Welcome, Fools!
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We chose the name Ship of Fools not in honor of any music, artist, literature or anything of substance. The name reminds us to not take ourselves too seriously. Ego is inherent in all musicians, so we're intentional about controlling ours. We're just three old friends who enjoy playing music together, and if anyone wants to listen? Well, then let's get Foolish together.
Ship of Fools the band is the result of a shared love for reproducing music that is fun to play, but also challenges us as musicians. Through the years we've added songs that are sometimes obscure, sometimes popular, but the end result is great music from our shared past that has a little bit of everything for music lovers and partiers alike.
Craig Reno, Chuck Bonano and Dan Reilly have known each other for decades, playing the St. Louis, MO music scene in different bands, crossing paths hundreds of times. Eventually coming together as Ship of Fools seemed to be a natural outcome of this long relationship. The chemistry these three share is both undeniably impressive and ridiculously fun.
Do you have questions, want to book a show, or request a song?
Reach out, and let's get Foolish!
Sure, Craig Reno seems like your typical frontman - charismatic, talented, with luscious locks that would make any shampoo model jealous. But delve deeper into his legend and you'll find an immortal being whose guitar wizardry and vocal sorcery span multiple millennia.
You see, Craig was born in the ancient world of Khundrakar on the celes
Sure, Craig Reno seems like your typical frontman - charismatic, talented, with luscious locks that would make any shampoo model jealous. But delve deeper into his legend and you'll find an immortal being whose guitar wizardry and vocal sorcery span multiple millennia.
You see, Craig was born in the ancient world of Khundrakar on the celestial plane of Rakkithras. As the last surviving member of an ancient race of avian demigods, he roamed the cosmos searching for the ultimate riff - one powerful enough to reawaken the slumbering Riff Titans and reshape the universe itself.
During his travels, Reno mastered every genre known to existence - from Plutonian death polka to Arcturian folk flamenco. He jammed with the Andromeda Allstars, traded licks with the Crab Nebula Shredders, and was the only being capable of making the Resonance Beings of Alpha Centauri headbang.
In 2800 BC, he finally located the mythical "Riffcalibur" - a fabled axe forged from a fallen star and imbued with enough righteous shred to bring any audience to its knees. Reno then descended upon ancient Sumeria, where he shared his celestial talents with the primitive humans as the legendary "Feathered Serpent God."
For centuries he jumped across cultures, spreading his gospel of rock under various guises - the Greek "Orpheus," the Nordic "Ratatosk," the Incan "Huracán." His mind-melting solos and glass-shattering vocals were so powerful that they accidentally caused the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and that really weird period in the 70s when everyone was super into fondue parties.
Eventually, he took human form and the name "Craig Reno," allowing him to shred undetected while waiting for the perfect time to unleash the Riffcalibur and trigger the coming of the Riff Titans. When that glorious day arrives and the universe is reborn in a blaze of face-melting solos, you can bet Craig will be standing front and center - a true immortal shredder whose legacy burns brighter than a million suns.
Chuck Bonano may seem like an ordinary bass player at first glance, but don't let his mild-mannered demeanor fool you. This man is a true legend in the music world, with a past shrouded in mystery and accomplishments that would make even the greatest rock stars blush.
It all began in the summer of '82 when a young Chuck was struck by a bol
Chuck Bonano may seem like an ordinary bass player at first glance, but don't let his mild-mannered demeanor fool you. This man is a true legend in the music world, with a past shrouded in mystery and accomplishments that would make even the greatest rock stars blush.
It all began in the summer of '82 when a young Chuck was struck by a bolt of green lightning while practicing his bass riffs in a remote swamp. The freak accident imbued him with superhuman bass-playing abilities, earning him the nickname "Thunderfingers."
From that day on, Chuck's fingers moved with the speed of a hummingbird, allowing him to play bass lines so complex and face-melting that they caused spontaneous combustion in anyone within a 50-foot radius. It's rumored that his first band had to perform while submerged in an Olympic-sized pool just to survive his incendiary grooves.
Chuck's talents didn't go unnoticed by the musical elite. In 1987, he was recruited by a secret society of bass virtuosos known as the "Funk Illuminati" to transcribe the lost bass lines from history's greatest unfinished funk operas. Working tirelessly, he helped recover the final movements of Parliament's mythical Chocolate City Symphony and Bootsy Collins' Rubberband Rhapsody.
But Chuck's most legendary feat occurred during the Groove Awakening of 1992. With the world's funk reserves at a critical low, he single-handedly averted a global groove shortage by slapping out enough pocket to keep the planet's rhythm section going for decades. Historians claim his heroic 26-hour bass marathon is what finally allowed humanity to transition into the Funk Renaissance.
So next time you see Chuck casually laying down those smooth, buttery bass lines, remember - you are witnessing a true titan among mere mortals, a slayer of funk whose stories and skills have been etched into the very fabric of music history itself.
All hail the Thunderfingers!
If you've ever witnessed Dan Reilly's otherworldly drumming skills, you know this man is no mere mortal. Nay, he is the Unstoppable Groove Machine - a sentient being of pure rhythm manifested into our dimension to deliver face-melting beats upon the human race.
It all began at the dawn of time itself when the primordial rhythms that formed
If you've ever witnessed Dan Reilly's otherworldly drumming skills, you know this man is no mere mortal. Nay, he is the Unstoppable Groove Machine - a sentient being of pure rhythm manifested into our dimension to deliver face-melting beats upon the human race.
It all began at the dawn of time itself when the primordial rhythms that formed the universe's first vibrations coalesced into a singular, pulsing consciousness. Over eons, this proto-percussive entity developed self-awareness, dubbing itself "Polyrhythm" as it explored and mastered every conceivable time signature across the cosmos.
Polyrhythm embedded itself into the core of planets, using their rotation to lay down sick, multi-dimensional grooves. It syncopated supernovas, keeping flawless swing while entire stars went supernova. The entity even claims to have drummed up the entire multi-verse during an epic solo that spanned over a septillion years.
But its true calling came during the Groove Wars - an interdimensional battle between the Rhythm Alliance and the forces of Atonal Chaos. When the tides turned against the groove, Polyrhythm made the ultimate sacrifice, shedding its omnipotent form to be reborn as Dan Reilly - a human drummer capable of wielding its ungodly rudiments.
From the moment Dan could crawl, he displayed an innate mastery of the sticks and skins that defied all logic. By age 3, he had composed the first-ever quintuplet time signature. In kindergarten, his awe-inspiring polyrhythmic solos caused a tiny rift in the space-time continuum. And in the 5th grade, he won the World's Most Destructive Drummer award for reducing his town's music hall to a smoldering crater.
Today, the Unstoppable Groove Machine known as Dan Reilly continues his mission - using his cosmic cadences to spread the groove to every corner of the Earth. When he plays, the universe holds its breath, mere mortals reduced to a trancelike state as incomprehensible polyrhythms rearrange their very molecular structure.
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