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John Agnello is a producer, recording engineer and mixer who has been involved with many influential albums throughout the last 2 ½ decades. Most recently, John has been involved with The Hold Steady, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, The Living End, Drive By Truckers and The Ponys, to name a few.

Biography

Early Work

John’s life in the studio began in 1979 at the age of 19 while working as an intern at the legendary Record Plant Studios in Manhattan. John worked his way up the ladder and became the studio’s go-to-assistant. He assisted on a number of albums including those by Aerosmith, Twisted Sister, Scandal, John Cougar Mellencamp, and John Waite. John also worked briefly on “Born In the USA” with “The Boss” himself. However, working on Cyndi Lauper “She’s So Unusual!” had the biggest recording and production impact on him at the time.

He had the privilege of working with some of the great engineers and producers of that time -- people like Jack Douglas, Jimmy Iovine, Rick Chertoff, Bill Wittman, Mike Chapman, Dave Thoener, Jay Messina, Roy Cicala and Shelly Yackus were the “crème de la crème” of East Coast record making.

He got his first true break engineering on the second album by The Hooters. He was involved with artists such as Patty Smythe, Sophie Hawkins and The Outfield. The Outfield’s first record, Play Deep, had a #2 hit with “Your Love.” John still has boxes of that single in his mother’s basement from trying to push it to number one. But it was not to be.

Around that time, he also got to do one off session with Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger, two of his favorite artists. The Dylan song was “Series Of Dreams” which he co-mixed with Bill Wittman. That version was used by NARAS when presenting Bob Dylan with his lifetime achievement award. And the Jagger song, “Hard Woman,” was for a special made-for-MTV only video.

1990s

The early nineties found John working on records that were very close to his heart. It was then that he started his association with Dinosaur Jr. and the Screaming Trees. This collaboration has extended through almost a dozen records. In fact, John recently mixed the heralded Dinosaur Jr. reunion record, Beyond, with the original lineup. He was also responsible for productions with artists such as Buffalo Tom, Jawbox, Chavez, Redd Kross, and Patti Smith, among others. And, much to his delight, he had the pleasure of working with Alice Cooper on The Last Temptation Of Alice Cooper.

2000 - Present

This decade, John has worked with such artists as Sonic Youth, The Living End, Andrew WK, The Drive By Truckers and Social Distortion. He has helmed both Boys And Girls In America and Stay Positive by The Hold Steady.

But John is no “one trick pony.” Even though he excels at the hard edge sound of many of the aforementioned artists, he’s also adept at working with the subtler sounds of artists such as Son Volt, The Kills, Thurston Moore, The Walkmen, and Five For Fighting.

On the flip side, John also has been involved with helping many newer artists find their way. Scottish band The Hazey Janes are a perfect example. John mixed one of their records in Spain in 2006 and they came to the US to record their follow-up album, Hands Around The City. John also worked closely with Jennifer O’Connor on her latest, Here With Me, for Matador. They had a wonderful experience in the studio and John encouraged her to sing all her vocals live, which resulted in a record which will give you chills.

Not to be limited to the United States, John has had commercial success overseas. The three records he did with Norwegian band, Madrugada, have scored both critical and commercial success. In the press release for the current record, Madrugada, they describe John as, “the external creative force that has had the most influence on Madrugada’s artistic development.”<ref>Madrugada, Madrugada press release, http://www.emi.no/madrugada/biography.asp</ref> John has also scored success with another Norwegian heavyweight, Turbonegro, on their last record, Retox.

John is booked by his lovely wife, Sharon Agnello. You can reach her at 201-963-6030 or sharon@steeltoemgmt.com.

Discography

(To see John’s entire discography, click here.)

• The Hold Steady, Stay Positive, 2008
• The Living End, White Noise, 2008
• Jennifer O’Connor, Here With Me, 2008
• Madrugada, Madrugada, 2008
• The Hazey Janes, Hands Around the City, 2008
• Thurston Moore, Trees Outside The Academy, 2007
• Turbonegro, Retox, 2007
• Dinosaur Jr., Beyond, 2007
• My Midnight Creeps, Histamin, 2007
• The Ponys, Turn the Lights Out, 2007
• Son Volt, The Search, 2007
• Oxford Collapse, Remember The Night Parties, 2006
• The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America, 2006
• Andrew WK, Close Calls with Brick Walls, 2006
• Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped, 2006

External Links

• John Agnello's official website
• Steel Toe Artist Management