|
Young Denis
recording
Time: :59
circa 1979
dstory2.m3u
|
|
unreleased. One
of the very first recording with Denis. Denis stated
"Well, I didn't play guitar then and I was like any other kid, you know, I would make up
stories and record tapes as if I was a disc jockey, I mean I was 10
years old. I owned about 1 record at the time, an album that
came with the stereo I got. It had a turntable and tape deck
built in..... haah...it had the
theme to star wars and to swat, the village people and so on.geez,
hahah. So, I was fascinated with music and recording. then again, I
also tried to sell this tape to passer by's on the sidewalk hahaha......"
Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1979
|
|
|
"Noise Maker"
Time: :27
prior to 1980-1981
noisemaker.m3u
|
|
Denis when he
was a kid experimenting with tape deck to get sounds. Denis stated
"yes, well this was a tape and I was with one of my sisters, Colombe. I was
trying to get sounds out of an old tape recorder. I was
always interested in getting different sounds so playing guitar
eventually would have been a natural extension hahah..geez, what was I
thinking?!! My poor sister hahaah....I guess I was having trouble with
it making the sound I wanted.... "
Denis states.
recorded 1980-1981
|
|
|
"Acoustic
hum"
Time: :26
prior to 1981-1982
acoustic.m3u
|
|
Denis on
acoustic guitar humming?! Denis stated
"geez, wow, well, you have to be brave to come out with a
recording like this. At this point, I was just playing acoustic and
I knew a few chords.I had taken 1 or 2 lessons early on on acoustic but
was just to young at the time. I guess I could hear melodies to go
along with my open chords haha.... "
Denis
states. recorded prior to 1981-1982
|
|
|
First
recording - electric
Time: 1:04
circa 1982-1983
firstgl.m3u
|
|
unreleased. One
of the very first recording with Denis trying to play electric guitar.
Demo made somewhere between 1982-1983. Denis stated
"yes, this demo was on cassette, haha,I hadn't taken any lessons yet
except on my acoustic. I was messing around with a friend who showed
me how to get distortion with a tape deck. Of course we couldn't play
but had fun. gosh I think I was 10 or 12 or so, my guitar had three
strings on it and the bridge made out of a piece of 2x4 haha.I had
just bought the rusty guitar for $15 at a pawn shop. gosh, I feel
sorry for my parents and sisters that had to hear that haha.....really
pathetic...gosh that is painful to hear. But you must start
somewhere!!! "
Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1982-1983
|
|
|
"Volcano"
Time:
:59
circa
early 1983-1984
volcano.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"
ahhaha, that is so sad!!!
Well, finger tapping a la van halen was in style and I was
learning to finger tap kind of, so I made a song called
volcano, van halen had eruption so I had volcano, hahahhah,
geez my friends died laughing over that one, I can see why
ahahahah" Denis
states. unreleased,circa early 1983-1984
|
|
"No noise"
Demo with keyboardist
time:
:32
circa
1985-1986
br2.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian
Simmerman on keyboard. Denis stated"
this was when I was beginning
to play guitar as well. A friend of mine started to play
keyboard. We would make noise for hours haha...It was good
practice. We sucked of course, but it was fun just to be
playing" Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1985-1986
|
|
Denis at an
Early Jam Session
time:
:42
circa
1985-1986
earlyjam.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar at a jam."
Denis states"
Well,
I would go to jam sessions, and just try to get a chance
to play with others. It was quite horrible really, but one
of my first experiences with playing in/with a band of
sorts. I would play with anybody I could really to try to
get better."
unreleased,circa 1985-1986
|
|
Early "blues shuffle" practice tape
time:
:59
circa
1985-1986
ptape.m3u
|
unreleased
practice tape taken off of a cassette. ."
Denis states"
Well,
thus began the long hard road to learn to play. I began
taking lessons from Chris Hattingh and he had me make
practice tapes to learn to solo over them but also to work
on my rhythm. I would make these tapes and play over them
for hours. But I was beginning to learn to play properly."
unreleased,circa 1985-1986
|
|
Denis Practicing clean guitar
Time: :51
circa
1985-1986 dem9.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar practicing
Denis states"
Well,
I was really determined to learn to play and I would
practice for a long time. As a result, I would also write
thing, usually by mistake, trial and error, things that
sounded musical to me but they weren't songs at all. In
fact, they were hardly guitar parts to songs. But my ear
was developing slowly..."
unreleased,circa 1985-1986
|
|
Denis " running scales" early solo
Time: :32
circa 1985-1986
dem12.m3u
|
unreleased demo taken off of a
cassette. Denis on guitar
Denis stated" Well, I
was given a lot of scales to learn and at the time playing
them fast as cool, especially for solo's, so I worked
on that, just running scale really, sad to hear now hahha,
but I got some technique and getting my fingers used to
the fingerboard and I learned the scales as a result, it
wasn't very musical at all, that came later" Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1985-1986
|
|
50's demo with keyboardist Brian
Time: 1:57
circa 1986-1987
50jamkey.m3u
|
unreleased demo taken off of a
cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian Simmerman on keyboard.
Denis stated" Oh geez,
pathetic, this was with Brian and it was a parody of 50's
rock haha. We knew about major 7th chords but not how to
use them. I learned some in my lessons, but couldn't
figure out how to use them. Well, when you are younger, you try all kinds of
styles to see what fits you best. This wasn't it obviously,
but experimenting gets you familiar with different kinds
of music. haha" Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987
|
|
writing early original song
time:
:22
circa 1986-1987
1orig.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"
this was when I was one of my first originals. I was just
starting to write original songs...well, ideas anyway, at
the time I was influenced by Rush a lot using different
guitar parts, I had no idea about music theory yet at
all...."
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987
|
Denis with Bassist Byron
circa
1986-1987
Time 1:35
byronbass.m3u
|
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Byron on bass Denis
stated" this
was when I was beginning to play guitar. A friend of mine started to
play bass. We would jam for hours haha...It was good practice though we
only played jimi hendrix stuff or blues things, I would try to play
like jimi including using the whammy bar and dive bombs and so on
hahaah.We played often.
." Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987
|
|
|
First multi-track Demo
1987-1988
time: 7:33
demosuperold1.m3u
|
unreleased Demo. Denis played all
the instruments. Denis stated"
yes, this was my first
official demo. demo was on
cassette pulled off a 4 track cassette recorder which I had
borrowed for a weekend.. Well, I was taking
lessons and being shown all this classical stuff and heavy
metal guitar too. so I tried to combine the two which was
popular at the time. I also used a guitar synth,a roland
gm-70 with terrible tracking and I could only afford a
small synth module that could play 4 voices, it was like a
Casio cz-101 ...hahah. This was a big deal for me as it
was my first real demo. When I ran out of cheapo
cassettes, I asked my father to drive me to a store to get
more. I didn't drive yet. It was an emergency as I only
had the borrowed recorder for the weekend., so I was
frantic ahahah, I didn't have any songs worked out, I just
recorded my musical ideas, I worked all weekend on it..."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1987-1988
|
|
Denis's "Guitar Synth" Demo
Time :28
circa 1988-1989
gsynth.m3u
|
unreleased
tracks taken off of a cassette. Denis stated"
I got scammed into buying this guitar synth when I got my
Roland gp-8, I used it sometimes, but not all that often,
I did experiment to try to get to work for me, the
tracking was crap though and I used it on my first demo
and then sold the whole thing, it was lame hahah though it
did help to develop my ear and appreciate other
instruments, so not a total loss. In a way, I was lucky to
have had the chance to mess with one so early in my
playing. I wish I still had it haah..."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
Denis's "Car" Demo
circa 1988-1989
Time 2:22
cardemo.m3u
|
unreleased
track taken off of a cassette and 4 track cassette
machine. Denis stated"
this was such an early demo. I was
experimenting with making sounds on my guitar, the big
thing was making it sound like a car. I had this amp and I
used a whammy bar and it started to sound like a car
shifting gears, hitting a bump and crashing and squealing haha.Hey it was
cool at the time haha.Well, when your young and starting,
you want to see what the guitar can do, what sounds you
can get with it., I think it was done on a 4 track I
borrowed again for a weekend , the same one I used to make
my first real
demo. ."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
"Korg Minipops"
time: :28
circa 1988-1989
korgmini.m3u
|
unreleased
track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated"
I got my first drum machine, it was
a korg mini pops hahah.I mean this thing was really
old, it was the equivalent of what you would find in an
organ, except that they pulled it out and put it in a box.
It would be on many of my recordings, to keep a beat. I
even used to push several buttons in to get different
rhythms, it had bosa nova and stuff, but it helped my
rhythm playing and I actually met the original owner years
later who was a guitarist and had have it as a kid. I wish
had still had it to give it back to him. I don't know what
happened to it, I sold it perhaps?!....Well, I
experimented with many rhythm parts...."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
"Minipops Hell"
Time :40
circa 1988-1989
hell.m3u
|
unreleased
track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated"
oh yeah, that damn minipops drum
machine, it was a korg mini pops machine haha...It is
terrible, geez, well, I tried to use dissonant sounding
chords and using those sappy whammy bars, geez, what was I
thinking back then.. Not about much obviously ahaha.I
think I was influenced by randy rhoads and van halen
had a section of a song similar to this hahah.....
."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
"Song stuff"
circa 1988-1989
time:1:30
songstuff.m3u
|
unreleased
track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated"
Well, I eventually got the hang of
using my 4 track rack mount unit and started recording
instrumental songs, along with my trusty korg mini pops
haha.. This was great a learning tool and so I started
thinking in terms of songs and recording. Oh Yeah, I would
use the korg mini pops for the drums and used rca cables to
plug in to one track on the multi track. I am surprised at
how clean the recording is after some 15 years though......
."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
"proud octaves"
circa 1988-1989
Time:1:08
proud.m3u
|
unreleased
track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated"
oh yeah, the korg mini pops gave me
song ideas. I was learning to use octaves and so came up
with songs using octaves. I was practicing and learning
and taking lessons. I still wonder how I could hear
any rhythm from the korg mini pops that was just kind of
there haha.I was trying to emulate jimi hendrix a lot in
sounds, like the very last phased whammy bar dive was a
typical Hendrix sound, but try as I did, I
couldn't play like him though.. haah.....
."
Denis states.unreleased,circa
1988-1989
|
|
Denis with first Band playing original
instrumental
time:3:05
circa
1990-1991
bandearly.m3u
|
unreleased
recording made around 1990-1991. Denis playing with first
band.. Denis stated"
yes, this demo was
on cassette and a jam box. Most of the originals in this
band were soft really haha. We would get together and play instrumentals mostly. This is where I had a
Lesley rotating speaker and a
Roland gp-8 in a stereo setup, but had to use a console
stereo for the amp complete with turntable ahah,hey it was
a tube amp kind of,
I had a big basement, so it was easy
to get a band in there and I didn't have to move my gear.
Though, I could afford the guitar pre-amp I wasn't able to
afford an actual amp haha..I wasn't friends with these
guys really, I mean it was all business, we didn't hang
out or anything. they would come in and play and
then it was like see you later haha..They were older than
me though. Well, we would get together often to play..."
Denis states. unreleased, circa
1990-1991
|
|
Denis with first band instrumental 2
time:3:11
Circa
1990-1991
bandorig.m3u
|
unreleased recording made
around circa 1990-1991. Denis playing with first band.. Denis
stated" yes, this
demo was on cassette and a jam box. " yes, we would make up these
instrumentals and they would end up just being jams and in
fact they all sounded alike haha. these were part of the
basement experiments which became my music lab for ideas
haha,
but this one was a little more
lively. I was all excited because I wrote it and got to
use my favorite chords which were chords with open
strings,, though I had such bad timing, you can hear it on
the demo" .unreleased,
circa 1990-1991
|
|
Denis with
Band and Singer playing original
song
time:5:11
circa 1990-1991
bandsinger.m3u
|
unreleased recording made
around 1990-1991. Denis playing with first band.. Denis stated"
yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. Well, It was
my first band and trying to play some originals. there was
a drummer, bassist and a guy who couldn't sing but wanted
to be in the band which was ok because we couldn't play
well either haha.When he did sing, he sounded drunk
though. We did lots of originals
and I found this recording which is the only one with that
singer that I know of haha and to be fair, we didn't have
any lyrics for him either or a consistent manner of playing
haha, for me, it was an original that I had written and
hoped the others would join in playing wise. Well, this was
an early band, I had been in a couple of bands in Muncie,
IN for a while which were much better, I hope to find
tapes of those someday, but I was happy to be playing and
learning....." .unreleased,
circa 1990-1991
|
|
"Metal Midget"
time: :43
circa
1991
metalmidget.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"haha
yeah well, after hearing yngwie play I tried to
imitate him a bit, also using the whammy bar was cool back
then, so I tried that and harmonics, still didn't help me
play haha!!! ahah geez, it's just pitiful, well, trying to
get sounds out of your guitar you know..."Denis states .unreleased,circa1991
|
|
Band with Denis using milk crate speaker cabinet
band0.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis in a band playing guitar. Denis stated"
haha, .l remember I was playing through one 12" speaker
that I had wired in a milk crate and It blew after one
session haha.We had no P.A. and you had to be quite loud.
I didn't have a speaker cabinet yet. It was a celestion
speaker though, what a shame haha,. That drummer was so
loud!!! I don't recall there being a bassist....Well,I
take that back, there was one but he never really played,
I think he wanted to be the singer instead. You know, I
started getting fed up with trying to get bands together,
I mean 1/2 of these guys, especially the drummers, I would
find out were on house arrest who knows for what?! haha
geez....."
Denis states.unreleased,early 1991
|
|
Rhythm Practice with new drum machine
Time: 1:12
circa 1991
rythmn.m3u
|
unreleased
Demo made in 1991 Denis on guitar. Denis stated"
yes, this demo was on cassette and it is a practice tape.
I had a new drum machine, retiring the Korg Mini Pops for
the Alesis sr-16 the old one, haah and when I was playing
I really had to work hard on developing a sense of timing
.It did not come naturally to me at all really, and so I
would work with a drum machine for hours haha. "
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1991
|
|
Denis early guitar solo
Time:
1:12
circa
1991-1992
dem10.m3u
|
guitar solo
practice taken off of a
cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"ah,yes,haha,Well
I was working on my dexterity and trying to get a voice on
the guitar, a style if you like, when I hear it now, it's
seems to be all gibberish, however, it was a good way to
learn. I was also trying to develop technique as best I
could.." Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1991-1992
|
|
Denis Early cover band
"Rush's limelight" kind of....
time:4 :42
circa 1992
coverband3.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis in a cover band playing guitar. Denis stated"haha,
ridiculous really, well we tried to do covers. that was off
cassette and a jam box. there was a bassist and drummer
too. We never really got any songs down so it didn't
last. But it was good practice. I played through a gp-8 and
a huge console tube stereo that was rewired to be a tube
amp l remember. We played a lot of Rush tunes or
tried too, I tried to be alex lifeson hahaha,well it gave
me a chance to work on soloing with a band,but I mean I
got the vibe of it even if it didn't sound good, because
it did to me at the time, In fact, I made quite few
mistakes soloing wise hahaha"
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992
|
|
Denis more cover band - live tunes
time: 2 :33
circa 1992
cvers2.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis in a cover band playing guitar. Denis stated"haha,
ridiculous really, well we tried to do covers. that was off
cassette and a jam box. there was a bassist and drummer
too. We never really got any songs down so it didn't
last. But it was good practice. I played through a gp-8 and
a huge console tube stereo that was rewired to be a tube
amp l remember. We played some Police, Van Halen, Jimi
hendrix and pink floyd songs tunes or at least tried
too I didn't really know the songs first of all and would
come up with my own parts for them hahah,"
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992
|
|
"harmony" Demo
Time:
1:23
circa
1992-1993
harmo.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar . Denis
stated" believe it or
not, this particular recording was ground breaking for me in
the sense that I started to play over individual chords
rather than just playing over chords using one scale. I
used a separate arpeggio for each chord. So I was
definitely learning and this was the basis for my further
progress. I used a guitar to emulate a bass....."
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993
|
|
Denis and Brian the keyboardist Demo
Time
2:00
circa
1992-1993
briankey.m3u
|
unreleased
demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian
Simmerman on keyboard. Denis stated"ah,yes,haha, this
is with Brian again. this was in my basement. We were
getting a little better, but we wouldn't write songs
really and would just jam most of the time, this was as close
as we got to a song. But we were definitely getting
better...." Denis
states. unreleased, circa 1992-1993
|
|
Denis's "Summer" Demo
time:1:57
circa 1992-1993
dem4.m3u
|
unreleased Demo made in 1992-1993.
Denis played all the instruments. Denis stated"
yes, this demo was on
cassette pulled off a 4 track recorder. I spent my summer
recording with my 4track which was a cassette based thing.
I
got it mail order.
It was really old and crusty. You had to use a switch to
choose which track to record on, it didn't really have a
mixer. I did learn about recording quite a bit with it. I bought it mail order. I
was just thrilled to get my own. haha. A the time, they
were expensive. I remember calling them up and asking for
their cheapest multi track used haah, they said, no
problem, that will be $150.00 . It was a rack mount multi
track from the stone age. It may have been state of the
art tens years prior haha... I
had an art processor so was getting into different guitar
sounds. My drum machine was a Korg Mini POPS!!! awesome
haha..It really was out of an old organ and you could
punch in two buttons together to get multiple rhythms,
though you weren't supposed to I guess haha.
" Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993
|
|
Denis Solo practice with ADA MP-1 preamp
time:
:40
Circa 1992-1993
soloprac.m3u
|
unreleased
recording made around 1992-1993. Denis playing solo.. Denis stated"
yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. Well, I was
taking lessons and trying to get a handle on playing
rhythm then lead and back again. These were my feeble
first attempts and I had just started playing straight
through an amp without many effects. I was using an
ADA mp-1 pre amp and a mosvalve power amp and I think I
had cabinets of some sort, but can't remember what..I
remember wanting ADA 2x12's but couldn't afford them"
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993
|
|
Denis's "experimental" sounds demo
Time:
2:03
Circa 1993
dem11.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis experimenting with 4 track. Denis stated"
haha, .l remember I was experimenting with guitar sounds. I
had this processor with all kinds of ridiculous sounds on
it, so I wanted to try to use as many as possible in a
recording. I used my trusty crappy tape 4 track recorder and
was messing around with sounds. I was listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix who used many sounds. I guess it influenced
me, perhaps in a bad way haha. Though I did start to learn
how to work with effects to get weird guitar sounds and
then improvised much like I do now haahh..."
Denis states.unreleased,early 1993
|
|
A Denis instrumental recorded on a 4 track
Time: 2:18
circa 1993-1994
ddem.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis recording with his 4 track. Denis stated"
I was trying to get guitar parts together, so I
always wrote little guitar parts that went together, or at
least I tried to get them together. I also worked on the
flow of the song, trying to expand on ideas, it was
a start and I liked the repeating motif over the different
chords.... "
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1993-1994
|
|
Jam Band with Denis's amp catching on fire
time:1:04
circa 1993-1994
jamband2.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis in a band playing guitar with others .Denis
stated"
l remember I was playing with 6 other people .they were
crowded in my room. I mean we could hardly move.2
keyboardists,1 bass player,1 guy on tambourine and a few
friends. I was playing guitar, this was the jam where my
kitty hawk tube guitar combo amp started smoking and
caught on FIRE haha!!! Man, that was strange. It just burst into
flames, no joke!!! it was a defective combo tube amp
I guess.I was quite frightened having my guitar connected
to this amp on fire, that ended the jam and you can hear it
on the recording. Anyway, It was fun but very
cramped. Gosh to think back on that is quite something,
that was a long time ago. I thought it was sweet at the
time hahaah, I know Byron and Brian were there and the
singer and some of his musical friends from an early
band were there"
Denis states. unreleased,circa 1993-1994
|
|
4 track demo with Denis on guitar and bass
time:1:10
circa 1994
dem5.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis recording with his 4 rack recorder."
I
continued recording with my track recorder, I got
hold of a bass and learned how to put down a bass line
somewhat or at least to get a guitar part over a bass
line. I also worked on song writing and using different
sounds. I really enjoyed recording and listening to what I
created, sadly much of it I can't stand to hear today ahaha, but it was a learning
process. My rhythm was getting better a well..."
stated Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1994
|
|
" Funk"
Time:1:17
circa 1994
funk.m3u
|
unreleased
track Denis recording with his 4 rack recorder."
I continued recording with my track recorder, my rhythm
was getting better a well. I tried to play some funk
guitar and if you hear in the demo I have a comping chord,
I was learning about different styles and tried to adapt
them to my playing. I had a good time learning some bass
lines and then using those for instrumentals. I certainly
focused on learning to play some bass lines..."
stated Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1994
|
|
Theatre Old Demo
Time:
4:23
Circa
1994
demoold.m3u
|
unreleased
Demo made in 1994 Denis played all the instruments. Denis
stated"
yes, this demo was on cassette pulled off a 4 track
recorder. This is where I began to experiment with volume
swells and had discovered the music of tangerine dream who
did soundtracks.I was developing as far as playing a
little bit. So this is an important recording in terms of my
development. I had gotten a summer job at a movie theatre
at night, I mean around midnight to 3:30am or so, they
gave me a leaf blower and I was supposed to blow the
popcorn from each aisle to the bottom of the theatre which
took about 5 minutes, but I had to be there for 3 and a
half hours or so, so I would bring a jam box or a guitar
and amp and set it up at the front of the theatre and play
music very loudly. This was one of the recordings I did at
home and would listen to at the movie theatre and really
I had a good time. My friend who got me the summer job
worked at another nearby theatre about 5 minutes away and
we would sneak out and visit sometimes on breaks.
Well the
job didn't last long though because my friend who worked
at the other theatre got scared when someone entered the
theatre and he called the police who were not able to
catch the intruder which meant he was 'at large' haha.I
mean we were alone and it would get a little spooky
sometimes. I remember my friend calling me in a panic haha.
So we decided that maybe a summer job was not worth while
haha. Really, I wonder if he wasn't just making it up to
get out of working ,I never had any problems there haha.It
was a fun and unique experience and for a summer ,why
not?!"
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994
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Denis new song Ideas
Time: 1:21-
circa 1995
earlysong.m3u
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unreleased
track Denis playing guitar and recording ideas for songs.
Denis stated"
Well, I would come up with guitar parts that were original
ideas for songs a the time. I would play quite a few
different ideas in one 'song' hahah, those ideas did
eventually become songs or instrumental tracks or I would
use them in parts of songs, but I kept writing little
ideas for guitar parts. I kind of knew what I wanted
things to sound like. This was more of a practice tape too
not forget the ideas... "
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1995
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"Let's get rid of the bassist?!" band playing
Denis instrumentals
time 3:42
circa 1995
band1.m3u
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unreleased
track Denis in a band playing guitar. He wrote the songs
and didn't have a singer. Denis stated"
gosh that has been a while haha, .l remember I was playing
through the bass players amp because I didn't have an amp
of my own at the time. But I had a guitar preamp
haha. There was a drummer as well. We played in a tiny room,
I had to play out in the hall haha.I was just trying to
get a band going, so this is one of many band attempts. I
wrote some originals to play with them. The drummer was
dead
set on firing the bassist, why I don't know. I got talked
into going along with it or else the drummer wouldn't play
anymore haahah, silly band politics at it's worst, of
course that ended the band.I was getting more comfortable
playing with a drummer in any case. Well, I went through at
least 7 or 8 of these attempts at bands. I even played with
some guys from Indianapolis and others from different part
of Indiana. "
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1995
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Denis's new Demo recorded on Yamaha 4 track
Time:7:58
circa 1994-1995
1994demo.m3u
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unreleased
demo made in 1994-1995. Denis played all the instruments and it
was recorded on a Yamaha 4 track tape recorder. Denis stated"
Yes,
I remember this demo. The master was on a cassette hahah.It was recorded
with a 4 track cassette recorder I bought used. I think it
was a Yamaha. I also played through a 2x10 stereo chorus
peavey amp .I am not sure it worked right though aha. Well,
this was a step forward for me because I stared thinking
about songs and composition. Still learning to play though haha and this was a period that really set me up for my
first CD. My playing got much better song wise for some
reason. I started getting song ideas. I would record demo's
to play on the cassette deck in my car haha...I would
record something and then run to my car to hear it
haah,It's odd, because prior to this I hadn't really done
much guitar wise, I mean I played sometimes, but maybe a
break is what I needed as I got better playing and writing
wise. I really had a blast recording my own stuff on this
little setup and took it more seriously than others around
me at the time imagined. It helped me to really start
thinking of songs rather than just guitar jams and
learning to program a drum machine too haah...... "
Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994-1995
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1'st Recording Session as hired guitarist
Time:1:31
circa 1995
1sessin.m3u
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unreleased
session made around 1995 or so. Denis was hired to play
guitar on a demo." Yes, I remember that I was teaching
guitar in a music store and in the basement was a
recording studio. I would sometimes get hired to add guitar
to some recordings. Mostly demos, but it was a big thrill
for me at the time just to get to play in the
studio. I
mean for me, I just loved being around the gear, the
recording mixer and to get to play and contribute. I mean
it meant a lot to me. Only one recording that I have exists
of this period. It was the very first session I was hired
for. They gave me a tape and I was to find a solo part for
it. It had a vocal part as well. They wanted a blistering
solo when in reality they already had a basic guitar
melody that I thought was good enough. In any case, I was into speed guitar leads at the time and getting
into heavy metal playing. Gosh I don't remember it as this
cheesy though hahah" Denis states. unreleased, circa 1995
or so
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Denis Band with No Drummer
Time:1:16
circa 1996
bandnodr.m3u
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unreleased
demo made around 1996 or so. Denis played guitar with a
bassist. Denis stated
"Yes, I remember I was playing with this bassist, I
think his name was Steve and we
didn't have a drummer so we used a drum machine. nothing
ever came of it really but we had fun anyway and we did
have a lot of enthusiasm .I remember the bass player
calling slow songs "panty melters", I cracked up as I had
never heard that before?! I think if we had gotten a
drummer, we would have a played for a while and a lot
better too ahah" Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1996 or so
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Eric & Denis Demo
Time:1:22
circa 1996
eric.m3u
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unreleased
demo made around 1996 or so. Denis and friend Eric
Thrasher played guitar. Denis stated"
I
remember I was playing with my friend Eric Thrasher and he
had been playing a while. when I started playing he showed
me some things on guitar. This is the only times we
collaborated on a track. We had good times talking about
guitars and trading licks. One time Eric told me that he
went into a music store and there was a poster of Frank
Gambale and he told the salesman, man that guy's bald and
the salesman bent over and pulled his toupee off and said
so am I hahaha...oops, well Eric is a good friend and he
is just well Eric. When we recorded this , he had this
sweet paul reed smith guitar.." Denis
states. unreleased,circa 1996 or so
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first digital mutli-track recording
Time:2:09
circa 1996-1998
96dem.m3u
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experimenting
in the studio. unreleased track . Denis also played all the
instruments. "Oh
yeah, this was a fun track, though I never finished it, I
was getting used to the new digital recorder instead of
the analog recorder. The stage was set to be sure, I mean
what do you do when you just get a new digital
recorder and then quit your dead end job? Well, you take a
year off and make a debut CD of course ?! hhah....I was starting to think about doing a CD, still my lead playing still had that whiny tone haah,I
grew out of it eventually. But this track really got me
thinking of making an album using the digital recorder, I
was so pleased with the sound quality, no hiss and so on!!
Now there was a learning curve to get the digital recorder
to sound good, but this was really the beginning of it.
Don't forget I was upgrading and experimenting with
different guitar gear as well. I must have tried 10 amps
and rack setups at least. Something happened to me in this
period, in that, playing wise and writing wise even more,
things just came together for me, my writing of songs got
much better and more flowing.. haahha.."
Denis states.unreleased,late 1997-1998
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"Winter
Passage Alt. take"
Time 1:57
circa 1997-1998
winteralt.m3u
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Unreleased track.circa 1997 Denis
played all the instruments."
Yes, I love to hear this because it was really the beginning of doing
my first CD and this was the alternate take of "winter Passage" which
was a track on the first CD and this
demo is how I got the basic framework of the song. Though when I
recorded it and got the idea for it, I had not set out to record a CD.
This was recorded on a Fostex reel to reel 8 ch mutlitrack machine in
analog format. I had an analog alesis 16ch mixing board and the reel to
reel was analog.You can hear how the track speeds up and down ever so
slightly, that's because of the reel to reel. Still I could record and always dreamed of having an
8 track recorder as you could record an album with it. I didn't have
the fostex reel to reel long though, as I think 2-3 weeks later I sold
it and got the digital 8 track that had just come out with digital
editing wow!!!! haha Before I had a digital recorder. But you can hear
the analog warmth of the track, granted it's off a lousy tape deck
recording. This was the groundwork for the song. The actual finished
version is digital (recorded on a roland digital recorder) and ended
up on the CD.Modern guitar vol.1:Abducted by aliens. This was one of
the happiest times of my life though I didn't know it at the time.
just focusing on recording songs, not knowing that it would become my
first CD and in fact when I hear it now it brings back that feeling of
excitement and I was focused. You know, everything was new for me
recording wise.
It's
a conventional recording with no loops,
but it was magical, I mean like a drug almost, just the excitement of
it, I still use that digital recorder even now. I think it was
obscenely expensive when it came out, now it can be had for peanuts
just about haha " Denis
remembers.unreleased,1997-1998
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"Adrenaline" Alternate version
Time :48
circa 1997-1998
adrenalt.m3u
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unreleased
demo made around 1998 or so. Denis played all the
instruments. Denis stated
" Yes, this was on a fostex reel to reel 8trk
recorder and it was the basis for the song "Adrenaline" on
my first CD modern rock guitar.volI 'Abducted by Aliens'.
This recording was the early foundation for that track
which I rerecorded on my digital recorder and expanded on.
The truth is, that the digital recording is much better
because you can hear the different guitar parts better.
But,I still like this version as it was hard to recreate
it for the digital version. Also the drums at the
beginning were much different on the version on the CD. A
conventional recording without loops.I do recall really
trying to get the rhythms down for this track. I like the
digital track must better, but this was the basis for the
song. Denis
states.unreleased,circa 1997-199
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"Adrenaline" radio air play
Time 1:01
circa 1998
radioairply1.m3u
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Denis radio airplay from WFHB community radio."Well,
I was eagerly awaiting to hear a track from my debut CD,
which wasn't out yet, on the radio. It' sounded good,
however, I was so disappointed when he said my last name
wrong, he said "taafy" instead of "taaffe (pronounced
tayf) and then he pronounced the name of the song wrong.
It was "adrenaline" not "adrenalize" haha..well no matter.
It was fun!! the Station wouldn't come in very well
though."
Denis remembers.unreleased,1998
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Denis's
2000 "almost my 2nd CD" Demo
Time 5:22
circa 1999-2000
2000dem.m3u
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unreleased
demo. "Well, I had completed my first CD and this was
material that was going to be my on my second CD, though it was
scrapped and it never made it to a CD as I had discovered
looping. Wow, it's sounds
metal but I do like some of the material, the guitar
tones and song ideas. But yes, I then discovered looping and these
traditional recordings went out the door, though I
actually have the entire demo which has some vocals on it,
well vocals from hell haahh, though song writing wise it
was ok, the guitars were ok and they were full structured
songs with vocals. I had to fix the cassette as that is all
that is left. on this demo you can here some problems in
the recordings but I got those fixed after putting the
tape in a different shell.. I actually put the full songs
in the Archive Albums m3u's section of the dtguitar.com
website " Denis reflects.
unreleased,1999-2000
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Mike Parsons Demo (Denis- electric guitars, bass, drum
machines)
circa 2001
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unreleased studio demo for
singer/songwriter Mike Parsons.Denis played the electric
guitars, bass and drum programs and Mike wrote the song
,sang and strummed the acoustic guitar." I
agreed to help this guy make a demo because he was going
to Nashville, TN. It's not my style but I tried to play
some country guitar. It was very foreign to me. It turned
out well
and I learned quite bit about
country actually. We did three or four songs. Enough for a
demo. It was interesting to do this session though, I had
no idea what to expect. He wrote the song. I just tried it and
recorded him first with acoustic while I played the bass
to a drum machine track and then he sang... I then added
the electric guitars. Well, he got his demo made for
Nashville, I had a good time trying this out and it was fun
to try a different style." Denis
stated.. unreleased,2001
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More...
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To
hear more of Denis: The early years, check out
Denis's
Modern Guitar Archive albums Vol. I , II and III
albums. They are a collection of old unreleased
tracks and early recording. Most were recorded before
Denis's first 1999 debut album Modern Rock Guitar Vol. I 'Abduced
by Aliens'.
Click here to go to the album selector!!!
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