Sandman's Projects

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Welcome!

This is Sandman's music page. Here you can find out what projects he has appeared on, what projects he has made, and what is currently being worked on.

The Timeline
Time Period	Project
1982 - 1990	Wasn't really a music kinda guy just yet. I was content with picking my nose and playing video games (hmmm, well I still do one of those)
1990 - 1996	Became a fan initially of Metallica, Offspring and other such bands.
1997 -1998	Listened to alternative and or radio stuff... Picked up a guitar and became a slave to Scapegoat (guitars & vocals)
1998 - 2000	7 Years Bad Luck (soon to become Justin's Night Ride) (bass, guitars and vocals)
1999	Discovered Dream Theater... music just has new meaning!
2000	JNR "breaks up"... much attempts at writing prog songs... had several ideas including a giganto-epic song called Higher Than Dreams.
2001-2002	Picked up a bit of bass and dabbled in drums (or more like rhythm and time theory) and keyboards. Lost the ability to play actual scales.
2002	Wow! I can plug my guitar into my computer and finally write music any darn well way I please! Take that corporate record companies! :P
2003	Much ado about recording a concept album about the life and death of a star. Constant back and forth and redoing tracks left and right until brain exploded.
2004	A few new tracks here and there with no real ambition except to expand the creative horizons of a solo musician. Two bands seeked my talent in the bass department, joined both and both rock quite considerably. Took several music classes which were great at expanding my horizons. Learned scales again!
2005	The ocean of the future is wide and unexplored. Hopefully some band gigs will be on the menu, as well as new gear and songs for our ears to delight upon!

Previous Projects Trigonometric Parallax The Shawn Lane Tribute CD Project Progressive Music Society member and friend Mike Rewa approached the Yahoo!group with a proposition to make a tribute album for the memory of recently (2003) deceased american guitarist Shawn Lane, and I courageously volunteered my skills. The premise was a 4-5 minute song of guitar based music with a style reminiscent of Lane's hypermelodic virtuoso music. The CD will be released sometime after February 05, and profits will go to the estate of Shawn Lane. I'm priveleged to be on this compilation amongst so many talented artists and wish nothing but the best for all who helped make it happen. The tune ended up being called I Can Wait Forever, and as of the end of January the song is deemed totally and utterly finished. For a slightly more musical look at the song, read about it in the download section. Current Projects Upon finishing Trigonometric Parallax I thought it was time to give myself a break. After a few days, I thought "that's enough break for me!". Go figure... The first thing that came to mind when getting back into the "studio" was that perhaps I should take a shot at writing an instrumental concept album. What better concept to try and compose to than one of my prime interests? This album has been on hiatus for some time now, and there is no hints that I will ever actually finish it. Help is welcome, hop to the contact information and drop me a line if you're interested. An extremely rough idea of the album cover can be found here. Sandman presents A Cosmic Requiem 1 Spacetime Harmony (prologue) 2 Nebulous Anomaly / Perturbations 3 Collapse / Protoform 4 ZAMS! (Zero Age Main Sequence) 5 Helmholtz-Kelvin Contraction / Extension of the Envelope 6 Inevitable Succumbing 7 Metallic Synthesis 8 Red Giant 9 The Wanderer / Planetary Nebula 10 Chandrasekhar Limit 11 Event Horizon 12 Spacetime Harmony (epilogue): The Obsidian Devourer Atmospheric Instability part 3 Basically, the premise is to conclude the epic of bad weather (a topic frequently encountered in Montreal) by using a variety of recurring themes from parts 1 and 2, most obviously the catchy chorus riff that ends part 2. Since part 1 was purely instrumental (perhaps one can say I inadvertently showcased the chaos of weather by not using a metronome in recording? :P) and part 2 had sparse vocals which ended its saga, I figured it be only fair to have some continuity by making part 3 be mostly vocals. We'll see how that turns out! I have a few riffs and somewhat of a structure in mind, but only time will tell what happens. As usual, rough lyrics for it can be found here. More details as they come! The temp-named Metal Band "Sleaper" /News/ As of the September 2005, Sleaper is in the politics phase, with the potential rejoining of singer Angelo, and the possibility of new songs, equipment and shows to come. /History/ In approximately January of 2004, I was invited into a friend's metal band as a bassist. He said I could try it out, and we'd jam a bit, and if I didn't like it, of course I could leave. This was just the type of dude who introduced me to a lot of great metal acts, as well as shared my interests in science, fantasy books, and prog music. The drummer had just gotten a drum set, our vocalist was shy but screamed like Danny Filth, our guitarist (the inviter) could shred like a crazy man, and our other guitarist had played for about 2 years but could sweep faster than me and the other guy combined. Soon thereafter our second guitarist left, and we became a four piece. I decided to stay, and now our drummer, while still inexperienced, is lightning fast for his amount of training, our riffs and songs get harder and more complicated by the minute, and I get a chance to implement some of the craziest and most innovative basslines I've ever tried to play. We are currently practicing once a week, working on original complex pieces that range from blazingly fast, to grooving, to funky to heavy as a ton of bricks (sometimes all in the same song). This somewhat differs from the style of music I would tend to record by myself, but it definitely serves as a speed and endurance training device for yours truly! We have about 5 songs now and two roughly recorded "demo" CDs, one of pieces with vocals and one without. Upcoming gigs: none as of yet Past gigs: November 26, 2004 at RPB Building in McGill University February 18, 2005 MSPS Fundraising event at Pub St Ciboire March 25, 2005 at Herz StL The temp-named Alt Rock Band "Shaking Judy" /News/ For the most up to date SJ news, head to www.myspace.com/shakingjudy or read the Shaking Journal blogs at www.myspace.com/emeraldfog. /History/ In September 2004, drummer friend JT invited me into his band to replace their bassist. I was hesitant at first, as I had been to their shows before and they rocked, and looked like they were having fun, but their style was way different from what I was used to. The last time I played anything close to alternative rock was approximately 5 years ago, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. We do a bunch of covers and a few originals, and it's lots of fun! We put on a good show as well! Upcoming gigs: www.myspace.com/shakingjudy for most up to date gigs Past gigs: January 28, 2005 at Reggie's Bar February 12, 2005 at Club One April 28, 2005 at Reggie's Bar June 27, 2005 at Le Swimming July 14, 2005 at Clyde's (Battle of the Bands round 1) July 28, 2005 at Clyde's (Battle of the Bands round 2) July 30, 2005 at Clyde's (opening act for Krown) September 10, 2005 at Clyde's (BotB final round) October 28, 2005 at McGill University (PGSS Battle of the Bands)