Angelo’s career as a musician has taken many roads. He spent his formative playing years in South Wales either leading or being part of various musical ventures that led to limited local recognition. These experiences in South Wales, and also for a time in the South West of England, cemented in Angelo’s mind that music would be his calling and what he would do for the rest of his life. He gained confidence in his both his songwriting and guitar-playing abilities and he realised that musicians like the aforementioned Buddy Holly and Bob Dylan wrote, and were actually writing their own music and lyrics. This revelation inspired Angelo to produce and perform his own songs which he has done to this day.
After relocating to the small West Yorkshire town of Rawdon in 1989 the band that was to give Angelo his biggest audience to date was born. The Palladinos, managed by Miles Copeland and signed to Sting’s Pangaea record label, released their debut album “Travelling Dark” in 1994. More acoustic than his previous ventures, The Palladinos toured with Sting around the UK, Europe and the US, including concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The album did well on both sides of the Atlantic, helped in the most part by the song “(I Won’t Be) Going South For Awhile” that was included on the soundtrack to the Nicholas Cage movie “Leaving Las Vegas.”
During this period he also supported Squeeze at various dates around the UK and Europe. The band’s reputation soon spread and they went from strength to strength. The band also played shows alongside Jools Holland, Sheryl Crowe, the Chieftans, and Steeleye Span. Angelo also began writing songs with such different musical talents as Carole King, Ted Nugent and the Bangles.
After a few years deep involvement on the music industry treadmill, Angelo had had enough and decided to call time on The Palladinos to continue writing and recording as a solo artist.
In 2004 he re-emerged with a new album called “Blood, Blues & Bad Dreams.” After the layered, some would say over-produced nature of “Travelling Dark,” this nine track album was as raw as it got.
Produced by former New Model Army drummer Robert Heaton, it was the most representative recording of Angelo’s playing and writing style up to that point. A lyrically dark and musically stark journey, “Blood, Blues & Bad Dreams”is a collection of stories set to music based on characters that live in shadows, but are constantly pursued by ghosts from their past or their imagination. Angelo, at the time, remarked that the songs could also be construed as being about the life of Robert Johnson - albeit loosely - and he dedicated the album to the King Of The Delta Blues singer.
The album also gained gained a great deal of positive attention from the music press, especially Stateside. Rolling Stone gave it a 3 1/2-star review commenting that Angelo “can sure mine beauty out of gloom.” Blues Review’s Hal Horowitz called the album “striking” and a “sonically and psychologically memorable listening experience.” Reviews by Alabama’s Birmingham Weekly and Hartford Courant, based in Connecticut, also weighed in with positive takes.
Angelo now re-emurges with his new band Angelo Palladino & The Streethawks with Streethawk Diaries Volume 1