Ancient Desert Ritual is looking for band
members to reform group. Music will focus on songwriting and lyrical context.
Sound will be heavier than usual.
Looking for:
Guitarist/Bassist/great lead vocals
Drummer/great
backing vocals
Ancient Desert Ritual, formerly ADR, started
in 1994 by founding member and songwriter Glenn D. Clark. Clark started
the recording of the group's first album, Walking In Sand in the Fall of
'93. He wrote the music and lyrics, arranged, produced as well as played bass,
keyboards, electric, acoustic, and synth guitar. Later, he was joined by drummer
Greg Ryan, guitarist Matt Timberlain, keyboardist Markus Emsermann, and vocalist
Bill Paugh. After their contributions to the album, Greg decided to leave the
group over writing frustrations and Matt faded off. Clark, Emsermann, and Paugh
continued writing together. Looking for a new guitarist, Clark incorporated Tim
Kestle to continue the album's guitar work. After the completion of the album, Bill and Markus left to form the
group One.
Sand is a mixture of progressive rock and electronic/ambient music. The
album starts off with Steel Ships, a commercial single about being
creative and the price of exploring it. Shallow People's basic message,
"get off your ass and just do it" no matter how scared you are. The
first of the instrumentals is The Catalyst. A heavy synth piece with an
aggressive groove. A dark version of "Happy Trails" is Plains.
Inspired by Grant Lee Buffalo and Steve Hackett, a ballad about how change
happens whether you like it or not. The album's centerpiece The Jaunt,
inspired by a short story by Stephen King, is ambient at its darkest. Way To
Get Back Home tells the story of a post-war tribe wandering in the desert
and the ritual they use for survival. Ending the album is the reprise title The
Jaunt Back, a highly-accompanied bass solo.
The years after the disbanding of the group, Clark started exploring the
six-string bass. He wrote a number of atmospheric compositions and performed at
local Denver coffee houses. In 1997, Clark opened Ancient Desert Sounds and
Recording, an electronic music studio. In 1999, Raw Material, an
annual electronic media showcase, made its debut.
Between doing work for clients and regular work, Clark recorded Splices
1:Landmark under the name BassBoards of Ancient Desert Ritual. Landmark
is a private collection of atmospheric arrangements that span fifteen years of
archived material as well as 7 six-string bass pieces. A virtual waltz around
the world and through it.
Since the release of LandMark, Clark has written 18 songs for the debut
album from Ancient Desert Ritual. Notch is an album
of lyrical songwriting with a bold theme. An angry darkness flows throughout
this collection of tunes. Emotions run high.
During the construction period of Notch, several demos track were recorded for lyrical purposes.
"I had twelve tunes written using my usual 6-string bass/midi pedals combination.
I was exploring various VST effects plug-ins including GRM Tools using those tracks.
Before I knew it, I had created twelve completely altered atmospheres.
I released it as a prelude while I was writing Notch".
Preliminary Cuts: a prelude to Notch hit the racks in late 2000.
NOTCH is due to be released by 2004.
NOTCH Notes:
Glenn D. Clark - 4 and 6 string basses, Hammond organ (B4), pump organ, piano, electric piano, synthesizers, nylon-string guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, MIDI pedals, percussion, Simmons drums, and synthetic and acoustic nicknacks.
Dan Solano - acoustic drums
Harry Gilbert - cello and mandolin ("Good" & "Rampart")
Notes from Glenn:"Thanx for your support and patience. Much of the writing/recording has be completed for the NOTCH album (lyrics, drums, keyboards, bass, guitars, and other nick-nacks) but still a number of steps to go. Thanx to Dan for putting the drum parts to 10 of the songs. Vocals are very important
to this album so I want to find the right singer. I'm very excited about this new approach to my songwriting
and I hope it's well worth the wait." - Glenn D. Clark
Writing the organ part to "Good To Me".
Glenn, Dan Solano (drums) and audio engineer Ben recording the drum parts for NOTCH...
...gettin' there
Harry and his cello
More to come...
