Kenny Mades started playing guitar at 12 years old, taking lessons from a local guitarist in Hampton Bays named Craig Frey. His early influences were Johnny Winter, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix and Rick Derringer. He played guitar in the Hampton Bays High School Stage Band under John Lamendola. After high school he was in many bands on the east end of Long Island, most notably Mutt and Mona Lethal with Mike Oliver www.mikeandkayte.com , Alex Burton (No Exit), Keith Wilson and Grant Werner (The Bridge Gang) and Frank Geramita (Buttered Soul), where he played clubs such as Hot Dog Beach, The Mad Hatter, The Night Club, Suspenders, The Purple Onion, and Center Stage. During this period Ken picked up the nickname "General". These were great foundation experiences for him because everyone in each of these bands was a talented musician with great ears.
Shortly after Mona Lethal, Kenny teamed up with Bill Dunkirk (Union Jax), Bobby Marx (Dokken, Rage and Beyond, Scarecrow), and Phil Nudelman (Foghat, Crosswinds) to do some original material and recording with producer Frank Carrillo (Frampton's Camel, Doc Holiday). Although nothing ever came of it, it was a great learning experience for all of us.
In 1987 he graduated from Five Towns College with an Associates in Jazz Commercial Music and also won the Award of Excellence in Guitar. He studied classical guitar at CW Post before getting a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Special Education at Dowling College. He started teaching Music for Nassau BOCES in 1990 and is still there today working as a Special Educator with a lot of music instruction thrown in. Since then he has played many different venues such as the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center and The New York Coliseum. While playing in Lost in Arizona, Kenny started to develop vocally. Singing Meatloaf songs such as, Hot Summer Nights, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, and Anything For Love he became a powerful vocal presence.
In the spring of 2007 Ken joined up with Peter Cannissaro and Carmine Mazzei who were putting together a Southern Rock tribute band that would be called the High Tydes Band, a band that Peter had been a part of since the late seventies. They were later joined by guitarist Mike Hixon and keyboardist Fred Nowotarski. Carmine Mazzei was later replaced by Jerry Testani.In the summer of 2009 Mades, Hixon, Nowotarski, and Testani left The High Tydes and formed The Trouble No More Band with Tom Appel on Bass. The present linup as of 6/10/11 is Mades,Hixon,Testani, along with newer members Jim Sotis, and Chris Arrigo.
Ken is now happily married to his wife Patricia. They share a beautiful son, their pride and joy, Brendan.
Groups Ken has played with include: Inquest, Mutt, Mona Lethal, Programmer, Joe Carbone, Blue Bay Band, Dorian Black, Lost in Arizona, The High Tydes Band, TheTrouble No More Band
