Marc Bonilla has enjoyed a musical career unlike anyone else. Based out of Los Angeles, he initially made a name for himself, playing guitar with Toy Matinee, Edgar Winter, and Ronnie Montrose, before graduating to solo work. In the early 90s, he released EE Ticket and American Matador. Both were predominantly guitar instrumental albums, with vocal contributions from friends like Kevin Gilbert and Glenn Hughes, as well as himself. Film and TV work kept him busy. Then he met Keith Emerson and Terje Mikkelsen, and his musical palette widened beyond measure. Bonilla’s first solo effort in over 25 years, Celluloid Debris is the culmination of the guitarist’s growth as a musician, player, orchestrator and composer.
To call Celluloid Debris an instrumental guitar album is a gross mischaracterization. It is more of a delectable collage of sound with guitar as its nougat center. At the same time, the record overflows with emotion and sentiment as Bonilla weaves allegories around sonic pinnacles, defiant and congruently sublime in the same cycle. That’s why the opening salvo of “Alpha Male” melts so easily into the pastoral expanse of “Westwood.” Once, you wipe off the dirt from “Fleshwound,” you begin to appreciate the record’s balance of bursts and bouquets. Meanwhile, covers of Stephen Stills’ “4 +20” and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme’s “Sailor” allow Bonilla to layer, orchestrate, and mold a range of guitar lines into the recognizable melodies of each.
~Junkman Radio Interviews Marc Bonilla~
After the dust settles around the tactile assure of “Prisoner,” Bonilla gets down to business with the epic two-part “The Eruption Of John Minimum.” He gets in his one and only vocal before pointing the spotlight on Keith Emerson’s 22-second Hammond solo that ominously falls off into the piece’s second part. Here’s where Bonilla builds a dense wall of musical tension around one man’s boiling point. It’s enough to make anyone shutter with wonder and curiosity. Certainly by the end, you’re left with a hanging feeling, like there’s more to come.
“Arclight” lets Bonilla climb the scales before settling down for a restful night on “The Long Awakening” and, by extension, Johnny Cowell’s “Our Winter Love,” a song the guitarist cherishes from his childhood. The melodic swings of Celluloid Debris offer an unparalleled view of one man’s quest for aural diversity. Steadily supported by a crack cast of players, including drummers Troy Lucketta (Tesla), Joe Travers (Zappa Plays Zappa), and Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr), bassists Mick Mahan and Bob Birch, keyboardists Steve Porcaro (Toto) and Phillipe Saisse, and brother Tom on percussion, Celluloid Debris was eloquently mixed, meticulously engineered, and magnificently co-produced with Bonilla by Ryan Greene. Throw in Balance of Power, a new book, and 2019 is seemingly the year Marc Bonilla is tapping into a creative wellspring and sharing it with the world. It all can be yours by visiting marcbonillamusic.com.
~ Shawn Perry
