Friday, June 29, 2007

It's Summer 2007! Big Update!

Hello all. It's been a trip not being on the road this time of year. But everyone still thinks I am, making it hard to get my local gigs again. Well, ask and ye shall receive- I'm finally up to my ears right now in work! Here's some of the recent highlights in and around me right now...


LIVE:
Did a gig with my old buddy (and first ever bandmate) Jesse Brewster in San Francisco. It rocked!
Multiple shows as part of an instrumental rock trio: The Danny Jones Band.
This Saturday I'll be a part of the Eric Martin Band. Eric was best known for his work as the frontman for Mr. Big, but his own band has a sound all it's own. He's probably one of the greatest vocalists of our time, and it's an honor to work with him after being friends/neighbors with him all these years. The best rock singers are usually the ones that understand soul and blues, and Eric is one of the greats. Oh yeah- I got Thomas Perry, the drummer from Flametal to join me on the gig. It's gonna kick ass!
All this rock these days, but I miss layin it down, thick and brown in the town, if ya know what I mean?! I've been able to reconnect with some of my podnuhs that I've gigged with over the years to play the chitlin' circuit again. I even picked up a church gig again, where I can play some SERIOUS bass.
Last night after Eric Martin rehearsal, I played with RnB Diva Lisa Battle, joining my old friends Cedrick Dennis (Guitar) and Tommy Bradford (Drums). I think the last time we all played together was with Ledisi at the Fillmore. Oh yeah, if you don't know about Ledisi, you better check her out. I remember opening for Chaka Kahn with Led in San Jose, when Chaka called her up on stage to sing. That ended up being one of my most memorable gigging moments ever.
Anyways- I was just sitting in- I actually had to get to another gig across the street with the band Surreal to hold down the smooth Jazz/Funk/Hip-Hop vibe. I pulled my boy Thomas Perry up to sit in on drums (which he tore up) but after that I reconnected with a dear friend- Greg Errico. He's Sly's original drummer, and we played together in one of the new "Sly" outfits for a couple of years. So Greg sat in and also tore it up! It was so great to play with 2 of my favorite drummers back to back! I gotta have Greg on my CD!


Look for me on the radio on July 1st!
Bass Talk with Abe and Lane. Listen on the web. I'll be phoneing in Bass related stuff. The featured artist is my good buddy, T.M. Stevens. Details here.



STUDIO:
Almost done with the Lyrics Born CD. It's gonna be like nothing he's ever released- lots of talented musicians on this one and less sampling. Funky too. This is the new generation of Hip-Hop.
I spent three 14 hr. days in Tahoe at Snakebite studios recording THE NEW WHITESNAKE ALBUM! There are 11 new songs that IMHO, F'n RAWK! The title is "Good to be Bad", and will be released on SPV (German Label) in the fall. I don't think the last album I did with them came out in the states, but it can be found online.
Guitarist Eli Nelson has reeled me in for his instrumental guitar album- and I love it! His style is definitely Vai-esque, but unique and all his own as well. Vai's drummer Jeremy Colson (another SF local) provided some of the tastiest rock drumming I've heard. I can't wait to finish work on this one.
You'll also find me on Guitarist Rick Plester's upcoming release, where the idea is to have many different (some famous) rhythm sections providing the backbone of this cd.
Tracking at my home studio is still going great, managing to provide Bass tracks to many of these artists while bypassing studio/engineer costs all together.
I'll be working on the new Flametal CD shortly. We're releasing an ep. under the name The Skeletons, with more broken down versions of some of our songs. It's a teaser, mostly for our Japanese fans, until the real deal comes out.


Well, shit- I could keep going on I guess... I'm sure I forgot somthin... but that's enough for now.
I have to thank everyone who wrote to wish me well after my accident earlier this month. It helped me in a big way- thank you all. My car was totalled (RIP) and so now I'm rollin an '84 Supra with over a quarter-million miles on it (228,xxx). It fits my gear and gets me where I need. It is also a chick magnet and perfect for drive by's.

As always, check my gigs page for the most up-to-date list of shows.

Ciao!
-Uriah

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Uriah, I'm glad you are doing well after the car accident. And I saw the news on TV about the fire in Lake Tahoe. Were you there? Didn't it affect you? It's been 3 months already since I saw your FLAMETAL show and met you in Japan. I like Eric Martin too. He's a great singer. I saw his show with TMG which has a very popular Japanese guitarist. Whitesnake's "Live In The Shadow Of The Blues" finally was released in Japan on June 27, but I'm a bit disappointed about this late release. I really hope the new album will be out at the same time all over the world. Next year is very special to me, so I really want to see the WS shows next year. You work for many bands. Do you eat Natto sometimes there? :)

Yuki

Ana B. said...

It's a really big update, great news...:D...I was happy to read it...and really really happy too see that you are back on track after that accident...:D
Have a great time wherever you are...and take care!

Love & respect as always,
Ana

Unknown said...

A chick magnet car that is perfect for drive by's .....could you ever ask for anything more than that in a car? ..I mean really?

LOL