CHARLOTTE, NC Singer / Songwriter / Composer, CLIFTON CASTELLOE writes and records original music for broadcast. His songs have appeared in several feature films and in TV shows on A&E, NBC, The Biography Channel, E! Network, HGTV, and MTV. His original song, "Unbreakable", won Honorable Mention in the Billboard World Song Contest. He currently performs in the award-winning acoustic guitar duo MELONBELLY: www.melonbellymusic.com

Similar Artists

Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams

Influences

REM, U2, Wilco, Big Star, Built to Spill, Elvis Costello

Bio

REAL PASSION AND BRUTAL HONESTY...
can be heard in the songs of Charlotte, North Carolina's modern rock outfit known as CLIFTON. The five-piece band is lead by songwriter Clifton Castelloe who started out scribbling songs on his childhood bedside table in Raleigh, North Carolina. He continued paying his musical dues during a nine year long "few months" in Santa Barbara, California, where he performed with Christian Love (son of Beach Boy Mike Love) and with the popular indie rock trio, Mark Twain. "Living in California really opened me up to some exciting new music and I was able to work with a lot of great people. The experience has given me a perspective that has made the return to my roots in North Carolina very exciting."

The band's rhythm section is driven by the raw Bonhamesque drumming of Thomas Stanfel, whose forearms could serve as models for Popeye cartoonists. Insanely accurate with his fills and meter, Castelloe says "Thom is like a metronome with a deep soul and a huge heart." Stanfel's drumming is reinforced by the intuitive melodic bump of Glenn Gibson's bass. A virtual encyclopedia of music, Gibson's influences range from James Jamerson to Les Claypool. One of two comedians in the band, Gibson does side-splitting impersonations of Homer Simpson and Groucho Marx. The other jokester is Sean Nowak (percussion), whose musical connection with Gibson and Stanfel borders on clairvoyance as they play rhythms tighter than J. Lo's jeans at Thanksgiving. No