stefan gonzalez

drums (dallas)

Drummer Stefan Gonzalez was born in Dallas, Texas. Raised in a musical household, he took early inspiration to start drumming from the elders who rehearsed and recorded with his father, Dennis Gonzalez Ð the masters Alvin Fielder, W.A. Richardson, Andrew Cyrille, and Louis Moholo. By the age of 11 he had put together his first heavy grunge bands (Facelift and Oblivion) and he started focusing on his main project, Akkolyte. Akkolyte, which started as a solo project in which Stefan overdubbed drums, guitar, bass, and vocals, added Aaron on electric bass, and it became a duo. By 2004 Akkolyte had already done a myriad of successful mini tours and an all encompassing 28 day tour of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. He also began playing in the family New Jazz/Improv trio Yells At Eels.

Stefan has since gone on to play with the bands Target Rats, Terminal Dysentery, Just Another Consumer, Waking Terror, Rat Salad, Forbes/Young/Gonzalez Trio, =2 0Unconscious Collective, and the Portuguese group Luis Lopes' Humanization Quartet, as well as leading a big band with fellow experimental improvisers in Mexico City in 2006: German Bringas, Remi Alvarez, Gabriel Lauber, and many others.

In the free improvisational/avant garde jazz realm he has played and recorded with Oliver Lake, Sabir Mateen, Douglas Ewart, Tim Green, George Cartwright, Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, Rodrigo Amado, Luis Lopes, Tatsuya Nakatani, Faruq Z. Bey, Damon Smith, Alvin Fielder, Leena Conquest, Famoudou Don Moye, and many more. Recent endeavors have included touring the East Coast and Colombia with Puerto Rican punk legends Cojoba, as well as the recording of Akkolyte's long awaited LP.