Who we are...

Mike Yaquinto has been performing live music for almost 30 years.

When Mike was asked to sing Bad Company's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" in 7th grade and proceeded to jump up on a cafeteria table to perform, it was the start of a long musical journey, the latest with"Off the Record."

Through high school, he competed and received top honors in state-wide vocal competitions and spent much of his time performing in musicals and professional theater.

His first working band during and after college was called Brushfire. They played a mix of high energy, guitar based rock at nite clubs and bars throughout northeast Ohio. He left Brushfire to begin writing, recording and performing original music with bands called "Hyperdrive" and "Two Car Garage." He also worked with a very busy 'all occasion' band called "Reunion" for many years. "Off the Record" now gives him the opportunity to sing all genres of music. And bangin’ those congas is a great way to relieve stress!

Mike is married to the beautiful and talented Carol, has two boys, Todd and Brennen (both musicians) and a 4 year old grandson, Taylor. All of whom try to keep him quite busy when not booked on the weekends.

Ben has played with over twenty different bands and touring acts in his professional music career, playing everything from rock, funk, soul and country.

When Ben was twelve his parents bought him his first piano, which he still, has. Ben actually took piano lessons in three different states during junior high school, finally settling in Lexington, Kentucky. He joined his first band as a backup singer performing at college frat parties to help earn money to buy his first keyboard.

Ben played all the way through college. At graduation, he became a studio and club musician, touring the Southeast with his trusty Hammond C3 organ – a monster of a stage instrument weighing in at over 400 pounds. Singin' and playin' keys helped him pay for graduate school.

Ben now teaches at Kent State University in addition to performing as part of "Off The Record." He is married to Marie and has a son, Nick and a daughter, Andrea.

Of course, Ben now plays a much lighter version of the C3 onstage.

Rick Ancil has been performing as a trumpet player and vocalist for more than 25 years and has played with several other groups in Northeast Ohio.

Rick self-studied jazz improvisation and classical vocal during high school at Valley Forge Military Academy, performing with the Field Music Drum and Bugle Corps in addition to the Regimental Choir. After high school, he continued to perform for various choirs and musical ensembles.

Rick didn't really get started in music professionally until hearing Dave Matthews play. He taught himself acoustic guitar through hours and hours of trying to play what he thought were impossible chords at the time. He actually got his start with "Off The Record" by filling in doing lead vocals. He picked the trumpet back up in 2004 and has been playing ever since.

Rick has two sons, Bradley and Noah. He resides in Cleveland with his girlfriend, Karen, all of whom are BIG OTR fans!

Mike Cook joins "Off The Record" after working the past four years with the "Strumming Zucchini Brothers" on their original studio albums.

When Mike picked up the saxophone for the first time during the summer before fifth grade, he couldn’t put it down. Born from a family with musical roots, Mike became a standout saxophonist for Stow High School, always eager to perform the sax solos in jazz band.

Mike picked up the guitar after high school, eventually singing and playing original songs as Cook and Kandel, an acoustic guitar duo. Their mix of folk rock entertained the coffeehouse circuit. He also played sax for a short time at the University of Akron before focusing on engineering studies and coursework.

Mike resides in Cleveland with his wife Kim, and they are expecting their first child in July 2008.

Jason Craig has been performing as a live drummer for more than 15 years and has played with several other groups in Northeast Ohio.

After hearing Neil Peart of the progressive rock band Rush in the mid-80’s, Jason decided to learn to play drums and has never stopped since.

Jason honed his various percussion techniques in high school and college marching bands, classical groups and jazz ensembles. (including one with our sax player, Mike Cook) He has also played in many progressive rock and heavy metal bands including A Better Lie, Suspect, Pirates of the Cuyahoga, (SOL) and Ella. Outside of Off The Record, Jason is also the drummer for The Gingerdead Men.

Jason and his father, guitarist Cal Craig, first thought of the Off The Record concept after a high school band event in 1994. After several incarnations, it has become a tight-knit group of musicians who love to have fun.

In his spare time, Jason enjoys long walks on the sandy shores of the Cuyahoga River, grilling extravagant meals and sleeping.

Cal Craig has been a professional guitar, banjo and mandolin player for more than 20 years.

Cal got his first guitar in 1964 and spent the next 20 years learning how to play "Louie Louie." Never having quite perfected the complex C-F-G chord progession he changed to 5-string banjo and mandolin and played bluegrass in the Unstrung Heroes for 15 years.

Bored with bluegrass, but mostly because the other three members of the Unstrung Heroes eventually died, Cal and Jason formed what was to become Off The Record in 1994.

Cal enjoys short walks to the Dairy Queen with Diane, his wife of 35 years, eating Jason's extravagant meals, and getting yelled at by the rest of the band, which he deludes himself into thinking he manages.

Bryan Tackla started as a lead guitar player and has been performing in live bands for 17 years. He played as a bass player in a band prior to Off the Record called Mid-Life Crisis.

Having played lead guitar in many metal, rock, and thrash metal bands, he decided to try playing bass. While his influences maybe bands like Megadeth, Kiss, Avenge, Sevenfold and Billy Idol, he does enjoy the occasional oldies and seventies songs. Bryan was asked to join the band by his friend, the trumpet player Rick Ancil at the end of 2007. Bryan and the band have been rocking out ever since.