About Me
Composer ( anything and all ), Pianist ( stride and modern insanity ), Guitarist ( fingerstyle, electric, steel string and classical ), Jazz Clarinetist ( aspire towards Jimmy Hamilton, the clarinet player in Duke Ellington's band for many years ) . Singer/Songwriter.Bands: Spider Music Orquestra: A band I had for many years which included Erik Kubista on Bass and vocals and Olli Klomp on Percussion and vocals. ( cajon, tablas, congas, shakers, singing ) i would play Guitar, clarinet and mandolin. We recorded on KEXP's Sonarchy program twice. "MANDALICIOUS" is a song off our only studio recording to date Spider Music Orquestra-Web of Life. This band was an amazing experience and the record reflects that. There are a few copies floating around with special people but it hasn't been mass produced yet.The SubLuxations: This group was created in honor of the tradition of jazz which my father instilled in me and my brother Roc, and inspired also by my Loony Godfather Dick Thorlaksen, a trombonist who went nuts once at the Worlds fair screaming "Moaning!!" like a punk rocker with an eighteen piece bigband. Ronnie Pierce/"pops" plays clarinet and soprano saxophone and sings on one track, I play piano and sing/scream/dance on the mic. Roc swings on the drums. Our record The SubLuxations-Punk Dixieland Cabaret, is an underground classic especially around Seattle. Both The Spider record and The SubLuxations record were recorded with the great Kearney Barton at Audio Recording on 1" tape with neuman and telefunken tube microphones. the sound is amazing. There are still about 150 of the SubLuxations record left. I like looking at them, the art is my own. Oh last but not least, Louie Ledbetter was the bassist on all the tracks and totally nails it. You wouldn't believe the hilarious in-fighting outtakes he had to sit through, Kearney sneakily recorded us in a family feud. I had to scream at him to "Stop The Tape!!". I'm currently writing another SubLuxations record. The song "Some other time" is an original I wrote that my father sings on, it has become the center of a whole cycle of songs which I believe will be our next record.the Lil' Bitches: including the talents of many different people, the line-up never having solidified. This is my R&B tango soul project. Ras played bass and drums on the tune "Life or Death" and did a nice job of producing it too. He says I only like it cause it's different than anything else I've done but in truth I think it's a great recording. i play piano and sing and I wrote the tune. that song took me several years to finish, some songs are like that. There are other lyrics which didn't make it into the recording. Hopefully another session will be booked soon. Gotta hear more of that Jazz Ballad haunted landscape production.My fingerstyle can be heard on Need Us, a pretty gorgeous but bleak ballad with great production by Island Glenn. This recording was done on Vashon. Just guitar and voice until Island Glenn added his beautiful touches of synthesized flute melodies. Nice job Glenn!! i love it!Spider Music Suite is my Latin/Russian connection. With harmony like Scriabin's "Mysterium" and "White Mass" but simplified to its most brutal aggro harmonic structure and filtered through Cuban Son ritmos. This is the most epic piece I've done recently and has a hardcore driving rhythm which reminds me of war. People running, fleeing, screaming, fighting for their lives. The struggle to survive, to protect what you love from destruction. This is a very ominous overtone to the piece. I love it, it drives me mad with fierce passion, like a violent insane love affair. The ryhthm just kills. this was recorded with Kearney Barton on 1/4" stereo, with his awesome tube mics. I finished Spider Music Suites form while recording in the studio on the magnificently ballsy Grotrian Steinveg piano he has there. I hear Kearney has been sick lately, it's very hard to find anyone as great as him for an engineer, i've been recording with him for twenty years. Starting when I was seventeen. He's the best. He's been on NPR for his work with The Sonics and Heart and many other local Seattle groups including Jimmy Hendrix first band The Blue Flames. kearney Barton is a legend.More later.
