My Musicality

I'd like to meet:

Serj: Vocals Shavo: Bass John: Drums Daron: Guitar “I think we're ahead of the game," says guitarist/songwriter Daron Malakian.
“I just feel like this band will be more respected ten years from now when people finally figure out what we’re really doing.” Malakian, singer Serj Tankian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan bonded quickly as friends but also shared Armenian ancestry and mutual disdain for perceived limitations. Their disparate tastes – Jaco Pastorious, Slayer, The Beatles, Faith No More, traditional Armenian folk music – assured from the onset that this would be a band less ordinary. Malakian says,“We started this band to show people, ‘Look, not everything has been done before.” System’s 1998 self-titled debut
produced by bearded board whiz Rick Rubin (Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Public Enemy), was an achievement in pastiche overdrive, a dark carnival of moods punctuated by breakneck tempo shifts and progressive structures. That year, radios rung to the visceral fury of “Sugar” and the spooky tension of “Spiders,” each a fiery baptism for listeners weaned on predictability and rote rhyme schemes. Serj favors abstract, existential poetry
peppered with politics and personal religion. He says, “No one ultimately knows what they’re saying anyway. Are we really making art? Art doesn’t belong to us. It doesn’t belong to people, it belongs to the universe. It comes FROM the universe. It comes THROUGH us. When I write something, I think I know what I’m saying, but I never pretend to know the full meaning of the words.” In August of 2001
System of a Down emerged with their second album, “Toxicity.” As critics scoured their thesauri for ample superlatives, radio and MTV heavily rotated the first single, a harmony-drenched slab of whiplash rock called “Chop Suey.” With the cult of System exploding nationwide, the foursome took to the road where manic throngs of Systemites old and new awaited. In May of 2002, with the title track from Toxicity in heavy rotation and a third single, “Aerials” fast gaining steam, System accepted the coveted headlining slot on the annual OzzFest circus. The thinking man’s metal troupe aim to give Ozzy’s mobile headbangathon an intellectual facelift. Now one year after the triumph of “Toxicity,” System of a Down find themselves in an elite class of rock acts who’ve managed commercial hugeness with dignity in spades and nary a compromise on their resume. They’ve engendered a sound transcendent of trends or labels, a propulsive hybrid destined to flourish in any radio climate from here to forever. What sonic twists await us only they know, but we can rest assured knowing that their next offering, like those that have proceeded, will be born from a primal need to evade classification and emote loudly. Daron says, “Everyone who knows me knows my music comes before anything. It comes before me. If someone said, "your music will live forever but you won't wake up tomorrow morning, I'd be like,
'Okay.' That's very fair to me.” Click on the picture link below for System of a Down's MySpace

Edited Biography By:
Tim Hoogland for sing365.com

ARMIN VAN BUUREN is a progressive trance DJ and producer whose cinematic sound is influenced by synth pioneers like Klaus Schulze and Jean-Michel Jarre, Armin van Buuren enjoys worldwide recognition and a frantic schedule that takes him all over the globe. Born on December 25, 1976, in Leiden, Holland, his father was an avid record buyer and Armin became interested in music at an early age. A close friend introduced him to the world of dance music, and the Dutch DJ and remixer Ben Liebrand quickly became his main inspiration. It lead van Buuren to start investigating the roots of the electronic music he was becoming fond of, and numerous Jarre and Schulze CDs were acquired. Computers and turntables were also purchased, and creating his own music became a priority. In 1995 van Buuren attended the Leiden University and a local student club provided the venue for his first DJ gigs. The same year he was fortunate enough to have some demos included on compilations, and when the money came in, it was rolled back into producing 12"s. Cyber Records released his first hit, "Blue Fear," in 1995, and by 1999 his "Communication" was successful enough to get him signed to AM:PM. He also formed his own label, Armin , in 1999 and met Dave Lewis, a man responsible for jump-starting the careers of DJ Tiësto and Ferry Corsten. A collaboration with Tiësto yielded his biggest hit yet on Armid, "Eternity," and marathon five-hour sets brought him more attention. High-profile remixes of Madison Avenue's "Don't Call Me Baby" and Wamdue Project's "King of My Castle" followed, and numerous mix CDs were released on United Recordings. 2002 found him placing number five in DJ Magazine's Top 100 and hosting his own weekly show on the Dutch ID&T radio station. By the end of 2003 he found time to set the worldwide record for longest DJ set (12 and a half hours at a club in The Hague), finish his law degree, and release his first non-mix CD. Armin van Buuren
chose to pursue his career as a professional musician despite the promise of a legal career in his native country of the Netherlands, where his legal studies were completed in 2004.[citation needed] Van Buuren started working as a DJ in a local night club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law. Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a 'real' studio. The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, tracks like "Touch Me" and "Communication". Van Buuren has been quoted as saying, "Don't be a prisoner of your own style." He has described his musical style as "liberating, euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic." He hosts the trance show A State of Trance. The show has completed its 300th episode in May 2007, running for over 6 years. Van Buuren has always had his own studio and works alone the majority of the time. He has never employed an engineer, claiming he does not want the music to be altered by an engineer. Since 1995, Van Buuren has released many tracks on different labels with increasing success. His first big success was "Blue Fear" on Cyber Records. This 'Euro Trance blueprint' made it into the UK Chart. "Communication" was released on the same label, and had a huge impact on Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Chart at #18 in 2000. In the beginning of 1999, Van Buuren started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig - "One", was well received. The second release "Touch Me", under the name Rising Star was signed to Ministry Of Sound in the UK, before the record was released. By the time of his third release, Gimmick - "Free" was signed to R&S Records, Van Buuren had managed to make his label popular very quickly. Under the surname Gaia he released "4 Elements" on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers. Teaming up with DJ Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League - "Wonder Where You Are?" was released on Blackhole and Alibi - "Eternity" was released on Armind. "Eternity" received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk's imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, Van Buuren recorded a riff-classic titled "Exhale" for the System F. album. Released as a single, this track reached gold status in less than a month. In 2000
Van Buuren started his own AVB compilation series. He managed to find a balance between progressive, techno and trance music styles. - "A State of Trance" (not to be confused with his weekly ASOT radio shows) sold more than 10,000 copies and contains Van Buuren's well known remix of Moogwai - "Viola." "Basic Instinct" featured a new track: Perpetuous Dreamer - "The Sound Of Goodbye". This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year the track hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. - "In Motion" was released August 6th 2001. This album contained the real trance sound and was very popular in the US. - "Transparance" followed in 2002. In March 2001 Van Buuren started his own radio show on ID&T Radio. In this weekly two-hour show, entitled 'A State of Trance', he plays the latest popular trance music tracks. His show and the artists he features are popularized by publishing the artists and track titles on his website. This radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, Van Buuren left and took A State of Trance with him. The show then moved to Fresh FM, a Dutch radio station. It is now a weekly feature on SLAM!FM, another Dutch radio station, DI.FM, an online radio station, and on XM Satellite Radio channel 82 in the United States and Canada. A complete list of stations that broadcast ASOT can be found at the ASOT section of Armins website. Also in 2004, Van Buuren remixed the 24 Theme into a trance hit. In June 2005, the 200th episode was celebrated in Amsterdam and subsequently aired on radio. The 250th (8 hour) anniversary episode was celebrated in Club Asta in The Hague, The Netherlands, featuring Van Buuren, Jonas Steur, M.I.K.E., John Askew, Rank 1 and Menno De Jong. On May 17, 2007, Van Buuren began broadcasting the first of a two part series of what would become his 300th episode of A State of Trance. He has also worked on remix projects involving tracks by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki. Van Buuren began his DJ career at club Nexus in Leiden, where he learned to play long DJ sets, which were regularly six to seven hours per set. During school holidays he played more than four times a week. In 1999, he met Dave Lewis who introduced him as a DJ in England and the United States. His DJ career accelerated, entering the DJ magazine Top-100 in November of 2001 at Number 27. He has played in more than 25 different countries and can often be found on the main stage at big summer festivals. Van Buuren has played a record-breaking nine-hour set for Dancetheater in The Hague (Holland). In the United Kingdom one can see him perform regularly at Passion (resident 2002), Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Slinky, Peach and Golden. In 2002 he had a residency at Glow in Washington D.C., and he has played in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, New York City, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. He has also regularly appeared at Amnesia on the island of Ibiza. According to Van Buuren
"The fans and the public are the most important thing for a DJ. On April 12th of 2006
Van Buuren began a Canadian tour with a performance in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This was his first appearance in the centrally located Canadian city. Despite a Wednesday booking, the venue was filled to capacity with fans eager to see Van Buuren perform. Throughout his set Van Buuren could be seen signing autographs for his eager fans. On November 11, 2006 he had a live performance called Armin Only in Ahoy Rotterdam for the second time (after Nov 12, 2005) with a 9 hour solo set, where he performed to over 11,000 fans. Click on the picture link below for Armin Van Buuren's MySpace

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EMINEM Marshall Bruce Mathers III
was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri on October 17, 1972 to a fifteen-year-old mother and a father who took the low road and left six months later never to be heard from again. Despite his disadvantages, enduring an early childhood in constant flux, moving from Saint Joseph to Detroit and back again, he is now one of today's most controversial and popular hip hop musicians. A rap fan for most of his life,
he began rapping at the age of 4. At the age of 14, he began to get very serious about his rapping, but it wasn't until he was 17 that he actually made a name for himself, becoming M & M, which he would later respell as "Eminem". Being rejected by most fellow rappers because of his race, Marshall grew an anger that flows through his music to this day. Forcing himself on radio shows, freestyle battles, Marshall threw himself head first into the rap game, where he was swallowed up most of the time. His very first album was titled "Infinite" and, while the album sold less than a thousand copies, it was the gearing up stages for the rapper who became a millionaire. It was then that his daughter,
Hailie Jade Scott, was born on December 25th of 1995 with long time girlfriend Kim Scott. Having nothing to lose at all, flat broke and not knowing where he would be living the next week, Marshall set out to rant about life in general, the set quickly caught the ear of hip-hop's difficult-to-please underground. What came out of this was the Slim Shady EP, the early work for the later Dr. Dre revised Slim Shady LP. Down to nearly his last dime, he went into the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, basically hoping to win the $1,500 cash price which he badly needed. After battling for an hour and throwing back every race diss thrown at him, Marshall made it to second place losing in a slip up. Furious that he had lost,
Marshall didn't even notice that he had been spotted. In the crowd were a few producers from Interscope, and they were handed a copy of the "Infinite" tape by way of a demo. Dr. Dre got to hear it and eventually tracked him down. The two instantly hit it off, recording four songs in the their first six hours of working - three which made it to his first LP. After the album was finished, Dr. Dre asked Marshall to come work with him on his new album. He helped produce several tracks and was on the best songs of the album. Now officially making it,
Marshall and Dre set to make his second LP. The album became the Marshall Mathers LP and won 3 Grammies and was the first rap album ever to be nominated "Album of the Year", He also stunned critics when he shot down all homophobic remarks by performing "Stan" with Elton John. Currently working on his third LP, Em has made a movie, 8 Mile (2002), and has gone back and brought his friend with him; D-12. Though 2001 was a rough year for the rapper, being charged with weapon offenses, divorcing his wife, and almost going to prison, Marshall explains his life today in one word. "Claimer". In taking the hip-hop world by storm
with his unique lyrical approach and punishing production, Eminem and his The Slim Shady LP are sure to have listeners captivated. "I do say things that I think will shock people," he says. "But I don't do things to shock people. I'm not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it." I picked Eminem for the same reason I pick all the other artists I feature. They have all touched me in one way or another, whether they are part soundtrack to my life or an inspiration in sparking my creativity. In Eminem's case, it was both. - Peter Click on the picture link below for Eminem's MySpace

Edited IMDb Mini Biography By: ROD REESE

Review of The Complete History DVD by Gary Hill @ MUSIC STREET JOURNAL

Movies:

Ray: Drums Burton: Vox/Guitar Christian: Keyboards Byron: Bass Fear Factory
a name that is well known all over the world today. What is Fear Factory really about? "The concept of this record is that man is obsolete. The idea is still man versus machine. Demanufacture told a story, Remanufacture was another chapter in the story and Obsolete is another part of the Fear Factory concept. We're up to the point in the story where man is obsolete. Man has created these machines to make his life easier but in the long run it made him obsolete. The machines he created are now destroying him. Man is not the primary citizen on Earth," says Burton. Fear Factory, a 4 person band, has a very unique sound. The mix of hardcore guitar riffs, dry lung vocals, pulse driving drum beats, and a kickin' bass. In 1997 they also brought more of the techno part into their music. They released a full length album re-mix of Demanufacture. The album, to many was thought to be a new kind of Fear Factory, but really it was meant to be an EP. However it turned out to be something much greater. A pioneering, LA-based 'heavy metal juggernaught' of music. Combining crunching guitars, pounding and insanely rhythmic drums, sweeping electronics, and an impressive mix of melodic and aggressive vocals that had never been heard before, yet is so widely copied now. Fear Factory did it first.
Formed in Los Angeles, California by Dino Cazares (ex-Guitarist) and Raymond Herrera (Drummer) in 1990, and soon recruiting vocalist Burton C. Bell, Fear Factory released their debut "Soul Of A New Machine" in 1992 to an unsuspecting world. It took the metal scene by storm, proving that they were a new force to be reckoned with. "Soul.." set new boundaries for the genre - Raymond Herrera became metal's first 'human drum machine' completely integrating heavy guitars with an assault of powerful drums, and Burton C. Bell's completely unique approach at vocals. Switching between the most aggressive forms of growling, to almost operatic clean and melodic vocals. Never before had the world heard such a thing. Never before had anyone attempted what Fear Factory had achieved. Click on the picture link below for Fear Factory's MySpace
Lacey: Vocals James: Drums Sameer and Jared: Guitars "A flyleaf is the blank page at the front of a book,"
explains Lacey Mosley, "It's the dedication page, the place you write a message to someone you're giving a book to. And, that's kind of what our songs are- personal messages that provide a few moments of clarity before the story begins. Our music is passionate and on purpose. It's angry and sad and urgent and loving. It's about our experiences and passions and how we have overcome. Our message is to encourage the hopeless people to have hope, and the apathetic people to stand up in their destinies and purposes and believe in something good and world changing."
Flyleaf's music is filled with pathos and positivity all in one breath. When watching this band perform, it's hard to see how one could not be inspired. Click on the picture link below for Flyleaf's MySpace
As I explore my musicality
I can't help but think of certain moments in my life and of the soundtrack that accompanied it. A few years back, I was going through my fathers cd collection and I discovered Diana Krall. My dad, being a jazz guitarist, loved jazz so I figured that this handsome woman was a jazz musician. It wasn't long before I realized this woman was the real deal. Contibuting photography by
Sam Taylor Wood, James O'Mara, Bruce Weber, & Jane Shirek
Diana Krall Once every generation an artist comes along
that transcends a particular style of music and broadens its audience to the masses. For modern jazz music, that artist is undoubtedly Diana Krall. Talented both as a pianist and vocalist, Diana is rooted in paying respect to those who have inspired the art form so rich in tradition, "…I do that at all my concerts. It's important because it's not all about me. I learned it from Percy Mayfield and Jimmy Rowles and all these great artists out there who should be recognized as well." Born in British Columbia,
Diana was surrounded by music from a very early age. By the age four Diana had started classical piano studies, and in her teens she joined her high school jazz band. Diana draws from personal experiences as a youth remembering listening to music at home with family and singing playing piano along with her grandmother. She says, "To say I grew up in a musical home would be an understatement." She landed her first paying gig at fifteen playing piano three nights a week at a hometown restaurant. Diana recalls auditioning for her first gig at a local restaurant called the NHL, "I think it is very fitting for a Canadian Jazz artist's first gig to be in a very nice hockey bar." In 1981, Diana won a Vancouver Jazz Festival scholarship
to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston and, after a year and a half of serious study, she returned to British Columbia. Renowned bassist Ray Brown heard her playing one night in Nanaimo and was so impressed by what he heard that he took her under his wing. Ray convinced Diana move to Los Angeles where she obtained a Canadian Arts Council grant to study with Jimmy Rowles. Jimmy encouraged Diana to explore her vocals to supplement her already blossoming piano skills. On Diana's first recording, STEPPING OUT (Justin Time Records, 1993), she was joined by mentors Ray Brown, Jeff Hamilton and John Clayton. After three years on the West Coast and a stint in Toronto, Diana moved to New York City in 1990. While in New York, she was able to focus on developing her singing and playing at a regular gig in Boston with her own trio. Shortly thereafter, she began her recording career and the rest, as they will most definitely say, is history. In 1995, Diana released her first GRP album,
ONLY TRUST YOUR HEART, featuring Ray Brown, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash and Stanley Turrentine. It was also her first collaboration with Tommy LiPuma and it introduced her talents to a much wider audience. ALL FOR YOU, Diana's breakthrough 1996 recording on the Impulse! label, was a personal dedication to the music of the Nat King Cole Trio. Diana was joined by Russell Malone (guitar), Paul Keller (bass), Benny Green (piano), and Steve Kroon (percussion). This impressive Impulse! recording, also produced by Tommy LiPuma, was a spectacular career success and held steady in the top ten on Billboard's Traditional Jazz chart for nearly 70 weeks and earned a spot in The New York Times' Top Ten Adult Pop Albums for 1996. In January 1997, Diana earned a nomination for a Grammy in the Best Jazz Vocal Performance category. For her latest release
WHEN I LOOK IN YOUR EYES, Diana teamed with long time producer Tommy LiPuma and legendary composer Johnny Mandel to create the first jazz album to be nominated for the 'Best Album of the Year' Grammy in over 20 years. She walked away from the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards with wins for Best Jazz Vocal Performance and Best Engineered Album- Non Classical (won by Al Schmitt). WHEN I LOOK IN YOUR EYES features lush orchestral string arrangements by Johnny Mandel on tracks such as Irving Berlin's 'Let's Face the Music and Dance' and the Cole Porter song immortalized by Sinatra 'I've Got You Under My Skin'. Those along with the other classically familiar tracks from the recording are delivered with a fresh new approach that is unmistakably Diana Krall, while maintaining the brilliance of their original versions. "I never dreamed that I would have the opportunities that I've had. I just try to perform at the highest level I can and be passionate, honest, inspired and excited about playing music." Click on the picture link below for Diana Krall's MySpace
Biography By:
sing365.com

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