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| Warp 3 "Music Has Evolved": Track-By-Track
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Warp 3's live opener and crowd getter. This tune was actually designed with this in mind. "Some of the progressions found in this song were from a warm-up jam we used to do back in the days. I wanted to compose a song that incorporated the whole band, not just guitar. That's why you'll find lots of unison lines and different instrument solos. But, the backbone of this song definitely comes from its groove orientated rhythms. As far as the names goes...when we were in the studio and the song was near completion, I remember the engineer's assistant
saying, 'damn, that kicked ass!' From there...you do the math." Warp 3 guitarist, Ryan Maza.
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A commercially inspired song that seems to be the consistent pick for live radio play. Warp 3 definitely 'tones-down' for this piece, concentrating on singable verses and chorus, while maintaining a couple 'riffs' to appeal to guitar fanatics. Warp 3 always jokes about this song at live performances saying, "this is as bluesy as we get!" The name is actually a light-hearted connotation between the 'swamps in the bayou' and 'blues'.
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An emotionally driven ballad that was inspired by the death of one of the bandmember's father.
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As this humorous names implies, this fusion/progressive rock fest was written specifically by the band...for the band. The name inspiration came from trying to 'live-up' to the expectation in which a local paper wrote, "These guys can PLAY!" This was one of the latter songs that was composed for the CD, 'Music has Evolved'. It was never played out live, just pieced together in the studio. A recent reviewer commented as saying that this was one of the 'busiest' pieces on the CD. Go figure...
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A guitar driven anthem with a solo that'll knock you off your chair! "Driven" was the second oldest song written by the band. When Warp 3 first formed, their direction seemed to be more 'progressive rock' orientated. As time passed, they became more fusion and funk based. This was partially due to their live performances, as this genre of musical style seemed to more accepted by the audience. This is why 'Music has Evolved' has been described as 'breaking-the-rules' of conventional musical style. This could be interpreted as the way in which Warp 3 combines different musical styles into their compositions.
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Wonder what 'EJ' stands for?...Eric Johnson?...naaa. This was a older piece written by the guitarist that was meant as a modest tribute to 'the man from Texas'. This composition was written and recorded a year and a half before the second phase of recording 'Music has Evolved' took place. It actually was not intended to be on the CD. Partially because people kept saying it sounded like Eric Johnson. Guitarist Ryan Maza commented back frequently by saying, "Well, that's the idea JACK! Now go drink a Coke and shut the !@#$ up!" This is why "EJ's Isle" almost never saw the light-of-day. But after a year went by and the CD was about ready for Mastering, the band took a second listen and decided this song was too good to pass up. The name was derived for obvious reasons so people hopefully would make this connection.
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Warp 3 had to have a 'masterpiece el grand opus finalle' on their CD, and this 12 minute exhausting, technically challenging piece is the result. Guitarist Ryan Maza said, "we couldn't leave the CD without a bang... it took some TIME to arrange this one! Luckily, Rich(Warp 3 studio keyboardist) and I came up with the foundation of this song from a previous band in which we used to play together in. We really didn't 'visualize' this song to sound like anything. Instead, we sort of let our styles and mood take over, with no pre-conceived thoughts of 'that's too weird or 'stop...you're playing too many notes.' It was very much based on improvisation at the beginning and 80% of this piece are the original parts that we came up with together. Later, of course, it had to make sense...that's where the many weeks of arrangement took place. Wondering what in the hell is a 'Ziggurat'? The name of this song had to match the magnitude of this composition, and college-graduate, Richard Katz threw this name out with no thought. Kind of frightening...or impressive, depending on how you look at it."
Ziggurat: The ziggurat was the Mesopotamian version of the Mountain of Heaven, resembling the pyramids of Egypt and Central America in that its summit was a meeting place between deities and mortals. At the peak of the ziggurat the Goddess came down to mate with the king, or the God to mate with the queen. Sumerian towns featured ziggurats as early as 3500 B.C. In Babylon, the ziggurat was the core of the city. Its seven stages were supposed to represent the seven heavenly spheres. Nuff said...
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Warp 3 steps way out-of-bounds on this jazz, funk, rock piece that bassist Mike Martinez composed. He willfully admires Rush Limbaugh and knows (somehow) that Rush is quite into bass guitar. He originally wrote this song, so it could be sent to Mr. Limbaugh for mutual appreciation. That is...until guitarist Ryan Maza got his hands on it, trimmed off some fat slabs o' funk, layed into the groove with some guitar and propositioned the band that it should be included on their CD. This piece always goes over well live, and Warp 3 likes to include it in their set to 'break-up-the-style' a bit.
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'Part one' is very melodic and spacious, with vocal-like guitar themes and tempo changes that reflect the ambient mood shifts within the composition. This song was one of the guitarist's earlier compositions as there was intended to be two parts to this song. 'Light' and 'dark'...if you will. The song in its entirety totaled sixteen minutes, but due to an already emerging opus on the CD, 'Part 2' will be re-vamped on Warp 3's next CD.
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A pulse-pounding array of techno, metal and guitar driven themes. Musical imagery played a big role in this song, as the writer's envisioned an alien attack on the earth. This composition was actually written with a film-score focus in mind. "We definitely wanted to throw the listener off guard on the last song of the CD. Just when you thought you know what Warp 3 is...wrong! You don't. Many fans never expected us to release a song like this on 'Music Has Evolved'...and that's exactly why we did it. Gotta keep you on your toes!" Warp 3's, Ryan Maza.
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