who is Ted "Toaster" Tacconelli?
Equipped with a tennis racquet and six or seven years of age, KISS Alive! became my audience and introduction to rock music inside my Drexel Hill, PA basement. At age twelve or thirteen, I picked up my older sister's student guitar, plucked the strings, and harvested cassettes chock-full of homespun riffs. Encouraged by my enthusiasm, mom and dad purchased my first guitar: an Ibanez Strat copy for $150.00. Almost immediately, I initiated guitar store lessons when my friend, Steve Porreni, brought Metallica's "Master of Puppets" album home from a vacation down the shore. Hearing the introduction to "Battery" ignited my senses, detonated my lifetime love of guitar, and established professional influences like James Hetfield of Metallica and Iron Maiden's Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Junior year of high school arrived, so I started taking lessons from a freshman learning only Metallica and Iron Maiden songs. As my repertoire broadened, the initial materialization of My Dog Bill resulted in collaborations with guest musicians for about a year and one show. After assorted lessons and avid practice, I joined a metal band called BT3 playing places like The Rusty Nail in Ardmore, PA. Subsequent to surviving a life-altering, health episode, 2007 found me writing instrumental melodies under the moniker Ted's Instrumental Mayhem recording five songs at Top Ten Music in Glenolden, PA. Playing music not only penciled my path, but proved a "magic bullet," as well. In spring 2013, as Facebook would have it, musical soul mates reconnected, started writing songs, dusted off some original tunes, honed our craft, and played barbeques and pool side gigs at various beaches. 2015 is My Dog Bill's coming out party and second chance at radiating upbeat vibes, energy, and happiness into people's lives. Fortified with unyielding drive, an underpinning of songs, musicianship, and compassionate people, we are ready to inspire the masses with our music and mindset.