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My Stint With Music
Early Years
In second grade I had some piano lessons from a cute high school aged blond, but I guess even with that the piano didn't stir my musical soul enough to stay with lessons. It's amazing how that little bit can pay off though. I did continue to practice the piano from time to time over the years, even writing some piano-based songs in college. Though I am nothing of a pianist, I'm glad that decades later I could pull off the keyboard tracks in my 1990s, '50s spoof song, "Let's Do The Puke." The funny thing is, those tracks were played without much rehearsal on a cheap, children's mini keyboard - you know, with the two and a half octaves and small keys. Makes me smile just thinking about it!
Fifth grade was the start of school band, and me learning to play trombone. There were so many good times and memories from playing in the various school bands - jazz band, marching band, concerts, band trips, kissing a girl on the band bus. My love of music and the whole band thing kept me playing trombone even into college.
But long before I ever gave up the ever appreciated trombone stint, I'd bought my first guitar at age fifteen for twenty dollars at a pawn shop in Florida. First thing I learned was the basic chords. Using an old reel to reel tape player, I’d record rhythm guitar tracks and then play them back while trying to play lead guitar solos to them. That’s how I learned to play guitar. I took a few informal lessons here and there, but mostly I just tried to play the rock styles that kept me hooked on wanting to be a rock star.
Obsessed with being a lead guitar player, no one had to tell me to practice daily for hours. Within just a few years I could improvise guitar solos pretty well, was strong with rhythm, and was well under way writing a catalog of original songs. My music influences came from groups like Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Foghat, Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Wings, Heart, ELO, and so many other rock bands of that era. What did they all have in common? A killer guitarist or two, that's what! What inspiration!
Electrified
It wasn’t long before some buddies and I formed a rock band, High Voltage. In addition to cover songs, we learned many of my original songs. Many of our best tunes were the original songs. I was never much of a cover song kind of person. We performed at some high school dances, a few bars, and numerous parties. We even did an outdoor mini concert in the park by the fishpond in downtown Whitehall, Montana. High Voltage was Deano on keyboards and vocals, Merle on bass, Bob on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We were often joined by Jim on guitar and Kim on a very entertaining guitar and vocals with his “on the fly” wild adlib songs. We can’t forget our phantom roadie and party buddy “Barney” Brian either. Those were fun times, hanging out, partying, driving crazy, playing loud music, and dreaming of being rock stars.
By the time we were in our late teens, some of us were already thinking of settling down with our girlfriends. We'd never really talked seriously about where all our music was going. Sure, we dreamt big but were we serious about music as a career? Was I? It wasn’t long before some tough decisions had to be made. At the age of twenty one, I found myself married, with two kids, and working on a ranch in Waterloo, Montana. As much as I loved music I knew that the rock and roll life wouldn’t quite mesh with family life.
Beat of a Different Drum
But I never stopped writing music and dreaming of performing. A logical outlet for my musical energy was found in recording. This has been the essence of my musical calling, continuing for over three decades and still pressing on. Though I've played in live music settings quite a lot throughout these times, I'm always drawn back to recording. Once you have that song file, you can enjoy and benefit from it in so many potential ways, not to mention leaving a permanent record of your existence on this earth. Think about it. If I'm compelled to be a music freak, no matter how gifted or accomplished, should I not try to leave my musical mark on the world? The technology of recording and the internet, together, make that not only possible, but easy.
Using a multitrack tape recorder, I could record at home whenever I had the time. I started playing bass guitar so I could add that to my song mixes as well. Then, I bought a used drum set and taught myself how to play well enough to record. With my dubbed over multipart vocals, I could produce complete songs. I did all this while working on the ranch in Montana. Recording like crazy, I produced a wide range of styles: Rock with lots of solos (of course), some tacky country-like tunes, wedding songs, and some infamous spoof tunes (remember Weird Al?) like "Ugly Woman." Though I was never really happy with the drum tracks on those first recordings, looking back now, they were much better than what followed. At some point I traded my vintage drum set for a then state of the art programmable digital drummer, thinking that the drum tracks on my creations would improve. And I thought they had. But looking back now I see that it only resulted in an explosion of new recordings with cheesy sounding drums for many years to follow. Despite the challenges, it was a blast experimenting with different methods and sounds and styles.
During those early years, spanning from teenage through my twenties, I wrote over a hundred songs, copyrighted the majority of them, and recorded several hours’ worth of complete songs, doing all the parts myself. The songs just came - I was compelled to write. And the recordings were great practice at playing and arranging and producing music. I have hours of these song recordings, all done with a four track cassette tape recorder.
Digital Age
Then came the computer age and computer recording software. My first experience with that was through a friend of mine who had some multitrack recording software. During the time where I worked my day job at a federal government site and became friends with this musician coworker, we recorded a hand full of songs together. At the time, I thought it was some of the best music I'd ever done ("Taking A Fall" for one). My friend was a talented music producer, just starting this craft. He was also gifted on guitar and with song writing. These recordings represented a new level of music for me. But he died before we could ever take it to the next level. All of our recordings were preserved, though, and continue to live on in numerous ways.
Soon I got my own recording software thanks to one of my now-famous brothers who built a state of the art computer for me. That launched another new era in my song production. And by this time, too, there was better technology for creating drum tracks for a recording. My album "Third Millennium Mash" really captures the essence of this time period, from the recordings with my friends to other solo productions. It was during this time too, as many of my arrangements became more complex, that I fully appreciated all the work and effort that go in to producing music.
Life After the Third Millennium
After hearing a demo version of "Spoiked," my wife encouraged me to do a whole album, with all new songs. So, I wrote a box of new songs. Wanting to get a little more production than what I could do myself, but within a reasonable budget, I found a recording studio at Oklahoma City. The resulting album was "Get What You Expect." While I'm happy with the song writing and my playing in general, I don't think it's my absolute best sound. It has its moments. But I'd hoped for a music producer that would take my sound to the next level, enhancing the vocals and upping the ante for special effects. Guess I didn't pay enough for that. I still liked the album well enough, love the guitar jams. Five years later, I rediscovered the demo recordings I'd made for "Get What You Expect," and released them as a new alter-album "Spoiked." In all, I really love these songs and the endless improvised guitar riffs. It's a guitar jammer's album, both versions.
I'd also been working on loop jams. Loop jams are improvisation at its most spontaneous. My loop pedal, which allows me to layer multiple guitar parts on the fly as I "feel it," is the most fun music toy I've ever had. I can't tell you how many guitar grooves came out of such loop jams and made it into songs I'd later record. "Tullorama" is a great example of loop jam ideas coming to life in a final song. There are so many more.
When my daughter's elementary school was looking for musicians to play at one of their "Wusical Wednesday" mornings before school, I signed up. And I did an unrehearsed, acoustic guitar improv jam session using my loop petal and a small amp. It was a hit. I did it a second time. And that got me thinking about doing something more. One Saturday, I decided to do some extended acoustic guitar loop jams, but this time record the sessions. The album "Loopy Loops" is what resulted. Crazy. It was all just made up on the fly! While I'm not in the top notch group of accomplished guitarists, there are some pretty good musical vapors on this album. But I was most impressed at discovering just a hint of what is possible to easily capture in a recording session without any prior thought or rehearsal. This is what I needed to further explore.
Where Does It Come From?
Looking for ways to expand on the improvisation aspects of "Loopy Loops," which was all acoustic guitar, I wanted to do something similar but with an electrified, full production with guitars, bass, and drums. Enter, "Stevie Rage." Rock grooves with a kiss of the blues, Stevie Ray meets Queen, layers like an onion, music you can get lost in. On Stevie Rage, I played all guitar parts, bass, and the Cajon box (later added drums). Over the few months prior to making this recording I'd strangely “heard” some of these infamous riffs. They just popped into my head at various times. I sang and recorded them as voice memos on my phone so I wouldn't forget the ideas. After six or seven grooves, I just couldn't take it anymore and so took one Saturday afternoon to see what I could develop, not really knowing where it was all going. Stevie Rage just happened. It's one of my favorites, my rock anthem. In some ways I feel the most creative, now, that I've ever been in my life. And Stevie Rage led to Schizophrenic Cake Walk, which gave me the idea for the album Calling All Aliens.
Looking back on my music through the years, there have been many songs that seemed to just come to me. "Dear Captain" was an almost prophetic song in which the words just poured out like I was taking dictation. Portions of "Everybody Knows My Name" were heard in a dream (and the entire song based on it). Loopy Loops seemed to come out of nothing, yet it contains a massive brain download. And "Stevie Rage" was created and recorded in just one afternoon in the fastest and easiest recording session of my life. Songs like this are why I love music so much. Music should be unpredictable.
Well, so much for this brief history of why I do music like I do. Thanks for checking out my website. Stay tuned for more. Hope you find something you like.
In second grade I had some piano lessons from a cute high school aged blond, but I guess even with that the piano didn't stir my musical soul enough to stay with lessons. It's amazing how that little bit can pay off though. I did continue to practice the piano from time to time over the years, even writing some piano-based songs in college. Though I am nothing of a pianist, I'm glad that decades later I could pull off the keyboard tracks in my 1990s, '50s spoof song, "Let's Do The Puke." The funny thing is, those tracks were played without much rehearsal on a cheap, children's mini keyboard - you know, with the two and a half octaves and small keys. Makes me smile just thinking about it!
Fifth grade was the start of school band, and me learning to play trombone. There were so many good times and memories from playing in the various school bands - jazz band, marching band, concerts, band trips, kissing a girl on the band bus. My love of music and the whole band thing kept me playing trombone even into college.
But long before I ever gave up the ever appreciated trombone stint, I'd bought my first guitar at age fifteen for twenty dollars at a pawn shop in Florida. First thing I learned was the basic chords. Using an old reel to reel tape player, I’d record rhythm guitar tracks and then play them back while trying to play lead guitar solos to them. That’s how I learned to play guitar. I took a few informal lessons here and there, but mostly I just tried to play the rock styles that kept me hooked on wanting to be a rock star.
Obsessed with being a lead guitar player, no one had to tell me to practice daily for hours. Within just a few years I could improvise guitar solos pretty well, was strong with rhythm, and was well under way writing a catalog of original songs. My music influences came from groups like Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Foghat, Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Wings, Heart, ELO, and so many other rock bands of that era. What did they all have in common? A killer guitarist or two, that's what! What inspiration!
Electrified
It wasn’t long before some buddies and I formed a rock band, High Voltage. In addition to cover songs, we learned many of my original songs. Many of our best tunes were the original songs. I was never much of a cover song kind of person. We performed at some high school dances, a few bars, and numerous parties. We even did an outdoor mini concert in the park by the fishpond in downtown Whitehall, Montana. High Voltage was Deano on keyboards and vocals, Merle on bass, Bob on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We were often joined by Jim on guitar and Kim on a very entertaining guitar and vocals with his “on the fly” wild adlib songs. We can’t forget our phantom roadie and party buddy “Barney” Brian either. Those were fun times, hanging out, partying, driving crazy, playing loud music, and dreaming of being rock stars.
By the time we were in our late teens, some of us were already thinking of settling down with our girlfriends. We'd never really talked seriously about where all our music was going. Sure, we dreamt big but were we serious about music as a career? Was I? It wasn’t long before some tough decisions had to be made. At the age of twenty one, I found myself married, with two kids, and working on a ranch in Waterloo, Montana. As much as I loved music I knew that the rock and roll life wouldn’t quite mesh with family life.
Beat of a Different Drum
But I never stopped writing music and dreaming of performing. A logical outlet for my musical energy was found in recording. This has been the essence of my musical calling, continuing for over three decades and still pressing on. Though I've played in live music settings quite a lot throughout these times, I'm always drawn back to recording. Once you have that song file, you can enjoy and benefit from it in so many potential ways, not to mention leaving a permanent record of your existence on this earth. Think about it. If I'm compelled to be a music freak, no matter how gifted or accomplished, should I not try to leave my musical mark on the world? The technology of recording and the internet, together, make that not only possible, but easy.
Using a multitrack tape recorder, I could record at home whenever I had the time. I started playing bass guitar so I could add that to my song mixes as well. Then, I bought a used drum set and taught myself how to play well enough to record. With my dubbed over multipart vocals, I could produce complete songs. I did all this while working on the ranch in Montana. Recording like crazy, I produced a wide range of styles: Rock with lots of solos (of course), some tacky country-like tunes, wedding songs, and some infamous spoof tunes (remember Weird Al?) like "Ugly Woman." Though I was never really happy with the drum tracks on those first recordings, looking back now, they were much better than what followed. At some point I traded my vintage drum set for a then state of the art programmable digital drummer, thinking that the drum tracks on my creations would improve. And I thought they had. But looking back now I see that it only resulted in an explosion of new recordings with cheesy sounding drums for many years to follow. Despite the challenges, it was a blast experimenting with different methods and sounds and styles.
During those early years, spanning from teenage through my twenties, I wrote over a hundred songs, copyrighted the majority of them, and recorded several hours’ worth of complete songs, doing all the parts myself. The songs just came - I was compelled to write. And the recordings were great practice at playing and arranging and producing music. I have hours of these song recordings, all done with a four track cassette tape recorder.
Digital Age
Then came the computer age and computer recording software. My first experience with that was through a friend of mine who had some multitrack recording software. During the time where I worked my day job at a federal government site and became friends with this musician coworker, we recorded a hand full of songs together. At the time, I thought it was some of the best music I'd ever done ("Taking A Fall" for one). My friend was a talented music producer, just starting this craft. He was also gifted on guitar and with song writing. These recordings represented a new level of music for me. But he died before we could ever take it to the next level. All of our recordings were preserved, though, and continue to live on in numerous ways.
Soon I got my own recording software thanks to one of my now-famous brothers who built a state of the art computer for me. That launched another new era in my song production. And by this time, too, there was better technology for creating drum tracks for a recording. My album "Third Millennium Mash" really captures the essence of this time period, from the recordings with my friends to other solo productions. It was during this time too, as many of my arrangements became more complex, that I fully appreciated all the work and effort that go in to producing music.
Life After the Third Millennium
After hearing a demo version of "Spoiked," my wife encouraged me to do a whole album, with all new songs. So, I wrote a box of new songs. Wanting to get a little more production than what I could do myself, but within a reasonable budget, I found a recording studio at Oklahoma City. The resulting album was "Get What You Expect." While I'm happy with the song writing and my playing in general, I don't think it's my absolute best sound. It has its moments. But I'd hoped for a music producer that would take my sound to the next level, enhancing the vocals and upping the ante for special effects. Guess I didn't pay enough for that. I still liked the album well enough, love the guitar jams. Five years later, I rediscovered the demo recordings I'd made for "Get What You Expect," and released them as a new alter-album "Spoiked." In all, I really love these songs and the endless improvised guitar riffs. It's a guitar jammer's album, both versions.
I'd also been working on loop jams. Loop jams are improvisation at its most spontaneous. My loop pedal, which allows me to layer multiple guitar parts on the fly as I "feel it," is the most fun music toy I've ever had. I can't tell you how many guitar grooves came out of such loop jams and made it into songs I'd later record. "Tullorama" is a great example of loop jam ideas coming to life in a final song. There are so many more.
When my daughter's elementary school was looking for musicians to play at one of their "Wusical Wednesday" mornings before school, I signed up. And I did an unrehearsed, acoustic guitar improv jam session using my loop petal and a small amp. It was a hit. I did it a second time. And that got me thinking about doing something more. One Saturday, I decided to do some extended acoustic guitar loop jams, but this time record the sessions. The album "Loopy Loops" is what resulted. Crazy. It was all just made up on the fly! While I'm not in the top notch group of accomplished guitarists, there are some pretty good musical vapors on this album. But I was most impressed at discovering just a hint of what is possible to easily capture in a recording session without any prior thought or rehearsal. This is what I needed to further explore.
Where Does It Come From?
Looking for ways to expand on the improvisation aspects of "Loopy Loops," which was all acoustic guitar, I wanted to do something similar but with an electrified, full production with guitars, bass, and drums. Enter, "Stevie Rage." Rock grooves with a kiss of the blues, Stevie Ray meets Queen, layers like an onion, music you can get lost in. On Stevie Rage, I played all guitar parts, bass, and the Cajon box (later added drums). Over the few months prior to making this recording I'd strangely “heard” some of these infamous riffs. They just popped into my head at various times. I sang and recorded them as voice memos on my phone so I wouldn't forget the ideas. After six or seven grooves, I just couldn't take it anymore and so took one Saturday afternoon to see what I could develop, not really knowing where it was all going. Stevie Rage just happened. It's one of my favorites, my rock anthem. In some ways I feel the most creative, now, that I've ever been in my life. And Stevie Rage led to Schizophrenic Cake Walk, which gave me the idea for the album Calling All Aliens.
Looking back on my music through the years, there have been many songs that seemed to just come to me. "Dear Captain" was an almost prophetic song in which the words just poured out like I was taking dictation. Portions of "Everybody Knows My Name" were heard in a dream (and the entire song based on it). Loopy Loops seemed to come out of nothing, yet it contains a massive brain download. And "Stevie Rage" was created and recorded in just one afternoon in the fastest and easiest recording session of my life. Songs like this are why I love music so much. Music should be unpredictable.
Well, so much for this brief history of why I do music like I do. Thanks for checking out my website. Stay tuned for more. Hope you find something you like.
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