The Rods to ‘Rock’ out Friday’s Block Party

The Rods, a three-member powerhouse hailing from all points north, south and east, will rock out the 4 Twenty Novelties Stage at the Courthouse Square for this year’s fireworks show on Friday, June 16, in downtown Owego. With over 100 years of collective musicianship and performances that spanned the world, The Rods will bring their sounds of rock and metal for an 8:45 to 9:55 performance.

Members David “Rock” Feinstein, the cousin to the late Ronnie Dio, joins Carl Canedy and Freddy Villano to round out the powerhouse trio.

Canedy, on drums, has a lengthy music career, with a discography that boasts his performances with Thrasher, The Rods (current), and John Hahn, among others, and production collaborations with the likes of Anthrax and Overkill.

Canedy also has a Literacy Project in the works, Tales of a Wild Dog – Memoirs of a Rock Warrior, with a date to be announced. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Electric City Music Conference in 2019.

Villano, with origins nestled in Long Island, N.Y., has forged into what is described as an unlikely career in rock and metal music, and as one of the more reliable bassists amongst a deep scene.

Like many contemporaries, Villano was influenced by the likes of John Paul Jones, Gene Simmons, Geezer Butler, and other 70s heroes, and after a chance run-in with seminal 70s live album, KISS Alive II, Villano’s sights were all but set on a career in rock music.

After bouncing from Lazarus to Redline to Widowmaker, with stops including Quiet Riot, and Dee Snider’s band intertwined along the way, Villano has settled in with veteran outfit, The Rods, who were in need of Villano’s particular brand of 4-stringed help.

Filling a position once ably maneuvered by the likes of Craig Gruber and Steve Starmer, Villano has acclimatized as an elder statesman, all the while proving the much-needed bedrock that allows The Rods to continue on.

When he moved from New York City to Ithaca, N.Y. ten years ago he began getting involved in the local music scene, joining bands like Ten Man Push, and others.

As for the band’s style and genre of music, Villano stated, in an earlier interview, that being weaned on Sabbath and Dio and Maiden certainly helped acclimate to the genre. Having played with great drummers like Joe Franco (Widowmaker), Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot), John Macaluso (Redline), AJ Pero (Dee Snider), etc., certainly set him up for playing with a drummer of Carl Canedy’s caliber. Same with David “Rock” Feinstein.

Villano stated, in an earlier interview, “I have played with many great guitarists throughout my career and I think I know how to listen to what’s going on and approach bass from the perspective of how to best support what someone like ‘Rock’ might play.”

He added, “As a bass player, I mostly try to enhance what’s already going on, particularly in a band like The Rods where Rock and Carl are so identifiable. So, it’s never about me or my bass playing, per se. It’s more about how I honor the history of The Rods and their immense back catalog, as well as the bass players who came before me, all of whom I have great regard for, and complete the picture, simply by making it as powerful as it can be.”

In the Synopsis of Carl Canedy’s upcoming memoirs: Tales of A Wild Dog, it reads, “It was 1980: once adored by the public, disco had run its course and was gasping its final breath. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was beginning to gain momentum abroad. America was quick to follow with its own emerging metal scene and it was clear that musically, something very big was on the horizon. Carl Canedy stood firmly at the forefront of this blossoming movement.

“Carl gave up his role as the first drummer of Manowar to establish (with the legendary David ‘Rock’ Feinstein) the influential Upstate, New York hard rock power trio; The Rods. Carl quickly gained notoriety for his prowess as a drummer, a songwriter, and as a producer.

“The Rods were America’s robust answer to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, sharing the stage with Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ritchie Blackmore, and even a gang of fresh-faced kids that went by the name of Metallica. Through The Rods and his production efforts, Carl helped to usher in a new type of music that took the world by storm and defined a decade. He produced some of the earliest (and now considered iconic) thrash metal albums such as Anthrax’s Fistful of Metal, Spreading the Disease and Armed and Dangerous, Exciter’s.”

The band’s frontman, David “Rock” Feinstein, is a force to be reckoned with in the metal world.

David “Rock” Feinstein started early, he picked up the trumpet at seven years and later drums. When he was 18 years old he was in a band called The Cindells that played a mix of folk and covers of Cream, Rolling Stones and Beatles, even releasing a few singles. The band did however split in 1967 and his cousin, Ronnie Dio asked if Dave (who at the time barely played the guitar) could replace the guitarist in Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. He accepted, and later handled the strings in Electric Elves, Elves and Elf.

An Owego resident, Scott Armstrong, who previously lived in the Valley area of New York and Pennsylvania, heard about the performance of The Rods at this year’s festival and immediately broke out some memorabilia he had on hand.

Performing in 1968 with Crimson Sensation, a band Armstrong, together with Brian Murphy and David Rae formed they opened for Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. Admission was $1. Armstrong, as one of the members of the former Crimson Sensation, heard word that The Rods were coming to Owego and jumped in immediately with sponsorship as Armstrong Music House; a blast into the far past.

There have been other fans, too, that have come forward since the announcement of the performance by The Rods, some with stories, others with photos. Their presence at the festival this year has lit a spark to some of those older albums, and represents a bit of a resurgence of the music scene as many once knew it.

But that’s another story, for a different time.

At one point in his career, Feinstein left music and went into the wilderness, working for a wildlife conservation department in upstate New York and buying himself a cottage free of anything remotely luxurious – such as electricity and running water.

He reemerged, however, and together with Joey Demaio and Carl Canedy a band called David Feinstein’s Thunder was formed, and recorded a track for a Buddy Holly tribute and a single called ‘Midnight Lady’, released under the Dave Feinstein moniker.

While playing live with David Feinstein’s Thunder, Joey Demaio had an unfortunate accident that would eventually halt his time with The Rods. Eventually, Feinstein and Canedy teamed up with bassist Steve Starmer and formed The Rods.

On June 16, Feinstein, Villano, and Canedy will bring the culmination of these talents, years of production, influence, and just plain old hard rock and roll to the 4 Twenty Novelties Stage on Friday Night, and for the Strawberry Festival Block Party. You can catch them from 8:45-9:55 p.m., and prior to the event’s fireworks, sponsored this year by BMillz.