All music written by John Baker
All guitars and Programming by John Baker
All lead guitar parts written & performed by David Hannah
Arranged and recorded and mixed by John Baker
Mastered by John Baker
All voice over from the video game League of Legends

Just a reflection of the times!!!!

Warzone! (with David Hannah)

All Music Written by: John Baker
Lead Solo Written and Performed by: Brian Butts
Voices were taken from video game: Diablo 3
Recorded and Mixed by: John Baker

Given the context of the faltering world we live in, it's easy to get caught up in the war called (culture war). I find it funny that a lot of us get so wrapped up in what so many people, we will never meet, do not live in the same world as us, nor understand the grind we all go through day to day, say and do and preach. A lot of us seem to listen to this garbage and then act upon it as if trying to be like these people. I have news for all of you that do this... You are living a lie, not only to yourselves, but to others and if it is not recognized and eradicated soon, our tomorrow will truly be today. I beg you all to stop being chess pieces in this game that only favors the players of the game!!! 

This song is a reflection of my anger to all of this.

Tomorrow Is Today

This is a colab between myself and The Shaolin Sniper, The original song had no leadwork and Mathis did such a great job that i remixed the song and added his leadwork!!

In the 90's i really had a hard time finding anything musically i liked. Being a kid of the late 70's and 80's... that was the kind of music i wanted to listen to. There were 2 bands that came along in the 90's that i couldn't help liking the grooves in there music and that was Tool and Helmet. This song was inspired by these 2 groups

All music written and performed by: John Baker
All lyrics and vocals written and performed by: The Shaolin Sniper
All guitar leads written and performed by: Mathis

Lyrics:
How could you go away so fast
Why did my best dream end in a a nightmare?
In the blink of an eye all the good times are gone
I never thought death would split us apart so fast
And I start to believe that the best things never last
And every one told me that time would heal the pain
But the pain just seems to grow
and this hole in my soul is now out of control
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you
I miss how you would be there waiting
When I would come back home
And you would always be there for me when I was stressed
And needed a helping hand
on..it's all in the past
And I start to believe that the best things never last
And every one told me that time would heal the pain
But the pain just seems to grow
and this hole in my soul is now out of control
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you
Gone away too soon
Gone away too soon
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you.

Miss You

The song is partly in 13/8 time and the majority is in 4/4 time. With all my drum software there were no grooves i could use which were in 13/8 time so i had to edit a 12/8 groove to get the drum beat i was after. it's far from perfect, but works for what i needed it for.

All music written and performed by: John Baker
Lead guitar written and performed by: Mathis

World Eats World

All Music written and performed by: John Baker
All Programming: John Baker
All Guitar leads written and performed by James Kevin
@james-kevin-749817093

In a world full of masks and hearsay, make sure you know what truly lies behind the veil!!!!

Behind The Veil

All music written and performed by John Baker
All leads guitar written and performed by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed and mastered by John Baker

Just another fun, straight up rock n roll song inspired by some of the great southern rock bands of the 70's and 80's that i grew up with. So sit back and just have some fun with this.

Rockin' On Through The Night

All music written and performed by John Baker
All guitar leads written and performed by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed and mastered by John Baker

Just a classic 80's inspired song.

Back in 2014, when I had only a DAW and a cellphone, I began recording my own music for soundcloud. These early sessions were really basic and not very good. The sound was horrible, but at the same time, I wasn't discouraged by any of this and there were a few songs that did come from all of this, with this being one of them. I set out to reproduce this song as best as I could, given I originally recorded it over 7 years ago. I really like how this came out and the keys are an addition the original did not have. Also, Andy Pfitzer lent his musical talents to all the lead work which really brings the whole thing together. I hope you enjoy.

Queen Of The Night

All music written and performed by: John Baker

All guitar leads written and performed by: Mike Polcari https://soundcloud.com/mikepolcari

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by: John Baker

I wanted to thank Mike Polcari for his help with all the lead guitar duties on this one. Mike gave me a ton of stuff to go through and I refined it down to this, which I feel goes best with what I was looking for. Thanks Mike!!!

I have been messing with this song for about 2 months fine tuning it. Has and 80's feel to it and has the influences of many bands of the time. I just wanted to sit back and have some fun and do something I'm very comfortable with, which is very different from what I have been doing over the past year. I find myself having problems coming up with decent idea's so this will probably be my last release for a while. When the sparks of creativity return I will be back with some new things. Until then, I hope you enjoy this one

On Fire

All Music recorded and performed by: John Baker
All Lead work written and performed by: Dale Norwood
Mixed and Mastered by: John Baker

Wanted to come back with a little AC/DC style track I thought up and recorded a few weeks back. My friend Dale Norwood lent his hand to the lead work for me. He isn't on soundcloud, but is a great guy and awesome musician. So sit back and just have some fun with this!!!

Unified Freak Show

All Music Composed and performed by: John Baker
All Leads Composed and performed by: Robert Quinn (Boblivion)
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by: John Baker

This is a track that I hope takes any old school metalhead back to the early 80's where it all began... Straight up in your face thrash metal exactly the way it is supposed to be. enjoy!!!

Hellfire

All Music written and performed by: John Baker
All Lyrics written and vocals performed by: Dark Number Nine
Mixed, mastered by John Baker

Here we go with the start of a new epic… This time we travel back to the days of Merlin and tell his tale, the tale of his life outside of King Arthur… The life you probably know very little about. So please sit back and enjoy as we tell his story over the next 6 songs. We begin with “The Great Sorcerer” himself.

1. The Great Sorcerer:

See that mist, where dragons live
How can someone see so many tomorrows?

In the shadows
Staff in his hand
Shapeshifting to beasts of earth
Creating myths of our once reigning kingdom
Creating myths of the weakness
And the greatness of men.

And we still hear
Look at all there’s to learn
Science, Science,
The only purity there is

Born at the wrong end of time
Living backwards from in front
We can’t forget he told our unparalleled King
Power of mind’s not enough,
Power of the body decides

This is our Great Sorcerer
We are in awe how easily he
Steps between our two worlds

Earthly, supernatural

Knowledge, the mastership to change fate
What a double-edged sword
Reveling in results of his power
Disregarding the harm

Teaching esoteric
Incantations and spells
To the Lady of the Lake
And in time you know he surrenders to her
He could protect fools from themselves
Couldn’t protect himself from himself.

This is our Great Sorcerer
We are in awe how easily he
Steps between our two worlds

We still mourn how easily
He’s trapped in a cave forever

We still mourn how he easily
He’s trapped in a cave forever

Dark Number Nine © 2025


1. The Great Sorcerer

Visions

Music written, performed by The Old School - @ldchool
Lyrics written, performed by Tainted Icarus

Mix & Master:
Music: The Old School
Vocals: Tainted Icarus

Producer:
The Old School & Tainted Icarus

Lyrics:
Can't you see the world I see
And tormented by the things that can't be

These are the visions I see
The ones you won't believe

A scream that you, will never hear
A terror that you, will never fear
From a life that you, will never know

These are the visions I see
The ones you won't believe
These are the visions I see

Notes:
Some months ago I ran across this beautiful piece by The Old School. A line had started forming for people to write and sing on it understandably. Fast forward about 5 or 6 months and I was on TOS profile and I see his re-mastered version of the track with no vocal work. What a stroke of luck and after my mixing session on Saturday, I decided it was time to quench my creative thirst on a fantastic piece of music.

Musically the piece was perfect. The only instrument the piece needed was a voice and the words. It's the one instrument that I am the least comfortable using. John however had forced my hand and if I wanted to be a part of this it was the only spot available.

So I put my heart and voice into it and this is where we ended up. I reached out and John came back with a couple of minor tweaks and viola.

The Old School (John) is a fantastic musician and producer. I have a profound respect for his ability to get really rich sounds out of a track. Highly recommend if you have a few minutes stopping by and supporting his efforts... you won't be disappointed.

Peace and love brothers and sisters of the cloud
Jeff

Visions (remasterd)-  feat. Tainted Icarus on Vox

Was going through a rough patch in my life when I wrote this song. I was between jobs and had ate up about all my savings just trying to keep up with the bills so I wouldn't loose my house.  At the time, i remember feeling like I had very few options and the world was closing in on me. That was a lot of the inspiration for this song. 

I remember picking up my 12 string in the summer of 2015 and turning on my cell phone and I believe within a take or 2 I  had written, for the most part, the entire melody of Seven Seas. The solo and underlying music came a touch bit later, but when I recorded it, the recording went quicker than most of my songs.

I wish I had put more effort into the mix when I originally released it and there for, that is the reason for the remaster.

If you listen hard you can hear hints of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the main body. It is a good example of things that subconsciously find there way out and, I guess, in someways... this is my tribute to one of the bands that most influenced me growing up.

Seven Seas Of Sorrow (Remastered)

Wanted to make an old school rock/rap fusion Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit style song. Something with some funk and groove to it. Came up with this riff late one night and laid it on an acoustic and Psycho Joe add the words and voice!!!!

Surprise Mother Fucker (vox Psycho Joe)

No Amplifiers were used on this track. I used a Line 6 pocket pod in place of the amplifier for this one. I wanted to test the waters using an amplifier emulator to see if i liked it because the set up is so much easier than constantly having to mic my amplifiers.... my only fear is that the emulators will not sound exactly like an amp.

I chose to just cover a song that I really loved growing up and that I had played in our band for years from the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and asked my cousin and his sister and mom sit in on this one and do the vocals and back ups. so a big shout out to them for their help with this test track... Hope you all enjoy this and if you have never heard the original, youtube it... its a great song.

Originally written by ELO
All music and guitar leads by John Baker
Lead Vocals- Devon Kirby
Back Up Vocals- Misti and Emma Kirby

Rock N Roll Is King (ELO Cover song)

All music written and recorded by John Baker (The Old School)
All lead guitar written and recorded by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

I wrote and recorded this song back in 2015 when I didn't really have any equipment other than a DAW and a cell phone. The recording and mix wasn't great but a friend of mine and the first person I began talking to on Soundcloud (Rob from Fire Jam Band) loved the tune and did some vocals for it. I had the original version of this on my page for quite some time and removed it a good while back. I never had any intentions of re-mixing it, let alone, remaking the entire thing from scratch, but Rob had asked me that if I ever remade one of my songs let it be this one, so it took over a year of dragging my feet, because I wanted to be in the right frame of mind when I did it, but I finally have it completed. Everything is played almost as close to  the original as I could get and Andy Pfitzer helped me out by performing all the lead guitars in this because my original lead lines were awful. So a big thank you to Andy for all his help. 

This is also one of the last songs I used real guitar amplification for.

Old School Rock N Roll (2019) feat Andy Pfitzer on Lead Guitar

This is 1 of 2 tracks that I was experimenting with drop b tuning in the Nu-Metal style that came out of the early 2000's. I kinda took the simplistic riffing in the lower keys of the Nu-Metal movement and tried to combine it with elements of symphonic music, of groups such as Nighwish, Epica, etc, that I have come to adore these days. The result was this heavy monster. I really like the simplicity of the riff, which is a kind of a groove style riff that Rob Zombie made famous, tuned down to a brutal pitch.

My hopes are that when you hear it, you are hit with the massive brutality of the guitar and smothered  in the various layers of synths which take you on a journey into a maddening altered reality!!!!

The Entrails Of Reality

Special Guest... The great Icarus Fire

All music, written and performed by John Baker 
All lead guitars by Icarus Fire

This is the second of my Halloween tracks I wanted to put out this year. Imagine yourself walking through the sinister doors of this old abandoned asylum and encountering all the ghosts of past inhabitants, with nothing more to do than tell you the horrors of their stories as you are locked in with them for eternity!!!!

Hats off to Icarus Fire for once again gracing one of my tracks with his awesome lead guitar playing abilities. I hope you enjoy this little treat and Happy Halloween to everyone from The Old School!!!

Into The Asylum

All Music and Programming by The Old School
Lead Guitar by David Hannah
Lyrics written and performed by MurderDance Klick

Equipment for the music:
Schectrer S-1 Elite tuned to drop C
Ernie Ball Strings (12 gauge)
Peavy Viper Combo 150 Watt Combo Amp using 2 amp mods
Sure 57 Mic / MXL603S Mic
Mixcraft 9

When I originally mixed this I had managed to get one master wav file of it and then something happend to the session and I had to reload everything and upon failing to get it sounding any better than the version I released, I had always intended on remixing this later. Well I have tried multiple times and could never seem to crack it until now. I have totally remixed and remastered this to the way it should have sounded in the beginning. hope you enjoy.

The opening intro was made from clips of a BBC special on vampires that I threw together and added sounds and effects behind. (hope they don't try and sue. LOL)

I used various Halloween sound effects for the vampire sounds and tried to pay homage to one favorite actors (Vincent Price) by using his laugh in this piece.

Big thanks to David Hannah for providing the awesome guitar lead and my friend MurderDance Klick for writing and performing the vocals for this track.

They Live! (Remastered)

All Music written, recorded and performed by John Baker
Guitar Solo written and performed by Alfonso Llorente Sardi
All Piano written and performed by Jan Schonander - The Gat(s)
All programming by John Baker
Mixed and Mastered by John Baker

Growing up listening to tons of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet among many others, I had been wanting to come up with a track to pay tribute to these bands because they have heavily influenced me and my playing over the years. There is hardly a song I write that doesn't have some element of these 2 bands creep into it in some way. It has taken quite a long time, but I feel I finally wrote the piece that does these bands justice. I hope you enjoy.

Sweet Southern Belle (with The Gat(s) & Alfonso Llorente Sardi)

All music written & performed by John Baker
All lyrics written & performed by ZagWax
All lead guitar performed by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

Just a good  old fashioned rock n roll love song!!!!!

Under The Moon (with- ZagWax & Andy Pfitzer)

All Music by John Baker
All guitar and programming by John Baker
Guitar Lead written and performed by the great AL'z
Mixed and mastered by John Baker using Studio 5

Wanted to start the new year out with just a cool rock track that you would have heard in the late 70's up through the early 80's when hard rock was in it's glory days. Really just a lot of fun packed into 4 mins. hope you enjoy.

Sexy Thangz (with AL'z)

New epic 6 song project (Merlin) in the works!!!!!

Please check out and follow my side project Krakenmoor (TTM, myself and other guest musicians) at soundcloud.com/krakenmoor/tracks

First off, I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by and listen to my music. I’m very open to comments and any suggestions you may have. Just knowing you took time to listen to my music makes it all worth it to me. Feel free to like and repost if you find anything you like.

I am just a small-town guitarist with a great love for music of the 70’s 80’s and 00’s.

John

The Old School

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