John ‘JC’ Caputo was born in the southeastern suburb of Moorabbin in Melbourne, Australia. John was born into a musical family with his father Mario being a drummer and at only four years old John took a keen interest in the drums and began banging on his mum’s pots and pans. John showed great rhythm and timing even from this tender age and loved to go in the studio and watch his father play.
As John grew older he began learning how to read music and the basic fundamentals of drumming. From this moment John never looked back and drumming quickly became an integral part of his life. John started his formal drum tuition in 1992 at the age of 11 and continued studying drums for many years with lots of different amazing drummers such as Justin Humphries, Sam Aliano, Alex Deegan and Andrew Gander just to name a few.
John started gaining valuable stage experience when he started going to his father’s gigs where he would jump on stage with no fear and play some songs as if he had being doing it for years. Several years went by and in 1996 at the age of 15 John took over from his father and became a member of the band rather than a guest performer.
Things started happening for this drumming prodigy and in 1998/99 John was asked to perform at Australia’s biggest drum festival……….TUDW (The Ultimate Drummer’s Weekend). He was asked to take part in the Drumtek ensemble, which was conducted by Robi Corelli. It was in1999 though when John was given the chance to shine having 1 of only 4 main parts playing kit. It was here at TUDW that people from all over started to stand up and take notice.
Through out the years 1999 – 2004 John focused on his playing. He spent countless hours working on technique, finesse, groove and timing. Improvement was inevitable and this was evident when in three separate years (2002, 2003 & 2005) John was accredited with a national top 10 spot in Australia’s Best Up and Coming Drummer Competition. Between practice and comps John was gigging regularly with cover bands around Melbourne as well as original acts and his own projects.
In September 2004 John was called up by James Ryan (Australia’s Got Talent, Singing Bee, Men At Work, Vanessa Amorosi etc) and asked if he could do a mini tour of the Solomon Island’s with James’s original outfit ‘Crash City’. This was a great opportunity and proved to be a stepping-stone into the Australian music scene and a pivotal time in John’s career. In October 2004 John was spotted at that very same gig in the Solomon Island’s by Australian rock legends The Choirboys. They had an upcoming tour of the Middle East and their drummer Paul Wheeler (Spy Vs Spy, Lotel, Brian Cadd, Adam Brand etc) couldn’t go so they called upon John to fill his shoes. It was an amazing experience for John playing 12 shows in fourteen days in front of thousands of Australian/coalition troops in war zones such as Baghdad, Iraq.
2004/2005 John was invited and attended Australia’s most prestigious awards ceremony in Sydney “The Australian ARIA Awards”. John Caputo’s name was fast becoming well known all over Australia but it was his style of drumming that was doing all the talking.
2006 saw John establish himself as not only one of Australia’s finest but also a world-class drummer with rave reviews from bands/musicians he has worked with along the way. Mark Gable, lead singer/guitarist for The Choirboys was quoted saying “John’s skills, timing, stage presence and professional attitude set him apart for his peers and made our decision to bring him onboard easy.”
2007 after a long application process John flew to Malaysia in May as he had been selected to audition for the world’s most prestigious music school, Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). After a grueling ordeal auditioning in front of a panel of Berklee personnel, finally, in September 2007 Berklee’s director of admissions Damien S. Bracken contacted John and congratulated him on his acceptance into Berklee. Mr. Bracken explained that his acceptance was an outstanding achievement as it was the most competitive year of auditions in Berklee’s history.
In 2008, after a long thought process John decided attending Berklee wasn’t for him. Instead he chose Los Angeles where he spent most of 2008 going back and forth from Melbourne. In this time John was building up his profile and observing the music scene and what it had to offer. John used his time wisely and begun creating a network for himself, he also performed his first gig in America at the famous “House of Blues” in San Diego. John continues to make trips back and forth to and from Los Angeles and all around the world touring.
John had a long stint working with Australian artist Rav Thomas whose debut EP was released in July ‘09. Rav thomas’ single debuted at #2 on the Australian Independent Aria Physical Charts and spent seven weeks in circulation on the charts. JC continues to work/record with James Ryan (Australia’s Got Talent, Singing Bee, Men At Work, Vanessa Amorosi etc), The Choirboys, Isaac Moran (Rogue Traders, Jon Stevens), Norbert Simon (Planet J productions, Belinda Emmett, Delta Goodrem) and various bands in Melbourne.
2010 - JC spent more than a quarter of the year touring with the world class tribute band "The Australian Bee Gee Show" (www.abgshow.com). He toured parts of Sri Lanka, then came back home and toured far north Queensland. With only a few days break at home John and the boys were off again, this time to America touring the east coast for a 5 weeks journey. The tour ended in Hamburg, New York and the boys were well received right through out the tour!! The Australian Bee Gee show now resides in Las Vegas having a permanent show on the main strip.
2011 - JC is heavily involved with current band VELVET CITY (www.velvetcity.com) This pure rock band is ready to take the world by storm. The new album " NEW WORLD ORDER" has been recorded and produced in America by some of the worlds best and is set to be released later on in 2011.
As John grew older he began learning how to read music and the basic fundamentals of drumming. From this moment John never looked back and drumming quickly became an integral part of his life. John started his formal drum tuition in 1992 at the age of 11 and continued studying drums for many years with lots of different amazing drummers such as Justin Humphries, Sam Aliano, Alex Deegan and Andrew Gander just to name a few.
John started gaining valuable stage experience when he started going to his father’s gigs where he would jump on stage with no fear and play some songs as if he had being doing it for years. Several years went by and in 1996 at the age of 15 John took over from his father and became a member of the band rather than a guest performer.
Things started happening for this drumming prodigy and in 1998/99 John was asked to perform at Australia’s biggest drum festival……….TUDW (The Ultimate Drummer’s Weekend). He was asked to take part in the Drumtek ensemble, which was conducted by Robi Corelli. It was in1999 though when John was given the chance to shine having 1 of only 4 main parts playing kit. It was here at TUDW that people from all over started to stand up and take notice.
Through out the years 1999 – 2004 John focused on his playing. He spent countless hours working on technique, finesse, groove and timing. Improvement was inevitable and this was evident when in three separate years (2002, 2003 & 2005) John was accredited with a national top 10 spot in Australia’s Best Up and Coming Drummer Competition. Between practice and comps John was gigging regularly with cover bands around Melbourne as well as original acts and his own projects.
In September 2004 John was called up by James Ryan (Australia’s Got Talent, Singing Bee, Men At Work, Vanessa Amorosi etc) and asked if he could do a mini tour of the Solomon Island’s with James’s original outfit ‘Crash City’. This was a great opportunity and proved to be a stepping-stone into the Australian music scene and a pivotal time in John’s career. In October 2004 John was spotted at that very same gig in the Solomon Island’s by Australian rock legends The Choirboys. They had an upcoming tour of the Middle East and their drummer Paul Wheeler (Spy Vs Spy, Lotel, Brian Cadd, Adam Brand etc) couldn’t go so they called upon John to fill his shoes. It was an amazing experience for John playing 12 shows in fourteen days in front of thousands of Australian/coalition troops in war zones such as Baghdad, Iraq.
2004/2005 John was invited and attended Australia’s most prestigious awards ceremony in Sydney “The Australian ARIA Awards”. John Caputo’s name was fast becoming well known all over Australia but it was his style of drumming that was doing all the talking.
2006 saw John establish himself as not only one of Australia’s finest but also a world-class drummer with rave reviews from bands/musicians he has worked with along the way. Mark Gable, lead singer/guitarist for The Choirboys was quoted saying “John’s skills, timing, stage presence and professional attitude set him apart for his peers and made our decision to bring him onboard easy.”
2007 after a long application process John flew to Malaysia in May as he had been selected to audition for the world’s most prestigious music school, Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). After a grueling ordeal auditioning in front of a panel of Berklee personnel, finally, in September 2007 Berklee’s director of admissions Damien S. Bracken contacted John and congratulated him on his acceptance into Berklee. Mr. Bracken explained that his acceptance was an outstanding achievement as it was the most competitive year of auditions in Berklee’s history.
In 2008, after a long thought process John decided attending Berklee wasn’t for him. Instead he chose Los Angeles where he spent most of 2008 going back and forth from Melbourne. In this time John was building up his profile and observing the music scene and what it had to offer. John used his time wisely and begun creating a network for himself, he also performed his first gig in America at the famous “House of Blues” in San Diego. John continues to make trips back and forth to and from Los Angeles and all around the world touring.
John had a long stint working with Australian artist Rav Thomas whose debut EP was released in July ‘09. Rav thomas’ single debuted at #2 on the Australian Independent Aria Physical Charts and spent seven weeks in circulation on the charts. JC continues to work/record with James Ryan (Australia’s Got Talent, Singing Bee, Men At Work, Vanessa Amorosi etc), The Choirboys, Isaac Moran (Rogue Traders, Jon Stevens), Norbert Simon (Planet J productions, Belinda Emmett, Delta Goodrem) and various bands in Melbourne.
2010 - JC spent more than a quarter of the year touring with the world class tribute band "The Australian Bee Gee Show" (www.abgshow.com). He toured parts of Sri Lanka, then came back home and toured far north Queensland. With only a few days break at home John and the boys were off again, this time to America touring the east coast for a 5 weeks journey. The tour ended in Hamburg, New York and the boys were well received right through out the tour!! The Australian Bee Gee show now resides in Las Vegas having a permanent show on the main strip.
2011 - JC is heavily involved with current band VELVET CITY (www.velvetcity.com) This pure rock band is ready to take the world by storm. The new album " NEW WORLD ORDER" has been recorded and produced in America by some of the worlds best and is set to be released later on in 2011.
