The blossoming of Stone Marigold

Teen guitarist James Domizio has a vision – and now a band|

Most 16-year-olds are typically thinking about getting a drivers license, maybe a job, but James Domizio has one thing on his mind: music.

As a younger kid he attended Woodland Star, the Waldorf-inspired public charter school here in Sonoma, where part of the curriculum is that you learn to play a different instrument each year, as well as learn to read music. So music was just like painting or spelling for young Domizio. It wasn’t until sixth grade that he started to play around with a guitar. This one only had two strings, so the prospect of actually playing it wasn’t good – but something clicked. When he was 9 or 10, his father Dean, a drummer and currently on tour with Molly Hatchet, tried to teach him the rudiments of drumming, but much like many kids, Domizio just wanted to play.

He then focused on learning instruments and writing songs and taught himself drums, bass, piano, guitar and even banjo and started putting things together.

The first band he put together was a three-piece and they played the scores from video games; Domizio learned much from the experience.

“If you’re going to be in a band,” said Domizio, “you don’t go out and book a gig without actually knowing any songs.” Some might call that motivation, but to Domizio, it was lesson learned.

Once he started writing original songs, he found acts like Weezer and the Foo Fighters suited his feel – upbeat pop-rock songs that were short and sweet. Since then he has put together two discs, one an early demo, and an EP called “&” on which he wrote and performed all the tracks. He named the act “Stone Marigold” after two of his favorite words.

On the band’s current release, the self-titled “Stone Marigold,” he also wrote and performed all the tracks, aside from three drum tracks his dad Dean laid down when he was in town recently.

We asked Domizio how he felt about the rest of the band performing his original compositions and having an influence on the direction of the music.

“I do have a musical vision for the act,” Domizio said. “But I’d be hard-pressed not to let my bass player say he’s hearing something in the song that I’m not hearing and at least hear that out.”

The CD release is scheduled for Aug. 15; you can get full versions of the songs from the demo and the EP, and even a sample from the new album by pointing your browser to stonemarigold.bandcamp.com.

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