Rock While Rome Burns - The Band

Guitar, Banjo, Mandolion, Vocals 

Alan started his musical career at age nine playing classical piano. When he watched the Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan show on February 14, 1964, his life was changed.  He begged his mother to buy him an electric guitar.  From that point on Alan played regularly in local New York bands including the Long Island Sounds which later became Kiss.  In 1967, he witnessed the Jimi Hendrix Experience open for the Young Rascals, which he describes as, "A biblical experience. " 

In college, he played with different bands including Towne and jammed periodically with the Blue Oyster Cult, then known as the Soft White Underbelly.  Following that, he has played in numerous bands in Portland, Oregon,  Austin, Texas, Summertown and Nashville Tennessee, Guatemala, the Florida Keys, Floyd, Virginia and now Asheville.  Through his musical career, Alan has been in demand as a session musician that is able to play a variety of genres, backing up well known locals as Carrie Hinkley of Virginia Hollow as a guitarist, banjo and mandolin player and singer songwriter Stella Trudel.  

 Most recently Alan is working with George Gelish in a new power trio project called Rock While Rome Burns featuring original tunes and varying genres.  Alan describes this as one of the most innovative and creative projects of his musical career. 

Click here to email Alan

Bass, Synthesizers, Vocals

Bassist/Vocalist George "GG" Gelish hails from Huntington, NY.  A veteran of the Long Island music scene, George is a versatile musician who plays fretted and fretless bass guitars, upright bass and his signature electric upright "contrabass." George is fluent in numerous genres of electric and acoustic music, having logged time with Rock, Country, Folk, and Jazz Fusion bands over 50-plus years of playing bass.  He has a diverse background performance background in clubs, stages, festivals and in church.  George doubles on several instruments, including guitar, harmonica, synthesizers and percussion.  

George's powerful, soulful voice is instantly recognizable on recordings and in live performance. He has been the lead singer and/or a primary vocalist in numerous bands. George is no stranger to choral music, having sung with the Huntington Men's Chorus and a decade in his local church choir.  

 As a member of Rock While Rome Burns, George is excited to be collaborating with two other musicians who are excellent players. "I really love that we have so much talent shoehorned into a small band with just three guys." George has been enjoying rolling out the band and integrating with the local Asheville scene.  

Click here to email George

Drums & Percussion

John started playing the drums at age 21 at the encouragement of a high school friend, Stuart Haughee, who needed a drummer for his band. Always a lover of all things musical, John knew he wanted to be involved with making music in some capacity. Before picking up the drums, he promoted a couple of outdoor music festivals and managed a couple of bands in his hometown of Hoopeston, Il.

Playing the drums led John to take 7 years off between the 1st and 2nd semesters of his junior year in college and to his 1st real band, Maelstrom, a hard rocking, all originals power trio with vocalist that began playing clubs around the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Then, with a change of guitarists, Maelstrom morphed into White Wolf and began playing the college bar circuit around central and southern Illinois with one highlight being opening for Foghat when they played Mabel's in Champaign. 

After White Wolf broke up, John went back to school and finished his degrees but continued playing in honky tonk bands that specialized in the animal lodge circuit, Elks, Moose, and Eagles.

Moving to the mountains of North Carolina in 1988, John jammed with various musicians before marriage and kids turned into a 10 year hiatus from playing. Then, another friend, Wayne Bodley, recruited John for his all originals Christian rock band. Another all original Christian rock group, The Humbled, followed and hopefully spread their message of love and redemption while playing men's and women's prisons in Western North Carolina. Back to honky tonking for a few years with the Point of View band in 2010, John then tried something new with a piano, bass, and drums jazz trio led by classically trained pianist Deb Bridges who widened John's playing horizons with her constant admonition to "get off the damn bass drum!"

Recently retired from the 

postal service, John has vowed to spend as much time as possible rocking out (and finally taking some drum lessons) while traversing his final third on this beautiful vale of tears and is very excited about joining up with fellow travelers Alan and George on their musical journey.

Click here to email John