Brian O'Connell (musician)
| Brian O'Connell | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Brian O'Connell |
| Born | July 20, 1963 |
| Origin | Queens, New York, United States |
| Genres | Hard rock, sufi rock, blues rock, folk rock, instrumental rock, alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Arranger, Actor |
| Instruments | bass guitar, guitar, recorder |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | EMI, Sadaf Stereo, Lips Records |
| Associated acts | Eclipse Junoon (1992-2003, 2011) |
| Website | www.junoon.com |
Brian O'Connell is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, record producer and actor. Best known as the bassist and producer for Pakistani sufi rock band Junoon, O'Connell has since gained respect as both a musician and a producer in the Pakistani music industry.
O'Connell and Salman Ahmad were friends of one another since high school. O'Connell joined Junoon when keyboardist, Nusrat Hussain, left the band and Salman Ahmad contacted and invited him to play bass on the band's second album, Talaash. He is known for harmonizing the western 5-string bass riffs with the traditional tabla and drums. After the release of the band's seventh studio album, Dewaar, O'Connell went back to his native land the United States.
O'Connell's musical roots stretch back to Tappan, New York. In 1978, O'Connell, then a sophomore at Tappan Zee High School, was invited by two classmates to join their band "Apple Corps", a group that played mostly Beatles covers. Shortly after O'Connell joined the band, Apple Corps changed its name to "Sloke", and modified its repertoire to include Led Zeppelin, Boston, and the Grateful Dead. In early 1979, O'Connell and other Sloke band members invited their friend Salman Ahmad to join the group. Ahmad had only recently taken up the guitar, but was already good enough to play with the band at a Tappan Zee High School talent festival in February 1979. That performance marked the first time that O'Connell and Ahmad performed together publicly. Following the departure of Sloke's bassist several months later, O'Connell and Ahmad formed a new band, "Eclipse". Before the two could take their aspirations onto a bigger stage, Ahmad's parents moved back to Pakistan in 1981, and Ahmad began to study medicine at Lahore's King Edward's Medical College.
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