Hi. I'm singer/songwriter Tony Bataska. I've loved all kinds of music all my life. I started early with a few years of piano lessons. When I moved to California in seventh grade, I got into the altervate/grunge music scene. The first CD I ever owned was Stone Temple Pilots "Purple." In eighth grade my friends were starting a band. They had three guitar players and a drummer. They told me, "If you learn to play bass, you can be in the band." I promptly got a bass and we started jamming. Throughout high school the band had many incarnations and names. I believe it started off as Revolution, then went to Aberration, then to Catch 22, and finally, after we realized there already was a Catch 22, we became Last Exit. By the end of the band I had completed my transistion from bassist to guitarist. We only played a couple shows, but this whole experience kick started my passion for music.
In college, I still played guitar, but I had surgery on both my wrists. This set me back a bit, but as my wrists got better, I started playing and writing songs again. I then set a goal to play at the open mic night at the G Street Pub in Davis. I went there one Tuesday and played 4 songs. From then on I showed up almost every week and got to know the host, Adam Donald. Adam played/plays in notable Sacramento bands Honeyspot and American Karma. His help and advice have been extremely crucial in my musical development.
Recently, I've been playing with drummer Bart van der Zeeuw. He is a fantastic musician and our styles really match up. I look forward to playing shows and recording with Bart. He takes my songs to a new level.
Going from someone who set out to play an open mic night, I baby-stepped my way to playing regular shows at G Street, Old Ironsides in Sacramento, Fox and Goose in Sac, Luna's in Sac, the Cubby Bear in Chicago, and opening for Matt Costa at Harlow's. I also released my first album, "Tonight I Confess" in early 2006. It is a modest effort, but I am proud of the songs and just the fact that I have a real shrink-wrapped, barcoded album. I am going to continue to write and record music, as well as push myself to be the best entertainer I can be. I hope you enjoy my music, and I thank you for lending me your ear and giving me a chance.