Wayne

Why this page? Why not ? When I meet people at shows, and tell them about my band, they always want to know if we have a site. Others meet me at shows where I am teching, and ask if I have a site. Well, here it is… enjoy, and please sign the guestbook.I’ve been playing guitar since age 13. Early on, I helped out some local bands (St. Valentine, Street, Kin) as a tech. I learned a lot about song composition, arrangement and technique from some excellent local musicians. I stuck with it, and was in my first band, Future Shock for a short while in the early 90’s. After leaving them (schedule conflicts with school), I was introduced to Safe Haven in 1994 and played with them until 1996. We recorded one release – the 5 song EP “Savage Harvest”. We played live extensively during that period, and worked with local bands such as Beyond Reality, Future Shock, Spoonfist, Rainmaker, Lexeme, Misconception, Cyd X-mas, Tightrope, X-It, Khasm, Soundscape, Haven, etc. After the breakup of the band, I took a few years off from music. Then, somehow, the fire was rekindled… I joined up with Keith , my old bassist from Future Shock to write for his internet magazine The Koffin, and do a side project with him - Neuromancer - as the guitarist. At this same time, I threw together a project with musicians from other local bands, and formed Silence – who had to change names to Solace and then eventually Silent Shadows. I had to resign from Neuromancer because Silent Shadows started doing well – opening for national acts such as Savatage, Fates Warning, UDO, RATT, Union, Mike Tramp (of White Lion), and Raven. We also played Powermad 2000, sharing the stage with bands such as Jag Panzer, Jacob’s Dream, Marcel Coenen, Division, Enertia, Etheria, October Thorns, Raven. We also appeared on a few Dwell records releases: 2000 The Second coming, Rebellion: A Tribute to Queensryche, and a Tribute to Saxon. At that point, our vocalist had a child and left the band. We tried to replace him, but metal vocalists in Connecticut don’t grow on trees. We did do 2 additional tunes with another vocalist. As of April 2006, Bill (the old vocalist) has contacted us, and we will be reforming the band. Look for details at www.silentshadowsmusic.comTech Time At the same time as my band situation was deteriorating, the tech thing was going pretty well. After attending Progpower1 in Lansing, I volunteered for the crew at PP 2.0 in Atlanta. The show went well, and I am now a regular at the fest – as a stage co-ordinator/guitar tech every year. It is a great festival – if you have never been there – you need to check out the site www.progpowerusa.com. And get there. Glenn, the promoter, does an excellent job every year, and is always looking to bring a great line-up together. And the crew is a blast – great guys, and many EXCELLENT musicians from bands such as Reading Zero, Prymary, Z-LOT-Z, Outworld. The tech position there got me in touch with all the artists that play the festival. Most are VERY cool to deal with. This led to other tech spots – Evergrey at BW&BK in Cleveland, almost a tech spot on their subsequent US tour. Worked with Tad Morose at the Chicago Powerfest 2005 following the experience I had working with them at PP, and spent 2 weeks with them in Sweden and Norway for the first 3 shows with their new vocalist (Gothenburg & Gavle Sweden, and Hausgesund Norway). Also got a spot teching for the Chris Caffery Faces US tour 2005 after I teched for him at PP during the Weapons of Mass Destruction show. In the Spring 2005 run, he used one of his regular techs from Savatage, Raymie – who I believe was Al Pitrellis tech - and I was the other stage tech. I did 4 of 5 shows on that section of the tour - the NY area – BB Kings (NYC), The Downtown (LI), The Haunt (Ithaca), and the Academy of Shredfest (Rochester). Cool experience – got to meet and work with many classy and pleasant people - Jeff Plate, Nick Douglas from Doro’s band, Paul LaPlaca from October Thorns, Alex Skolnick, Mark Wood, Katrina Chester, Steve Broderick. Also in the audiences I met Eddie Ojeda, Jack Frost, and Jon West. Also worked with Chris’ roomie Igor (what a trip) and his childhood friends Butch McGrady and Ray Freeman Jr (Raethoven). Ray is an old road dog and tour manager and has worked with Kings X, George Lynch, etc. That run led to a reference from Raymie, and I did the Cindy Lauper Charity show in NYC. Raymie or Chris referred me to Al Pitrelli, as his current band, O2’L needed tech for a show in Harrisburg. He and his wife Jane are VERY pleasant people – made me feel like an old friend rather than a tech. That show consisted of his band – which was all TSO West except for the bassist – playing a theater in Harrisburg. Another cool experience. In the mean time, Chris went to tour Europe – I didn’t get to do that leg. I got a call from Ray, and almost ended up teching for George Lynch, which would’ve been real cool to do. Worked out well though – as I ended up needing the vacation time in the fall for something else...Fall 2005 When Faces toured the US and Canada in the Fall of 2005, I took the time off of work. It was an awesome experience, though the tour did not happen as planned – we had problems getting into Canada. The bus was great, as were the band and the crew. Ray (TM/stage tech), Taz (Lights) and Igor (Merch), Jan (Production manager) and Greg (FOH) were the rest of the crew. Most shows were triple bills of Chris Caffery’s Faces, Jon Oliva’s Pain, and Tim “Ripper” Owens Beyond Fear. We would set up the backline (amps/drums/keys) to share, and would make changes (amps/keys) for each band. A lot of work, but a lot of fun – almost a mini Progpower as far as changeovers !! I had to drop off of the last 2 shows of that run so I could fly into Atlanta for Progpower. That was long… up at 10 am on Thurs morning – load-in and set-up at 3:30pm. Soundcheck at 4:15 pm, doors at 8:00. Show was over at 1am Fri morning. We finished loading out at 3:45, and I hitched a ride with the bartender to Washington/Dulles for my 6:30 flight. Got a little sleep on the plane - got into Atlanta at 8:20, hotel at 9:00. Quick check-in, shower, and grab a banana, coffee and OJ – run to the venue for load-in and set-up. The crew (almost all returnees) had the entire backline set up when I arrived !! This went until 1:30 sat morning! I was beat.. but had to do it again on Sat from 10:30 am until ~ 4 am Sun morning! Never again – no tour just before Progpower !!!Plans For now.. I plan on doing PP7 (and any after that til I am too slow, old or deaf.. or Glenn stops doing them – whichever comes first), and let’s see what is in store for Chris Caffery’s Faces US shows in 2006…. Also will most likely be working some more shows with Tad Morose in 2007 And keep an eye (and ear) out for new stuff from Silent Shadows. Peace! Out !....