rehearsal from 02/24 of our band practice working on a cover of Aerosmith's 1989 song "The Other Side" from their PUMP album

AEROSMITH "cover" of The Other Side - Off The Record 80s Tribute Band

Our version of Land of Confusion record LIVE at Tropicana (Cornelius, NC)

Land of Confusion - LIVE "cover" by OFF THE RECORD-Ultimate 80z

New song we recorded "LIVE" at our last performance at Amicis in NC

RAISE YOUR HANDS "LIVE" - Bon Jovi cover by Off The Record 80z Tribute Band

Check out our latest recording of Europe's song - SUPERSTITIOUS recorded at "Is this plugged in?" Studios ;) -  "Superstitious" is a 1988 single released by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was the first single released from the album Out of This World. It charted at #31 in the Billboard Hot 100, #9 at the Mainstream Rock Tracks and #34 in the UK Singles Chart. It is the last Europe song to chart in the US.  
The video for "Superstitious" was filmed at an old castle on Long Island, New York.   

Europe - Superstitious cover

Here is the cover song of Aerosmith's classic song "WALK THIS WAY".  This was recorded and edited at "Is This Thing On?" Studios.  This was a fun tune to work on and gave me a chance to play other instruments during the recording process- (cowbell, triangle and wood block....LOL).  We're currently working on Sweet Emotion and finalizing the backing vocals along with the drum track.  Thanks for listening and check back SOON!  

"Walk This Way" as written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry and was originally released as the second single from the 1975 album Toys in the Attic. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit singles for the band in the 1970s. 

Aerosmith - Walk This Way FINALS

Really excited about how this came out.  What fun it was working on this and doing a cover of such a great song that I grew up listening to thousands of times.  Everyone did an amazing job on this and I love the added WindMIDI controller that Jay used to do the sax parts (both bari and alto sax).  Great job by Brian B on Guitar and Ross on Drums.  The dual keys by Bruno really fills it so nicely and recreates the perfect organ sound used by Foreigner.  Of course, I can't forget to mention the amazing lead and backing vocals done by "Van" (I know this is your preferred nickname).  

Double Vision is the second studio album by Foreigner, released in 1978. The title track was also a major hit, peaking at #2.

Foreigner - Double Vision cover

We had a great time recording this song and it was a challenge when it came to putting down the backing vocals which ended up being 17 tracks blended together to give it the same feel from the original song.  

"Cold as Ice" is a 1977 song by British-American rock band Foreigner from their eponymous debut album. It became one of the best known songs of the band in the U.S., peaking at number 6 in the Billboard Hot 100. It was initially the B-side of some versions of the "Feels Like the First Time" 45 rpm single.

"Cold as Ice" was used as the soundtrack for a skit on the March 25, 1978 broadcast of Saturday Night Live that showed a man being attacked by a woman in a number of grisly ways. Host Christopher Lee introduced the segment as being "not for the squeamish".

Foreigner - Cold As Ice "cover"

We're so excited about the way this song came out.  Everyone brought their A game and nailed it!  Leila really made this song come alive when she added her vocals.  Solid drumming once again from Ross and amazing guitar work from Juan.  I can't forget about the fabulous real piano and synth that Mike brought to the table ( I definitely agree that the real piano sounds better here).  A big thanks goes out to Juan for doing a great job with the final mix of  this song.  All I did was take your mix and used editing software to set a hard limit.  Great job to everyone!  Love it!  We hope you enjoy our cover of this classic song by Journey released in December of 1981. The song was
originally released as a single from its seventh studio album Escape. It became a number 9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release. The song was not a Top 40 hit on its original release, however it reached sixth with a 2009 re-release after it had increased its popularity from its use on television.

The song has been described as a "perfect rock song" and an "anthem", featuring "one of the best opening keyboard riffs in rock." It is one of the top-selling catalog tracks in digital history.

Journey - Don't Stop Believin' Cover "REMASTERED"

This is one of many songs I really like by STP. The lyrics were inspired, in part, by an unfortunate news story in Stone Temple Pilots' hometown of San Diego, California about a missing young woman who was later discovered dead by local law enforcement ("And I feel, when the dogs begin to smell her..."). At a concert in Columbus, Ohio on May 17, 2008, lead singer Scott Weiland said that he and STP drummer Eric Kretz wrote the lyrics in a hot tub after hearing the story. Weiland has described the song as "a metaphor for a lost obsessive relationship."

The song was released in 1992 as Core's second single and became a major rock radio hit in the U.S., peaking at #1 on the Album Rock Tracks and #9 on the Modern Rock Tracks. The song was also one of the first alternative rock songs to reach the #1 spot on the Album Rock Tracks chart during height of the alternative rock/grunge scene. "Plush" won in the category of "Best Hard Rock Performance" at the 1994 Grammy Awards. The music video also earned the band an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1994. "Plush" remains one of the biggest rock hits of the 1990s, and is still commonly heard on radio stations today.

Stone Temple Pilots - Plush "cover"

We revisited this song and added some tweaks to the EQ and I'm happy to say that we're all really happy how this turned out. We all came together and worked hard to cover this song but had so much fun at the same time. (Sorry the sugar packets didn't work out Ross...ha!). We all contributed to the backing vocals and thanks to Juan,  he made us sound somewhat decent. Everyone knows the key to this song are the vocal harmonies during the intro and the middle break of the song.  Funny thing is, since we didn't have any maracas available, I used my daughter toy "shaker" to add the part.  this coincides with the original since Steven Tyler was suppose to play the maracas but since none were available, he used sugar packets to produce the sound.  Love music song trivia. . . .Ha!  

"Sweet Emotion" is a song by the band Aerosmith and it was released on May 19, 1975 on the album Toys in the Attic...wow, I was only 8 years old.

Many Aerosmith fans believe that Steven Tyler wrote all of the lyrics to the song about the tension and hatred between the band members and Joe Perry's wife. Tyler himself has said that only some of the lyrics were inspired by Perry's wife. It was stated in Aerosmith's tell-all autobiography Walk This Way and in an episode of Behind the Music that growing feuds between the band members' wives (including an incident involving "spilt milk" where Elyssa Perry threw milk over Tom Hamilton's wife head) may have helped lead to the band's original lineup dissolving in the early 1980s.

Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion (ReMASTERED)

This was a fun one to do since it was a duet.  This song has a lot of layers with acoustic guitars, piano, synth and electric guitar.  I played the bass part along with the piano and synth parts for this song and it really was so much fun layering the sounds and then finally hearing the end results.  Check it out!  

  Ford recorded this as a duet with Ozzy Osbourne, and the pair wrote the song together. Ford was once engaged to Tony Iommi, who played guitar with Osbourne in Black Sabbath. Ford, along with Joan Jett, was in the all-girl teenaged rock group The Runaways from 1975-1979. Her time with the band honed her skills as a songwriter, guitarist and performer.
  The song came about by accident during a night of drinking and getting stoned when Lita was being managed by Ozzy's wife, Sharon. She recalled to Metal Underground: "Close My Eyes Forever was a mistake. It was just me and Ozzy and Sharon hanging about in the recording studio. They showed up one day and had a housewarming present for me: a life-size duplicate of Koko the gorilla from the San Diego Zoo. It was freaking huge – I had to strap it in the front seat of my jeep to get it home. Ozzy stayed, Sharon got bored and left, and me and Ozzy had a couple of drinks and we were jamming. We started singing, messing about and we wrote 'Close My Eyes Forever.'

  Next thing I knew the sun was coming up. I looked at him and went, 'Uh-oh, we're in trouble.' Sharon had been waiting all night. We were a long way from where Ozzy had to go. He said, 'Can you drive me home?' I said, 'No, I can't.' We were stoned out of our minds. He got into a cab and I strapped Koko into my jeep and drove home – just barely made it. And then we had this hit song."
This was the only Top 10 hit of Ozzy's solo career, although he did reach #4 UK with the Black Sabbath song "Paranoid." Ozzy's fans tended to buy entire albums instead of just the singles.

Lita Ford - Close My Eyes Forever

Hot off the press...another cover that we're proud of. We were looking to do a song that both John and guest singer Nick could sing and after brainstorming, we came up with a great song by one of their favorite bands/singer - Aerosmith -What it takes.
This was a unique challenge because we had to decide who was going to sing what parts and how to come up with the vocal harmonies (which consisted of 10 tracks alone). Additionally we ran into an issue with an accordion player (yes, there is accordion in the song) - the funny thing is John knew an accordion player but his tracks just didn't make the cut to the final mix. That left an opening for a new accordion player so I offered my services on the synth. I was able to replicate an accordion using the synth mixer and effects editor on my keys along with a plugin to create a pretty realistic sounding accordion. I can practically play the part in my sleep because during recording, we were having issues with the recording app which keep freezing up.
We were finally able to get the tracks into the mix and cut to the final edit. Recording in studio and playing live are two uniquely different things. Recorded music is massively edited, tweaked and perfected in various ways. Live music is more along the lines of you get what you get, the artists perform and you hope for the BEST! An good analogy is comparing theater and films. Making movies is much the same process as recording music in the studio, while in theater, actors on stage perform an entire performance from beginning to end, night after night much like bands that play live. Film actors do scenes over and over again that might run just a few seconds or sometimes just a minute or so. Films are almost always shot out of sequence, and only come together in the editing room, long after the actors have gone on to other projects.
Interestingly enough, this "cover" consists of 42 tracks made, eq'd, tweaked and edited in the making of this cover (The most out of any of our covers).
Check it out and we hope you enjoy it!

AEROSMITH - What It Takes "COVER"

Not much to say here other than we were jamming some blues when we figured out that we all knew the Stevie Ray Vaughan song "Pride and Joy" . . . so we turned on the recorder and this is what came of it! Lots of fun and some great guitar playing by Juan who wonderfully reproduced Stevie Ray's sound for this jam! Love it! So much fun and such great talent!
"Pride and Joy" is a song by Texas singer/guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and his backup band Double Trouble. It is an original composition by Vaughan and appeared on his 1983 Epic Records debut album Texas Flood. "Pride and Joy" was also released as Vaughan's first single and has become one of his best-known songs

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride And Joy "cover"

This was a favorite of mine from Black Sabbath when Ronnie James Dio sang with the band.  Most of us played the song at one point or another and decided to record this song with Leila singing the main vocals...and she did an amazing job with it!  "Neon Knights" was the last song written by the band for the Heaven and Hell album.   It was quickly written and recorded at Studio Ferber in Paris during January 1980 simply to fill time on the album's first side. The lyrics were written by Dio. It is the only song on Heaven and Hell to definitely feature songwriting input from bassist Geezer Butler, the band's main lyricist during the Ozzy Osbourne era. Butler was absent for most of the songwriting process due personal issues as well as his own uncertainty as to whether he wanted to remain in the band.

Black Sabbath - Neon Knights "cover"

Going back to the classics with some Beatles with our version of "Can't Buy Me Love" with Juan (guitar player) singing the main and backing vocals.  This is part 1 of a 3 part series of Beatles songs we will be recording to eventually mix a medley of Beatles songs played together.  The Beatles are loved by young and old and will always be part of rock-n-roll history with the amazing music they created.

When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney stated that "I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything. He went on to say: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want."  However, he was to comment later: "It should have been 'Can Buy Me Love' " when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.

"Can't Buy Me Love" was recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, where the Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre.

The Beatles established four records on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at number one.

The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love Final

Mike, the keyboard "Extraordinaire", wanted to do the Styx song "Lady".  John, the singer, was pretty sure he could do the vocals along with the harmony parts.  This turned out to be a project we put together and recorded in a little over a week.  Brian did the guitar work with Ross playing his acoustic kit this time.  Recording an acoustic drum kit presents a lot of challenges when it comes time to record and it tougher than I initially thought.  All in all, we were pretty happy with the way this turned out in a little over a weeks time.

"Lady" is a rock ballad written in 1973. It was first released on Styx II and was a local hit in the band's native Chicago, but initially failed to chart nationally. The song gained success shortly after Styx left Wooden Nickel Records to move to A&M Records in 1974 as it began picking up airplay nationwide, eventually peaking at #6 on the Billboard Top 40 in March 1975.

"Lady" was written by Dennis DeYoung for his wife, Suzanne Feusi, the first song he ever wrote for her. DeYoung recounted to Contemporary Keyboard magazine for the January 1981 issue that the first time he ever played acoustic piano was when the band arrived at the recording studio to record "Lady" and saw the piano in the studio.  DeYoung had written the song on an electric piano, but decided to try it out on the piano instead, and liked the sound so much that he switched to the piano for the recorded version.

Here is our version of the song.  We hope you enjoy it!

Styx - Lady "cover"

Juan, the guitar player, really pushed for this song and had a specific singer in mind to come down and sing it! Tina, who actually plays classical piano, is a friend of Juan sang this song.  We were so blown away by her version of the song, that we all decided to record it.  We're really happy the way this came out and enjoyed working with Tina.  Check it out!  This song is also part of the Trolls movie soundtrack (LOL).

Hello" is the third single from Richie's multi-platinum album Can't Slow Down, the song was released in 1984 and reached number one on three Billboard music charts: the pop chart (for two weeks), the R&B chart (for three weeks), and the adult contemporary chart (for six weeks).  

The song is memorable for the line "Hello, is it me you're looking for?". That phrase started the song's composition, as James Anthony Carmichael visited Richie, and after the singer greeted him that way, Carmichael replied, "Finish that song." Richie initially felt that the song was "corny" but ultimately "by the time I finished the verse, I fell in love with the song again

Lionel Richie - Hello "cover"

Angelyn is a fellow musician who loves to sing and wanted to come sing with us again (She did the vocal for "Close my eyes forever, the Lita Ford/Ozzy duet that we covered a few month back).  She always loved the Song "MAGIC" by Olivia Newton John.  We asked her how she liked the movie Xanadu (The song is part of the sound track) but she had no idea that it was on the soundtrack.  Now she says she has to watch the move....which is terrible (btw).  

We were able to record vocals, drums, guitar, piano and bass but it was still lacking in that full sound.  I decided to add my own stems     (backing tracks) utilizing additional tracks including electric piano (doubling up what the current keys were doing to fatten the sound), strings, synth brass and finally custom synth.  So that was an additional 4 tracks on top of the "live" tracks.  Plus layered some backing vocals as well.

"Magic" is a 1980 song performed by Olivia Newton-John, from the soundtrack to the film Xanadu. The song was number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks beginning on August 2, 1980. It was her 25th American chart hit, and her 10th of 12 records which went Gold or higher.

"Magic" was also her biggest pop hit until "Physical" ruled the Hot 100 for ten weeks beginning in November 1981. Billboard magazine ranked "Magic" as the third most popular single of 1980, behind only "Call Me" by Blondie and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" by Pink Floyd. In Canada, the song spent two weeks at number one.

Karaoke Version

Olivia Newton John - Magic cover

The latest cover entitle "Cherokee". Mike did a great job on the keys in this song and the keyboard solo. Mike also did the mix for this song.

"Cherokee" is a 1987 single released by the Swedish band Europe. It was the fourth single released internationally from the album The Final Countdown, and was number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

Europe - Cherokee "cover"

This one took a bit of work to get a good mix with the Clavinets along with getting real horns to be part of this song. The original song as done by Stevie Wonder had 7 different clavinet parts including the bass part being covered by clavinet because of the 5 octave range of the instrument. We had a blast recording this with special guest Tress on vocals. Love he way she "brings it" when she sings this song! 

"Superstition" was composed, produced, arranged, and performed by Stevie Wonder for Motown Records in 1972. It was the lead single for Wonder's Talking Book album, and released in many countries. It reached number one in the U.S., and number one on the soul singles chart. The song was Wonder's first number-one single since Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.

Stevie Wonder - Superstition "Cover"

Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me

Leila doing her thing, singing IRON MAIDEN'S song "Wasted Years" acoustic version

IRON MAIDEN -Wasted Years - acoustic version feat. Leila S.

Happy New Year 2017! Here we have our 2nd draft and remastered cover version of IRON MAIDEN's song "Wasted Years" - which includes the new drum track and guitar solo. We got the usual crew together to record this and had so much fun!  I'm learning so much about recording and the process of post production.

Iron Maiden - Wasted Years "REMASTERED" Cover

Leila is back again to sing one of my favorite Yngwie songs "heaven Tonight!  This was actually picked by the guitar player to cover and we all agreed that this would be a perfect fit for us to try.  This song was part of the Swedish rocker's album entitled "ODYSSEY" released April 8, 1988. The album reached No. 40 on the US Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for eighteen weeks, as well as reaching the top 50 in five other countries. As of 2015 it remains Malmsteen's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200.

Yngwie Malmsteen - Heaven Tonight "cover"

Had a blast putting together this collaboration and getting to play BASS and KEYBOARDS in the song.  It's always  great working together with some great and talented musicians doing a classic song by Foreigner called Morning, Blue Day.  It was early on and still learning HOW to record and using basic audio editing software in post production.  I've learned so much since this recording.   

The song is the third single from Foreigner's second album, Double Vision. Released December 1978, it proved to be their sixth Top 40 single in two years. The song was written by the songwriting team of Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, and reached number 15 in the charts in the U.S. and 45 in the U.K. 

Gramm said about the song, "It talks about a young musician that's burning the candle at both ends. He has a lot on his mind, and walks the street at night." Blue is used as a metaphor for misery. The color was later in a different context on Gramm's 1987 solo hit "Midnight Blue"; he also has a song on his 1989 solo album called "True Blue Love."

BlueMorning BlueDay - FOREIGNER

It took a while but I finally got the bass & keyboard parts done for this cover. We're all huge RUSH fans and absolutely love doing RUSH covers just for the FUN of it. We decided that we wanted to cover this classic RUSH song from their "A Farewell to Kings" album from 1977. It was the first Rush song to feature a non-member as a songwriter in Peter Talbot and a friend of drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. Hope you enjoy it as much as we had recording it and finally hearing the finished product! A big "THANKS" for a job well done to those involved.

Rush - Closer To The Heart

Our band's version of Steve earle's song "Cooperhead Road".  The band consists of Drums, bass, Acoustic & electric guitar, piano, mandolin and bagpipes (done using keyboard/synth with ePipes plugin).  Enjoy

Steve Earle - "Cooperhead Road" cover

We love recording our favorite music from the classics right up to current pop!  This was one of my favorite songs while in High school.  I always wanted to learn it on bass and finally got around to not only laying down the track for the bass, but also doing all keyboard parts and backing vocals.  I always loved the arpeggiated keys in the background along with the sax solo.  My long time friend Ross covered the drums, while my good bud Brian put down the guitar tracks.  We had my high school friend Jason come down and provide a sax solo for us and I think it came out pretty great. Thank you John "Belan" for the awesome vocals.  Recorded & mixed at "Is This Thing On?" STUDIOS.  Thanks for listening

Duran Duran - Rio "Cover"

The reason I started playing bass guitar was because of Steve Harris and his amazing metal bass lines.  2 minutes to midnight was (and still is) one of my top 5 favorite songs by the band.  We decided that we wanted to record this song and did it with 2 amazing singer, Paul Zafiris & Steve Kemp (Thanks for your contributions).  They worked it out as far as who would sing what lines and it all came together.  Myself on bass, "Ross" (Animal) on drums and Brian on all guitars completed the rhythm section.  Enjoy because we certainly did!

2 Minutes To Midnight - Iron Maiden "cover"

I've always been a huge Police/Sting fan as a bass player/keyboard player.  I've always loved this song and wanted to cover it and record it.  We went into the studio and recorded this in several layers doing the drum and bass track first and then I added strings/synth along with piano.  I'm not a lead singer and usually cover the backing vocals but wanted to give it a try and sing the lead and the backing vocals for this song.  Once again, I've got my good friend Brian covering the guitar.  Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening.

The Police - Every Breath You Take "cover"

We had a blast covering this classic song first recorded by Jimmy Buffett in 1977 (wow, I was only 10 yrs old). "Margaritaville" reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went to number 1 on the Easy Listening chart.  It also peaked at #13 on the Hot Country Songs chart and Billboard ranked it number 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart.It remains Buffett's highest charting solo single. Margaritaville has been inducted into the 2016 Grammy Hall of Fame for its cultural and historic significance.

  We originally recorded this cover with drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals.  We went back in post production to fill in the song with xylophone, harmonica, egg shaker and backing vocals to really fill in the empty spaces.  ENJOY!

Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett "cover"

Long awaited...we've been working on this one for awhile since we really wanted someone to play harmonica, accordion and mandolin in the song. We we're able to recruit Ronny "2heavy" West to come in and lay down the harmonica track. This is also the first song that I got to play the piano and bass in. Growing up, I originally studied piano and later moved on to other instruments, but I always think of music in terms of the piano/keyboard. Unfortunately, we were not able to find an accordion player, so I covered the part using my synth. The mandolin parts were created using an acoustic guitar and a capo on the twelfth fret then adding some digital effects - nice job Juan! The usual band of misfits played on this cover, including Ross on drums, Juan on acoustic guitar/Mandolin, Ronny on Harmonica, John "Guy" on vocals and myself on piano/bass/accordion. We've been working on this for about 3 months and the mixing provided to be somewhat of a challenge due to all the tracks going on in the background. it's not ultra professional but we're pretty happy with the way this turned out. Hope you enjoy!
Piano Man" is the first single released by Billy Joel. It was released on November 2, 1973, and has been included on several subsequent albums. Joel's first major hit and his signature song, the song peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1974. In 2016, the Library of Congress selected "Piano Man" for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance.

Piano Man - Billy Joel "cover"

Recorded Losfer words (Big 'Orra) when we were working on "Wasted Years". I started playing the song on bass and then the drummer joined and and then the other guitarists both knew the song. We got about 3/4 of the way through the song until things kinda fell apart - we all decided to brush up on the song and record the following week. Hope you enjoy!

Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) "cover"

Every once and awhile, something comes along that really changes music.  The Album "Jagged Little Pill" was one of those albums that you listen to and say.."wow, I've never heard anything like this."  It was an amazing album full of great songs.  The song "You oughta know" was just one of the songs on that album that was great.  It had an edge and all the sheer emotions put into the vocals.  You feel like she is singing the song and the person she is singing it to is standing right in front of her.  We really wanted to pay homage to this classic song that was released in July of '95.  The song peaked at #1 on Billboard's Alternative chart and #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.  I think by now we can all agree that the song is about actor-comedian Dave Coulier "Uncle Jessy" on the TV show Full House.  Hope you enjoy our version of this classic song and thanks for listening!

Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know "cover"

We're all big Van Halen fans and wanted to cover another song by them featuring keyboards. We all decided on "LOVE WALK IN" from their 5150 album. As a keyboard and bass player, this was a great song to play since it featured mostly keyboards , bass and drums. Naturally, you also have the great vocals and the blazing guitar solos that fit perfectly in the song.
This song was a labor of love since it involved 4 separate keyboard parts (piano, strings, synth and Digibass). Getting the mix right took a bit of time but it was well worth it. It took us about 3 weeks to complete but we enjoyed the entire process from start to finish. Hope you enjoy!

LOVE WALKS IN "cover"

Playing music is my passion.  Music is not a hobby, it's a way of life!  Thanks for checking out my SOUNDCLOUD page.  I play bass on all the songs and also  keyboard on many of the songs.  I also enjoy singing but can only manage doing backup vocals for now. :)

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