New single released – Virtuality

Dan has just released Virtuality, a new single from his upcoming EP, Edgyometry. This is a song about compromises to humanity posed by trendy technology. Also produced by Scott Mathews, Virtuality features Dan on lead and rhythm guitarist, trumpet, and vocals. Scott plays drums, bass, organ, and a mean slide guitar lick in the bridge. Listen carefully to the end of the song. You’ll hear an ambulance in the background. That isn’t some weird sound effect. A very loud ambulance was really passing by the studio during the drum take.

Listen here to the whole song, which will be here for a week. Also, stream it on Spotify or download it at CD Baby.

Are losing your connection to reality today?

Are the Joneses that you kept up with now moving far away?

That endless cyber highway has really messed your mind.

Choking you with choices that the cavemen left behind.

 

Well it’s so hard to be in the know all the time.

Your image takes you over and messes up your mind.

Oh it’s so hard to say — return to Earth again.

 

Are you losing your direction in Virtuality?

Has your vain and fickle nature finally brought you to your knees?

Pledging service to the server sounded great until you tried

To keep your fragile self from getting swept up by the tide.

 

Mr. Hypemeister man, chasing gadgets in the rain.

Tell me, what’s the chance you will catch them all again?

Mr. cool cyber man with your pipeline to the wind,

Blowing out your candle to do it all again

 

Make all your appliances dumb again today

You don’t need a processor to tell you what to say

Maybe then you’ll find a way to humanity

Knocking down the altar of smart technology.

 

Well it’s so hard to be in the know all the time

Your image takes you over and messes up your mind

Oh it’s so hard to say — return to Earth again

Blowing out your candle until the bitter end

 

Single “Refuge of Eternal Silence”

Introducing Refuge of Eternal Silence, the first single from Dan’s upcoming EP. (Click to watch the video). Written by Dan. Produced by Scott Mathews. Engineered by Tom Luekens. Recorded at Tiki Town Studio in Mill Valley CA. Dan plays all the guitars and trumpets, and sings all the vocals. Scott plays drums, bass, mellotron, organ, and piano. That’s Ringo Starr’s snare and Mick Fleetwood’s bass drum you’re hearing – part of Scott’s collection. Bass lovers may detect the sweet sound of Scott’s 1962 Hohner bass guitar (the same model and year that Paul McCartney played in the Beatles). See the tags for this post that present the musical influences on this song.

Watch the video directly on Youtube

Download the song from CD Baby

Stream it on Spotify

Spotify Playlist – TRICKLE DOWN MUSIC

Listen to Dan’s new Spotify playlist, TRICKLE DOWN MUSIC, which includes Refuge of Eternal Silence and also a whole bunch of inspirations for it. This is how Dan explains the selections.

“Lyrically, the song is kind of dark, so I put on the playlist a bunch of dark songs like The End by the Doors, Bella Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus, Sue (Season of the Crime) by David Bowie, and Karma Police by Radiohead.

Musically, Refuge of Eternal Silence is a mix of epic prog rock and psychedelic. So, I put some pretty crazy sounding psychedelic songs on the playlist such as Collideascope by XTC (under their other name Dukes of the Stratosphere) Born Cross-Eyed by the Grateful Dead and Cabin Essence by the Beach Boys. On the epic Prog Rock epic side, the playlist has some of my favorite songs by Pink Floyd, Genesis, Procol Harum, King Crimson, Opeth, and Steven Wilson.

Refuge has a mellotron part on it, a tape-based psychedelic keyboard used a lot in 60’s and 70’s. So you’ll hear a lot of mellotron on the playlist. The mellotron sound that my producer Scott used on Refuge was given to him by Mike Pinder, from the Moody Blues. That’s Pinder going nuts on his mellotron in my Moody Blues playlist selection, Higher and Higher.

In honor of the lush Beatles-ish melodic groove in the song, I put one of my favorite songs by Squeeze on the playlist, called There’s No Tomorrow. In honor of the long vamp I put in Refuge at the end, the playlist starts with one of the greatest dark and epic vamps of all time, the Beatles’ I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

PLEASE — IF YOU LIKE TRICKLED DOWN MUSIC, CLICK THE “FOLLOW” BUTTON. THE MORE FOLLOWERS, THE MORE SPOTIFY MAKES DAN’S MUSIC ACCESSIBLE FROM SEARCHES, AND THE MORE ACCESSIBLE IT IS, THE MORE PEOPLE GET TO ENJOY IT!

Dan performs live on TheEdgeofInsanity Show

On Sunday November 5, 2017, Dan’s appeared on comedian Paul Brumbaugh’s radio show, The EdgeOfInsanity.  Listen here to Dan’s interview and performance. Dan plays a new song live, talks about the upcoming EP Edgeometry and previews a couple of tracks from it, Virtuality and Silver Moon. Also on the show is Patrick Carlin, comedian, author, and brother of the late, great George Carlin, Listen here to excerpts from the podcast:

For more about EdgeOfInsanity, go to Facebook. To listen to a podcast of the entire two hour show, go to ITunes.

If you like EdgeOfInsanity, don’t forget to give Paul some Facebook support with your Likes, Follows and Shares!

 

Refuge of Eternal Silence Lyrics

Words and Music by Dan Zalles. Copyright 2017.

Verse 1

Light beams filling emptiness, grayness stirring night.

Twisted joy of solitude, blurring wrong from right

Crazy embers of my love, crying in my sleep

Come into my mirror now, and plunge into my deep

 

Chorus 1

Walls of glass, dripping ceilings.

Golden blankets hide the needing.

Murmured echoes dance in triumph.

Refuge of eternal silence.

 

Bridge

Take me away, for just one day.

 

Verse 2

Boredom turns to madness, madness turns to strife.

Pausing all the emptiness and sorrow in my life.

Multiplexing tyrannies swallow up my soul.

Breathing life into my fears too fickle to control.

 

Chorus

Caving arms of endless hallways.

Dusty statues block the doorway.

Shattered dreams betray the highlands.

Refuge of eternal silence.

Walls of glass, dripping ceilings.

Golden blankets hide the needing.

Murmured echoes dance in triumph.

Refuge of eternal silence.

About Producer Scott Mathews

Dan had a wonderful experience recording Refuge of Eternal Silence and his upcoming EP  with Scott Mathews at Scott’s Tiki Town Studios in Mill Valley, CA. With over 40 years in the music business as a music producer, arranger, composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, Scott has sold more than 40 million units, and has generated more than 30 RIAA Gold and Multi-Platinum Awards in pop, alternative rock, R&B, country, blues and dance music. A partial list of Scott’s artist credits include; George Harrison, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Steve Miller, B.B. King, Todd Rundgren, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and David Bowie, plus and 80 more Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, his work in films has won multiple Academy Awards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Mathews

Dan’s upcoming EP “Edgyometry”

Stay tuned on this site for the release of Dan’s new EP, Edgyometry, produced by Scott Mathews. You could say that each song is a little about insanity. Refuge of Eternal Silence, the first single, is about the dark, troubled side of insanity. The music is grandiose and melodic, but also edgy, brooding, and melancholy. Dancing With the Clowns is kind of how you’d imagine a good trip. The music is bouncy. happy, upbeat. Virtuality is about the insanity that has to some to so many with our obsession with social media and technology. Silver Moon, a ballad with a wide open spaces feel, is about ghosts and haunted houses. Too bad Halloween just passed!

Dan, the ever-struggling, ever-indecisive artist, can’t decide which of these to release next. What do you think? Write a comment…

About Engineer Tom Leukens

Scott calls Tom his “Chief of Stuff’. A great guy and brilliant musician who really knows his way around a sound board. Tom has worked with Scott for the past 21 years. He does all the fine tuning and tweaking that’s needed to turn great performances into great recordings.

Dan’s song appears in film “The Big Meet”

Dan’s song THE SUN’s STILL SHINING ON ME appears in Christian Elder’s THE BIG MEET, which premiered on August 26th, 2017 at 10:30 pm on ShortsTV. ShortsTV is on DirecTV (Channel 573) and AT&T U-Verse (Channel 1789). Dan wrote the song and plays trumpet on it. Marcus Barone produced it and Bernadette Conant sings it.

Learn more about THE BIG MEET on Facebook and Youtube.