James McIntosh is a drummer for a touring band called Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son. In the last five years he has consistently played at venues such as The Stone Pony, Starland Ballroom, Bowery Ballroom, Bowery Electric and Arlene’s Grocery. Steadily playing over 100 shows a year, he's toured around the country and in Canada. His band has been the opening act for Bon Jovi, Hoobastank, The Gaslight Anthem, John Eddie, Wally Palmar, Pat Travers, John Cafferty, Pianos Become the Teeth, Pity Sex, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Jesse Malin, Work In Progress, Black 47, Blue Rodeo, Palisades, Verve Pipe, Amine, Willie Nile, The Dirty Pearls and more. Some well-known venues they have played are The Prudential Center, Six Flags Great Adventure, The Legendary Dobbs, Meridian Centre, Greg Frewin Theatre, London Music Hall, Seneca Queen Theatre and Scotiabank Theatre.

Outside of this band, James started playing drums at eight years old. Throughout the years, he played in bands called Projex, Causing Mayhem, Pat the Soul Cat Toner, Diego Allesandro and Lot 25, and The West End Dogs. He is currently a drum teacher at School of Rock Red Bank.

Nash Breen started playing drums at the age of 12. Self-taught the first three years of his career, he really gained momentum and knowledge while playing the quints with the Columbia High School marching band. The band went on to take the best drum-line award his senior year at Giants Stadium. Out of high school, Nash quickly joined up with Armor For Sleep (a post hardcore/emo rock band). They signed to Equal Vision Records and then to Warner Brothers, sold over 500K records, were featured on MTV, FUSE, FOX and countless written publications, and extensively toured the United States, Canada and the UK from 2002-2008. Nash is now in a band called The Cold Seas. Nash is currently a drum teacher at School of Rock Red Bank.

Pamela Flores is a vocal instructor who also teaches beginner piano and guitar at School of Rock Red Bank. Pamela is an active singer/songwriter based out of Asbury Park. She has been featured in NJ.com’s “New Jersey Artists You Need To Know,” Asbury Park Press's “Rising Artists” and many more. Pamela is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and has a background in musical theatre.

Laura Vein recently joined School of Rock Red Bank as a piano teacher and vocal instructor and has enjoyed sharing her years of experience as a music student, performer and teacher with her students. She began formal piano lessons at the age of four and voice lessons at the age of 12. She studied classical piano with concert pianists Gary Steigerwalt and Brenda Kee at Mount Holyoke College, and, after moving to New York City, studied jazz with Mike Holober at NYU and voice with Barbara Maier, former president of the New York Singing Teachers Association. She sang and played keyboards in several bands in NYC and had standing gigs at The Back Fence, 9C, O'Flaherty's, The 55 Bar, Arthur's Tavern and many more. She wrote original songs for her band, LP, as well as taught at PS 234 in Tribeca and the Rye Arts Center, directed and composed musicals for The Downtown Day Camp in Tribeca, built her own recording studio, and did session vocals for and with Stephen Schwartz of "Wicked." Her philosophy is to love what you do and people will love it too.

Carleigh Guarino is our Assistant Show Director. She is a former School of Rock Red Bank student who sang and performed in over 10 shows, as well as in the school's House Band. She has been singing for most of her life and has picked up some guitar, piano and ukulele along the way.

Jimmy Farkas is our school’s guitar teacher and assistant show director. He has been a fixture on the Asbury Park music scene for decades and has toured the country and overseas as a touring, professional musician. He has had years of experience playing and taking music lessons on various instruments, and studied various types of music from jazz and pop to hip-hop and metal. Jimmy loves listening, playing and teaching music of various genres. He is a guitar, bass, drum and piano instructor at School of Rock Red Bank.

Anna Bianchi is our school’s Studio Coordinator and Assistant Show Director. She is a School of Rock Red Bank graduate herself. She has had years of experience playing and taking music lessons on various instruments. Anna loves listening and playing music of all different kinds.

Ryan Roberts is the primary guitar teacher and one of the Show Directors at School of Rock Red Bank. He is, in fact, a former student of the school as well. Before becoming a teacher, he apprenticed at an instrument repair shop in Freehold and later moved to Pittsburgh to pursue his own instrument repair business. Ryan moved back to New Jersey and has been teaching music in Red Bank ever since. He brings energy and musical knowledge to the students in the world of guitar and bass. By teaching an instrument and how to perform with other students, Ryan is also able to instill core values in students that they can use outside of the school, such as hard work, patience, perseverance, optimism and discipline. His passion for music and the school is contagious and he enjoys teaching.

Renée Allen is a vocalist, actress and multi-instrumentalist. She enjoys playing the flute, saxophone, keyboards and ukulele. Renée made her professional debut in the cast of the first international tour of "Grand Hotel: The Musical" directed by nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune. She made her Broadway debut as Joanne and Sarah in the John Doyle-directed revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Company," where she was asked to teach herself the saxophone in three weeks. In between shows, Renée spent years supporting herself in an administrative capacity at "The New York Times," where she served many roles, including Operations Manager for the art department. Renée is thrilled to return to her musical roots at School of Rock Red Bank, where she serves as General Manager and vocal instructor.

In high school Ashlee Driscoll was the recipient of the National Choral Award (2013). Then she was a Vocal Performance major at Columbia in Chicago, where she studied voice under Jeff Morrow. Ashlee performed at the House of Blues with her gospel choir. She graduated in 2017 and currently teaches vocals and the Rookies and Little Wing programs at School of Rock Red Bank.

Deseree Spinks started in the theater world, starring in over 25 regional theater productions, including the critically acclaimed production of "Hair" at the Count Basie Theater and later in the "Hair" documentary, “Let the Sunshine In." Next she toured for years as a professional backup singer or “deSoL SiStah” for the international touring Latin-rock band deSoL. Currently, you can catch her fronting her own group, Des and the Swagmatics. As leader of this eclectic group, she's played all over the NJ shore, Key West and NYC, won four Asbury Music Awards, been featured in an Emmy-winning documentary about Asbury Park for PBS and opened for Asbury legend Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Most recently, she sang "The National Anthem" at the election night victory party of New Jersey governor Phil Murphy. Des works at School of Rock Red Bank as a vocal and keyboard instructor.

Ray Saada has been teaching at School of Rock Red Bank since 2012 and became Music Director in 2017. He teaches all instruments offered, as well as directs a show in the Performance Program and the House Band program. In the past he directed groups for Rock 101, Rookies and Little Wing. Ray has 25+ years of training and performing experience as a multi-instrumentalist, and is proficient on keyboards, drums, guitar, bass, vocals, ukulele, lap steel and saxophone. Ray studied Communications and Media Theory and Music at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, where he specialized his studies in a Popular Music Studies concentration, and has extensively studied 20th century music history from classical and jazz through pop traditions and the socio-cultural implications of evolutions in music and technology. His research expertise is in the music and history of the Beatles and 1960s counterculture.

John Digulio has been a School of Rock drum teacher for over 10 years and has taught in the Long Island schools. John's experience takes him back to being a young enthusiastic learner and player in both school bands and in local bands with friends. To John's advantage, his high school teacher encouraged him to try out for the McDonalds All-Star American Band. John was accepted as one of two to represent the state of Rhode Island. That experience earned John a full scholarship to an arts and academic school of his choice. John chose Berklee College of Music in Boston. John has been an active touring and recording drummer, working with the likes of Paul Simon, Joan Osborne, Elvis Costello and many more. John is currently the drummer for Gloria Gaynor, traveling the globe playing sold-out shows. John likes to use his knowledge of music and the music business to show his students how to perform at their best, teaching them the fundamentals of drumming and how to work well in a band situation with positive results. From beginner to advanced skill levels, John's dedication to his students will always be to provide them with an awesome learning environment and the tools they need to move forward in their music endeavors.

Brendan Ell joined School of Rock Red Bank in October of 2018. He is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who has over 20 years of experience performing, teaching and producing music. With extensive touring through the early 2000s he has performed at many major venues, including CBGB’s, The Theater of The Living Arts, The Electric Factory, House of Blues Atlantic City, The Stone Pony, The Trocadero, Joey Harrison’s Surf Club and more, and has opened for artists including George Clinton, Bob Marley’s Legendary Wailers, Fishbone, Sublime With Rome, Pitbull, The Dirty Heads and The Expendables.

He has also worked as a session musician in studios all throughout New Jersey and Philadelphia, and on radio performances including one on Power 99 and on 95.9 The WRAT. He studied music at the Toms River Music Academy and Music Production at The Art Institute of Philadelphia and the Ocean County Vocational School. He now runs his own studio and music production company in Toms River, NJ and has recently had one of his original songs placed in the independent film "Betrayed."

His teaching philosophy comes from a deeply rooted passion for all forms of music and the belief that you should always keep your ears open to all styles of music because you never know where you are going to draw inspiration from.