Bands
4Front
Instrumental progressive rock. Band members Zak Rizvi (guitar), Frank LaPlaca (bass), and Joe Bergamini (drums) originally teamed up to record Joe’s solo album Arrival in 1996. Sensing an immediate chemistry, 4Front was formed, and the band released three critically-acclaimed progressive rock albums: 1998’s Gravity, 2002’s Radio Waves Goodbye, and 2012’s Malice in Wonderland. These albums are available in both physical and digital format.
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/4front/186415366
Physical CDs: Joe’s Online Store
4Front has performed select tour dates in support of their records, including several shows as opening act for groups such as Kansas, Marillion, and Saga. Joe performs 4Front material at nearly every one of his drum clinics and festival appearances.
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Happy the Man
Joe joined the legendary progressive rock group Happy the Man in 2004, and recorded their long-awaited reunion album The Muse Awakens (originally released by InsideOut Music, 2005). The band recently acquired the rights to this album, and will be selling it directly on their website, so please check it out:
Happy the Man was founded in the early 1970s, and recorded 2 seminal progressive rock albums: Happy the Man and Crafty Hands, both of which were produced by Ken Scott and released on Arista Records. These albums became classics in the art rock world, and obtained the band enough notoriety that Peter Gabriel even auditioned Happy the Man to become his new backup group when he left Genesis. The band recorded several more albums before disbanding.
When the band reunited for the first time in the early 2000s, original members Frank Wyatt (keyboards and woodwinds), Stanley Whitaker (guitars and vocals), and Rick Kennell (bass) were joined by Crafty Hands drummer Ron Riddle and new member David Rosenthal replacing the legendary Kit Watkins on keyboards. During preproduction for The Muse Awakens, Riddle bowed out, paving the way for Bergamini to join the band on drums. Happy the Man played select tour dates in the United States in 2005 in support of the reunion album.
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Eternal Vision
Eternal Vision was a New Jersey-based hard rock/metal band with influences ranging from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Stanley Clarke, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rush, Pantera, Pearl Jam, and others. Fronted by the visionary, sometimes hallucinogenic lyrics and vocals of Jim Spinella, the band featured Patrick Bitbol on guitar, Frank LaPlaca on bass, and Joe Bergamini on drums. Bergamini and LaPlaca went on to play together in 4Front.
Currently, Eternal Vision’s 1993 album Last Century Shock, which was recorded live at CBGB in New York City, and 1992’s EP Earth Bone are available through Apple Music. Both reissues feature bonus material.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/earth-bone/483181343
https://music.apple.com/us/album/one-bullet-one-solution/481127166