Welcome to my page. I'm sure you'll quickly notice that the only unifying theme to this page is that all of it is, in one way or another, a reflection of my influences, interests, ideas and philosophies. I hope you enjoy and come back often. Keep in mind that this is my first attempt at creating a website. Making it into the place that I envision will be a gradual, learning, and ever changing process. What better reason to keep coming back!?
Eventually this will be a place where I intend to talk about, promote and share my musical aspirations with the world. For now, it's a place where I can put whatever I want, keeping in mind that at somepoint in the future (hopefully) people are going to see this and use it as a basis for forming an opinion about me.
Music is my main passion. I love listening, being a fan, sharing, composing, singing, playing and all things in between. That said, there are definitely certain criteria that make a particular piece of music into something that holds a special place in my heart.
The following are the five key elements that I think make memorable music:
The perfect music is, of course, anything that is strong in all five categories, but having an abundance of any combination of these elements, or even an overabundance of just one, can often be enough to earn that piece of music its spot in my very selective list of favorites.
Enough theorizing, how about some examples of my favorite music...
Here is a small and, by NO means comprehensive, sample of some of my favorite musical artists (in completely RANDOM order):
Tommy Shaw (Styx, Damn Yankees, Solo), Kansas, Neal Morse & Spock's Beard, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, Tony Harnell (TNT, Westworld, Morning Wood), Ark, Bad Company, Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Solo, Audioslave)
Obviously you can tell my emphasis is on progressive hard rock and metal, but lest you think I'm one dimensional, here are some others that might surprise you...
Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood (Traffic, Blind Faith), Sting (The Police, Solo), Eric Johnson, U2, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top
On the Jazzier side...
Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdes, Nicholas Payton, Brian Setzer, Tower of Power, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea (Return to Forever, Solo), Al DiMeola (Return to Forever, Solo), Allan Holdsworth, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Orlando "Maraca" Valle
For lovers of the obscure...
Chase (70's prog-rock/jazz fusion featuring the INCOMPARABLE Bill Chase on trumpet), Phat Phunktion (INCREDIBLE Jazz/funk from Madison, WI, and my High School buddy Jon Schipper's band!) Echolyn (AWESOMELY complex, melodic, harmonic, and emotional prog rock)
Other...
I also love a ton of Classical Music, Latin Music, and LOADS of other stuff that isn't mentioned here. Basically, if you can think of any music that contains large amounts of any or all of the elements I mentioned above, chances are I would love it, or already do!
My Music:
I've been playing piano since I was a little kid. I actually got quite good for a while, but didn't really follow through as far as I should've. Still, it's a GREAT background! (Thanks Mom!) There was also a guitar at home, as well as a latin music background. (Thanks Dad!) I started fiddling with guitar in early High School. I think I started too late to ever be a great virtuoso, but still it's a great song writing instrument, and it brings me great joy to play! My two older brothers had me listening to Hard Rock by the time I was 3.(Thanks Erik & Marc!) Starting with stuff like Styx, Rush and The Police (some of my earliest musical memories) and soon after, falling in love with bands like Judas Priest and Tesla. Here's a confession, I was the target demographic for the glam rock era, and I loved it whole heartedly. I was a pre-teen when Bon Jovi, Winger, Whitesnake, etc. were all at their commercial peak. Of course I grew out of that, but there were a handful of bands from that time that I still love (basically because, even though they were lumped in with the other bands, they were still creating honest music with integrity...Damn Yankees, Tesla and Extreme are great examples.) But if you combine all the above factors, it's not hard at all to see how I arrived at Progressive Rock. In fact, to me, it's the very definition of it. Combining elements of classical and jazz with the hard rock medium, and using that as a springboard to leap into uncharted territories!
All along, I had been singing without even realizing it. From being conscripted into church choirs (directed by Mom, thanks again Mom...) to family sing-alongs on car trips, singing to myself in the shower, on my paper route, and eventually in my own car, my whole life I'd been developing this ability, never realizing it would become my main asset. This realization came when I became legal drinking age and my bro. dragged me to a Karaoke bar. (thanks Marc) I really had no interest in going, but he assured me that, "it's a BLAST." Well, he was right, it was fun. But for me it was eye opening. I started singing songs that I personally really loved (instead of the usual pop crap like everyone else) and doing what I thought was a poor to adequate job of it. But to my shock, people really responded to me...needless to say, I was hooked. (Here's an ironic tid-bit. The first time I ever in my life got a standing ovation, was singing the song that JUST SO HAPPENS to be playing in my stereo at the very moment of this typing: Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." Weird eh?)
And so I began to take singing more seriously. Really working hard at it, and finding my own style, and (to this day) trying to get better and better. Here's who I really think are my biggest influences. Consciously: Tommy Shaw (Styx, Damn Yankees), Steve Walsh (Kansas), Russell Allen (Symohony X), Tony Harnell (TNT, Westworld), Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation), Neal Morse (Spock's Beard), Paul Rogers (Bad Company). Sub-consciously: Jon Bon & Richie Sambora, Chris Cornell, Jorn Lande (Ark), Stevie Wonder, and as I keep saying, MANY, MANY more...
"What's your point, Dude?"
Here's what I "someday" hope to accomplish with this site. Have a place to promote my music (through pictures, soundclips, news, goals, etc.) and to start and/or maintain communications with anyone who might be interested in what I'm doing, and what I'm all about.
Thanks for stopping by. Soon I hope to work on pictures, other things I'm interested in, (books, movies, actors, etc.), communication options (email, guestbook etc.) and a list of my projects (past, present & future). Oh, and please also visit my band's website: www.illusionofoida.com
See you soon.
-Paul
© 2003 Paul Adrian Villarreal
e-mail: [email protected]