home
bio
images thoughts
interviews/reviews/links, etc.
technicalities
audio/video
contact
06/14/08
check out the JULY/08 issue of GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE. there's a pretty nice interview with me. i had the pleasure of speaking with SHAWN HAMMOND who later put together the article. thank you also to BARRY CLEVELAND who organized the whole thing.
06/14/08
back in los angeles after almost two months of solid gigging across the pond...thank you again to DEREK BROOKS of MUSIC MAN/ERNIE BALL, STEFANO XOTTA of MOGAR MUSIC, VALERIA NICOLETTA in ROME, FRANCO MUSSIDA at CPM MILANO, LINDA ARROZ at MAKEOVER MEDIA, FERNANDO ESCOBAR at NOHO STUDIO, ALEX RUFFINI in VENICE, PIPPO FURLAN, VINNI at V-PICKS, GREG at WEST L.A. MUSIC UNIVERSAL CITY...a lot of other people helped out in various ways during the trip, thank you to all! see you all soon!
04/12/08
|
|||||
03/07/08
the italian mgazine CHITARRE has published an interview with ALEX MASI in its march 08 issue. it's a pretty in depth article with some tabs etc. check it out if you have access to it even if you don't know italian...it would be a good excuse to start learning it...could come handy next time you're ordering dinner while in venice....thank you to mr.gianni rojatti for a nicely done job on the article!
i miss buddy miles....
11/27/07
i have recently signed a new endorsement agreement with ERNIE BALL's which is a brand i've always loved since the early days of my electric guitar playing....
cool things coming up in connection with these guys.
a huge thank you to DEREK in ARTIST RELATIONS.
11/16/07
the new MCM is available through lion music.
it's titled "MCM 1900 - hard times"
the story behind this CD goes more or less like this...john, randy and i played a number of gigs in the past couple of years around various locations and given the nature of our shows which are mostly improvised we thought it would have been a good idea to record them using a DAT machine so that later back at home we might possibly find interesting ideas scattered through the various jams...ideas that could be developed into tunes to record for a follow up to the first MCM.
what happened was that when we started to listen to these tapes we found some tracks that stood out as complete pieces ready to print.
i spent a few weeks here editing the tapes then i submitted the result to john and randy who approved it and we agreed to release it.
the thing that really surprised us during the many playbacks is the level of musical ESP that seems to come into play many times during the pieces...
after all we usually hit the stage with worked out intros, outros and a few bits in the middle but apparently we seem to synch up at a level we weren't aware of.
both randy and john are simply stellar on this album and i must say that i feel pretty good about my own contribution (i'm usually never too happy with my playing)...
a special thanks to the people who came and will come to our shows for giving us a special level of energy that's always impossible to find within the four walls of a recording studio.
tracklist:
01 (1900) Hard Times
02 Raw Extremities
03 River Offering
04 Emergency Poncho
05 Mutual Assured Distraction
06 The Ground Above
07 Them Ain't Us
08 30 Seconds Over Your Land
09 Esse'n'Emme
10 Unmatched Fragment
11 House of Deviants
12 For Every Color You Know
09/11/07
i spent the summer remastering the new MCM live album, recording a piece for my friend sandro monti that will hopefully appear on his upcoming new album to follow his critically acclaimed first cd, doing a couple of very stressful sessions for some pop stars that shall remain unnamed etc...
i also started putting down ideas for upcoming projects...strangely enough i've started having a craving for melodies which is something i had abandoned for awhile favoring a more cluster-like approach to note density.
i'm not sure at this very moment when the label will release the live MCM but from the moment it's delivered to them it usually takes about three months or so....
i'm also very much looking forward to playing live in concert and/or doing clinics around the world, i'm setting up some things as we speak but if anyone out there is interested in contacting me regarding the possibility of having MCM or just myself performing please contact masimuzic2@aol.com
suggested listening for the day : keith jarrett/ the sun bear concerts
06/30/07
back once again from europe...it was amazing...great audiences...great locations...great vibes, go to the myspace.com site for the specific thanks.
i will be in los angeles for the next couple of months recording and planning the next expedition overseas.
i am accepting guitar students for the period between now (late june) and early september, contact me through the contact option on this site or through the myspace.com site.
lots of stuff coming up in the immediate future...
05/11/07
i'm off to europe for some gigs/clinics etc...as usual there will be some confirmed dates and some will be canceled...you know the routine...but since i won't have access to this website while on the road i recommend you check the myspace sites for all the updates...the MCM live album should be with a label very soon...i will be able to read all my emails while in europe so keep sending them!...more touring and new music to be recorded when i get back...hope everyone out there is well and keep in touch! thank you for your support! seeyaallsoon....................
alex
02/23/07
there are now two myspace pages related to yours truly, one is straightforward with just some info, some ideas etc and that's just under the name ALEX MASI
http://www.myspace.com/alexmasi
the other one is under the "music" category and contains four tracks that will change from time to time. check out the first tune on it right now which is called RAW EXTREMITIES and it's from the upcoming MCM live album.
this myspace page goes under the display name THE ALEX MASI ALL AUDIO PAGE
http://www.myspace.com/thealexmasiallaudiopage
stop by those sites if you're in the neighborhood....
01/10/07
i will be making a couple of short appearances at the annual NAMM show in anaheim.
all i know so far is that i'll be at the Madison Amps first and then the Manne/Techra booths starting around 3 pm for about half an hour thursday 18, friday 19 and saturday 20...
other than that i'm just fighting off a sneaky cold that's been kicking my ass for a couple of days now probably because of all the changes of climates my body has gone through...
how's 07 so far?...i say bring on the spring!
talk soon
12/23/06
First off...a word of advice from yours truly:
if you're considering flying anywhere around the world AVOID like the plague AIR FRANCE!!!
every single time i've used this airline i've had problems just like the majority of the people i know who had the misfortune of flying this truly horrible airline.
hours of delay, lack of assistance, nasty meals and to top it all off your luggage will be sent to the opposite side of the planet from where you are...
so, let me repeat it in case you missed it : AIR FRANCE SUCKS!
other than that i just hope you're all having a good time on the occasion of whatever festivity you're happening to be festive about and i want to wish you all a great 2007...let's make this one a fantastic one!
love
(from somewhere in the space time continuum...)
alex
11/12/06
"LATE NIGHTS..." has been out for a couple of weeks now and it's receiving beautiful reviews from all sorts of magazines and also individuals who are so kind to take some time to write to me and express their appreciation for my work.
it's hard for me to put in words the amount of gratitude i feel towards each and every one who does that. i do my best to reply to all of you even if sometimes it takes me a bit longer than i wish it did.
it is also amazing to see that the majority of the people who hear the album "get it"...
in other words the music is accepted and appreciated as music without pre-determined parameters...for me in recent years nothing has been more frustrating than being categorized ad nauseam as a neo-classical/metal blah blah guitar dude...
yes, i've recorded classical music but not in a rock context and the electric guitar i sometimes used on those cds was used as an extra color for tonal purposes only.
hopefully with "LATE NIGHTS..." and future albums this will become increasingly clear.
speaking of present and future...
mr. macaluso, whose contribution on "LATE NIGHTS..." is transcendental, stayed here at the old "haunted hill inn" to work on his solo album etc and i had the pleasure to record some guitar parts for his project which should be released in the next couple of months.
we also reviewed the final mixes of the MCM record which, surprisingly enough, turns out to be a live album...we will shortly announce its release and its label.
finally,
huge, immense thanks to andrea ballarin of MANNE guitars for building and sending me an astonishing new guitar based on some ideas i had provided him with.
it's an amazing instrument that gave me a new found joy in playing guitar once again.
i hope MANNE makes this guitar available to other players.
i will post a picture of it soon.
that's about it for now...
love you all and keep in touch
sayonara
10/11/06
my new solo album will be out on october 27, once again i'm joined by johnny boy macaluso on drums who kicks ass in a new twisted way on this one...the material on this cd is quite different from stuff i've done before even though one can probably hear distant ramifications coming from past eons involving neon sharks and vertical invaders...basically i've realized i don't have a whole lot of patience left in order to do things designed to fit the expectations some people might have of me...this is what i do, take it or leave it...i got into music because i wanted to explore the unknown.
7/13/06
a few days ago a true legend left this planet, syd barrett...
i cannot express in words what this man did for music...the first two pink floyd albums are immortal because of his surrealistic touch...
i have fond memories of being a kid and daydreaming while listening to the piper at the gates of dawn...another case of "there will never ever be anyone like him" S.O.Y.C.D.....................
...congratulations to ITALY...the national football team i mean, for winning the world cup in a highly controversial tournament...they had the best defense (cannavaro, buffon etc...) and they were impenetrable...my only criticism goes to mr.lippi for the way he put together the attacking department...inzaghi scored one goal in the short time he was allowed to play and i'm sure he would have done better than some of other players who were playing game after game without major results...the fact is that they won and that is what it all boils down to and what the hell do i know anyway, i'm just a guitar player...so, ALE' ITALIA!
here's a few albums i've been getting into these past few weeks:
trance nation 4
warren cuccurullo/playing in tongues
alessandro monti/unfolk
ali akbar khan/radio archival release vol.1
MCM is almost baked and ready for consumption...
talk soon...
5/20/06
...long time no update...well, that's just life isn't it?
i just completed the recording / mixing etc for my last solo album which is titled : "late nights at desert rimrock"
it's a record based on a method of writing music that i first started messing with around the time of "attack of the neon shark"('89).
it's basically a bastardized form of composition which evolves around improvisation.
as many musicians know, there is a very faint, fine line that sometime separates improvisation from composition and with the use of current technological means it is possible to blur the lines that separate different events in time...that past becomes present and the future...is still present.
the omnipresent john macaluso is on the drums throughout the whole affair while i handle the rest of the instruments. i was listening back to the final master last night and it really has something special. look for it in the fall.
meanwhile in other news,
i resumed work on the new MCM album which last time i checked should still be titled "1900, hard times"...this one is turning out to be a lot more direct than the first one, should be ready in a month or so...
also, my great friend from childhood alessandro monti is releasing his first solo album titled "unfolk" which features various musicians including me on two tracks. it's a very eclectic and appealing record with sounds ranging from acoustic to electric to electronic. for more info about it please visit www.unfolkam.it
ah, yes...the album "vertigo 2" by ex-toto singer joseph williams on which i played last summer will be out on June 9 on frontiers records...i played all the guitars and virgil donati the drums. it's not the type of music most people would associate me with but it's really good, catchy melodic rock nonetheless.
various ideas, visions and embryos of plans are floating around at the moment but...all in due time.
seeyasoon....
1/12/06
myself along with john macaluso and randy coven (MCM) will be playing short sets at the MADISON AMPLIFIERS booth during the NAMM show at the convention center in anaheim, california. time of the the performance is around 3 pm, january 19 - 22. hope to see you there. http://www.thenammshow.com/
1/09/06
back to LA...
i hope everyone had great holidays.
macaluso and myself played a few gigs and did some clinics in the old continent...a blast as usual especially this time having john around making things always "interestingly funny"...
here is a site that contains some images and a video clip from our last gig which happened to be in ROME http://www.stazionebirra.it/alexmasi.htm
i must thank all the people who helped on this trip...grom for the hospitality and for opening up the wine and scotch cellar to us, matt giuliani for driving us around and the help on and offstage, valeria nicoletta for the hospitality and having the patience to deal with three lunatics around the clock, mistheria for setting up things, leonardo porcheddu for helping us during the gigs, andrea ballarin of manne for the guitar, all the journalists who interviewed us, marco rizzo at ROCK TV, my mom and dad for being always the coolest and giving us a place to hang while in venice...monica, daniele & family, love you guys...roberta michieli...sandro & betty monti, the best (i'll keep your tamboura safe)...tony & daniela, amazing food and hangtime...andrea&martha the coolest people (thanks for the chocolate box and all the rare hendrix cds and book)...pippo furlan...luca andreozzi...mara...massimo bianchini...all the people who came to the clinics and shows.
we'll be back soon for more...
love to all
11/15/05
...the gigs/clinics for masi/macaluso in italy in December are as follows:
December 6 lucky music milano- live interview italian television later on that day
December 9 start roseto abruzzi
December 11 malandra aielli aquila
December 13 music arte roma afternoon- show at fonclea the same night
December 16 stazione birra roma with special guests mistheria & pavic
we're not sure we'll be able to squeeze more dates in there as john will be flying back to new york for the holidays and i'll be hangin' in venice to decompress...
as mentioned earlier myself along with randy coven and john will be recording shortly after our return to the US and we'll also be appearing as MCM at the namm show in late january...details to be announced as they arrive.
here's a link to ray kurzweil's site...a visionary and tech prophet...something very intriguing i've found in the past couple weeks
http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1
i'm not sure i'll be able to do another update before leaving for europe so to everyone out there best wishes for the holidays and the new year.
love
10/27/05
so here we go with what we have so far confirmed for mine and macaluso's upcoming expedition in the old continent:
December 6 - lucky music, milano
December 9 - il metronomo, roseto abruzzi
December 10 - avezzano, abruzzi
December - 12 and 13 music art and fonklea club, rome
more dates to be confirmed soon so keep checking....
we hope to see as many people as possible at each event, there will be some special guests coming on stage and jamming with us...
also, i spoke with randy coven and (of course) john and it's confirmed that we'll record a new MCM album in January with writing taking place during our trip to europe and recording in new york and los angeles...
finally, links to something i've been listening to on a pretty constant basis for the past couple months
http://www.quangduc.com/audio/alanwatt/
http://www.scaramanga.co.uk/stuff/alan-watts/
10/7/05
...last night i met with the artist hans bauer who will most likely be in charge of the cover for next album. hans is an unbelievable visual artist whose works feel like floating in an intoxicated dreamy universe of dark erotic art and ancient symbolism...spectacular stuff! check out some of his works here
also, every once in awhile i receive requests from various musicians who ask me if i would listen to their music. i'm always happy to check out new music but i don't want people to think that i have some kind of power to get various artists or bands signed to record labels. i don't. it's tough out there in the music-biz...actually it's downright sickening. if you feel you have something to say musically consider alternative avenues outside the rotten world of record labels. you believe in music they only believe in profit. but i'll be more than happy to listen to anybody's music if sent to me via audio files following an email of introduction.
those european dates are almost ready to be announced...please, hang on for a couple more days.
love from the haunted hill
9/15/05
hello earth! (a KB reference for those who know...)
a couple of things to announce for this extremely bizarre month of september (so far).
first off it appears that the upcoming clinic tour with john macaluso and myself is taking a clearer shape by the day...i will announce the exact dates and venues as i get them. this will be an absolute blast, can't wait to be out there again and seeing all of you maniacs...
also, as very few out there might know, i play semi-regular gigs with a trio (jeff alan, paul marangoni and yours truly capt.ravioli) here in los angeles in various "shady and dangerous locales" ;-) we started out a couple of years back calling ourselves TRIO OF DOOM (after the infamous trio that played only one gig in havana...jaco, tony and john). anyway, after lengthy corporate memos and endless top brass meetings at the pentagon it was decided to change the name to TRIO OF STRIDENCE (time to open the old webster...) so in our leisure time from office hours we decided to record some of the material we usually play...stuff from king crimson, cobham, jeff beck, weather report and many more of your favorite teen idols...our drummer, the honorable paul marangoni has now collected the recordings on one cd that can be found here:
http://www.paulmarangoni.com/triocd.aspx
other than that stay tuned for more thrills coming up...
and please, i've had enough insanity for this month, let's keep it light for awhile ;-)
love
8/8/05
today i received from italy a copy of a half assed new compilation of the work i did with my old band DARK LORD back in the eighties...
this is an illegal cd that i never authorized and for which i was never consulted....
the production and remastering are simply horrible and it actually does a disservice to the memory of the band...
i was also the only writer in the band while i was in it so i own the copyright for all the material printed on this thing but interestingly enough all negotiations have taken place without my knowledge or consent so it's safe to say that quite a few copyright laws have been broken and i'm being royally ripped off on a red, white and green background......
i have informed the label (that i won't mention here to avoid giving them free publicity) that unless some form of remedy is found i will be forced to handle the matter through various legal avenues.
i also have a pretty good idea of who's behind the whole fiasco...
he was a failure then he is a worse one and even more pathetic now...
anyway, avoid this cd like the plague...it's a lame and dishonest operation.
i will in time set the record straight as far as DARK LORD's material is concerned and put together a dignified collection.
7/20/05
...ahhhh the delightful southern california desert weather...but i guess it's still much better than the summers i spent in venice italy or london where the humidity added to the heat make for a lovely cardiac mixture...
anyway...i spent the a few days recording in canyon country for the new album of ex toto joseph williams...the project is called "vertigo"...very very melodic AOR...the guy is an amazing singer.
on the solo front i'm here at my place dealing with a couple of new software programs i was kindly provided with...ACID PRO and FRUITY LOOPS 5 PRODUCER EDITION...i'm learning how to use them and i can tell already the album i'm planning will be insane...
the music that's been haunting me lately is more and more sequence based...after all even bach's music was in a way "sequence based"...a fugue can be viewed as an ever developing sequence. it almost feels like right now we're in a sort of pre-baroque phase where we're dealing with pretty rigid harmonic structures waiting for the same breakthrough that was represented in the 17th century by the shift from RICERCARE and CANON to full fledged FUGUE...
some of the music in my mind recently: aphex twin/drukgs...keith jarrett/shostakovitch preludes and fugues...dj cheb i sabbah/la kahena...hendrix/axis outtakes...pink floyd/meddle...la monte young/mp3s...led zeppelin 3...meshuggah/chapter 33...prasanna/can't remember the title...erik satie/la piege de meduse (played by teodoro anzellotti)...zappa/stricly genteel..............
a beautiful site i found lately which contains some beautiful ideas on physics and beyond http://www.physlink.com/Education/essay_weinberg.cfm
..............and finally a thought to the victims of idiotic violence all over the planet from london to baghdad to anywhere else people have died and die in the name of the ignorant and empty rhetoric of an ideology or even worse...a religion. beware of the hidden powers behind these desperate acts...man's struggle for power has been his own curse since the beginning of time...
4/27/05
it's the last of the series of "in the name of..." even though i will continue to record classical music in the future. this BEETHOVEN album contains some of ludwig's battlehorses such as the first movement of the 5th symphony, the entire three movements of the so called "moonlight sonata", a movement from the WALDSTEIN etc...
i hope listeners will approach this recording with an open mind without expecting a "metallized" version of the music although i did record the violin romanza with a distorted electric guitar.
i'm at a point in my life where when it comes to my own personal projects i want to do exclusively what i feel and love deeply. sure, i'll still be playing and collaborating with other artists, sharing my ideas with them and vice versa, attacking all kinds of styles from experimental to heavy stuff, to ethnic to whatever but i won't be doing solo projects aimed at fossilizing my creativity with the specific intent of maintaining some sort of "credibility" in this or that musical category.
i love this art form called music too much to disrespect it by denying myself the pleasures of exploring it as much as possible in all its twists and turns.
in the meantime i'm currently working on a couple of other people's recordings which i will announce shortly.
MCM is lurking in the shadow...some "heavy" thing is also creeping up from a dark and scary corner...and those masi/macaluso sessions from a couple years back are sounding better than ever and begging to see the light of day...all in due time my friends.....
for anybody out there who might want to contact me for sessions, clinics, live shows, the occasional lesson or any other creative endeavor please don't hesitate to contact me by clicking on the "contact" link of this website.
love and enlightenment to all!
alex...haunted hill...studio city...end of April 2005
3/11/05
there's a new article/interview out on the newsstands with yours truly on the new issue of AXE magazine (italy). thank you to MAURIZIO PARRI for making it happen. here's a link to it http://www.axemagazine.it/principale.htm
3/4/05
...and now for the "we never thought this could happen" category of my entries in the updates section...last night i did a session for a rap album...i know, bizarre...but it was actually fun, it was for a snoop dogg project...all i can say is that i couldn't see 3 feet in front of me from the thickness of the smoke...other than that it was a groove-fest. now back to reality...
2/23/05
a couple of days ago i signed a new endorsement deal with MADISON AMPLIFIERS www.madisonspeakers.com they make very nice products and i love the tone of their amps...
11/5/04
back from europe...a total blast! i ended up playing even more gigs and clinics than expected which was great because it meant playing for more audiences and meeting some real fantastic people. i want to thank all who helped and worked on this expedition : first of all the unbelievable andrea ballarin "father" of manne guitars who drove me across most of northern italy and was cool beyond words, dennis from esse music, valeria nicoletta for the event in rome (send me those pics in st.peter's square), the staff at lucky music in milano, carlo allegra and the crew at the blues house, renee in frankfurt and karol & petra in munich.
5/17/04
here's the first review for MCM's ritual factory...randy, john and myself are truly proud of the work we've done and look forward to taking this music on the road to as many people as we possibly can...thank you.
* * * *
MCM's Ritual Factory featuring . . .
Alex Masi, Randy Coven & John Macaluso
Hmm, echoes of Ohm, shades of Lane & Hellborg interplay but leaning more
multi-ethnic-flavored instrumental rock with plenty of unique fusion roads
traveled and lotsa atmospherix. Masi is way into a fusion thing and heavy like
Chris Poland. This is the best Masi I have heard being consistently "on
target" in my heavy-fusion-axe brain-maze. This is inspired stuff and not
your typical shredfest and whankery exposed. And all this in just the first 5
tracks
Now about tracks 6-11 to see if they keep burning or crash and burn-out . . . Well now, this is really good stuff, with track 7 having Masi sounding very, very Shawn Lane! This CD made it through all 11 tracks and still gets an EER-MUSIC.com fusion-axe junkie, know-it-all, no brag just fact, no-filler, two thumbs up! Masi et al really tear it up nicely funked, fused, fired up and fun rock! MCM, do this again and invite Derek Sherinian, Lale Larson, and or Jens Johanssen to do fusion keys on your next release. Thanks for the pleasure -- your fusion formula has worked perfectly.
~John W. Patterson, Editor www.eer-music.com
* * * *
4/10/04
MCM (alex masi, randy coven, john macaluso) WHOSE FIRST ALBUM WILL BE HITTING THE PLANET ON MAY 28 IS CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR MANAGEMENT. WE NEED COMPETENT INDIVIDUALS / ORGANIZATION TO HELP US COORDINATE SHOWS, TOURS, DEALING WITH BOOKING AGENTS, FUTURE PUBLISHING DEALS, LICENSING, ENDORSEMENTS AND ALL THE MUNDANE AND NOT SO MUNDANE ACTIVITIES RELATED TO OUR WORK.
ONLY THE SERIOUS WILL BE CONSIDERED.
PLEASE CONTACT US AT MASIMUZIC2@AOL.COM
ALSO, IF YOU WANT TO BOOK MCM FOR SHOWS OR GUITAR, BASS OR DRUMS CLINICS PLEASE
CONTACT US AT MASIMUZIC2@AOL.COM
11/26/03
so, "in the name of mozart" will be out in the first couple of months of 2004...i had a blast recording that album during last summer, i recommend recording a mozart album in the summer, very "refreshing"...seriously, it was a great experience...mozart is sometimes "accused" of being too frivolous sounding but it's just a superficial impression...when you look at the notes on paper and realize their flow in the context you see the beauty of his genius...a kid at heart but a divine creature in the brain...
we all feel the need for a new path in music...the barriers between categories don't exist for us any longer...i can listen to a hendrix album right after having listened to a qawwali cd or a squarepusher record and so the music that i want to play is equally unattached to formulas or labels...my recorded output is also witness to that...i have an all mozart album coming out soon and after i finish recording in the name of beethoven next month i plan on doing a cd of electronic/ethnic/guitar heavy music...hopefully you'll all stick around and join the musical travels i intend to embark on...i'd love to thank here a few people who have been helping me in various ways and contexts in the recent months, i know these things usually go inside the sleeves of records but why not send an electronic "thank you" as well? : my whole family in venice italy, greg young, michelle arlequeeuw (superhuman webmistress), lindy larkin, amie martin, lasse mattsson, akie abe, john taylor, kristin knight (hope all's well....), mahesh shakti, sandro monti, frederick hauser at o.t.o., marcel dejeunesse. also thank yous to all of you who come to this website, take the time to write me, buy the albums and come to the shows.
..........shawn lane lives on.
9/15/03
a new chapter in the series celebrating the music of the great classics...
"IN THE NAME OF MOZART" has been recorded and signed to LION MUSIC for a release in JANUARY of 2004!!! it will be followed by "IN THE NAME OF BEETHOVEN" later in the year and a remixed version with new artwork of "IN THE NAME OF BACH"!!!
The MCM album is very
close to completion, i'm currently finishing solos and should be ready for
public consumption by the first few months of 2004 as well.
farrouk fateh ali khan, father of rahat and brother of nusrat died last week of
natural causes, i had the immense pleasure of playing with him...the world lost
another musical giant, best harmonium player and supernatural vocalist and
teacher, he's back sitting on the left of nusrat now, bless him.
shawn lane is currently in a memphis hospital undergoing a series of tests on
his lungs, he's just the most unbelievable player and i'm asking all of you to
send prayers and positive thoughts in his direction...we all need you back in
shape to kick our collective asses brother!
4/24/03
MCM will be playing mexico city on may 31 with more dates to be added and individual clinics by each member of the trio - check back often for more dates!
4/12/03
MCM is a reality, the Masi, Coven, Macaluso project is signed and ready to record. we'll be recording in los angeles and new york...the label is lion music...consequently the MASI/MACALUSO duo album is being put on "ice" until MCM is released.
negotiations for the european and south american dates are still under way...things have been slowed down incredibly by both the war in iraq and the worldwide spread of SARS (the infectious illness)...promoters are freaking out about low attendances and with all the money involved with touring it's kinda understandable...but MCM (masi, coven, macaluso) should be playing mexico and central america by the summer...now europe is pushed back to september which, if we want to look on the bright side, will be good because by then the album will be out and we'll have something to actually promote.
and now a couple of words in italian for the people who thought we would be in italy in may...:
questo messaggio e' dedicato ai miei fans italiani...negli ultimi mesi c'e' stato un andirivieni di notizie contrastanti riguardo la nostra venuta in italia (parlo di randy coven, john macaluso e me stesso) purtroppo abbiamo avuto la sfortuna di essere stati in contatto con un paio di persone estremamente scorrette e senza alcuna professionalita'...ci hanno tenuti in sospeso per un paio di mesi lasciandoci annunciare a varie organizzazioni che saremmo stati in italia a maggio...
purtroppo questo tipo di comportamento da parte di organizzatori piu' o meno affermati e' diffuso da anni nella terra del tricolore...nei primi anni 80 fui forzato a cedrere 50% del publishing di DARK LORD a un publisher/promoter che non ci avrebbe lasciato aprire per un paio di date del tour italiano dei saxon se non avessi accettato...
per carita', c'e' del marcio ovunque e senz'altro ho visto cose schifose anche qui in america ma purtroppo quello che l'italia ha di peggio e' che mentre negli USA se un artista sa' giocarsi la carte prima o poi trova una "via" in italia invece ottimi artisti vengono "stritolati" quotidianamente da figure "losche" del sottobosco musicale che col loro comportamento nauseabondo riescono a stroncare carriere promettenti fin dall'inizio...io, randy & john verremo in italia, se non in primavera/estate senzaltro prima della fine dell'anno e questa volta con un tour messo in piedi da gente competente e non da 4 dilettanti della domenica...
continuate a venire su questa pagina per avere le ultime sul nuovo album in preparazione e poi le date...
non vedo l'ora che il nuovo cd arrivi in italia e sopratutto non vedo l'ora di poter suonare LIVE per voi...
love...
alex
2/2/03
thanks to VH-1 CLASSICS for playing our old video GOD PROMISED A PARADISE...wow, what a flashback...i remember shooting that video in downtown LA with our manager at the time playing the role of the "bum"...too bad i hate that song now but seeing it played on TV put a nostalgic smile on my face...and please don't start writing emails of concern, no, i'm not taking the old spandex out of the box in the closet...
1/21/03
happy 2003 to all the maniacs that end up on this
site for one reason or another...let's have a good one...
it's been another crazy week....just got over one of the worst flu cases in my
recorded history...to alleviate the pains john macaluso inflicted another
incursion on your humble reporter having to finish mixes on the album etc, as
usual with john around one can't stay serious for more than 5 minutes so it was
5 days of manic laughter...
did 2 days of namm show, i'll write something about my feelings regarding those
things soon...
did some jamming with the "trio of doom" and john and most important witnessed
the birth of a new legend "the plain white wrapper"...john's alter rapping
ego...pure queens ghetto wop angst...i'll find a way to post an audio file of
this soon i hope...this shit is way too funny.
tentative titles for the "masi/macaluso" project : "tibetan punks"..."where's
the water carmine?"..."the kid is alright"...apparently there's still work to do
on that.
the european dates for the alex masi, john macaluso, randy coven tour in the
spring are being hammered out as we speak and will be posted here as soon as i
get them.
more to come...
12/27/02
my deepest condolences to shawn lane and his family for the death of his father... just last week i had sent material to shawn for him to start to record... it's a project i would be producing for him... of course now everything is on hold as the grieving process will require time... i hope the lane family including shawn will come out of this sad circumstance stronger than before... to all music fans in the cosmos, send all positive vibes in shawn's direction... talk soon brother...
12/04/02
FINALLY!!! ETERNAL STRUGGLE TO HIT JAPAN!
i'm pretty bloody happy to announce that finally after over a year of...struggle...the album will descend upon the land of the rising sun and sashimi. after 9/11 many projects fell apart especially the ones involving ventures overseas and this album has "enjoyed" a particular series of problems related to that factor. anyway, the label is highways records (special thanks to joshua and once again lasse for making it possible). this release will contain 2 bonus tracks ("rise up" and "deharesh"). i will announce here the official release date as soon as i know it. the usual speculation about a tour over there is also resurfaced but i won't say anything until i have something certain to announce.
the expected collaboration with fred curci has failed to materialize due to lack of consistency in the "financial department" and poor organization...i'm reasonable but i do draw the line at one point. anyway, good luck to him...
i will be appearing at the NAMM show probably with the "trio of doom" (myself with jeff allen on bass and paul marangoni on drums) more details in the next few weeks.
and finally, to all my fans and the fans of ARK and john macaluso in italy:
john will be doing the following drum clinics, do yourself a favor and go see him perform...he's a monster...tell him that i sent you and while you're there ask him to tell you the few italian phrases i taught him, anyway, here are the dates for john:
Monday, December 9th at The Bloom Club, Mezzago, Italy.
December 13th, Malanora Music, Avezzano, Italy.
Rome is being booked.
the masi/macaluso album is almost mixed... that's it for now, more news soon...
10/16/02
i recently recorded a solo for the uli jon roth tribute album soon to be released on lion music. sorry i don't remember the title of the number but i'll post it as soon as i find out. i'm also about to embark on a collaboration with singer fred curci of sheriff's fame ("when i'm with you"...big "chick" single in the late 80s) we'll see what happens with that one...i'm planning some surprise shows around los angeles with various indian and western musicians...stay tuned for more specific info
08/14/02
thank you to ConcertoNet.com (a website dedicated to classical music) for expressing on their prestigious site their wish that my "steel string bach" had been nominated for a Grammy Award. it always means a lot to me when anybody enjoys my work and it's even more humbling when the appreciation comes from people who are so discriminating when it comes to quality in music making.
....the sessions for the MASI/MACALUSO project are marching on despite the suffocating heat that has most of LA in its grip... stay tuned...
07/08/02
this is for my italian fans... recently an interview i did
months ago with the italian magazine "CHITARRE" appeared in the newsstands... in
it the interviewer asked me among other things if there was any truth to the
rumor that i was asked to join Vasco Rossi's band awhile back and i turned it
down. during the interview i denied the fact ever happened (which is the truth)
but to my amazement the magazine came out with a little caption after my denial
that said that Vasco's producer had confirmed personally asking me to join... i
have no idea why they would say that, i don't like telling lies, actually i
don't lie at all!... so i'm not too thrilled at the idea of being depicted as
not telling the truth and i find it a bit offensive that they couldn't take my
word for it and the magazine went ahead with confirming the rumour. I NEVER
SPOKE TO ANYBODY FROM VASCO'S CAMP... i respect Vasco's work and i wish him all
the best. i just hope the level of professionalism gets raised a couple of
notches in the italian music press.
i love you all from the alps to the bottom of the boot...
06/18/02
i want to thank each one of you that wrote in the past few months expressing your appreciation for the last album (eternal struggle) and/or the lion music/metalblade re-releases...
sometimes it takes me a little while to reply but i eventually try to get back to all of you. i always tell everybody that asks me in interviews or personally, i make music for myself initially but it's invigorating and beautiful to get a positive and sincere feedback from people that "get" what i'm trying to do, be it rock, classical, experimental or whatever... music is music in my humble opinion, art is art and it's out there in the ether to
make us "feel things"... it's such an improbable entity, can't touch it, smell it, see it and sometimes we can't even really hear it and yet we always feel it.
my wish is that art and music will play an always increasing role in the world because it's one of the few positive forces owned by man that can truly elevate consciousness.
my part is to do the best work i can, try to get better all the time and offer you my music, i hope you'll continue to listen and to stay in touch.
thank you
04/3/02
some international dates with john macaluso are being presently discussed.
3/14/02
john macaluso just left today... we had a great week of planning, drum editing, massive laughter, a "few" drinks and john got to meet the ghost that inhabits my house... lol
the drum tracks are superb both sonically and obviously performance wise. this project is going to be amazing!
...john if you're reading this i have 9 words for you... 2 talibans killed, 1 lost or dead cat and miss terecomy... lol see you soon brother!
03/05/02
eternal struggle will be released in russia
through FONO records, a deal has been signed with that company this week. a
round of vodka for everybody...
02/22/02
a deal has been signed to put eternal struggle in
records stores in brazil. the company is called hellion records and they are
based in san paolo, brazil. spread the struggle!
02/20/02
a deal has been signed with chavis records and
they will be distributing and promoting eternal struggle in the US. please go to
chavisrecords.com for
more info.
01/30/02
i'm about to sign an
endorsement deal with Farnell Guitars, myself and al farnell will meet this week
to sign the deal at farnell's office in pomona, california...
eternal struggle:
(the latest MASI the band album) has been out in europe since october (on lion
music) and there are nothing but great reviews popping out all over the place...
thank you to all who bought and will buy it... i'm very proud of that record, it
took a lot of "blood & tears" to make (the struggle is eternal...) look for it
in stores across the US as a distribution deal is getting closer each day but if
you can't wait please go to www.lionmusic.com
and tell lasse i sent you to buy your copy...
coming up:
a frightening collaboration is about to be revamped. the incredible john
macaluso (tnt/yngwie and now ark) with whom i had the pleasure of playing years
ago (he's also the drummer on vertical invader, a favorite of mine off my
catalog) is recording some drum tracks for a project still without a name that
will feature the two of us going psycho with a brand new approach... jungle
beats, postmodern acoustic music (lol... i made up that term just now), low
frequency sonic attacks and overall madness... i'll keep everybody posted on the
progress of this monstruosity.
i've also recorded a solo for a jeff pilson's tune (dokken) to be part of a charity album for the victims of september 11, the number is called "stranger in my own land" and it's very cool, also more solos to appear on another "condition red" album, the jason becker tribute album "warmth in the wilderness" out on lion music, has a solo of mine on the song "tell the truth" on which robin macauley also sings and lars mattsson plays guitar (i'm the distorted one at the end playing the "weird" notes)...
lion music will also re-release in the near future my old albums originally published through metal blade records, so all of you guys who always write asking for copies to replace the ones your dog ate or that your girlfriends took when they left you (just kidding...) will soon have the chance to buy again and relive the thrill... ahhhhhhhh
keep coming back for updates...
Alex Masi copyright 2004
All Rights Reserved