Time to Revive this thing

Not wanting to let this thing go to the wayside, but coming up dry on what to write about, I'll start this post with a clip of some incredibly powerful music-- as all things should.



Mumford and Sons blew the doors off the Grammys this year, playing with raw power and emotion. This is a band with nothing to hide, made evident by the way in which they put their all into their performances. You can read every emotion in their faces, their voices, and their instruments. Its passionate, exciting, and empowering. I feel alive every time I watch this video. A lot of bands perform with high emotion-- and its great. But here there's a moment of sheer bliss as the band ignites with the horn section behind them (see 1:50) and the singer Marcus Mumford looks up with a face exuding what it means to be truly alive...

My band, Parple, has started playing shows in New York City and we know that the only way to get anywhere in this is if we put all of our energy into every show we play. But beyond leaping around the stage and jumping and screaming to catch an audience's attention, putting everything you have into playing music is, to me, the most pure form of happiness. When I truly get into the music I am playing, its the rare moment seldom experienced otherwise where I am truly living absolutely and singularly in the moment, feeling truly happy, truly passionate, and, when with other musicians, truly in solidarity with those around me. There is no cynicism in those moments, no doubts, no despair. Its a transcendent moment of absolute bliss.

How then can this translate into our daily lives? How can this emotion-- this wonderful, freeing, whole feeling-- last beyond the three and a half minutes of the song? I don't yet know the answer, but I do not that it can happen, and its a beautiful thing to work towards.

Here's another clip of musicians living passionately in the moment-- Billy Preston, George Harrison, and others at The Concert for Bangla Desh playing "That's The Way God Planned It." (See 3:20- Billy leaps off the organ, dancing in ecstasy as George looks in with a smile of absolute delight.) Enjoy!

Parple- "But Why, Sir?"

My band, Parple's, full-length debut album has officially been released. Download it now for free on parple.net. Available soon on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and virtually anywhere else that music is sold online.

Enjoy!

But Why, Sir? New Album from Parple

Forgive my shameless self promotion, but my excitement can't be contained as I share the outcome of several months of hard work. Earlier this summer, I joined a new band with some old friends out of South Jersey and New York City called Parple. Since then, we've been working furiously on our debut album, "But Why, Sir?" to be released this December.

I've played many live shows as a lead guitarist in my relatively short career so far with bands promoting their own albums and original music and have always enjoyed it. But I've never had the privilege and honor of working in a recording studio on an album, and even have my own creative input utilized. It's a tedious process, but a thrilling one at that. Its remarkably exciting to watch a piece of music slowly unfold before your ears.

I have to also say that the band, featuring a lineup of old high school buddies, one of which I was formerly in a band with, is a fantastic collection of some of the greatest musical minds I have personally known and worked with. Collaborating on this music with them has challenged my own skills and made me a better musician. The music on the album is a collection that piano player Todd Selby wrote on his own as well as with best friend and drummer Alex Terruso, after previous stints in a band called the Claques. Entering college, the band, and the friendship, crumbled over petty issues. But alas, reconciliation achieved, the duo returned to song writing and decided to expand their field of creative input and invited the remarkably talented bassist, Steve Conroy, and myself on guitar, before entering the studio to cut their debut album under the new name, Parple.

The band, as a stroke of fortune, all happens to live in New York City after meeting in high school in South Jersey, and as such looks forward to playing shows there once the album is released. It is my great privilege to introduce the first sample of the album, "But There Will Be Free T-Shirts," available now on the Facebook page.

Also, coming soon, the new website, parple.net