Chicanery

History

The history of Chicanery extends back to the late 1990s in London, England.

With Duran Duran at that time, Warren Cuccurullo had founded TV Mania with Nick Rhodes, and he was searching for a lead singer for the second segment of that project.

While working in his recording studio, Cuccurullo heard the voice of Neil Carlill, lead singer of the group Delicatessen on one of that band's music videos, and thought that it would fit the project. Cuccurullo found Carlill through the group’s record label, and invited him to record some music at the studio.

In addition, prior to that meeting, in the summer of 1998 Ustad Sultan Khan and Cuccurullo recorded material together, some of which was used for “Cut Me from the Mirror”, a track on the Chicanery album.

When Cuccurullo relocated back to Los Angeles after his tenure with Duran Duran ended in 2001, he lost touch with Neil Carlill for a period of time. After they reestablished contact, Carlill sent demos of his latest music to Cuccurullo. Four of those tracks were used in the Chicanery album.

In 2005 the bulk of the tracks for the debut album were cut in Los Angeles at Red Rum Studios, and some of the music was recorded in Massachusetts. Often, tracks would be recorded at home studios, sent to Simone Sello, and then on to the larger studios for recording and mixing to create the finished product.

Chicanery's debut album, Chicanery was released on May 11, 2010.

Also with Cuccurullo and Carlill on selected sessions are long-time Cuccurullo collaborator Terry Bozzio, Frank Zappa alumnus Joe Travers, renowned sarangi virtuoso Ustad Sultan Khan, multi-instrumentalist and producer Simone Sello and other guests.

Warren Cuccurullo

In December 1978, Warren Cuccurullo auditioned successfully as a guitarist for Frank Zappa. He started in Zappa’s touring band and subsequently played on fourteen of Zappa’s albums, including among others Joe's Garage, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, and Tinseltown Rebellion.

In 1980, he co-founded the new wave band Missing Persons and composed the music and wrote the lyrics for much of the work on the albums released by that band. Missing Persons' album Spring Session M earned a gold record in 1983. Cuccurullo was also involved in making Missing Persons' music videos at the time when MTV had just begun.

After Missing Persons, Cuccurullo had his greatest success as guitarist for Duran Duran for fifteen years. Replacing original guitarist Andy Taylor in 1986, he performed on the albums Notorious ('86) and Big Thing ('88), and was the sole guitarist on the global tours that followed. Becoming an official member in 1989, he appeared on the group's next four studio albums, including being the co-writer of hit singles Ordinary World and Come Undone, both of which were included on the Duran Duran (Wedding Album) that garnered platinum sales. In 1995 Cuccurullo founded TV Mania, where Neil Carlill was a guest a few years later. Cuccurullo left Duran Duran in 2001 due to a reunion of the group's original members.

Since that time, Cuccurullo has recorded solo albums including Road Rage, Machine Language, and recently, Playing in Tongues. He has collaborated with musicians including Frank Sinatra, Blondie, Dweezil Zappa, Shenkar, Milton Nascimento, Wes Wehmiller, and Patrick O'Hearn, as well as Terry Bozzio.

In addition to being a significant force in bringing albums to gold and platinum status, Cuccurullo has received numerous awards and honors. Among others, Ordinary World, for which he composed the music, received an Ivor.

Neil Carlill

Neil Carlill, poet, lyricist, composer, and musician was a founding member of Delicatessen an indie-rock band formed in 1994 in Leicester, England. Signed to Big Life Records and Publishing, Delicatessen released three albums and four singles. They also recorded two sessions for the John Peel show. The group disbanded in 1998.

Carlill then joined the Brit pop superband Lodger, whose single ’’I'm Leaving’’ (Island Records), on their album “A Walk in the Park”, reached the UK Top 40 in 1998. Carlill’s voice was characterized as unlike anything one had ever heard in reference to emotional songs.

It was during that time period that Carlill appeared on TV Mania as a result of Warren Cuccurullo's having heard him singing on Delicatessen's music video for Monkey Suit.

In 2000, Carlill moved to the United States and took a break from music till 2004, at which point he began work on Chicanery with Warren Cuccurullo.

Since 2004, Carlill has also worked with Manuel Stagars and Janek Siegele on Vedette. That band played at the Donau Festival in Krems Austria in 2008, and the Klangbad Festival in Scheer Germany in 2009. Vedette released their eponymously titled album in 2007 on Stilll Records (Belgium).

Additional projects that Neil Carlill has worked on include 5 Little Elephants with Charles-Eric Charrier; Shoosh with Craig Murphy and Ed Drury, who released their debut album "The Orpheum Circuit" on Herb Records in 2008; and Me Me the Moth with Marcelo Radulovich, who released their debut album on dPulse Recordings in 2010.

Carlill is inspired by James Joyce, Captain Beefheart, Max Ernst, the DaDaists, Kurt Schwitters, Alfred Jarry, and Georges Perec. Concerning his writing lyrics, he has stated in an interview, "...it's a connection to the sub-conscious a side-stepping of the rational brain to let what's in you spiritually manifest itself in your creative medium. I mess with words as they come flying out of my brain uninvited. I think it's more like prose-poetry sometimes, hypertext, concentrated meaning in a seemingly abstract construction."