Petaluman Bianco makes feel good music

Domenic Bianco’s favorite setting to write songs is sitting barefoot on a porch, strumming his guitar or ukulele, in a tank top and sweats with a cup of tea close at hand.

Born and raised in Petaluma, the singer-songwriter fell in love with the guitar at the age of 16 after one of his best friends invited him over and taught him how to play “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” by Metallica and “Tangerine” by Led Zeppelin.

Bianco’s aunt learned about his interest in the instrument, and gave him one of his own. A year later, after realizing how attached he was to “the old beater from the ‘70s,” Bianco’s parents bought him an all-wooden Dean electric guitar and a kicker amp for his 17th birthday.

“For the next two years, I’m not even joking, when it was summertime I spent 10 hours a day doing nothing but learning guitar. I’d look up guitar tabs and teach myself. They were good times,” he said, laughing.

Over the years, the 28-year-old musician has taught himself how to play the guitar, ukulele, banjo, drums and harmonica. At 19 he tried singing. In August 2010, at the age of 22, he performed his first open mic at HopMonk Tavern in Sebastopol. Afterwards, he said he instantly knew he only wanted to play music.

As a solo musician, he’s performed at Aqus Cafe, The Phoenix Theatre and The Roaring Donkey all through of word of mouth. When opportunity knocks to perform he always says yes because he wants to share his tunes and message of positivity with everyone, he said.

He’s written about 20 songs and each is inspired by one of three things: family, women and a moment in time. Most are written in a three to four day period and all of them come from a specific moment, he said.

“I can look back at every one of my songs and remember why I wrote it, who it was written about and the moment that I shared with that person,” Bianco said. “I would describe my music as someone who’s stoked all the time to be alive with influences of a lot of reggae, jazz, blues and rock. It’s feel-good music.”

Nowadays, Bianco continues to make a name for himself. In December 2016, Kala Brand Music Co. endorsed him, and at the beginning of this year he created a band named Domenic Bianco and the Soulshake.

Before Kala endorsed Bianco, they invited him to their Petaluma headquarters. Bianco was able to pick out a ukulele for himself, and with his new uke they recorded videos of two of his original songs including “Lovely Like You.”

Wanting to elevate his singer-songwriter status, he created a band with three of his close friends who bring a soul, funk jive to his music, he said. At the end of January, the group entered the NPR music tiny desk contest (fueled by Lagunitas) with a video submission of their track “Rain Song.” They’ve performed at Hotel Utah and Brick and Mortar in San Francisco, and the group plans to release their newest single “Hungover,” accompanied by the music video, at the end of March.

In addition to music, Bianco is working towards a degree in fire science at SRJC and has two jobs. He works part-time teaching hip-hop at Studio C Dance Academy and full-time as a teaching assistant at Cypress School for children with autism, special education and behavioral needs. However, with dreams of performing at The Fox Theatre in Oakland, music is at the forefront of his pursuits.

By summer, Bianco hopes to release a self-titled album, and in the near future the band would like to go on a week-long West Coast tour.

Domenic Bianco and the Soulshake will perform in downtown Petaluma at Graffiti on March 4 and The Big Easy on March 11. Excited to perform in his hometown with his band, Bianco said people can expect to have a “damn good time” at their shows.

“I feel like our shows are the perfect mix of a little bit of comedy, a little bit of public speaking and then just a lot of positive music,” he said. “Performing in Petaluma in front of my friends and family really shows me that I can do something real with my music. I want to reach people and let them know that we are all, especially in this country, extremely blessed, extremely privileged and we can do anything we set our minds to as long as we are doing it in a positive manner.”

For more details, visit Bianco’s Instagram @domenicbianco.