Lou DiBello
80 minute long free music compilations featuring intriguingly mixed rock and rock-based music . Satisfying musical appetites around the globe since 2005
20 illinoisentertainer . com october 2020
Champaign Supernova
C
hampaign-based , six-string shredder Lou DiBello has been rather fortunate during this current worldwide pandemic . The Musician ’ s Institute graduate has been a staple in the Illinois live music scene for decades , honing his craft by playing to enthusiastic audiences throughout the area in over 3,000 performances to date .
During this self-quarantine era due to Covid-19 , DiBello has fortunately continued to play live solo gigs at various local small clubs , intimate restaurants and outdoor patio and bar areas throughout the Champaign and surrounding areas . “ Since things loosened up some in this area , a lot places that I would have been playing previously , or probably would have had gigs scheduled anyway , were wanting to have live entertainment ,” DiBello explained to IE during a recent phone interview . “ Since then , I ’ ve basically been playing as much as I normally would . I ’ ve always had some band gigs going in one form or another , but now I ’ m just doing the solo shows only because it ’ s a lot easier for some places to not have to pay a full band . For me , it ’ s been great . I ’ ve been real fortunate .”
Like most musicians during the shutdown and self quarantine period , DiBello was forced to turn to performing virtual online concerts , which now have become sort of the norm . “ For about three months , I was out of live gigs ,” he said . “ So , in those three months , I did about a dozen Facebook live shows . Fortunately for me , people were tipping via PayPal and Venmo . I played about a third of what I would have played in that time , but for what I played , I sort of ended up bringing in about what I would have normally brought in for those sort of gigs . And that was a big surprise . It ’ s great that people are chipping in like that . So , that was pretty successful .”
Since graduating from the Musician ’ s Institute in Hollywood , California in 1989 , DiBello has been performing and teaching guitar at critical mass , giving over 30,000 private guitar lessons . DiBello was one of the first guitar players to capitalize with online lessons by creating one of the first streaming guitar lesson websites in 2000 called www . guitarlessononline . com . These days , due to coronavirus , DiBello ’ s been giving more virtual lessons than ever before . “ By the end of March , I had switched everybody to video lessons via Zoom or Skype ,” he said . “ So , when this situation came about now , it was just a step sideways for me to start doing lessons that way . Although I had previously been teaching at a music store , my studio out here at my place I had a half a dozen inperson students on a regular basis . Health concerns aside , I don ’ t see myself going back to in-person lessons in any significant way … or maybe ever . It ’ s much more efficient this way .”
Taking his musical cue from guitar heroes such as Michael Schenker , Uli Jon Roth and Jimi Hendrix , DiBello ’ s flair for ’ 70s rock , ’ 80s metal and the blues is built into his DNA . His last solo album , American Hard Rock *, released in Aug . of 2019 fared rather well in the rock community . While there ’ s no definitive release date for DiBello ’ s next solo album , he has been working on some exciting new material . “ I have a handful of tunes which some of which wouldn ’ t all end up on the same record , depending on how I do it ,” he said . " American Hard Rock was my first album release that I did basically all the vocals except for one song . By doing a lot of the solo shows now , I ’ ve had the chance to work on my vocals . It ’ s pretty likely that I ’ ll get around to getting some good tracks laid over the winter months this year and maybe do something for a release next year . But I don ’ t have anything real concrete yet ."
It ’ s refreshing in this day and age when a self-sustained musician such as DiBello can make a living in this business while maintaining an honest work ethic . While there ’ s no foreseeable future of when things will get back to normal with touring and packing concert halls again , DiBello is making the best of it . “ I ’ m able to go out and play these shows … and even the smaller restaurant shows , I ’ m playing my ass off ,” DiBello said . “ Almost every single show , I ’ m totally laying it out there and playing the best guitar of my life and enjoying it immensely . And it ’ s working like a million bucks . I ’ ll just go with the flow . I play guitar and teach guitar and I couldn ’ t enjoy it more . Everything ’ s dandy !”
Check out DiBello ’ s Facebook page or website www . loudibello . com for current gigs and more
By KELLEY SIMMS