This was without a doubt my most elaborate musical project, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Back in the days of my high school band Arête, this song, originally titled after its respective group, started in spring 2007 as a follow-up to the original Bright Shadow. The basis for the song was a combination of our strive for a classic rock sound and The Rolling Stones' song "Gimme Shelter." When finished, the 2007 version only contained portions of LBII's first movement. This version wasn't met with much enthusiasm from band members and later placed on the digital shelf.

In 2009, I revisited the song to give it a more upbeat ending. This was when the idea for LBII's third movement came to light, drawing heavily on The Who. It was at this point when I decided to designate the song as a sequel to "Little Bird," given the title "Arête" no longer seemed relevant, and a connection to "Little Bird" made the project more significant to me. However, I still didn't have anything that felt complete, only pieces, causing me to place LBII on the shelf again.

My exploring new musical territories in spring 2011 led to the quest to rewrite Bright Shadow. That project eventually led to the funk breakdown in LBII's first movement. By the end of summer 2011, both the Bright Shadow rewrite and first movement of LBII were finished.

The final pieces of LBII came together in 2013. Consisting of funk, reggae and rock, LBII became a diverse compilation of music. The name "Free of the Cage" speaks to this structure, signifying freedom from musical restriction, with singing birds to tie it all off. The song also features a homage to That 70's Show.

I never thought what I started in 2007 would turn into such a project, or that it would take more than six years to finish. 

What I learned from this experience is the best ideas come naturally. If you have to force yourself to finish a song, you're doing it wrong.

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Every part of this song was created and recorded through the use of digital composition software and mixed by Glen Ryan Tadych.

Original music credit goes to Glen Ryan Tadych.

Instrumentation: Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drums

Free of the Cage (Little Bird II)

This is another collaborative effort between friends; a mesh of different musical ideas. 

It started in 2010 as nothing more than a set of jamming power chords in dropped D, courtesy of my pal Joel. Jeremy proceeded to build B.T.'s main riff from those chords, establishing the foundation for a new song.

I later had the idea of adding a dropped D acoustic short of Jeremy's, which served as the song's intro.

The finished result here is a combination of Joel's and Jeremy's ideas, along with my own musical touch, including the 7/8 section.

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Every part of this song was created and recorded through the use of digital composition software and mixed by Glen Ryan Tadych.

Original music credit goes to Joel Gumm, Jeremy Ortiz, and Glen Ryan Tadych.

Instrumentation: Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drums

B.T.

In spring 2005, the frontman of a group asked me to sit in for his drummer. Two months later the guitarist, bassist, and I left the frontman to form our own group due to creative differences. The guitarist and I then began to brainstorm song ideas, resulting in the 0:34 - 0:50 section of this track. 

That idea was named "Untitled #1" because we simply had no name for it. Oddly, the default label became part of the idea's identity, making it impossible to separate the two.

Years later, I decided to compose a track similar to Styx's "Prelude 12," using "Untitled #1" as its foundation. This was the result. 

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Every part of this song was created and recorded through the use of digital composition software and mixed by Glen Ryan Tadych.

Original music credit goes to Jeremy Ortiz and Glen Ryan Tadych.

Instrumentation: Electric Guitar

Untitled #1

"If you need to mail a package to the groove, and you go to the post office and you wanna know its address, they're gonna say it's the E's and the A's."

- Anthony Wellington

Pair of Vics

Before B.T. became what it is, I worked out my own version from Joel's dropped D pattern.

This short piece serves as reprisal to B.T., and a collection of the sections written from Joel's idea. Plus, a new intro specifically written for the track.

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Every part of this song was created and recorded through the use of digital composition software and mixed by Glen Ryan Tadych.

Original music credit goes to Joel Gumm and Glen Ryan Tadych.

Instrumentation: Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drums

T.B.

A cover from the soundtrack of the 1973 Disney animated film.

Escâpé

From my days of experimenting with banjo sounds: A piece of the soundtrack from the 1995 Sega video game Vectorman.

Terraport

Changes

One groove, three friends, and a little ad libbing.

San Pedro Jam

Last Jam

Für Gumm

Most of the time I'm just a drummer, but every now and then I do like to take advantage of other technical opportunities available for making music.  

A musician is someone who makes music.  Period.  It doesn't matter how.  Anyone who has the ability to convert a musical idea to a form where it can either be played or listened to has every right to call themselves a musician. Through Guitar Pro 6 and Drum Site I'm able to process and blend many of my musical ideas.

It's a whole new world for music.  Let's make it in every way we can.

Flashdrum

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