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THE PROCESS®
Release a Modern Masterpiece
by Randy Chandler
THE PROCESS® with with their entertainment attorney
Bruce Colfrin on 5th Avenue in New York City
Over the course of the last thirteen years, the "Rock-Reggae
Madmen" of THE PROCESS® have continued to astound audiences in the furthest
regions of our country, as well as their own stomping grounds, with an
infectious blend of World Music (and World Commentary) played with an
orchestral view and serious musical muscle.
You know all that by now.
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David Asher of THE PROCESS® |
Starting a band to not only
seek stardom, but actually, positively affect world change,
vocalist/guitarist/songwriter David Asher and songwriter/guitar
God-in-waiting, (he gets his licks transcribed in freaking Guitar
Player Magazine, for chrissakes), Garrick Owen, perform in costumes,
sound like Lee "Scratch" Perry skankin' behind Yngwie Malmsteen, and
write really interesting and inventive songs.
Throw in a bass player who looks like Gene
Simmons during the 80's onstage and who occasionally looks like
Mozart at his day-gig, (with a phenomenal ear for arrangement), and
two amazing drum stylists, and you have arguably one of the more
original acts to grace the Tri-Cities. Yep, that's been covered,
too.
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But, trust me on this, nothing you know about THE PROCESS® can quite prepare
you for what awaits a first-time listener to the group's latest effort,
'Blood & Bones'. Under layers of beautifully interweaving textures of
horns and strings, and the incredible backup stylings of new discovery,
Michelle Shaw, lies the very best essence of this venerable act-galvanized.
It's like having an orchestra strapped to a flatbed truck and taking it
down a rough backroad at about 60-mph. Not enough speed to derail it, but
just enough to add that all-important urgency that most great works
possesses.
The Review Magazine recently caught up with David Asher, Garrick Owen and
producer/engineer Gee Pierce Pierce at U-Be-U in Saginaw to discuss what, it seems
to me, appears to be a major departure for THE PROCESS®.
Review Magazine: The strongest thing about 'Blood & Bones', for me, is that it
brings the best elements of the group together in a tight focus, and yet
it's all magnified. There's heaviness to this.
David Asher: Alot of that has to do with our drummer, Sam Metropolis. His
style of playing is a little more hard-hitting than our other drummer,
(Arek Anesko), and it influenced the songwriting to be a bit heavier.
Review Magazine:: Is Arek still around?
David Asher: He flew out to L.A. for that gig with us. And, he was at our gig
at Hollywood Nights, too. Sam and Arek alternate on drums and percussion.
Review Magazine: How long did the recording take?
David Asher: About seven months over the course of a year. Gee Pierce had a flood, so
the studio was down for about a month.
Gee Pierce: We didn't do it everyday. It was like, once or twice a week. I was
recording The Dayton Family at the same time.
Gee Pierce: And that album went to #6 on the 'Billboard' chart.
| Review Magazine:
Was THE PROCESS® a nice change from your normal clientele? A breath
of fresh air?
Gee Pierce: More like a big wind!
(laughs) We do a lot of Hip Hop, some R & B with a Hip Hop edge,
and I love, and am blessed to do what I do, but every once in a
while it's cool to do something different...and these guys are
definitely different.
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Garrick Owen of THE PROCESS® |
Review Magazine: Vocally, David, you're all over the map on this one. I don't remember
you rapping before. It's what distinguishes "Mist of Time". Elsewhere, you're
conjuring ancient Egyptian melodies.
David Asher: Well, I was listening to a lot of Egyptian music when we were
writing this. I can't do it as well as those people can. It's like throat
singing. The Rap stuff, we did some of that on 'Baldhead Vex'.
Gee Pierce: You've done it in little pieces here and there before, but you never
put a 16 to 32 measure part in there before!
Review Magazine: I am a total sucker for the black female voice. Where did you
find Michelle Shaw?
David Asher: She's actually one of the artists in Gee Pierce's stable. She's got an
album of her own coming out. She's fantastic. What she did on this CD, I
would put along side Clare Torrey on Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig In The
Sky", or on The Stone's "Gimme Shelter". I think it's that good. She's
been at a few of the gigs. She's wonderful.
Review Magazine: David, you and Garrick have been working together since 1989. What
do you do to keep things interesting?
David Asher: Actually, a friend of mine listened to our CD the other night and
said to me, "It sounds like you guys weren't screwing around- you came in,
you laid it down hard, and you were outta there!" If anything, knowing
each other as well as we do by now helps the creativity flow more freely
between us, so it takes less time to get there and we can preserve some of
that urgency.
Review Magazine: The dark worldview of the CD is significant in the wake on
September 11.
David Asher: And I wrote all these lyrics before that happened! In a way, some
of the lyrics are prophetic in light of those events. There needs to be
more understanding of different cultures, different religions. There's too
much injustice in the world for the sake of money. Remember the Gulf War?
That wasn't about freedom; that was about freedom to get cheaper oil.
At one point, before we settled on the final cover art, we thought of
having a praying Muslim on the cover. I'm kinda glad we didn't go with
that one. I mean, they're God-fearing, God-loving Muslims, and I respect
their faith, but a lot of people....
Review Magazine: Wouldn't understand?
David Asher: Right.
Review Magazine: On a lighter note: I've always wanted to ask this. What does
Willie (bassist/arranger Bill Heffelfinger) look like during the day?
David Asher: The same. And he pulls it off. He's a music teacher at a high
school. When they have concerts or recitals, his hair goes up, like
Beethoven. He does the whole conductor bit, because he's really good at
it. He did an extraordinary amount of pre-production, sequencing horns and
strings.
Gee Pierce: But when he did his bass, he was dead on. He was finished with his
bass tracks in two days.
Review Magazine: Did he use the Chapman Stick, (the Chapman Stick is an innovative,
multi-stringed instrument, offering a tonal range exceeding both guitar and
bass), on this one?
David Asher: Not so much. It pops up here and there on a couple of things. He
uses it a lot more live.
Gee Pierce: Garrick used a lot of crazy stuff, too.
Garrick Owen: Acoustics, Les Pauls, a sitar-
Review Magazine: THAT'S what it was!
Garrick Owen: Yeah, it's actually an authentic sitar from India. I got it from
David's wife. There were two broken pegs on it, but we rigged it up and
made it work.
Review Magazine: How did you land those New York and L.A. gigs?
Garrick Owen: The guy I know from "Guitar Player" magazine wanted to see us play
out there, so he booked us a show.
David Asher: The law firm that represents us is based in New York, so we got to
meet with our lawyers. We've done a lot of cool stuff in L.A.; some gigs,
some live radio performances, and so on. We're going back out there soon,
but we wanted to make sure that 'Blood & Bones' was finished the way we
wanted it.
You know, anybody can do these things. You just have to put yourself out
there, every day. Doors get shut in your face. One door shuts, another
opens. You just keep making contacts.
Gee Pierce: And, that's what I really dig about these guys-they're getting their
stuff out there, they're making sure it's getting into people's hands, and
they're still out there at the same time, doing shows. They're always
doing something, instead of sitting back and waiting.
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'Blood and Bones' is now available at Sam Goody and Media Play in Saginaw,
or direct from THE PROCESS® Website at www.theprocessonline.com
THE PROCESS® will be in concert Saturday, August 10th at The Lantern, N.
Water Street, Bay City for Lanternpalooza 2002.
©2002 Review Magazine Publishing, All Rights Reserved. |
