The Non-Domestiks
The Non-Domestiks are Rosalba Gallo and Katrina Wylie, a Philadelphia area-based duo. They met after Katrina answered an ad Rosalba placed in a local music paper looking for a collaborator. They feel it was fate for them to meet as they discovered they came very close to meeting each other two other times in their lives. First, they had attended the same college at the same time (and also dropped out at about the same time.) Then years later they were both good friends with two different members of the same local band.
When Rosalba and Katrina first met, they hit it off immediately and found they had a chemistry in their vocal style, writing and sound which they consider to be reminiscent of 70's rock. In just a few months after they started working together, they recorded their first EP "Time to Turn," going out originally under the name of "Beat Theory." They quickly gained recognition, opening for Mary Lee's Corvette and playing at the Tin Angel, one of Philadelphia's most prominent venues. The EP also received air play on WXPN, a popular college radio station in the area. One local promoter described the CD as "ethereal."
However, due to an overabundance of bands in the area with the word "theory" in their names, they decided to change it to "The Non-Domestiks." They chose the name because they just liked the way it sounded (although some might assume it's a reference to hating housework which they certainly won't deny!). Plus, they have a European connection in that Katrina was born in England and Rosalba is first generation Italian.
As far as influences, Rosalba's are The Beatles, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson, Tears for Fears and Suzanne Vega, to name a few. Katrina's influences range from The Beatles, Elton John, and k.d. lang to the Go-Go's, Joan Jett and 70's pop music like the Carpenters and Abba.
Rosalba and Katrina both enjoy playing a lot of different instruments. Although both play keyboard and guitar, Rosalba also plays bass and drums and Katrina also plays woodwinds (saxophone, clarinet, and bassoon). Being multi-instrumentalists gives them the independence to record their CDs entirely by themselves and still have a lot of variety in their sound and live performance. Locally, they perform sometimes as an acoustic/electric trio with a guest player on bass and Rosalba and Katrina switching between guitar, keys, drums and/or hand percussion. Rosalba & Katrina also occasionally perform as an acoustic guitar duo and depending on the venue, will mix in some bass guitar, keyboard, hand percussion and sax. They can play all covers, all originals or both (see Covers page for song list).
Regional venues they have played include, most notably, The Tin Angel, The World Cafe, The Nail, Doc Watson's Pub, Coffeeworks as well as a number of other area clubs, restaurants and coffeehouses. They've also played CBGB's Gallery in New York City and often tour the New England-New York region where they have performed annually for the Women's Concert Series at the Highlands Inn in Bethlehem, NH as well as having been featured artists for various singer/songwriter showcases in Massachusetts several times and have shared the bill with Mass-based singer-songwriter, G.S. Picard. They have also ventured south playing in Delaware (Frogg Pond at Rehoboth Beach) and Maryland performing for the popular national women's outdoor festival, Sisterspace. They have also played many outdoor concerts including Arts & Music in the Park, Earthtones Gallery's Open House and First Friday events in Merchantville, NJ; Second Saturdays and the Artists Co-Op in Collingswood, NJ. They have more recently gone international, traveling to Mexico where they were invited to perform at Uncommon Grounds Chill Out Lounge in Puerto Vallarta.
They currently have two full length original CD's, Try (2003) and Happy Defiant (2007) as well as two all-instrumental jazzy Christmas CDs, "Merry Christmas from The Non-Domestiks," Vol. 1 and Vol. II.
All in all, Rosalba and Katrina's voices blend comfortably together into lush harmonies which they augment with keyboard, guitar, woodwinds and other instruments. The overall flavor is 70's Rock but if you listen to their music, you'll find a taste of techno-pop, mellow ballads and progressive music too. These two women dropped out of the same college at about the same time, never meeting until years later, to follow musical trajectories that eventually converged in The Non-Domestiks.
When Rosalba and Katrina first met, they hit it off immediately and found they had a chemistry in their vocal style, writing and sound which they consider to be reminiscent of 70's rock. In just a few months after they started working together, they recorded their first EP "Time to Turn," going out originally under the name of "Beat Theory." They quickly gained recognition, opening for Mary Lee's Corvette and playing at the Tin Angel, one of Philadelphia's most prominent venues. The EP also received air play on WXPN, a popular college radio station in the area. One local promoter described the CD as "ethereal."
However, due to an overabundance of bands in the area with the word "theory" in their names, they decided to change it to "The Non-Domestiks." They chose the name because they just liked the way it sounded (although some might assume it's a reference to hating housework which they certainly won't deny!). Plus, they have a European connection in that Katrina was born in England and Rosalba is first generation Italian.
As far as influences, Rosalba's are The Beatles, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson, Tears for Fears and Suzanne Vega, to name a few. Katrina's influences range from The Beatles, Elton John, and k.d. lang to the Go-Go's, Joan Jett and 70's pop music like the Carpenters and Abba.
Rosalba and Katrina both enjoy playing a lot of different instruments. Although both play keyboard and guitar, Rosalba also plays bass and drums and Katrina also plays woodwinds (saxophone, clarinet, and bassoon). Being multi-instrumentalists gives them the independence to record their CDs entirely by themselves and still have a lot of variety in their sound and live performance. Locally, they perform sometimes as an acoustic/electric trio with a guest player on bass and Rosalba and Katrina switching between guitar, keys, drums and/or hand percussion. Rosalba & Katrina also occasionally perform as an acoustic guitar duo and depending on the venue, will mix in some bass guitar, keyboard, hand percussion and sax. They can play all covers, all originals or both (see Covers page for song list).
Regional venues they have played include, most notably, The Tin Angel, The World Cafe, The Nail, Doc Watson's Pub, Coffeeworks as well as a number of other area clubs, restaurants and coffeehouses. They've also played CBGB's Gallery in New York City and often tour the New England-New York region where they have performed annually for the Women's Concert Series at the Highlands Inn in Bethlehem, NH as well as having been featured artists for various singer/songwriter showcases in Massachusetts several times and have shared the bill with Mass-based singer-songwriter, G.S. Picard. They have also ventured south playing in Delaware (Frogg Pond at Rehoboth Beach) and Maryland performing for the popular national women's outdoor festival, Sisterspace. They have also played many outdoor concerts including Arts & Music in the Park, Earthtones Gallery's Open House and First Friday events in Merchantville, NJ; Second Saturdays and the Artists Co-Op in Collingswood, NJ. They have more recently gone international, traveling to Mexico where they were invited to perform at Uncommon Grounds Chill Out Lounge in Puerto Vallarta.
They currently have two full length original CD's, Try (2003) and Happy Defiant (2007) as well as two all-instrumental jazzy Christmas CDs, "Merry Christmas from The Non-Domestiks," Vol. 1 and Vol. II.
All in all, Rosalba and Katrina's voices blend comfortably together into lush harmonies which they augment with keyboard, guitar, woodwinds and other instruments. The overall flavor is 70's Rock but if you listen to their music, you'll find a taste of techno-pop, mellow ballads and progressive music too. These two women dropped out of the same college at about the same time, never meeting until years later, to follow musical trajectories that eventually converged in The Non-Domestiks.
Rosalba Gallo
Rosalba is primarily self-taught on all her instruments. She started playing piano by ear at the age of 7. She picked up the guitar at 16 and went on to study classical piano at college for two years. After college, she went on to become a full time musician playing with the popular cover band, Gold Rush. From there, she went on to play with a number of different cover acts from rock to blues to sequenced duos. She had a brief taste of being in an original band when she joined pre-alternative/post punk rock band, Black Howard, a highly talented and creative group of guys with whom she played guitar/keys and a band she feels never got the recognition they deserved. She then went on to study jazz piano for several years with the late Ted Yusko, who was a member of Rowan University's musical staff and protege of Tom Lawton. In 1998, she decided to follow her dream to play her own music. She sought another female artist to perform and collaborate with as two-part harmonies are an important element in her music and writing lyrics didn't come as easily to her as writing music. She put an ad in the paper - Katrina was the first person to answer and turned out to be exactly what she was looking for. In recent years, she found a new passion for playing the drums which led her to drumming for a year with the popular Philadelphia rock group, Prima Donna. Since then, she has played drums on occasion with her own original project, The Non-Domestiks, both live and in the studio. She has also played drums live and in the studio for G.S. Picard, a Massachusetts-based singer/songwriter. She is currently drumming for Sylvia Platypus, led by Janet Bressler, who Rosalba considers one of Philly's best and underrated original artists. The band's genre is "pyscho-celtic-glam-blues" and they perform regularly in the Philly area at venues such as Fergies, World Cafe Live, and the Tin Angel. They also gained recognition for their original rock opera, La Mirage/Dead City Philly, which was featured at the 2011 and 2012 Philly Fringe Festivals.
Katrina Wylie
Katrina started playing piano when she was five. She began writing songs at the age of 10 after learning a few chords on the guitar (throughout the years, she's written over 250 songs). She took up the sax in grade school and went on to play bassoon in high school. She majored in music at college but found she wasn't as dedicated to playing the bassoon as to writing and playing her own music. Some time after dropping out, she co-formed an original hard rock group which she left after several years to move in a more mellow direction. She enjoyed writing and recording her own music but wanted to find someone to work and perform with. She checked the local Musician's Grapevine ads for years but never clicked musically with anyone until she met Rosalba.