retroBlog

indulge me for a moment. imagine that i’m profiled in the latest issue of modern drummer magazine. (yeah, laugh all you want. it could happen!! ……in my dreams….) so, anyway, here’s how the artist profile would read:

my Modern Drummer profile

brief history: worked with different bands throughout his career including array, scepter and the david & johann band. recorded a couple albums at his home studio called the garage as well as a handful of solo albums (playing most of the instruments by himself ala stevie wonder and todd rundgren).

current set up: pearl masters custom series 4-ply maple set. plus a mixture of sabian and zildjian cymbals. and a 13″ pearl piccolo snare drum. cymbal configuration include 8″ and 10″ splashes, 18″ china, 20″ ride, 15″ 16″ 18″ crashes and 14″ new beat hi-hats. i love the way the pearl master series drums sound. warm with a nice attack. and i’m all about the piccolo snare! it’s got that high end snap that really breaks through the mix. as for my signature cymbal work: i gotta have my small splash cymbals and the china. can’t leave home without ‘em.

back up/practice set : yamaha DTX 2.0 sound module, pintech silentech drum trigger pads. not my favorite thing to play. trigger pads will never take the place of a real set of drums. it’s neat to have the variety of sounds and i use it for recording every once in a while but it’s really tough to play with finesse on these pads.

preferred drumstick: vic firth american custom maple SD4. very light in weight so i can do intricate fills with less effort. the downside is that they break easily since they are made of maple. i’ll never go back to 5A hickory sticks again!!

auxiliary equipment: ovation acoustic guitar, fender telecaster (50’s reissue) guitar, alesis compressor, fostex multitrack recorder, zoom studio effects box, DOD distortion/compressor stomp box and roland guitar amp.

early influences:
1) ringo starr : especially hey jude, ticket to ride, rain, strawberry fields forever and basically all of the abbey road album. I memorized the whole beatles catalog early on.
2) carl palmer : i used to play along with Asia’s alpha album almost everyday after school when it first came out.
3) stewart copeland : especially spirits in the material world, murder by numbers and synchronicity II. loved stewart’s pseudo-reggae feel and his use of splash cymbals.
4) neil peart : overture/temple of syrinx, red barchetta, a passage to bangkok. i played these covers with the band array. i love neil’s creative drum fills.
5) Jerry Speiser : Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive and No Restrictions on men at work’s cargo album. i hate to admit that i listened to them but hey they were hot back then….really!…
6) Tony Thompson : dude, Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards did a tremendous job rhythmically on robert palmer’s ‘riptide’ album. check out i didn’t mean to turn you on, hyperactive and flesh wound. introduced me to eighties style funk.
7) Phil Collins : amazing drum sound. loved the way his drums were always mixed upfront and in your face. his drumming on genesis’ mama was very influential in the way i play.
8 ) Steve Smith : the master of power ballad drumming. very tasteful drum fills. also loved the way he played on journey’s separate ways/worlds apart.
9) Omar Hakim : his work on Sting’s bring on the night still, to this day, leaves me flabbergasted.

currently listening to the following drummers: vinnie colaiuta, manu katche, dave weckl, carter beauford, prairie prince and chuck sabo.

thoughts on drum machines : love ‘em. used a Boss DR-550 for years when recording demos. plus drummers nowadays need to be able to play with click-tracks since most recordings are done with one. drum loops are fun to play with as long as they’re programmed right.

the role of the bass guitarist: the bassist plays a significant role in the way you play. a lousy bass guitarist will make even the most skilled drummer sound like crap. i used to play with an ex-session musician from nashville and he was incredible. he made it so easy to make a song groove. it was like butter. he ended up moving to the midwest and i miss him dearly. dude, it’s not the same without ya man!

favorite bass guitarists: paul mccartney, chris squire, abraham laboriel, john wetton, sting, john entwhistle

favorite guitarists: trevor rabin, todd rundgren, robbie mcintosh, eric clapton, steve howe, eric johnson, lyle workman.

-end of profile-

…now back to reality. ….thanks again for indulging me!

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you’ve just completed recording one of the best songs you’ve written in years and it took you days just to get the lead vocals just right. and now you’ve got to make copies of your demo to send to some important contacts in the industry that have promised you some ear time. so obviously it’s pretty important to send out good working copies on quality CDs for these execs to play your song on. it’s usually a link in the chain that gets overlooked but there are indeed varying degrees of quality among blank CD and DVD media. and for something as important as a record exec listening to your demos, this isn’t the time to skimp on the quality of your recordable CDs. that’s why i highly recommend using Taiyo Yuden brand recordable CDs and DVDs. they are known throughout the industry as the best brand of blank discs with unsurpassed reliability and the lowest error rates. and all their CDs and DVDs come with a 100 year data integrity guarantee. and you can find the best prices on blank CDs and DVDs at Supermediastore.com. don’t take a chance on burning unplayable coasters. be worry-free by using Taiyo Yuden CDs.

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after months of speculation, Journey finally posts an official announcement: Arnel Pineda is the new lead singer of Journey!
Here’s the official press release -

JOURNEY–Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums)–is proud to introduce fans all over the world to their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda (”pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

Arnel hails from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs–in addition to original material–with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him.

“It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore JOURNEY fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like ‘the voice’ (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there’s only one Steve Perry in this world.”

When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing “Faithfully,” he knew he had found the perfect frontman.

“I was frustrated about not having a singer,” explains guitarist Neal Schon, “so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

Arnel Pineda picks up the story: “My friend Noel picked up the message on YouTube and told me it was from Neal. I thought it was a hoax so I ignored it. Noel said, ‘what if it really was Neal and he wanted to offer you the chance of a lifetime?’ So I e-mailed Neal back and the rest is history.”

“Arnel brings a soulful and passionate voice to JOURNEY,” continues keyboardist Jonathan Cain. “His personality is very well-suited to our music. He’s a sincere, authentic person with a great smile and a big heart. I think fans are really going to love him. With Arnel’s soaring tenor, Journey returns to our heritage sound.”

Schon agrees, “We feel reborn. I think there’s a lot of chemistry between the five of us. At first we were going to go into the studio and just write 4 songs, but now it’s escalated to a lot of great new and diverse material. The stuff sounds tremendous. Everyone’s so stoked about it. We feel very fortunate to have found Arnel.”

JOURNEY is currently working on a new album with legendary producer Kevin Shirley, which they hope to release by spring/summer 2008. Details will be announced early next year.

in addition, MelodicRock.com posted a great quote from Producer Kevin Shirley about their recent recording sessions:

“Neal and Jon called me and asked me in November to check out a couple of new songs, for an upcoming and possible project with Journey.
I went to San Francisco to assess the new Journey and check out the material. I am so swamped, have a new baby and I did not want to be involved if it wasn’t focused and great. I thought I’d be there for 2 days. First, I was stunned at Arnel, who is a monster vocalist. He is the real deal. Just phenomenal. Its true Neal found him on YouTube.
Next I heard the songs. I am always in awe of Jonathan Cain as songwriter/producer and together with Neal Schon, who adds the rock element, they are one of the great songwriting partnerships. Its true they don’t always see eye to eye musically, but the combination is magic. We spent a while talking and seeing where they were at. I have been brutally honest with them, and was not interested in being any part of them being a nostalgia/tribute band, which could happen if their focus got lost. Some of the songs were lacking direction which I, as an outspoken and brutal outsider, immediately pointed out and set about repairing. So I cut a couple of tracks and with all the shit out of the way, you have to hear them ignore their egos and me, and just play as Journey. All together in the studio. What a privilege to see all 5 of them playing together. They are fantastic.
I am always cogniscent of the space Perry and Smith occupy in the sound and legacy, and won’t let that be underplayed, and Deen and Arnel are brilliant musicians, and with a little focus the entire band has found their place again. This is stronger than Trial By Fire and sounds like Journey, but state-of-the-art. People always talk up upcoming material, but just wait. Its unbelievable. There’s a full album of new material coming, but much more, too. Don’t believe all you read - there is no one else but the band in the studio to hear the music (although we do have a Make-A-Wish kid coming in soon).
And that’s the dirt from Las Vegas, where I am mixing seven new original songs. I head back to San Francisco after a quick visit to London, to see the Led Zep reunion, to finish off where we began. I can’t wait, and you are going to love it!”

I look forward to hearing the new material in 2008. I hope all this hype doesn’t blow up in their faces…

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For today’s edition of the retroblog Mix Tape, I thought I’d include some more Brent Bourgeois-related tracks. some of these are a bit obscure but that’s all part of the fun, right?

One Man Gets Around by Charlie Peacock. Brent eased into the christian music scene by doing some session work with his friend Charlie Peacock. Brent is featured here on backing vocals. some may think backing vocals aren’t that significant but in this song as well as the next one on the list (Unto You Lord), Brent’s vocals end up being the highlights of these tracks.

Unto You Lord by Charlie Peacock. the song is pretty straightforward and non-eventful until the appearance of Brent Bourgeois’ vocals during the bridge. I’m not really a fan of Charlie Peacock’s voice but Brent’s performance is worth a listen.

Hold On by Michelle Tumes. Here’s a track off of the project called Streams that was produced by Brent Bourgeois and Loren Balman. the song was written by Brent Bourgeois and Cindy Morgan and again features Brent doing some great backing vocals. Michelle’s voice is a bit too thin for my tastes but Brent’s vocals and tuneful writing make up for it.

We Are Home by Bourgeois Tagg. this song is from the aborted Peter Wolf sessions. the song was written by Lyle Workman, Larry Tagg and Brent Bourgeois and can be found on Larry Tagg’s solo album With a Skeleton Crew. it’s a pretty good tune and makes me wonder what could have been had Bourgeois Tagg completed the project with Peter Wolf.

One Love by Brent Bourgeois. a wonderful track off of Brent’s album Come Join the Living World. the album was recently named the “most underappreciated Christian album” by InFuze Magazine.

enjoy the tunes.

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if you’ve ever recorded with a band or even with a solo artist then you probably know all about how hard it is to capture that one magical performance. sometimes it can take days to get that one best take which can be a bit painful especially when you’re under time constraints or just trying to stay under budget. you can be in the most expensive recording studio with the best equipment money can buy but if the vibe isn’t just right, that stellar performance may never happen. sometimes it’s as simple as the recording room being a bit too sterile looking to keep the creative juices going. that’s why i make it a point to bring along some vibe enhancers to a recording session just in case the recording room just looks too drab. you know, just adding a couple of pieces of decoration can change the whole look and feel of a room. i recently bought some neat items off of coolstuffexpress.com that i’m planning on using during my next recording session. i’ve got a couple of these Blue Groovy Wavy Lava Motion lamps that truly transforms a room especially with the room lights down low. I also got these two big 12″ Lumin Glass Rainbow Plasma Disks that fire off blue, green and red lights around a flat planel disk display in time with the music. it’s fantastic to look at. there’s also this 16″ Blue Plasma Phosphor Tesla Light Lamp that i can bring along for those larger facilities where i need to decorate more space. from my experience, I found that decorating a sterile recording environment enhances a musician’s performance, time and time again. try it the next time you’re at a recording session. and be sure you order some of those neat decorations from coolstuffexpress.com before you do.

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Brent Bourgeois mentioned in his interview that most people only know the song Love is the Answer as performed by Seals & Croft (or England Dan & John Ford Coley). i didn’t think about that fact until he mentioned it. you know, it’s a bit sad to realize that the general listening audience doesn’t even know about the artist behind that classic song. So, today i thought i’d share a couple of different versions of the song Love is the Answer including one performed by none other than the ones that wrote the song - Utopia.

Love is the Answer by Utopia - this is a great live version of the tune recorded during Utopia’s heyday back in 1982. the group sounded great back then.

Love is the Answer by Cindy Morgan - This version is produced by Brent Bourgeois and I love the arrangement and the great musicians playing on this version. it’s just that Cindy has a limited vocal range and it shows during her awful vocal runs at the end. yikes.

Love is the Answer by Rick Springfield - yes, the guy who sang Jessie’s Girl. I don’t care too much about this one. Springfield’s voice isn’t all that great nowadays and the guy leaves out the whole bridge section in his version. what’s up with that? maybe he couldn’t figure out the chords to the bridge? a bit too difficult, perhaps?

Love is the Answer by Todd Rundgren - yup, another version by the man himself, Mr. Todd Rundgren. bossa nova style. it’s not my favorite but i like the concept of redoing a song in a whole different style. and yes, why cover a song if you’re just going to copy it note for note, right England Dan & John Ford Coley?

enjoy the tunes.

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trying to make it as a band is damn tough these days. with faceless corporations controlling radio playlist nationwide and MTV not even interested in showing any music videos, there aren’t a lot of outlets for up and coming bands. it’s simply back to basics, my friend. get out there and play. and when you rock the socks off the kids at the bars and clubs, night after night, believe me, word will spread. the kids will text their friends, share their experience thru email and blogs and before ya know it, your CD will land in the billboard top 100. it could happen. but first you have to believe in yourself and your band. and realize that image is just as important as your music. treat yourselves as rock stars first and the fame will follow. that’s why it’s imperative that you arrive at your gigs in style. don’t just show up at the shows in your beat up corolla. impress the promoters, the fans and the bar owners by arriving in a top of the line limo. with that one instant impression, people are going to know they are dealing with the next big thing. and with the service of All State Car and Limousine, they’ll help you make it happen. they handle the transportation of celebrities, musicians and VIPs all over the tri-state area. reservations are a cinch to set up and they make sure to get you to your destination on time and in style. they’ve even been featured by the Robb Report and New York Magazine as The Best Car and Limousine Service in Town. so whether you need a ride around Manhattan or simply a Newark car service, All State Car and Limousine will get you there and you’ll turn some heads in the process. make an impression, get noticed, be a star and ride in style. head on over to their website to make a reservation online.

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