Hello, hello! Glad you came back for more my brodel & slinky friends! A new week starts and the spotlight takes aim at a new excitable! It’s time to learn all about bearded brodel Anthony Colenzo!
Turning 13 is a big time in a persons life. You officially become a teenager and progress into young adulthood. It was at this age that Anthony became a 311 fanatic. “Use of Time was playing and it was the first time a guitar solo really took me for a ride. I felt what 311’s music was giving off.” His love for the band was really sealed when at 15 he was moved from Florida back to a town he had no recollection of in upstate New York. “It was tough on me and 311 became my outlet.” Anthony said that no matter where he went, 311 was in his CD player. “What drew me to the sweet elixir of 311 was they just had everything I wanted in music to be honest. The hard chugs, funky bass lines, catchy sing alongs and some feel good reggae, on one album. It was nice not having to change the CD in my CD player. Ever.”
As far as number of shows for Anthony, he said he believes he hit the “double nickel” this summer at the Pier 97 show in NYC (that’s 55 for any older folk out there like me, who aren’t hip with the lingo haha). Of those shows, I forced him to choose just one that was his favorite. “Hard and weighted question but 311 Day 08 has to be my favorite. A setlist binge, I was seriously mainlining 311 for the first time after going to so many shows before that. After that I said I was never missing another 311 Day. Ever.”
Favorite song? Anthony said they all are, each and every one. They all have some sort of special meaning to him in one way or another. “It’s a real glitch trying to figure out what song means the most to me. I’ll listen to the whole discography and disappear for a while.” Anthony even has difficulty naming favorite lyrics because there are so many that he loves. “SA is the dopest dude ever and Nick just makes magic happen. When they harmonize is when it’s on. For a while I wanted ‘Trust your instincts and let go of regret’ tattooed on me but that hasn’t happened…yet! ‘I believe we came from the same cloud, two drops in the ocean’ because my lovely queen has that tattooed on her. The list goes on!”
Anthony was born in Utica, N.Y. but raised until the age of 15 in South Florida. He was 10 years old when he really got into the skater/punk lifestyle and it was during this time that he was fully introduced to 311 when they released the Blue album. Anthony still resides in Utica and he likes to rep his roots. “What makes me, me, is my city here in Upstate NY. We’re all a bunch of rockstars not on tour, except some of us who rock out all summer long and turn up the heat in the winter! 311 reps their hometown, so I do the same. I have a whole leg tattoo sleeve of Utica and my father who is a hometown great in Utica. We have our own beer and we drink it proudly, Utica Club is our own Golden Trophy.” Anthony is an Agronomer by day (a groundskeeper) and a supervisor for a private security company by night. He also says he picks up odd jobs when he doesn’t have security gigs. “Security is my 311 fund I guess we’ll say, because one job is for the bills and one’s for play and other bills.”
If you know Anthony, or have looked at his picture above, you can see that he has one hell of a beard and he says it’s one thing that makes him pretty unique. “I can grow a great beard! I hear it’s a guideline for prospering beards.” He’s also really good at Scrabble and was in a Pepsi commercial with Mike Piazza back in 1998!
Guilty pleasures of his include Paramore and The Cranberries. “Something about those ladies rocking a stage.” For T.V. it’s any cartoons, but particularly Looney Toons. He also loves all of the Toy Story movies. One thing he listed as a guilty pleasure, which honestly is more cool than anything, is that he recently picked up engraving as a hobby. “So I can make some neat fan made trinkets for some of my friends made through this 311 Nation.”
311 is his number one band to listen to, but who are number two & three? “Before 311 it was Lagwagon. Still on my bucket list to see them.” He also is really in to Meshuggah, “I just can’t get enough, they are soooo good. I saw them at the HOB in Boston before the cruise in 2013.” Recently he started getting into instrumentals like this band El Ten Eleven. “They’re just awesome.”
It’s obvious that 311 impacted Anthony in a positive way like so many of us, so to the band he would like to express his gratitude by saying, “I’m happy I’m awake during this time period and I didn’t miss this incredible journey, thank you.”
As for all of you, excitable nation:
“To think you’ve only had your best day so far can be endless in positive thought. The world needs more people like us and we should keep this scene alive. Always remember, you’re awesome.”
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Fantastic ending words Anthony! So I’ll simply give my thanks for reading again my friends. Keep on livin’ & rockin’ the positivity!
Much love – The Runt