DownTown Mystic profile picture

DownTown Mystic

Vintage yet Modern

About Me

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very own MySpace Layouts The sound of DownTown Mystic is vintage yet modern. An industry trade publication put it this way: "DownTown Mystic’s music is inspired by 60s pop icons, 70s rockers, yet it’s planted firmly in the here and now."
DownTown Mystic started as the alter ego of Sha-La Music President, Robert Allen and morphed into a group, combining forces with Bruce Engler. It was while working in the studio with modern rockers The Discontent, that Robert put his idea of playing his classic rock sounding songs with modern musicians into reality. Having finished recording half a dozen tracks, Robert wanted to test out a song to see what the reaction, if any, would be. He found out soon enough in somewhat dramatic fashion.
Veteran tastemaker, Jed The Fish, would play the track "Lost & Found" off of an Industry compilation cd as his "Catch of The Day" on "World Famous" KROQ in LA, one of the most influential modern rock stations. This would lead to some national airplay. When the "Mayor of The Sunset Strip", legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, played another track, "Brian Jones", Robert knew it was time to go back into the studio and finish recording enough tracks for a full-length album.
It was at this point that Robert decided to give DownTown Mystic more of a group identity by enlisting the talents of singer/songwriter Bruce Engler. Robert had worked with Bruce on projects and always felt the two had very compatible styles. The result would be the "Rock’nRoll 4 The Soul" cd. The track "One More Chance" would be put on another Industry sampler and once again lightning would strike when it was heard by WBCG PD, G. Michael Keating, who immediately added it to his playlist...quite rare by today’s standards! This has led to radio play at commercial & non commercial AAA, as well as College & Internet Radio.
Robert and Bruce are joined by a host of talented musicians on "Rock’nRoll 4 The Soul", including one of the great rhythm sections in the history of American Rock’n’Roll--Garry Tallent & Max Weinberg of the E Street Band.
Spurred on by their success, Robert & Bruce headed back into the studio to record their next cd. Ably aided & abetted by drummer extraordinaire Steve Holley & urban legend Paul Page on bass, the result, "Read The Signs", "raises the bar" a notch for DownTown Mystic.
DownTown Mystic’s "Rock’n’Roll 4 The Soul" & "Read The Signs" cds are available on iTunes, CD Baby and Amazon.com...
DOWNLOAD "Read The Signs" on DigStation

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/1/2006
Band Website: shala.com
Band Members: Robert Allen - Vocals, Guitars & Piano
Bruce Engler - Vocals & Guitars
Steve Holley - Drums & Percussion
Paul Page - Bass
Garry Tallent - Bass
Max Weinberg - Drums
PJ Farley - Bass
Tom Mastro - Drums

Influences: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Animals, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, CSNY, Little Feat, CCR, Leon Russell, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, Crowded House, Jackson Browne, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Steely Dan, to mention a few...
Record Label: Sha-La Music
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Hump Day Heroes 18

Welcome to Hump Day Heroes! We've got another fabulous group of guitar pickers to check out and help us get "over the hump" this week...   Here's this Wednesday's lineup 7/16/08: Richard Tho...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:14:00 PST

10,000 Friends

Last week we hit another milestone here on MySpace, when we reached having 10,000 friends! It's kind of mind boggling when you think about it, and obviously, we couldn't have done it withou...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:58:00 PST

Hump Day Heroes 17

Hello and Happy Hump Day!   We're back with another group of great musicians to help us "get over the hump" this Wednesday. From Rock to Jazz to Blues and everything in between, this week's Hump...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:28:00 PST

Hillside Cafe Review

Opening Act Duo DownTown Mystic Also Gives An Inspired Perfomance by Jessica Marlowe   Patrons of the Hillside CafĂ© have come to know that, at this intimate little-known coffeehouse, they will b...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:44:00 PST

Hump Day Heroes 16 (Aces of Basses)

This week our Hump Day Heroes are the Bass players...the backbone of the band...the groove makers. Generally an "odd" lot, the Bass players seem to have one thing in commonthey're a law unto themselv...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:41:00 PST

Hillside Cafe

It was a great time performing last night at the Hillside Cafe. It was easily our best show to date, in no small part, due to the fine acoustics of the room and friendliness of the Cafe Staf...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:04:00 PST

Hump Day Heroes 15

It's another Hump Day and there's something a bit different than usual this week...some players who don't always get credit for their skills like Bryan Adams, Willie Nelson, Joan Jett, David Gray, Pet...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:13:00 PST

Hump Day Heroes 14

This Hump Day has a potpourri of guitar players...some well known & not so well known...   Everyone knows Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones but not many people realize what a good player M...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:59:00 PST

A Way To Know Added at WOCM

DownTown Mystic got some great news this week when the new single, "A Way To Know" was added to the playlist of AAA rocker WOCM in Ocean City, MD. Skip Dixxon, the PD at WOCM called the track "GOOD ST...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:25:00 PST

Hump Day Heroes 13

This is the lucky No. 13 edition of Hump Day Heroes and we've got a real variety of players in this group...   Starting with some top notch "shredders" like Eddie Van Halen. I think more than an...
Posted by DownTown Mystic on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:19:00 PST