Robert Falzano has played drums in Canadian metal band Annihilator since March 2004. Rob Falzano was nominated by his predecessor Mike Mangini who had done the studio recordings of Annihilator's latest album "All For You". Mangini was also Falzano's drum teacher.



In 2005 Robert Falzano also played in Shatter Messiah, the new band featuring former Nevermore and Annihilator guitarist Curran Murphy.



Biography:

Robert Falzano's involvement in music began in the 4th grade when he was duped into learning how to play the Trumpet (that and the little plastic "Fisher Price" drum and trash cans he beat on all day when he was 4). After 2 years of torture on this brass beauty he began to figure out how to play Metallica songs on it. Robert soon decided that no metal band would ever hire a Trumpet player full-time so he got a cheap "toy" guitar. Guitar however proved to be too difficult an instrument and being inspired after attending a Pantera show in '94 he decided to return to the drums, his natural talent (hitting things with sticks). During the 6th grade Robert would skip classes to teach himself how to play on a drum-set hidden in the school auditorium. Soon after Robert taught himself his first song, Slayer’s "Seasons in the Abyss".



Robert Falzano's parents being the cool people that they were (and being sick of him nagging them 24/7 for the previous 3 years) finally gave in and bought him a drum set. He joined School band and all the other school music groups he could (that would allow him to play drums). It was around this time that Robert also started his first band (Killer Pigs) with a couple of friends. At this point people started to talk about Roberts’ playing and he started to create a local buzz for himself. When Robert got to High School he was finally able to get his first serious bands together (Room 237 and Wise Blood). He also started teaching the drums to kids (and adults) in town to make some extra money. Room 237/Wise Blood played at all the clubs and local places that would let them and got disqualified from all the contests and talent shows that they took part in.



Finally in the spring of 2000 Robert Falzano graduated from High School and was accepted to Berklee College of music, were he continued to play in Bands (Room 237, Liquid Nerve, and many others) on the side and teach to make money. Berklee was a great opportunity for him because it allowed for him to meet lots of really great teachers and students and make numerous connections (and he learned a couple things too). It was also very difficult for him because he was primarily self taught (and couldn't read music) so he had to struggle to keep up and to get up to par with the rest of the drummers there. Apparently all his hard work paid off because at least one of his teachers (Mike Mangini) noticed how much effort he was willing to put in to something when he needed to. This was a quality Mike was looking for in a replacement for himself on the 2004 Annihilator tour.



One day when Mike and Robert were talking about how the Annihilator "All For You" sessions were going, out of the blue Mike asked him if he would be interested in trying out for the band. Being a fan of Annihilator for some years Robert jumped at the opportunity. Mike gave Robert a CD of the Set for the up coming tour and he learned the material in a week, recorded himself playing to the CD and gave it to Mike. Mike then played the CD for Jeff Waters over the phone and the next day Jeff Waters contacted Robert.



After talking to Jeff Waters for a while and squaring away all the legal and business stuff Annihilator received word that they would be opening for Judas Priest (for the 2nd time in the history of the band) on Priest’s Summer Reunion tour in Europe. While in Europe Robert Falzano began talking with Curran Murphy (Annihilators rhythm guitarist) about the possibility of hooking up and doing a project together. Curran informed Robert that he already had a singer and a ton of material, he just needed a solid drummer to record the first 3 albums. Robert agreed to join the band and they decided on the name Shatter Messiah. While in Germany they also wrote a song that will appear on one of the upcoming albums.



After the Annihilator tour, plans were made to have Robert Falzano travel out to Ohio for a week to do some test tracking for the 1st Shatter Messiah album. However the session went so well that they kept the tracks and completed the recording of the first album in only 3 days. Plans are currently underway for Robert to return to Ohio for a few weeks in March to finish recording the remaining 2 albums which will hopefully hit stores in the next year and will be followed up with an International tour.



As for Robert Falzano's musical status at the moment, he is currently residing in Newburyport, MA, where he is teaching drums privately and gigging out on an almost weekly basis. You can catch Robert most weekends performing with the local blues band Blind Billy and the Spectacles in and around Ipswich, MA. As well he can often be found sitting in with a number of other local jazz, blues, folk, and rock bands.



In his down time Rob Falzano is practicing and learning the new material for the upcoming Shatter Messiah recording session, which promises to be both exciting and extremely productive.



2006 saw Falzano play on Italian metallers Eternal Tragedy's debut album, "Forever", as guest musician.