Sonny Vincent


Sonny Vincent is an American punk rock musician. He has been active since the mid-1970s, when he was part of the New York City punk rock scene with his original band, Testors. Vincent is currently active in music, film, multi-media art, and writing.
His pedigree includes mid-70s Testors' performances at C.B.G.B. and Max's Kansas City. Always active in his own bands, Vincent also spent time touring and recording for 9 years as Maureen "Moe" Tucker and Sterling Morrison's guitar player Members of Vincent's bands include a vast range of players/characters, from the drummer of the Stooges, Scott Asheton, to Charles Manson's one-time guitar player, Ernie Knapp.

Early life and career

Sonny Vincent was born in New York City and had difficult relationships with his foster parents, teachers, and other adult authority figures. Vincent formed Testors in 1975 with Gene Sinigalliano and Gregory R. Later line-ups included Surrealist Ron Pieniak on bass, Jeff Couganour on drums, and Kenneth Huebner on bass. Testors played New York clubs such as Max's Kansas City, and CBGB and Philadelphia's Hot Club with groups such as: Mink DeVille, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Cramps, and Suicide. They also toured nationwide with the Dead Boys. Testors released a 7" single in 1976, "Together" b/w "Time Is Mine."
In 1981, Testors disbanded and Vincent moved to Minneapolis. In 1982, he formed Sonny Vincent and the Extreme with Michael Phillips, Jeff Rogers and Mort Bauman. The group toured the U.S. and released another single, "SVE", with the songs, "Wingdale," "Top Dog," and "Phantom". In 1983, while still living in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Vincent became involved with film-making and multimedia arts. The group made a film titled Mannequin World on the streets of Minneapolis. In 1984-1985, Vincent was involved in a performance art project that saw him banned from the grounds of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
After the Extreme disbanded, Vincent went on to form other groups, such as Model Prisoners 1987-1989 and Shotgun Rationale 1989-1990, which had a revolving line-up that included, Mort Bauman, Mike Henderson, Stinson, Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys, and Greg Norton of Hüsker Dü.
During the early 1990s, Vincent and drummer Jeff Rogers relocated from Minneapolis to Los Angeles where they formed a band for a short time with Ernie Knapp on bass.

Late career

In the early 1990s, Vincent moved to the Netherlands. He formed a group, The Dons, with two Dutch musicians. Other line-ups during this period were Sonny Vincent and His Rat Race Choir, which included Scott Asheton, Cheetah Chrome, and Captain Sensible.
In addition to releasing over 20 albums under his own name, Vincent toured and recorded for nine years with Maureen "Moe" Tucker of The Velvet Underground. During this time, although Vincent continued to record his own albums and tour his own show, he dedicated many years to Tucker. He recorded several albums with her and did many tours across the United States and Europe as her guitar player. Although the line-ups Tucker used often changed, Vincent and John Sluggett were permanent members. Having two original members of the Velvet Underground and members of Testors and Half Japanese brought new life to the band. Victor DeLorenzo of the Violent Femmes also briefly joined the band.
After touring with Moe Tucker became less frequent, Vincent recorded a new album, Pure Filth, with drummer Scott Asheton of the Stooges and Captain Sensible of the Damned. After this release Vincent and Asheton, along with Steve Baise of the Devil Dogs, toured the United States and Europe playing songs from the album and from Vincent's catalog.
Vincent has continued touring and playing his music for audiences in Europe and the United States.
In 2012 Vincent formed Sonny Vincent and the Bad Reactions. The band toured the United States during the summer and recorded three songs, released by tREND iS dEAD! records on 7" vinyl. 2012 also saw Hozac records initiate the "Archive" branch of its label. The first release in this category was by Vincent's "Proto-Punk" band, Fury, recorded in 1972. In January 2020 Hozac records released a full length LP compiling unreleased tracks from three of Vincent's pre-Testors bands, Distance, Fury, and Liquid Diamonds, as well as one of the earliest Testors demos from 1976.

Discography

Below is a partial listing of releases by Sonny Vincent. Vocals and guitar by Sonny Vincent and in all cases the words and music are written by him.
Below is a listing of the Moe Tucker albums Sonny played guitar on-
With Maureen Tucker of the Velvet Underground:
  • 1991 I Spent A Week There The Other Night - LP - New Rose Records
  • 1991 Fired Up - 10 inch single - New Rose
  • 1992 Oh No They're Recording This Show - Live Album
  • 1994 Dogs Under Stress - LP/CD - Sky/Ichiban Records
Compilations featuring Sonny Vincent songs:'
" 2005 A Tribute to Mr. Rock 'Chuck Berry Tribute Album' 'Carol' performed by Sonny Vincent- Vinyl 12" LP Bronco Records