Most musicians who pick up a guitar in their 40s do it quietly, noodling around in the garage between work and family obligations. Bill Mandara went the other direction. Five albums since 2021, a home studio built during Covid, and a back catalog that spans everything from full-throttle rock to introspective angst. He’s not trying to recapture youth or prove a point. He’s just making the music he always heard in his head, finally with the skills to pull it off.
By day, Mandara works as an architect in New York City. It’s a detail that feels relevant when you listen to his music on Spotify. There’s structure here, intention, a sense that every element has been placed deliberately. But it doesn’t feel calculated. If anything, it sounds like someone who spent decades absorbing influences and waited until he had something worthwhile to say before committing it to tape.
Mandara started playing drums in fifth grade and, as he puts it, spent “most of my youth in my parents basement learning how to play by listening to Van Halen, Rush, Dio, etc.” He played in a cover band in the ’90s, briefly dabbled with originals, then largely stepped away from music in his 30s while raising his kids. At 40, he decided to learn guitar, bass, and keys. Not because he was chasing some midlife fantasy, but because he needed the tools to translate his ideas into actual songs. In his early 40s, he taught himself recording software and production techniques. When Covid hit, he built a studio in his home and started writing in earnest.
His first album, “Cloudy Days,” came out in 2021. His son Joey handled lead vocals, and the project was entirely independent. It wasn’t a vanity release or a bucket list checkmark. It was the start of something that’s since become a genuine creative output. 2022’s “What the hell is wrong with you???” sharpened the songwriting and found Mandara splitting vocal duties with Joey across 12 tracks. “Middle Aged Angst” arrived in 2023, pulling from a particularly rough year, followed by “Musings of a Dinosaur” in 2024. Each release felt like a step forward, refining what worked and ditching what didn’t.
His latest, “It’s always something,” dropped on October 21, 2025. Thirteen tracks, just over 52 minutes, with contributions from Chris Magno, Joey Mandara, and Israel Bien. It opens with immediate energy, then shifts through different moods without losing coherence. The guitar work is sharp, the drums are tight, and the vocals carry weight. Tracks like “It’s easier to be wrong,” “We have reached the end (I just work here),” and “I can’t pay the fine” hit hard without feeling forced. “Until it happens to you” stands out for throwing a curveball in tone, giving the record a pivot that keeps it from feeling one-note.
What makes Mandara’s approach interesting is the absence of pretense. He’s not trying to sound like he’s 25 again or chasing whatever’s trending. The guy wears Yeezy Boosts and makes music that sounds honest, which checks out. When asked how he’d describe his music, he doesn’t reach for genre labels or artist comparisons. “I would hope that it comes across honest,” he says, “as that is how I have been when writing and performing.” There’s loud guitars, synth, and aggressive drums, sure, but that’s a function of the music he loved growing up and still loves today.
His influences are straightforward: Rush has been his favorite since he was 12, Billy Corgan’s fusion of new wave and metal speaks to him, and Eddie Van Halen remains one of the biggest innovators he’s witnessed. You can hear traces of all three in his work, but it’s not imitation. It’s more like he absorbed what resonated and filtered it through his own sensibility.
Right now, Mandara’s working on a series of cover songs. It’s a shift from the original material that’s defined his output so far, but it makes sense as a palette cleanser. He’s also planning more releases down the line, continuing to build out a catalog that started as a Covid-era experiment and turned into something more sustained.
What’s striking about Mandara’s trajectory is how it cuts against the usual narrative. Most musicians who find success later in life frame it as redemption or vindication. Mandara seems less concerned with that. He wants people to hear the music, sure, but he’s also pushing back against what he calls “the disposable streaming culture in which we are living.” He’s after something more substantive, which feels increasingly rare in an environment built for quick hits and algorithmic playlists.
You don’t need to be in your 20s to figure out what you’re trying to say creatively. Sometimes it takes a basement full of drums, a couple decades of listening, and enough life experience to know what’s worth committing to a recording. Mandara’s proof that the best work doesn’t always come from urgency. Sometimes it comes from patience, the kind that waits until you’re ready to do it right.
Find Bill Mandara and his music on Spotify and Apple Music, or follow him on Instagram to keep up with new releases.
