Emerald

History:

After years of back and forth, I finally decided to sit down and write a full length biography on my father’s first actual band, Emerald. Emerald’s roots lie in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Alex Sipos, who is my father, began jamming with some of his buddies. These included his best friends Geoff Cavino and Joe Folek on guitars and vocals. Soon after, Danny Magnanti, a bassist, began jamming with the trio. The quartet recorded some demos for a goof at Terry Hughes’ infamous Rubber Ball Productions in North Brunswick. These were in a power pop style. They also recorded some songs at another studio which were in a country rock style. 

In 1983, the quartet played their first live show. It was run by my father and called SiposFest. It took place in my grandparent’s backyard on Delfield Street near Rutgers University. Sipos, Cavino, and Folek billed themselves as Blues Deluxe, playing cover songs. Danny Magnanti and Giovanni “John” Magnanti then took the stage with Sipos and Cavino and this new quartet billed themselves as Emerald. They performed hard rock and metal hits. Though the cops were called, SiposFest concluded with a happy crowd and many beers.

In 1984, Emerald began rehearsing and playing local clubs and parties. The lineup at this point was Alex Sipos on drums, Danny Magnanti on lead vocals and bass guitar, John Magnanti on rhythm guitar, and Geoff Cavino on lead guitar. Emerald played at local hotspots like The Union Jack, The Green Derby, The Metro, Mingles, and The Court Tavern. Folek played guitar at a party or two with Emerald as well, including a taped Halloween show. 

Cavino left the band in late 1984. In early 1985, David Jay Irvine heard about Emerald’s need for a guitar player at his new high school. He got an audition and joined the band. This would be the core lineup for nearly two years. Sipos began pushing for studio time and original tracks to differentiate the band from their competition. Emerald recorded a few songs on cassette at a studio in Boonton but they went unreleased and remain somewhat lost. We know where they are, just haven't retrieved them yet. One of the two tracks is a ballad is all my father recalls. The band continued rehearsing, either at David Jay’s house or above a porno shop off Albany Street. The Albany Street rehearsal space was actually run by Terry Hughes’ sister. 

In early 1986, Emerald recorded three songs at Tacher Studios in Middlesex. Two songs were chosen to be released. The first was “Ladies Of The Night” written by the Magnanti brothers. “High Roller”, written by David Jay, was the second song chosen. The sessions were nerve wracking according to my father. The Magnanti’s were extremely nervous and unsure if they were ready. Sipos was ecstatic during the session despite his drums provided by the studio being a child size kit. 

The third song went unreleased until 2015. It was titled “Shoot For The Top” and was written by the Magnantis. The single was issued in 1986 on their own label, pressed by MPPA. It only cost a few hundred bucks to produce and Danny and my father created the iconic homemade sleeves. We believe that 250 were pressed and only around 100-150 were given out, most to family members. The rest were trashed. Of those 100-150 given out, probably only 50 of them had sleeves. I wouldn’t be surprised if less than 25 copies exist today. 

The band continued performing until John was forced to retire from music due to a finger injury at a factory. The band was a trio for some time until David Jay Irvine called it, yearning for a different musical direction. 

Danny and Alex quickly located a replacement in Bill Cole. In 1987, the trio went to the studio and recorded another demo tape. “Queen Of My Dreams” was written by Danny Magnanti and “Bad” was written by Bill Cole. Cole plays lead and rhythm guitars as well as keyboards on the session. 

The band had an assortment of guests on bass and guitar during 1987. A VHS tape of a show at The Green Derby exists with Pete Wallace on bass guitar and Danny Magnanti on rhythm guitar. In late 1987, the band called it quits due to diminishing gigs. 

Sipos left music until 1992 when he founded Short Term Memory with previous Emerald guitarist Cavino and other New Brunswick musicians. They were an alternative rock band that idolized Pearl Jam. My father then joined Rainstation for a brief time and joined Akasa. Akasa was his most successful endeavor, as the group performed in several states and even did a charity festival show. My father’s last band was Hatemail, a studio project of his own conjuring that consisted of Cavino on guitars and vocals, and a friend Rich on bass. 

At these sessions, my father invited both David Jay and Danny to the studio to jam. These sessions, under the name Emerald 2000, produced their last songs together. The first song on DAT tape was Can’t Say Goodbye, which was mostly written by my dad with some assistance. They also recorded a song called “Cruisin” as a four piece outfit. David Jay recorded a tune called “Soulmate” with Cavino and my dad adding sound effects. I believe he redid the song and released it later on in his career. After this, I was born and we moved to Pennsylvania. My father ended his musical career upon moving. 

My dad is still in contact with Cavino and Folek as the trio were best friends for decades. Folek went on to coach baseball at Wilkes Barre University for many years and had great success there. Danny went to form his own hair metal band XLR8 after Emerald dissolved. They released a self-titled CD in 1994. They opened for guys like T.T. Quick (a show my father saw!). Danny continued to play music with fill-in bassist Pete Wallace for many years after. Danny still resides in New Jersey as well as his brother John. David Jay Irvine is still touring with a new group he formed where he sings and plays guitar. He released several singer-songwriter albums under the name David J. Irvine. 

Emerald released a CD comp independently at a local record store in Hellertown. The store owner, Jesse, had the idea of reissuing a CD EP of the original single and “Shoot For The Top” due to its rarity. 100 copies were made and released in 2015, most signed by my father. 

A CD album comp was also proposed several years ago and a few test presses were made but nothing more came of it. I was contacted by a large indie Japanese label to reissue my father’s music, but we declined.