Gryphon Labs 3/13 at the Roxy

Come on out on Wednesday March 13th and watch me pull a double header!  First, at 8:30 I'll be leading Gryphon Labs, which will actually be our first gig of 2013!  Then, I'll be playing with The Great Wall, a killer band that I've been playing with for about a year now.  Chris Waldrep, the guitar player/singer/songwriter behind The Great Wall, did the art for the above poster as well as my other project Captain Apathy, and the live show he's put together incorporates some really amazing visuals.  Captain Apathy actually just released a remix of a Great Wall song, you can check that out HERE. 
I just got back from a quick trip to Manila, Philippines where I played a show with jazz artist Mindi Abair.  We actually spent more time on planes than we did in Manila, but it was still a fun trip and a eye-opening view of the other side of the world.
I'm really looking forward to the release of 2 albums I recorded late last year.  First is the debut full-length from technical metal band Save Our Souls.  Not only did the record perfectly capture this incredibly hard music, but I got to use my new Sandberg Custom Supreme bass and the tone we got is huge and crushing.
The other recording was with Young Beautiful in a Hurry, the funky pop/rock group led by singer/songwriter Brendan McCreary.  The songs Brendan wrote for this session are instant classics in my mind, just catchy enough to leave you wanting more.  We debuted some of these songs during a recent residency at Witzend, and they went over really well.  Combining elements of Prince, Queen, Muse, and Bowie, I really think this recording is going to blow people away.
So, I'm wearing a lot of different hats these days, but it certainly keeps things interesting!

New Music!

Anyone who says there's nothing new being made these days just needs to look, there's some really amazing music out there right now. In the past few months I've gotten involved with some really exciting new artists, here's a few of them:

ElixirOnMute - After I met and jammed with ElixirOnMute's guitarist/singer Jordan Ferreira at NAMM this year, he invited me to play with him for a video shoot for EMG pickups. Thomas Pridgen (formerly of the Mars Volta) played drums on ElixirOnMute's debut album, and he rocked with us for the video shoot as well. Both of these guys are monsters on their instruments, and we had a ton of fun playing together. I'm pretty excited to hear the final product, which should be up on the EMGtv website pretty soon. For fans of The Mars Volta, Muse, Buckethead.
Save Our Souls - These 3 guys from New York have managed to create some of the most difficult music I've ever had to learn. They take the brutal technical metal of bands like Meshuggah, mix it with melodic sections as well as some other influences, and end up with a fresh take on aggressive music. For fans of Periphery, Pantera, and In Flames.
The Great Wall - Guitarist/Singer Chris Waldrep had my good friend Dave Elitch play drums on his album, which was a smart choice, because the drum parts are amazing. The music is a combination of powerful melodies, deep lyrics, and heavy rock riffs, and Chris has some great ideas about putting on an impressive live show. You can download the entire album for free HERE. For fans of Cave In, Converge, Foo Fighters.
Young Beautiful in a Hurry - Brendan McCreary sang for the Queen tribute I was a part of last year, and he's the lead singer/songwriter of this great band. Not only can he nail all of Freddie Mercury's difficult parts, his own songwriting is catchy yet unpredictable. I'll be playing with Young Beautiful in a Hurry at the Roxy Theater on April 28th. For fans of Queen, Fountains of Wayne, Elvis Costello.
Also, I'll be debuting a new solo project of my own pretty soon, so watch out for that...