Midsummer Issue 2023

Suit and Mai Tai Sets Sail with
Familiar Tunes at Local Events
12
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photos by Karen Fucito
Pull up a lawn chair and a cold beverage and
get ready for a good time.
Familiar to many in Roxbury and Mount
Arlington as an enthusiastic DJ and entertainer,
Chris D’Amico, 52, has brought his love of great
music and passion for putting on a show to a
new project. The band Suit and Mai Tai is taking
the cover music scene by storm with upbeat and
popular rock tunes.
“These are the most talented musicians
I’ve played with in my 30-plus years of being
a musician,” D’Amico said of the six-piece
ensemble. “Our vocals are our standout. We
deliver a fun musical experience with some of
the classic songs that everybody knows and loves
but not a lot of bands play because they don’t
have the vocal dynamics or instrumentation.”
Although D’Amico has been most visible in
recent years emceeing local events, he has played
professionally since he was 16 years old. Growing
up in West Orange, he began on keyboards and
vocals with a high school band called RXN, an
abbreviated version of the word “reaction.”
“I was in several other bands,” said D’Amico of
the journey. “We tried to make it with record
deals, did some tours, had some fun.” One of his
favorites from the 1990s was a group called Dog
Voices.
D’Amico considered himself the “utility side
man,” picking up vocals, keyboards, bass and
whatever was needed at the time. He also spent
years doing session work, writing jingles for
McDonald’s, Hoover, Chevrolet and more.
D’Amico began working as a wedding DJ in 1997,
combining recorded music with
live performance in an experience
he called the DJ Alive Hybrid
Show. During events he would
intermingle his DJ work with a
“one man band.” He created tracks
of certain songs and removed
parts, then sang those parts live.
“It’s for people who want a band
but don’t want to spend $10,000,”
he said. “I want the adults to feel
like they are at an elegant affair and
the bride, groom and their friends
to feel like they are hanging out at
a bar all at the same time.”
The goal was to break free from
the norm. “Everything that made
the movie ‘The Wedding Singer’
Left to right at Horseshoe Lake Park: Ron Ossi, vocalist and guitarist.
Lauren Gibbs, vocalist and keyboardist. Gibbs, Matthew Testa on bass,
John Peterson on saxophone, Chris O’Hara on drums, Ossi, Mike
Maino on guitar and lead singer Chris D’Amico on keyboard.
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Midsummer 2023
funny was an exaggeration of legit wedding
bands out there in the ‘80s,” said D’Amico.
D’Amico had been working with a company
called Music and Dance, whose owner supported
the hybrid act. When the owner retired in
2003, he offered D’Amico financial backing and
D’Amico Entertainment was born.
Around the same time, he recorded five
albums of educational music designed for child
development with a publishing company called
Kindermusik. “Each time, I had to show up and be
a different character,” D’Amico said with a laugh.
In 2005, D’Amico won a contest sponsored
by radio station WPLJ to perform the music of
Billy Joel as one of the “piano men” in several
performances of Broadway’s “Movin Out.”
Although he still makes a living at weddings and
other events, he said he missed the “ego boost”
that comes with performing live.
During the pandemic, D’Amico recorded videos
of duets with longtime friend Lauren Gibbs and
realized they might be on to something vocally.
“I had known her for over 30 years and never
realized we had a blend,” he said.
Gibbs, 53, of Bridgewater, has been playing
piano since she was 3 and started singing in her
teens. In the 1990s, she and D’Amico had the
same producer.
“We never sang together except for that one
time at a random bar with his band at the time,”
she said.
One night in 2020, D’Amico decided to go
live on Facebook, just him and a piano, calling
the production “Yacht Rock Radio.” That’s when
drummer Chris
O’Hara reached out
with a proposition.
“Are you interested in putting together a yacht
rock band?” the message from O’Hara read. The
51-year-old Cedar Grove native was late to the
cover game, after having played original music
during the first part of his career. He had been
part of several bands and toured the Northeast,
once snagging a stint playing in a fictional club
on “The Sopranos.”
D’Amico immediately reached out to Gibbs. “I
don’t even remember how it went from singing
on videos to, ‘Hey, why don’t we play live?’” she
said.
The wheels really started turning when Ron
Ossi, 49, of Highland Lakes, got on board. Ossi,
who began writing and performing original
songs when he was 14, was a chef by trade and
never able to fully pursue a music career. He
owned a restaurant for over a decade and now
teaches culinary arts at Passaic County Technical
Institute.
“Once I got that job, it gave me the opportunity
to get back out there and play,” said Ossi, who
sings and plays guitar with Suit and Mai Tai. “And I
do this as a supplement to my teaching income.”
Rounding out the current lineup is Matt Testa,
of Boonton, and Mike Maino, from Blairstown.
Currently the band director at Lakeland
Regional High School in Wanaque and a classically
trained trumpet player, Testa started playing
guitar in the ska band scene in 2006. He finds the
cover scene offers him performing experience
and extra income to support his family life.
“What we bring to the table that not all bands
do is fantastic vocal harmonies. We work hard
on those and make sure to put them right out
front,” Testa said. He thrives off the joy listeners
get from a live performance. “I love the spectacle
of it all.”
A veteran guitarist, Maino toured the
world with Shotgun
Symphony, releasing
multiple CDs in
the 1990s and early
2000s. “Eventually, we
weren’t able to sustain
ourselves financially, so
I started getting into
the cover scene to
make ends meet while
still playing music,” he
said.