Member Since: 11/03/2007
Band Website: www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID268162
Band Members: Currently, as a solo artist, Tony has no bandmates, as he is performing & programming all of the instruments himself, as well as handling the majority of the vocal duties. This is quite a departure from the backing vocal style that he contributed to while in Prodigal Son. As a lead vocalist, his range is a bit lower, & less pretty as is fitting with his more aggressive musical approach as a solo artist. He attributes this to a basic desire of change, as well as his continued interest in the additional range of the 7 string guitar. Having the lower additional range warrants a voice that is more befitting the style of playing that he's grown into, & his voice is just a natural extension of that.
Influences: While his earlier influences include, but aren't limited to: Queensryche, Rush, Dream Theater, Metallica, Fates Warning, Yngwie Malmsteen, & a few others, more recently Flying Squirrel has delved into some of his older influences of Judas Priest, Neal Geraldo(Pat Benatar), and Gary Moore, while some newer influences outside of his "comfort zone" as a player such as Nine Inch Nails, Stabbing Westward, The Kidney Thieves, Lacuna Coil, Better Left Unsaid, Celldweller, & a host of other "underground" bands that he's been exposed to. As a keyboardist/synth player, he's delved into some world music for additional influence such as Enigma, Enya, Loreena McKinnett, & various independent film soundtracks. More recently, he has been incorporating more of his Cherokee culture into some of his writing as he cites Bill Miller as a major current influence.Of his gear, his favorite guitar still remains to be the TFS6, a signature model he contracted to be constructed in 1996 by John Jordan of www.jordanmusic.com. It is a derivative of the B.C. Rich Bich model, designed by Neal Moser in the mid 1970's, but with some design modifications. Over the last few years, Tony has gotten an opportunity to meet Mr. Moser & develop a friendship with him. They communicate with each other periodically & Mr. Moser has provided Tony with some helpful insight as Tony persues furthering his lutherie skill to construct his own instruments.Additionally, his 2nd favorite guitar is his Ibanez RG7620 7 string guitar. He also has an Ibanez Acoustic guitar, and a Warmoth Z body/KL Hetfield Neck tuned down a whole step to D.For Keys/synth, Tony rely's on his faithful Alesis QS7 that he's had for several years. He uses a few of its stock presets, has others that he has edited for his own use, & has downloaded many of his own created & edited samples to the PCMCIA card that inserts into the QS7. More recently, he has delved into the seamingly endless sonic possibilities of VST technology.For recording, He has alternated between a Boss BR1180CD, and the computer using Sony's Acid Pro & Sound Forge softwares, he's also used Steinberg's Cubase SX for M.I.D.I. Sequencing. He is currently converting his studio over for use with Cakewalk's Sonor software, and intends to begin receiving instruction on Digidesign's Pro Tools in 2009.After years of using a 20 space rack full of various preamp & effects components, Tony is now a strong advocate for digital amp modeling technology. In recent years he has used a Johnson Millenium Amplifier Head, & more recently has obtained a Line 6 POD XT Live with the Metal Shop Model Pak installed. His presets can be found at www.customtone.com under the searches, "TFS", "TFS6", & "MCC".See if you can tell which of the clips posted on this site are done with amp modeling, & which ones are not.Other music can be found at:
www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=268162
Sounds Like: Hard to describe, just wait & hear for yourself when the clips are updated with new material from his solo effort, which will hope to be a blend of Native American Progressive Hard Rock/Metal incorporating hosts of multiple genre' influences.
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: Unsigned