press of 2,000 copies the day before), Benedetti said, "I think after hearing this album you'll realize it's been stripped of all intelligence and musical integrity." After seeing the confused looks of the fans in the room, he added that the comment was made sarcastically.

But without a singer or guitarist, will "musical integrity" be enough to carry the band to stardom?

"A bass and drum duo isn't going to be on the next Rolling Stone," he said. "I don't want to stress on it. If people like it, that's cool."

He said Toast Machine won't change its members or its focus to gain popularity. The album has been nearly two years in the making, and being recorded at "The Frickin' Frackin' Barn" in Petaluma, mixed at The Landmark in Studio 334 in London, and mastered at The Plant in Sausalito it has finally become a reality.

The CDs are five bucks and are available at the Comic Book Box or at ToastMachine.com.

As it is written in the "Book of Rockage" (AKA Toast Machine's press release): "They shall come during the dark times; a time when music is seen not as the vehicle for rockage and infinite love, but as a slave, to be bought and sold and used. The honest might of They Who Shall Rock will purge the land of those who rock falsely, and restore honor and rockage to our most hallowed Music." - The Community Voice

Gio Benedetti and Brandon Warner spent one year fine-tuning their music in a remote barn west of Petaluma for "Rock Wattage," their first CD.

Fans of Toast Machine can celebrate the accomplishment at a concert doubling as a CD release party Saturday at the Phoenix Theater.

They'll open for The Bad Plus, a Midwest-based jazz trio known for its unorthodox covers of rock songs .

Benedetti and Warner have collaborated musically since they were teenagers attending St. Vincent de Paul High School, but as adults, their aspirations go beyond merely getting a powerful rock sound going.

Their primary mission has been to have fun, with Warner raging on the drum set with arms flying and Benedetti lost in his outrageous and original bass riffs. Until now, they've mainly entertained their followers at the Phoenix and other area teen centers.

Benedetti, 26, and Warner, 29, are gearing up for their first mini-tour, with performances stretching from Portland, Ore., to Santa Barbara.

Benedetti, who studied music at Sonoma State University, teaches bass privately to students, and Warner works as a digital artist for LucasFilm in San Francisco.

In addition to teaching at Zone Music and in Sebastopol, Benedetti runs the Phoenix School of Music, which offers twice-a-month jam session opportunities to aspiring musicians.

The Phoenix figured prominently in their musical development as they moved from teens hanging out there to musicians on stage. Both have played in other bands and say they formed Toast Machine 10 years ago because they were tired of waiting for band members to show up for rehearsals.

The popular teen hall is where Toast Machine is most comfortable performing, with the two onstage making music that sounds like it' s emanating from a much larger band. They say they' re happy with the sound Toast Machine achieves without other instruments.

They recorded "Rock Wattage" in a barn owned by Benedetti's grandparents.

They hope the CD will serve as a musical calling card showcasing their technical and creative skills. They'll use the CD, containing original compositions, to promote their music to club bookers and have it available for Toast Machine fans.

"Musically, we're in sync because of the length of time we've played together. We want the effect to be the same. We want it to be the most rocking it can be," said Benedetti.

They cite the bands Green Day, Metallica, Primus and Suicidal Tendencies as influences on their sound.

Warner, who moved recently from Sonoma to San Francisco, and Benedetti, who lives with his new wife in Sebastopol, convene weekly for an intensive rehearsal in a creative oasis they created with friends in a Sonoma industrial park.

The warehouse space has a nondescript exterior, but the inside is colorful, with orange and gold painted walls, a Japanese screen and bright artwork. The rooms are crammed with an assortment of recording equipment, amplifiers, guitars and drum sets.

Toast Machine shares the space with other musicians and artists, but once a week it's just the two of them rehearsing.

In a low-ceilinged room with acoustic absorption, their music is so loud, objects vibrate, and Warner and Benedetti wear earplugs to slightly offset the volume.

The duo selected the name Toast Machine based on Benedetti's memories from a senior retreat he took in high school.

He and his classmates were eating breakfast in the dining hall when a student came back to the table with his plate piled with seven pieces of toast. He said it had come from the "toast machine."

Benedetti filed the phrase in his memory, and it emerged when he and Warner brainstormed for band names. - Press Democrat

Unusual rock duo gains popularity with teen crowd

Paul Liberatore, IJ senior feature writer

YOU CAN MAKE a game out of naming all the rock duos in pop music history. There's the White Stripes, Simon and Garfunkel, Sonny and Cher, fill in the blank. But who can come up with a duo with no singer, no guitar, no keyboards, nothing but bass and drums? No one, probably, except for fans of Toast Machine, an unusual North Bay duo consisting of 24-year-old bassist Gio Benedetti and 26-year-old drummer Brandon Warner.

Despite their minimalist instrumentation, or perhaps because of it, they've become a big draw in Sonoma County, filling the 700-capacity Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma with Sonoma and Marin teenagers whenever they play.

"They keep their audience plugged in from start to finish," says Phoenix general manager Tom Gaffey. "Their musicianship is exceptional. When you see them live it's like, Wow!"

But what is it about the stripped-down sound of bass and drums that appeals to kids used to rap crews and slick pop stars? Benedetti laughs at the question because he's as surprised by Toast Machine's success as anyone.

"The most important thing they connect to is the live performances," he explains. "They're incredible for Brandon and me. And I think that other people can see how much fun we're having and the more they are involved in that, the more powerful the experience is. That's how we've built our fan base. People tell their friends, and the next time more of them show up. It's been amazing to watch that happen."

Benedetti from Sonoma and Warner from San Anselmo began playing together eight years ago, when they were in a punk band at St. Vincent High School in Petaluma. They'd jam while waiting for the rest of the group to show up at rehearsal. Pretty soon, they began to wonder if they needed the rest of the band at all, but they were reluctant to perform for anyone but themselves. Eventually, though, they agreed to break the ice at a school talent show.

"I was really hesitant to have Toast Machine play live because it was such an unusual format," Benedetti says. "When there are only two of you, there's a lot of attention on you. And as far as style goes, it's kind of a show-off kind of thing, and I didn't want it to be like that, going up there and trying to impress people. But these were the sounds that Brandon and I were making. And we got such a great response playing in front of our friends that it gave us the confidence to introduce our music to other people."

Since then, they have resisted the temptation to add other musicians to the mix. They are not a rhythm section in search of a band.

"For the first three years, without fail, someone at the end of the night would come up to us and say, 'That was awesome, I play guitar, or I sing, and you guys need me,''" Benedetti says. "They really liked us, but they felt something else was needed. But that has dropped off as we've become more established. They say, 'Oh, that's just Toast Machine.'"

Benedetti's funky, thumb-popping bass style has drawn comparisons to the Sonoma County star Les Claypool, the bassist and founder of Primus. He also admires the late Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius and Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player.

"Flea and Les (Claypool) and people of my generation stood up and said, 'Not only can the bass be a lead instrument, but it can be a lead instrument and it doesn't have to be jazz or fusion. It can be rock,'" he says. "They opened huge doors for anybody playing bass right now."

Benedetti, who began taking bass lessons when he was 12, is a senior at Sonoma State University, where he's majoring in jazz studies. He plans to go to graduate school with the goal of becoming a college music professor and composer. Warner's day job is at Industrial Light & Magic in San Rafael, where he works as a technician in the special effects department.

They have formed their own Brother Maynard Records and put out their first CD, "The EP," that they sell at their concerts for $1. As ambitious young musicians, they are looking to get involved in other musical projects, but not at the expense of Toast Machine.

They have a special chemistry that would be hard for them to duplicate with anyone else, they say. Plus, playing as a rock duo has other advantages.

"Toast Machine's music is really unique to Brandon and me," Benedetti says. "Since we've gotten such a good response, we've really tried to keep it small. And you'd be amazed at how easy it is to get rehearsals together when there's only two of you."

- Marin Independent Journal

When Brandon Warner and Giovanni Benedetti got tired of waiting for other band members to show up at rehearsal, they decided to form their own band. Warner, drums, and Benedetti, bass, would spend time before and after rehearsal jamming together. They had so much fun, they decided to leave the old band and form Toast Machine.

Eight years later, they are a local sensation.

Drums and bass are typically the rhythm of music. This makes for a very different sound. Some have called these instruments the "heartbeat," not only keeping time, but also grounding the music.

"Their impressive live shows and groovy, rockin' tunes continue to attract all manner of fans," said Kingston Cole, longtime fan and good friend from high school.

"There's no singer to follow, so you follow the sound of the bass. It's a heavier, more interesting sound. Kids at the show usually end up just staring at them, watching the magic of Gio's fingers as they race at a hundred miles an hour over his bass. They are both amazing musicians."

Warner, 26, and Benedetti, 24, went to St. Vincent's High School together. Their first appearance as Toast Machine was at the high school.

"Our first show ever was a talent show. We were last. I remember them being concerned that it was going to be too loud, which it was. But it was so rockin', that it just didn't matter. We said 'yeah, sure we'll play quietly,'" said Benedetti and Warner.

When the band started, "we just rehearsed. We would just jam our stuff for like two years before we even played the talent show, because in my mind it wasn't even something that we could play in front of people. We were just doing it for fun," said Benedetti.

"We were doing it enough, and we were getting pretty excited about it, and we were actually putting songs together. But I was still pretty freaked out. I didn't really want to play in front of people because I wasn't totally confident in my playing. It's always scary when you create something and you put it out there, because people can make fun of it. And I didn't want that to happen."

According to Benedetti, their favorite part of playing is the energy.

"I guess the cool thing about it is that it doesn't come from wanting to be in a band and play in front of people. It just comes from wanting to play, and we ended up playing in front of people, and that made it more fun, more energy. I think that's why the shows are so much fun -- because it's what we would be doing on a Friday night anyway," said Benedetti.

The band has a big show coming up, the "show of all shows," at their favorite place to play, the Phoenix Theater. The Phoenix has "the best setup, the best kids. We get a lot of support there, it's really cool," they said.

When asked why people should go to this show, Benedetti said, "It would probably be the most enjoyable show that they would go to, up until this point in their life. Because if they go to this show, then they'll continue to go to Toast Machine shows, and each one will progressively be more enjoyable.

"That's tongue in cheek, but honestly, the shows are a really amazing experience. A lot of times you'll go and see a show, and the people up there are playing for different reasons. You can tell the guitar player is playing because he thinks he's really cool, and he's trying to hit on the two girls that are standing right over there, and you can see that and you'll be like, 'dude, just play your guitar,' and it totally affects the music that comes out. Toast Machine shows are just really fun. Also if you come, and you don't like Toast Machine, there are other really good bands playing." - Argus Courier