Phil Salvail, The Groove’s bassist and vocalist, was born in 1957 in Los Angeles and grew up in Bell. At the age of six, he saw the first appearance of The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and wanted to become a musician. That inception came to be at the age of eleven, when he began taking piano lessons. His father, Paul – a musician, wanted to be sure Phil was serious about music. Phil impressed his father by mastering piano basics very quickly, and a few months later he was rewarded with a Stella acoustic guitar for Christmas. In addition to The Beatles, Phil’s other musical inspirations were The Dave Clark 5, James Brown, Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Van Halen.
As a high school student, Phil expanded his repertoire by learning to play clarinet, sax, trumpet, upright bass, and tuba. He was playing tenor sax in his school’s Stage Band, when his teacher mentioned that they needed a bassist. When he learned that Phil also had a bass at home, the teacher immediately decided that Phil would become the bassist.
Over the years, Phil has played in several bands including Red House, Firehouse, Assault, Contagous, Jett, Verbatim, Sin City Playboys, and Freq. Show. He has played in bands of various genres, but Rock is his favorite.
Phil feels that The Groove is a very unique band – considering his and his band mates’ eclectic musical talents. This combination allows each band member to express him/herself in various ways, as evidenced by their choices of covers tunes – in addition to their own compositions. Two deep cuts that Phil especially enjoys playing are “I’ve Got a Feeling” by The Beatles and “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green. The band creates their own unique spin to each cover tune with Phil’s versatile bass, Mark’s precise guitar work, and Janna’s driving drumming and vocalizing. Their combined virtuosity provides a lot of room for growth with their original music.
“At times during a rehearsal or gig, I’ll get goose bumps because the “groove” of a song is going so well. It has that special feeling that gives both the band and the listeners a big smile. It’s an honor and pleasure to play music with Mark & Janna.”
