Dave Cilluffo

Dave Cilluffo started on piano at nine, but the course of his musical life was set by two Christmases: the one where his best friend got an electric guitar ("the coolest thing I had ever seen"), and the one where he unwrapped Queen's Greatest Hits and heard Brian May's solo in "Bohemian Rhapsody." He picked up the guitar at 13 and went through three teachers by 17, each one telling his parents they had nothing left to teach him. Then he bought the tab book for Ozzy's Tribute album and learned Randy Rhoads front to back.

After high school, Dave went into the military and traveled the world, finding guitars everywhere he went. In 2003 he started a metal band called Thirty3 Cell with Tom, the same T.W. now in Storms Within; they put out an EP, an album, and a music video before the band dissolved. In 2021, a random run-in with Tom changed everything. Storms Within needed a guitarist. Dave checked out the songs, heard Erica's vocals, and knew immediately it was right for him.

His influences map his playing: Marty Friedman, Brian May, Rocky George, Dave Murray, Vivian Campbell, and Jeff Loomis. His favorite album of all time is Friedman's Drama, the band he never got to see is Queen, and right now he's listening to GWAR. His first concert was Def Leppard on the Hysteria tour; the best show he's ever seen was Nevermore on the This Godless Endeavour tour, though the most memorable concert experience of his life wasn't an arena act at all: it was watching his son play on stage for the first time. Outside the band, he's released a solo EP and a full-length album, with an EP called Awake in Dreamland and a full-length titled Done With Mirrors both in the works. Ask him what he'd change about any of it: "There is certainly a lot I'd do differently if I could go back, but I don't have any regrets. Every note I've ever recorded is representative of where I was on my musical journey at that time in my life. Even stuff I cringe at now, I would keep it exactly the same."

Off stage, Dave is a software engineer who spends his spare time running, gaming, and writing, and he's a big fan of 90s gangsta rap, from N.W.A. and Ice-T to Snoop Dogg. He and his wife Shannon celebrate ten years married this Halloween. His pre-show ritual is one word: coffee. And something people wouldn't expect from a guy whose teachers ran out of things to teach him: he does not know how to play "Stairway to Heaven."

The best show Dave has ever played is the opening of the Women in Metal exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and his favorite Storms Within song to play live is "Not So Easy." His dream stage is Madison Square Garden, shared, if he could pick anyone, with Marty Friedman. "I love that we are a big family, even outside of music," he says. "And on stage I love that I know everybody is going to give 100% every time. This band has given me the opportunity to play places and meet people I'd never have gotten to otherwise. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. We could not do this without you."