KARCIUS |
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Few
albums of instrumental rock hit home as solidly as the third album
from Karcius. The Montreal based prog-fusion band achieve a new level
of sonic wizardry on their 2008 album, Episodes. The bands
first two albums on the Unicorn Digital label laid a strong groundwork
and Episodes is clearly their finest CD yet. Produced, recorded
and mixed at Studio Victor, Episodes features group guitarist
Simon L Espérance backed up by group members Dominique
Blouin (bass), Thomas Brodeur (drums) and Mingan Sauriol
(keyboards). While the Karcius sound blueprint may owe a lot to
prog innovators like Canadas Maneige and Finlands Pekka
Pohjola, the band clearly updates the classic prog-rock sound for
the new millennium with the masterful sound of Episodes. www.UnicornDigital.com
Ive
been playing guitar since the age of 11. However I began practicing
very seriously at 16 years old when I decided music was my real attraction
in life. In 2000 I began the music school and finished my degrees
at university in 2005 in jazz guitar. My musical background is in
a great part rock music like Hendrix, Steve Vai, Slash and many others
but later on I really got into fusion-jazz with John McLaughlin and
Chick Corea. Its hard to resume but I am right now listening
to so much different stuff. I discovered Daniel Lanois stuff
this year and I love it, but also Im listening to a lot of jazz
and funk music. Think of John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Coltrane, this
music really means something to me but also I enjoy listening to Radiohead,
Pink Floyd or anything more progressive and well produced. Like I
said I just love music and each day my influences and my tastes are
growing. Music is infinite. Episodes
was recorded in the summer 2008 at Studio Victor in Montreal. A great
historical room, built in 1941 by RCA Victor engineers. I work for
this studio so I got Karcius a great deal for recording and mixing.
Basically I recorded the drums, the bass and the rhythm guitars together.
Then we did the grand piano, the B3, the Fender Rhodes, overdubed
the guitars and add some percs. After all we sat down and finished
the recording with synths and programming. I wanted a recording that
reflects the bands live energy and we did well. With a great
and solid core the music can grow up easily. I like being in the studio
with the other guys and work the music together, polishing stuff and
change the songs at the last time. Its more of a jazz approach
for the basic parts and then we build more complex stuff over our
ideas. I think its exactly my music approach in guitar too.
Working some good riffs, compose stuff and then add spices and funky
flavors with improvisations. Gives some interesting things.
I used
my Les Paul plugged into my Mesa Boogie Nomad Stack for the whole
rhythm parts, no effects. Then the combinations changed for every
songs, some parts were made with my 52 reissue Telecaster in
my Fender DeVille amp for a more dirty and vintage sound. For that
I used some old RCA ribbon mics and I used my Electro-Harmonix tremolo
and phaser with a combination of Boss and Line-6 delays. Also I used
a custom guitar made by MF in Montreal for jazzier stuff also with
the Deville but using a Neumann U-47 for mic-ing and some times adding
a little mini Q-tron by Electro-Harmonix. And finally I used my Brian
Moore guitar for whammy bar stuff and wacky solos in Combustion.
I also made some acoustic parts with a Gibson SJ 200 acoustic guitar
and some classical guitar parts with my Taylor Ns-32. I think every
single song needs the perfect tone for it, depending of what I want
to play I decide which guitar, which amp and which mic will give me
the best combination.
Okay,
lets do it by style. For rock music, lets say Slash, Hendrix
and Vai. No albums in particular, I love them for their contribution
to music. Also lets say albums like Dark Side Of The Moon
by Pink Floyd, Blood Sugar Sex Magic by the Red Hot and In
Abstentia by Porcupine Tree. For jazz its infinite: I really
dig Coltrane stuff, Miles Daviss whole carrier, John McLaughlins
Indian stuff and of course the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Coreas
Return To Forever and electric projects, Herbie Hancock funk stuff
and more recent stuff by Pat Metheny and John Scofield. I cant
live without The Way Up from Metheny, Uberjam from Scofield,
Momentum by Joshua Redman, a good Marcus Miller bass solo and
some Herbie Hancock grooves. I know its a big list but I just
love music. Finally I dont forget some more popular stuff like
Sting, The Beatles, Daniel Lanois and some great composers like Stravinsky,
Messiaen and Beethoven.
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