Name: Dead Weight by Rich Witzig
Duration: 5 min 3 s
Description: A mixture of progressive, thrashing riffs, with sick drums and synth, and the perfect harmony of deep low screams and blood curdling highs topped with some sweet melody and harmonies. Truly bad-ass shit. I no longer front L.R.E. but they can still be found playing out all around the NJ area, look them up, they'll kick your ass. In a good way.

A mixture of progressive, thrashing riffs, with sick drums and synth, and the perfect harmony of deep low screams and blood curdling highs topped with some sweet melody and harmonies. Truly bad-ass shit. I no longer front L.R.E. but they can still be found playing out all around the NJ area, look them up, they'll kick your ass. In a good way.

Dead Weight

Here's a metal version of Xerxes by John Mackey. I recommend you check out the original piece for wind band before listening to my arrangement. http://ostimusic.com/audio/Xerxes.m3u

When I originally heard this piece I was in the percussion section of the Northwestern State University Wind Symphony. We were reading lots of music on the first day and this piece came up. Before rehearsal, the director gave me the score so I could assign parts. I knew right off the bat this was not going to be a typical concert march, as it says in the subtitle. 

No one knew this piece of music; it was pretty much brand new. We started playing and it was pretty low key--simple rhythm in the snare drum, a relatively tame bass line in the tuba section, a few other effect type things happening in the percussion section. Then the rest of the band came in, namely the high brass. Everyone was pretty shocked, but we kept going. For 5 minutes it continued, and it totally lived, and still does live, up to its title. It may not be the most complicated Mackey piece, but I knew from early on it was destined to make it to an electric guitar.

Special thanks to my bro Sean Ashe for mixing my piece of garbage, unorganized mess.

Xerxes - John Mackey, arr. Brooks Tarkington

I am a vocalist, generally metal (Screams, of all types except pig squealing shit and incoherent nonsense, not that I am knocking it, it just isn't for me). I also have been branching out into creating my own industrial style music, though I am not an actual musician, so it takes me quite a while to program some of the basic stuff you may have heard on my page. I am ultimately interested in starting or joining a band that is Rammstein meets Soilwork. I love Industrial style metal, or at least having a heavy band with a sweet dose of synth in it. I believe it adds a whole other dimension to music that you can't get from any one other instrument. I am always interested in cameo vocals with any band that will have me and have shared the stage with many great bands, Soilwork, Threat Signal, Darkest Hour, Mnemic, The Agonist, This is Hell, Attila, Mutiny from Within, End of an Era, Second Skyn, Recoil, Butchery, Amon Amarth, Lamb of God, In Flames, Gwar, Strapping Young Lad, and too many more awesome bands to mention. I am also a graphic artist and have done all the artwork for my bands and many local bands in the Nj tri-state area as well as an independent label from D.C. known as Black Sheep Records, and some promotional work for larger bands I can't name because the artwork can no longer be considered my property, but if we meet up, I'll tell ya :). Hope you enjoy the tracks, and remember to check out L.R.E., they are still around and still kicking ass.

Dead Weight

Rich Witzig

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