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"Dark Ages" was written and recorded in a few days. What I wanted to represent with this track was the Dark Ages time period - all its roughness and mystery; tribal wars and witchcraft! Which is why this tune is always oscillating between romantica and brutal moments. Hope you enjoy!
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"Fives" was recorded on an Apple iBook with a MOTU 828 interface (my first ever computer recording - scary stuff!). The drums are courtesy of Pete Riley (ex-Jan Cyrka, The Phil Hilborne Band, Republica, Erotic Cakes and currently Ken Hensley and Dave Kilminster). Drums were recorded on tape, then flown onto the Mac. Stringed things recorded digitally by yours truly, using a Line6 POD (necessity, not choice!) and a Cornford amp. Instruments used: a PRS Custom 24, a Tokai Strat copy and a Yamaha BB1100S fretless bass.
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"Ritual Dance At The Foot OF The Mountain Of Om Al Saiif" is a pretty good example of where I`m at right now, musically. I start by attempting to write a good song, regardless of guitar gymnastics. This tune is a combination of my favorite elements; working with non-conventional time signatures, eastern percussion, soloing over chord changes, heavy rhythm sounds, and creating balance in production and arrangement so that nothing outshines anything else. The song came to me, initially, as the opening riff and percussion. I just jammed it a lot; let it take me where it needed to go. Eventually it evolved into what you hear.
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One day a friend of mine who is studying Quantum Mechanics was explaining the idea behind Shrödinger`s Cat. In 1935 Erwin Schrödinger proposed a famous thought experiment in which a cat was somehow both alive and dead at the same time. As he explained the details of the experiment, I imagined what this cat would look like. The picture in my mind was accompanied by a melody and that`s where the initial idea for the song came from.
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It was a windy early morning in spring and I was looking out over the city through my home studio window. I started wondering about the seasons and how nature always knows what to do in time. With that theme in mind, I came up with the head of this tune - with lots of changes flowing by.
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"The Rain" was recorded at my little home studio called The Dungeon Hillside. I decided to record a darker, more neo-classical type song as it seemed to fit the title and concept of The Alchemists. I used my Ernie Ball MusicMan AXIS, Peavey Wolfgang, and my Fender Telecaster. Bass tracks were recorded with an Ernie Ball Bass Silhouette.
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My track was inspired by the fast single note rhythms on Yngwie Malmsteen`s first two albums. It wasn`t so much a vehicle to solo on as it was an experiment at capturing a vibe. I wanted it to be heavy in spots and dark and moody in others. It was composed and recorded in one night. I mixed and mastered the next day. It was recorded on a Roland 1680 hard disk recorder (I now use the Roland 2480).
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"What the Hell!" describes the feeling I wanted to conjure up in the listener. Confusion and groove simultaneously. The element of surprise is a great tool for me to use in music!
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After trying to develop a lot of "hip" and "clever" ideas, I was burnt out and instead wrote this simple melody around G, C, and D chords. All the odd-time bits in the melody were unplanned, and a cool surprise. My hope was to balance a nice tune with enough guitar-stuff to satisfy anyone who might listen.
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The beginning of "Whatever It May Be" was me trying to improve my drum programming. I already had the idea for the progression for the intro and took a fragment from that and made it into the main theme. Lale played his solo and that made me feel like I had to build something good around it. I went with the flow of inspiration and this is what came out!
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When I was 16, my parents bought a new house. Mom couldn`t find paintings that matched the colour of the living room so she found a woman who painted flowers and shit. The painter wanted to do a family portrait, but I hated everything that moved, and wasn`t gonna hold a fake smile for 3 hours, so I said no. Her name was Mafalda.
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I like to think of each of my tunes as mini guitar soundtracks, and so love to create unusual atmospheres, rhythms and melodies to convey the passions and sensations that inspire my music. "Out In The Boonies" is my fun way of expressing the wild magic and beauty of my new home here in Snowdonia National Park.
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I`m fond of epic pieces with movements and recurring themes like those found in classical music and adapted by 70`s progressive rock and fusion groups. Within that structure I composed a circular thematic melody that builds with each revolution, and in the final movement, inspired a solo to build in tandem.
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The performance of this song was a very emotional & expressive experience for me - the guitar is kind of talking to the listener. When the recording was finished, I sat back, listened to it and came up with its title.
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The main melody for "Valse Diabolique" was originally written as part of a series of nine solo guitar pieces. The more I played this melody, the more I realised it could have been a full instrumental track, so I slowed it down considerably and added to it to create the piece of music your hear on this CD. "Valse Diabolique" (Devil`s Waltz) is a slight departure from what I usually produce, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
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I could have named this one "Tell Me You Love Me". During the process of composing and recording I can get a little zoned out. Sometimes I get a little too focused on my music and my family doesn`t appreciate that. I recall telling my daughter "I love you Jess" and she wouldn`t respond because she was upset that I wasn`t spending enough time with her. Hence the title. I recorded this tune back in 99` on a Fostex X-26 four track. I played all the instruments and programmed the drums.
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This is what happens when you take too much Nyquil ... Recorded and mixed in four days for Cakewalk`s Guitar Tracks Pro/Sonar Software. To be released on the upcoming Joboj CD, X.
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The original idea was to write a movie soundtrack without a movie. I wrote the main theme - then I rub it in your face one zillion times! This is a shorter version of the original idea. The longer version (all 13 minutes) incorporates a variation on the theme - then I rub that theme a zillion times in your face!
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The idea behind "Day Off" was to write a good tune regardless of whether or not it had vocals. I wrote it on my day off and was looking for something that would start out kind of relaxing in the morning; like when you first wake up, it`s your day off and you`re having a cup of coffee. In order to build intensity, I started thinking about a skydiving experience I took on one of my days off. As the song ends, it becomes kind of a mood reflection on my day.
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"Phase 4" was inspired by the LA club scene and playing live. During the mid to late nineties I started hanging out at the rave/techno-type clubs. The kick drum would be thumping louder than ever while the filtered keyboards took us to a new reality. I was extremely inspired by this music and everything that went on during these nights. Meanwhile as a player I started breaking into the pop and electronica scene. I figured why not combine modern electronic music with some cool rock/metal licks? It seems to go over great live.
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"If the Moon..." was written on the day of the last solar eclipse, an afternoon full of anticipation and wonder. The moment when the sun disappeared behind the moon felt so very lonely, completely desolate, like the end on the world. There was a chill in the air; nothing stirred. I noticed a cat in the garden staring up at where the sun had been, not moving, not even daring to breath. Afterwards I went back to my room and starting playing and this tune is what came out.
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The night I finished "War of the Angels" it was about 2:00 am in the morning and I thought to myself: "I am going to call this thing the first thing that comes to mind" - and that was "Sonic Biscuit". Quite a funny name I thought, but the guys in the band said it deserved something better. So after watching the movie The Prophecy, the name "War of the Angles" popped into my head which seemed to fit the mood and dynamics of the song.
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Here`s an acoustic version of "Barock", a song from my first solo CD Confusion. The original keyboard arrangements were replaced by one piano part. The ending is all in 7/8. I like to play salsa rhythm in 7/8 beat. It feels so right with the claves. I used a motif with chords from the original tune.
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"Bad Luck Go Away" was recorded during the Under The Lash Of Gravity sessions. The song title comes from a Russel Hoban book called Riddley Walker which my good mate John Glance turned me onto. TJ Helmerich and I created the loop using guitar sounds that were chewed up by our mutant computer which we then ran through various Eventide H4000 patches. Virgil Donati played drums and I put the bass and guitar down. I used a Fernandez sustainer guitar which I like a lot.
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This is one of my personal favorite tracks from my CD, "Guitarchitecture". It has all the elements I try to put into my songs: riffs, melodies, chops and unpredicatable changes. I was really happy with the way it turned out. I recorded it with my 7 string Universe. I hope you enjoy it!
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This song was initially composed to appear on my solo album, but when Liquid Note Records contacted me to play on The Alchemists I thought it would really fit with the mood of this compilation. I enjoy this track because it`s pretty representative of my actual playing: dark, neo-classical, oriental, progressive and ... shred! Exactly the same direction as the next Adagio album. Hope you enjoy it!
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CD Information
