Artist Profile: The Guys from Ipanema

Name/Band Name/Pseudonym: The Guys from Ipanema

Real Name: Judd Ellis

Instruments Played: Guitar, Bass, Drum Machine, Keyboards, Sound Effects

Influences, Musical or Otherwise: Too many to count. Rush, Led Zeppelin,
Pink Floyd, Joe Bonamassa, Derek Trucks, Joe Satriani, Al Di Meola, Victor
Wooten, Michael Dowdle and lots of others in many different styles.

Bio: I’m the lead guitarist, keyboard player, occasional background vocalist, and
waffle-maker for the rock band The Guys from Ipanema (While my band didn’t
participate in the Silent Sci-Fi project with me, I’m still shamelessly promoting
them here). I love music in just about any form and play it constantly, whether
shredding some Rush tunes with my band or playing in a jazz combo, it seems
that I’m always playing music of some sort.

Thoughts on your experience participating in Silent Sci-Fi: This was a
really cool and challenging project! I had a great time looking for ways to take
inspiration from The Forbidden Planet and create an instrumental piece that not
only reflected my own artistry but pushed some boundaries for me. It was
definitely interesting to watch the whole movie on mute, and led to some great
bad lip reading moments, but there were also moments that just stood out and
were calling out with musical ideas. The final product that I came up with has
three distinct movements, each evoking its own imagery and ideas and inspired
by the open canvas of a muted 50s Sci-Fi movie.

Contact Info: My band (The Guys from Ipanema) can be found at our website,
guysfromipanemaband.com, which has links to our YouTube page, upcoming
gigs, and other info. Check back at our website soon; we’ll be posting demos
within the next week!