Meet The Members of Dog Soldier
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Tim Halstead - lead guitar
Tim Halstead began playing guitar, under the instruction of Pat Cosimo, in 1973. Tim studied with Pat until 1992. He has played with various musicians locally and along the East Coast. Tim has also played in Canada & the Dominican Republic. His main influences are: Ted Nugent, Ace Frehley, Billy Gibbons and Pat Cosimo. When Tim is not playing with the band, he can be found living in the hills outside of Candor, NY with his wife, his children and their horses.
Neil Riley - bass guitar
Neil Riley has been playing guitar for well over 20 years. He studied for many years with Pat Cosimo concentrating on chordal structure and rhythm. Neil has played with various musicians and has played many different styles of music. Neil's love of rock-n-roll, combined with his knowledge of chords, made him one of the finest rhythm guitarists. With the recent departure of the original bass player, Neil decided to utilitze his music training to become the bass player.  His major influences are: John Lennon, Eddie VanHalen, David Gillmore and Pat Cosimo. Neil's dedication, sense of humor and constant experimentation is a real driving force in the band.
Karen Halstead - lead vocals
Karen's musical career began playing classical music, the viola to be exact. Piano and organ lessons were also in the mix, leading to keyboard positions in various rock bands. Karen heard the boys of Dog Solider and said, "I WANNA PLAY!" bringing her out of a long retirement (doing the Mom thing) from the music scene. Her biggest influences are all the great music teachers she had over the years, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, David Coverdale, Joan Jett and Kiss.
Rob Romano - keyboards & vocals
For over twenty years, Rob has been playing on the road.  He's performed just about every style of music from Country to Heavy Metal to Classic Rock and even some Southern Rock Blues.  He's run the gamut from a solo "piano man" act to a Big Band production show while in the Air Force.  His talented keyboard rythyms and fills gives a broader foundation to the band's music and his powerful baritone voice expands the band's songlist with lead and backing vocals.  Influences are too great to mention but the top names would be Jim Croce, Benmont Tench (TP& the Heartbreakers), Roy Bittan (Bruce Springsteen and Meatloaf) and Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) who taught him how to play a particular boogie woogie style riff through the use of a pair of binoculars at a concert.
 

 Tim Worden - rhythm guitar
Tim Worden is from Candor, NY. He started playing guitar about 20 years ago when a couple of friends said "let's start a band." Tim loves to play rhythm with small lead parts thrown in. His love of southern rock and country (although he's not allowed to play country) music brings some different sounds to the band. Tim uses Fender guitars and amps. Musical influences are all southern rock bands, from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Charlie Daniels and Merle Haggard.  And now he's entering the world of rock 'n roll!

 

Brian Santos - Drums
Brian Santos started playing drums right after diapers.  Both of his grandparents were in music venues down in NYC in the 20's & 30's.  His grandfather played trumpet and his grandmother sang in a trio.  His grandfather picked up the drums later and passed his passion on to Brian.  Brian has been playing the local scene since the mid 80's.  He played drums for Metal Hart, The House Rockers and Phoenix to name a few.  Self taught, he credits his style of playing to John Bonham and Alex Van Halen.  His favorites are Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Sabbath, Kiss, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Rush, Deep Purple, etc...Brian joined the band with a live audition at Davy's Last Chance in July 2008 and passed the test!