Toronto born Tony Verna first picked up a guitar at the age of ten. It would be a few years before he was in his first garage band but after that, things started to happen fast.
He hit the road just days after finishing high school and what followed were years of extensive touring all over Ontario, across Canada and into the USA and Europe. The 90's saw him hooking up with local recording act Britton. Together they released "Until the Day We Die" (MaGaDa Int'l) which cracked the Top10 in eastern Canada and received moderate radio airplay back home. The band followed that up with a successful European tour that also featured prog-rock giants Saga, and John Wetton (of Asia and King Crimson fame). When he wasn't touring, Tony kept busy playing in various television and film soundtracks, many of them starring Mr. Tae-Bo himself Billy Blanks and wrestling superstar "Rowdy" Roddy Piper among others.
Since then, Tony has remained a fixture in the southern Ontario music scene playing almost everything from classic rock, hard rock and blues to showing up at the occasional jam nite. He is also no stranger to the tribute circuit, with tributes to Journey, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue under his belt. "I love playing live. I've always tried to play with as many different musicians as I could because that's what made me grow and evolve as a guitar player". While basically self taught, Tony lists Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Randy Rhoads, Angus Young and Stevie Ray Vaughan as his biggest influences.
Currently he holds the Ace Frehley spot in Canada's most popular KISS tribute band DESTROYER. So popular in fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a photo op with them during the opening ceremonies of World Skills 2009 in Calgary, which DESTROYER was invited to take part in. They continue to play large shows and festivals around the country to tens of thousands of people every year. "It's the most fun a guy can have while wearing make-up".
When he's not performing with DESTROYER, Tony spends time in his home studio where he writes material for his first solo album, which he hopes to start recording in the near future. As a writer and instrumentalist, Tony has a flair for writing catchy songs that leave the listener moved by the raw emotion in them. Although his roots are firmly placed in rock and blues, he draws inspiration from many different musical influences. "My style is eclectic... I can write a fierce up-tempo rocker today, and tomorrow a country melody will come out of me, and I'll be like... where did that come from?". It is that versality that has taken him to the various musical places he continues to explore on the guitar and it's his passion for creating and the love for his instrument that allows him to keep going.
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