Music

A future lies before you, culminating once and for all
but as you approach it, it curves into nothing at all

“This is like if Metallica went to Epcot and played Morocco”
-Bob Wischusen

I’ve been working on some new music during the great quarantine of 2020. Some of the songs are brand new, and some have been in the works for a while. The song ‘Whiff’ was written back in 2018, after a 10 hour round trip excursion to Watkins Glen, NY for Phish’s Curveball festival. We arrived to the festival site and as soon as we finished setting up, it was announced on the radio the festival was cancelled due to water contamination from local flooding. We looked forward to this festival for months, and planned out all we would need for our time there. It was gonna rock, but alas, it didn’t happen.

Lethargic from the long round trip home, and disappointed our plans did not turn out as we thought, I started playing around with my old Yamaha SY55 synth, and came up with ‘Whiff’. Lyricizing about what had just happened, within a dark musical vibe, the song came together quickly. It felt good that something came out of the failed excursion, and the sentiment has echoed during the past 6 months, with so many things planned and looked forward to, but didn’t happen.

Though the festival was cancelled, a new song was reeled in. Like that day, though so many of my shows were cancelled, and so many celebrations and plans for this year didn’t happen, something else happens. It’s certainly a huge bummer, I was so psyched for what was supposed to happen this year, and though it’s hard, it’s up to us to make something of our change in course, no matter the significance or impact.

I used some of the unplanned time off to finish a bunch of songs and recordings, and learn how to have more fun with some A/V software. As a result, I’m finishing up a new album of original music and made this video for the track ‘Whiff’. You can tell I love the infinite video feedback effect (aka that infinity thing that happens when you point a camera at a screen projecting the camera’s output), and had a blast playing around with the Star Wars-like hologram effect. Hope you enjoy watching, I’ll be sharing more music and video from the new album soon.

Break The Code is now available on bandcamp.com as a digital download and CD.

Click here to buy Break The Code on bandcamp.com!

[bandcamp width=500 height=620 album=2691753308 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=de270f tracklist=false]

Last year D.D. Verni, bassist and founding member of fabled thrash metal band Overkill, released a solo album Barricade that featured many guest guitarists. Growing up in NJ, Overkill was a mainstay on my favorite radio station at the time, 89.5 FM WSOU, New Jersey’s hardest rock! Their albums from the ’80s were among my earliest CD purchases. Overkill was up there with The Big 4 in terms of heavy metal prowess, and that was what it was all about for me around the time I first started playing guitar.

Fast forward some decades, after meeting a friend of his after an Almost Queen show in Westbury, NY, D.D. contacted me about recording a Queen-esque guitar solo on the track We Were Young for the solo album he was working on. I jumped at the chance to collaborate with someone influential to my musical upbringing and did my best with my BMG Red Special replica to evoke a solo reminiscent of the good Doctor Brian May. I like how it came out and am glad D.D. asked me to contribute. Overkill’s influence still resonates around the world, as one of my current favorite bands, from Australia, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard cites drawing from Overkill as a source for their new thrash album, Infest The Rats’ Nest.

You can listen to the entire album Barricade on the Tube and at Amazon Music. For right now, I cued up the guitar solo I laid down on We Were Young, check it out…

We Were Young by D.D. Verni from the album Barricade, guitar solo by Steve Leonard (Almost Queen)

Break The Code is now available for purchase on bandcamp.com as a digital download and CD.

https://steveleonard.bandcamp.com/album/break-the-code

All Songs Written, Recorded and Mixed By Steve Leonard
Recorded At Omnijam Studio, Linden, NJ And The Hole, Oakland, NJ
Mastered By Ed Brooks, Resonant Mastering, Seattle, WA

Steve Leonard – Guitars, Lead Vocals, Bass, Percussion, Synth, Programming
Don Frio – Piano, Organ, Vocals
Michael Parillo – Drums
Joe Vernazza – Drums
Steve Leroy – Bass
Paul Kates – Piano, Vocals
Lizzy Kates – Violin, Vocals
Steve Graham – Whistle, Vocals
JP Garwood – Lyrics 1,6

When Prince sang “My name is Prince and I am funky. My name is Prince the one and only.” he was not kidding. When Doves Cry, the lead single from Purple Rain, was a huge pop hit when I was a kid. I probably heard 1999 at a roller rink before that, but that’s not what sticks out. Any way, I didn’t quite get what Prince was up to at the time. I was probably in 5th grade at a Catholic elementary school. I remember Purple Rain the movie, not really appealing to me as a 10 year old kid. It wasn’t meant to. That stuck with me, and while I liked some songs, it gave me an early impression of Prince as a fluffy pop star that girls liked.

A few years later, Judas Priest and Metallica would be playing a lot on my Walkman. CDs were popular, and after saving leftover lunch money to buy used CDs at a store in my hometown on a regular basis, they offered me a job. At The Compact Disc Broker in Roselle Park, some time after Prince’s The Black Album was pulled from being released, there were bootleg copies going around and one of the managers at the store filled me in on Prince’s music genius. (BTW – An original promo copy of The Black Album recently broke a price record on Discogs, selling for $15,000) I began to appreciate Prince, but at the time, Heavy Metal and Hard Rock ruled my ears for many years.

Senior year of High School, I worked at a different music store that I was a frequent patron off. The Music Hall in Westfield, across from The Gap, where I also worked. At The Music Hall I was introduced to Funk music. My good friend Ed schooled me in James Brown and introduced me to a local NYC funk band called The Authority. They were an incredibly tight band, with an unstoppable rhythm section, fierce guitar and sax, and a mesmerizing lead vocalist/percussionist. They had some strong original songs, and would also cover the likes of Funkadelic, James Brown, and Prince. We’d go see The Authority at The Wetlands in NYC many, many times, which lead to a personal Funk obsession.

I was struck by his guitar playing, but the more I checked out, the more I discovered Prince could do it all. Sing, dance, entertain, write songs, scream, form bands, offend people, make people cry, make people wonder, and play guitar like a MF. Miles Davis said “James Brown—his father took him when he was young, he got on the stage and danced with him. He has that, he has Jimi Hendrix, and Marvin Gaye. He combines all that, all the time. That’s what he is. And his stage persona, that’s Charlie Chaplin.”

Listening to Prince this past week, I’m reminded of the immense talent he was in this world. Sadly, it’s been a year since Prince is gone, but his music and influence live on. Prince and The Revolution really showed off what it is to be Funky. Good God.

Oh yeah, and this!