ABOUT

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Living in Northern Ontario, Canada it might seem that very few opportunities might exist for connecting with players in a proggy headspace. I was very fortunate to gather Rob, Jason and Dan. We jammed a lot and ended up recording the self-titled album The Wring – released in 2017.

We did some cool shows. We opened for some legendary bands – Diamond Head and Anvil(!). We also did shows with Crone of War, Dead Daisies and Sven Gali and played the Budweiser New Music festival, opening for Finger Eleven and Glorious Sons.

Through 2018, Moss Beckman joined on bass for our live shows.  We could not have done those without him.

In late 2018, I felt it was time for another recording project but the rest of the lads decided they needed to move on to other things. I enjoy a ‘band’ vibe, so I resumed my search within the local talent pool. Over the next year, The Wring released the single 48 oz. which features Dan MacDonald on vox, Craig Giles on bass and Cory Kottick on drums.  Cory also co-produced the single.  We didn't do much more past that, though a good experience and a pretty good tune.

Fun Fact:  48 oz. is (approximately) the amount of blood an average sized male can lose before death becomes imminent.  Since this is not Cannibal Corpse, the reference is metaphorical.

Fast forward to early 2020 and the start of Project Cipher: 

The Wring is in hiatus. Covid is attacking the world.

I still had a lot of songs written and demo’d and really wanted to get them recorded. I decided to get back in touch with Jason Henrie – the original bass player for The Wring – I asked if he wanted to do a recording project. He did.  In addition, through his session work with Jason Sadites and Marco Minneman he had some contacts in the world of pro musicians…

I connected with Thomas Lang through Jason’s network. Thomas is a world class drummer, producer and music educator. He also turned out to be an amazing person. He was featured on the cover of Modern Drummer magazine in August 2020 – during the same timeframe he was working on my songs!! 

Thomas recorded drums for 7 songs that would become ‘Project Cipher’. This guy has a musical resume that would stretch to the moon… but he took the time to learn my songs, playing them through in single takes so that – in his words – “it would sound like a band not a session”. He also did video for two of the tracks, so you can watch him and catch that vibe. What a great experience.

Thomas also took the time to connect me with Marc Bonilla. Marc is a pro musician, vocalist and producer who worked with Keith Emerson, Ronnie Montrose and Glenn Hughes, to name just a few. His soothing vocal style offers a great contrast and complement to the songs.  Marc is a great singer and an even better human.

Next came the bass... Jason Henrie intended on tracking all of the bass parts but life commitments precluded that.  He didn't leave me stranded though, connecting me with Bryan Beller.  Bryan has an incredible list of credits (Vai, Satriani, Dethklok and of course, The Aristocrats).  He is also an awesome dude. He really brought the songs to life.

Jason Henrie tracked bass on four songs and, as always, did an impeccable job. That Wal has a voice and life-force all its own.  Jason also has an incredible flair for graphics & video.  He created the videos for 'The Light' and 'Cipher'.  He also came up with a lot of the graphic content for web and social media.

I also have to mention a cameo guitar solo on 'Dissension' performed by Jason Sadites.  His Chris Poland meets Paul Gilbert effort really elevated that track!

Finally, I needed someone to put this all together so I enlisted Forrester Savell for the mixing and mastering of the songs.  Forrester is super pro and really understood what I was trying to do, capturing the essence of each song.

For a regular guy from Northern Ontario, it was a great experience and, I think, a pretty good record.  

Project Cipher was released in May 2021.  With great promotional support from Jon Asher at Ashermedia, Project Cipher reached all corners of the world.  It also caught the attention of a record label from Italy - Wormholedeath Records - and they signed the album to a distribution deal.  Very cool.