DAVE VAN KLEECK TALKS ABOUT “EVENT HORIZON”

“Event Horizon” is a new CD that will be released on Oct. 30th 2012.   Comprised of four extremely talented and experienced musicians, the CD has something to offer a variety of musical tastes.   The primary musicians on the CD project are: Davey Pattison, Vocals, Darryl St. John, Guitars, Pete Thompson, Drums/Keys, and Dave Van Kleeck, Guitar/Bass/Keys.   Derek Sutton, music industry veteran, was the single most influential person behind bringing these artists together. It all started with a bad day at a computer store in California that caused Derek to resort to the Internet for help. Had that day in November 1997 not happened as it did, it is almost certain Derek Sutton would never have met David Van Kleeck. David became Derek’s Computer Guy and took over administrating the Robin Trower Online Store. Then things got interesting. Here is a little background on the four musicians involved in the project.
 
Davey Pattison is best known as the lead vocalist for GAMMA (with Ronnie Montrose) and ROBIN TROWER BAND though he has been involved in other bands and projects as well. Davey was invited to the USA in 1979 by Bill Graham, specifically to join Ronnie Montrose in GAMMA. Davey had been friends with James Dewar (original singer/bassist with Robin Trower) and a few years later, around 1985-86, Davey joined ROBIN TROWER replacing Jimmy as vocalist. Among the other bands Davey fronted were SUMMIT (with Michael Schenker); L.A. Blues Authority; The Davey Pattison Band (with Darryl St. John). Davey also released two solo CDs in the genres he loves most; Blues and Soul. Those CDs were “Mississippi Nights” (1999) and “Pictures” (2003). Davey has been and continues to be a sought after Session Vocalist and Producer. He has made his home in San Francisco , California , pretty much since first coming to America .
 
Darryl St. John has played with many musicians over the years, including Davey Pattison in The Davey Pattison Band. Hailing from Green Bay , Wisconsin , one of the bands he is most known for was “Atlantic Mine”. Darryl has played on various albums for other musicians and has released some collaborative works as well as a couple solo releases. His latest release, “War of Blue”, continues to gain momentum and fans. He is truly “Old School” when it comes to his choice of gear and playing styles, depending on the genre of music. Best known for his blistering, passionate style of “on the bleeding edge of control” electric guitar, he chooses to keep it simple and real with a 100 watt Marshall full stack and a Gibson Les Paul, with the occasional addition of a Wah Pedal or Phase Shifter, as he prefers to rely purely on the “fingers to guitar to amp” sound of honest Rock and Roll. Darryl is a perfectionist and will spend hours upon hours getting exactly the right tone and phrasing before committing a recording to tape! His wife Marlene is his Manager and deserves the respect accorded to any Artist Manager, she works hard at watching out for Darryl’s best interest!

“Hell To Live” MP3:
http://k006.kiwi6.com/hotlink/7pzaua62c4/hell_to_live_master_44k16b.mp3
 
Pete Thompson has literally played with a Who’s Who list of iconic musicians as both a Session Drummer and a Tour Drummer. Pete has played with artists ranging from Robert Plant, to Melanie, to Robin Trower and a host of others along the way. His start as a professional drummer came in the early 1970’s with the band “Silverhead”, the West Coast Glam-Rock band featuring Michael DeBarge. There is far more to Pete than most know. He is a true multi-talented musician, as much at home on the guitar, bass and keyboards as he is behind the drums! He is also a singer and a very talented songwriter! Having made the USA his home just a few years ago, he resides in Ft. Worth , Texas with his wife Angie, who is also a musician! Pete has a couple bands going when not on the road with Robin Trower. And these are not side-projects! These are serious bands comprised of top-shelf musicians! Groove Shaman was the first, and M.P.R. (with Michael Dimitri and Rusty Burns) is the second. Pete puts his heart and soul into literally everything he does! As if that were not enough, he is in the Pre-Release stage of his first original solo album, “Open Window”, which is already gaining ground and fans rapidly! It is due for release this September and is available for pre-release orders now.
 
David Van Kleeck began his music career while stationed at Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco , California during 1972-73, singing and jamming with the bands performing at the Enlisted Men’s Club there. After being discharged in 1973 he returned to Phoenix , Arizona , married his high school sweetheart and became a father in 1974. In 1975 while David was taking a 13 credit load at Phoenix College for Electronic Engineering and holding down two jobs, he came home to find his wife and baby girl had moved out. So he moved back to his birthplace of Los Angeles , California and worked at Sears Automotive during the day and performed solo acoustic gigs at night. Dave had been raised on Soul, Blues, Gospel, Rock and Country all his life. Singing along with the records and radio at two years old, he started teaching himself drums at 10 and guitar at 11. Bass and Piano came later. After one year in L.A. it was obvious he couldn’t be successful at the music he loved most. He moved back to Arizona and by 1980 Dave had joined BMI as a Songwriter; launched a BMI affiliated publishing company; written, recorded and released 4 original albums of Power Blues/Classic Rock music and headed for the open road to find band mates to take things to the next level. Over the next 20 years Dave played with Cornell Gunther and the All-Star Coasters and formed countless Power Trios as the Lead Vocalist/Guitarist. Luckily, during those 20 years he learned all he could from anyone who would teach him about sound engineering, recording, and what it took to make a living as a musician on local and regional scales rather than that brass ring of national and global. He also had become proficient on many instruments, learned to sing melody and harmony and to write more widely acceptable songs. Dave also met and married Callie, his wife and Personal Manager of 29 years now. Through various music projects and bands, he never gave up the goal of one day recording with top level musicians to release another album of original material. In 2000 he reformed a band from 1985 called CrossTown. Writing, recording and self-releasing CrossTown Band’s debut CD “Point Of View” in 2003, along with meeting Derek Sutton in 1997, started the series of events that has brought 4 musicians together to record and release “Event Horizon”.
 
Question: What brought you all together?
 
Dave: Derek called me at my computer company in Arizona from Los Angeles back in 1997 for urgent help with a business computer. I had no idea he was Robin Trower’s Manager! He had no idea I was a long-time fan of Robin Trower and his music, with dozens of Trower shows under my belt! After taking care of Derek’s computer emergency, he ordered 2 Custom-Designed Computers from me and later asked me to take over Design and Administration of the store website for Robin Trower. I then told Derek about my own musical aspirations and he politely agreed to accept a CD from me while he waited for his computers to be built and delivered. I was going to meet the man behind The Man whose music inspired me to play from deep down inside the “me” I never let anyone get close to, AND whose music had once saved my life!   Two weeks later Callie and I drove Derek’s computers to his home in Los Angeles. I installed them and got a “tour” of ‘Robin Trower Central’! I know I was acting like a kid in a candy store but I didn’t care! Gold and Platinum Records on the walls of Derek’s Office, photos, even one of Robin’s Stratocasters was there in its case waiting for some work to be done! No, I didn’t touch it, didn’t even ask to. But Derek saw the look in my eyes and opened the case so I could gaze at this beautiful Tobacco Sunburst Strat that for all I knew had been on one of the albums I owned or been played at one of the concerts I had been to.

Finally, all that starry-eyed fan stuff was replaced by my sanity and we sat and talked over tea. Derek looked me right in the eyes and asked “So, I expect you want to know what I think of your CD?” I nervously grunted something resembling an affirmative response, to which he replied “Well, you can’t sing.” I know I said something, but to this day I couldn’t tell you what. I just kept looking at him wondering why he would say such a thing when I had always been told my voice was quite good. Later it would hit me that Derek has been dealing with real professionals, and compared to James Dewar and Davey Pattison as well as the men from STYX , I had absolutely NO voice worth mentioning. Yeah, I knew that. “However”, he continued,”you’ve got some good songs and you do play well.” So Derek agreed to send my CD to Davey Pattison and ask him if he would be interested in doing vocal sessions for me. Much to my amazement, Davey said yes and he started recording the vocals to the songs that would become the basis for “Event Horizon”. Davey Pattison had now become part of the project!   Then in 2008 while with Robin Trower was on tour, Callie and I drove up to Las Vegas to see the show and visit Davey and Derek. Davey had told Pete about my music and while Davey, Pete Thompson, Dave Maida, Callie and me were all in the bar hanging out, Pete asked if he could join my project. “Absolutely!” was all I could think to say! And in August of 2008, Pete came out to Glendale Arizona for 2 weeks and we had all 9 songs in the can ready for Davey and a 2nd guitarist not yet found.   While browsing through YouTube I came across some videos of Davey Pattison with his band doing some incredible songs taped live! On guitar was Darryl St. John and I so loved what I heard him doing with that Les Paul that I knew I had found the missing guitarist. So I contacted Darryl and he agreed to listen to the songs and give me an answer. A day or so later he contacted me back saying he was very excited to get started on the project with me. That finished the line-up for the album, as I knew I would be doing the Bass guitar and Keyboards/Piano tracks.
 
 Question: Tell us about your CD “Event Horizon”.
 
Dave: It is a collection of 9 original songs. From Classic Rock to Christian Rock, from Power Blues to Jazz/Rock Fusion and even a Piano Blues piece my Dad and I wrote “together”.
 
Question: Give me some background on yourself and what other bands and projects are you working on?
 
Dave: I’ve been a performing musician and songwriter since 1975. I play Drums, Bass, Piano, Rhythm and Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and am a singer (Tenor). I sing both Melody and Harmony. I am in 3 bands currently; CrossTown (Original Christian Rock), Dave Michaels Project (Original Jazz-Rock Fusion), and Saffire Bluez (Power Blues, Classic Rock, both Originals and Covers). I am completing 3 other CDs right now of original material, each will be released by one of those bands.
 
Question: Who are your inspirations?
 
Dave: Robin Trower, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bad Company, Def Leppard, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, BB King, Muddy Waters, Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Earth Wind and Fire, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty, The Guess Who and Burton Cummings, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Ray Price, Roy Clark, Jim Reeves.
 
Question: What got you started in music?
 
Dave: I’ve listened to music since before birth, according to my Mom. She says I would dance when she listened to certain music while pregnant with me. Anyway, again according to my Mom, by age 2 I was singing along with the radio or record player and knew every lyric to every song that came on. She’s my Mom, so I believe her. And I’ve been teaching myself drums and guitar since age 10 and 11 respectively, and have an unquenchable desire to make my own music ever since the age of 15. All I know is there has never been a time I’ve NOT been doing SOMETHING musically, from very early teens up through today at 57 years old and a parent of two and great-grandparent of five.
 
Question: What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
 
Dave: As long as songs keep coming to me I will keep writing, recording and performing. I’ve already started doing what I know I will be doing 5 years from now and on until I die. Help others pursue their dream in music. Be it through teaching them what I know about recording music and writing songs, or helping them to prepare themselves for their journey by sharing my experience and promoting self-education. I believe it is important to pass on to others what has been given to us. And I believe in helping others whenever the opportunity presents itself, without looking for something in return. You have to live at heart level if you want to make a difference with what you do, and all I’ve ever wanted to do was write a song that made a difference.
 
http://www.reverbnation.com/davidvankleeck
 
http://www.alethea-records.com/store.htm#EventHorizon

Diana Olson – diolson05@yahoo.com