GANG OF FOUR
You are presented here with four artists that served and came back from Iraq;
the gang of four.
These bios contain the backgrounds of each artist’s position in their lives before they were deployed. Some mention the posts they held and the impact it had on their music writing during and after their experiences. Some went back for a second deployment while others had enough that first time. That the music was made after their experiences in Iraq should leave it to the instruments not the artist's words to communicate to us the experience of..... ......BEING BACK FROM IRAQ!
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“Vietnam, me love you long time. All day, all night, me loveyou long time. Dropping acid on the Mekong Delta, smoking grass through a riflebarrel, flying on a helicopter with opera blasting out of loudspeakers,tracer-fire and paddy-field scenery, the smell of napalm in the morning. Longtime.”
― Alex Garland, The Beach
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1#
[GSARGBEATZ]
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| [artist artwork] |
ARTISTS: GSARGE BEATZ
TRACKS KNOWN FOR: JS REWARDS
GENRE: INSTRUMENTAL BEATZ
MILITARY RANK: SERGEANT
TIME SPENT IN THE ARMY: 8YRS
GSARGBEATZ, real name is Garry L. Brown (born, Sept, 30, 1980 in Houston, TX) son of gospel musical icon Anna Boney-Brown. Gsargbeatz one of Houston’s top music producers, he started making beats in 2005 while serving our country in the United States Army. Hence the name “Sarg”, Gsargbeatz served 8 years in the military along with 2 deployments oversea and 1 in Iraq. While deployed he spent his spare time mastering his craft producing and recording music.
After serving 8 years Gsarg got out of the Army in 2008, ready to take his career to the next level. With much determination and success on his mind, he along with another partner started a production company called Black Trak Entertainment. Grinding from June 2005- June 2012 G Sarg has created a phenomenal street buzz, working on various underground records and has become a household name to many up and coming hip hop and r&b artist.
LISTEN:
MY COMMENTS: Inexplicable dreadful sawtooth synth pitched down and gritty on JS rewards. Something early Mobb Deep would be proud of. Almost cinematic with the pads.
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| "O please God wake me." METALLICA |
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| [artist artwork] |
ARTISTS: FULL BIRD MUSIC
TRACKS KNOWN FOR: SOLDIER'S TIME
GENRE: ALTERNATIVE
MILITARY RANK: UNKNOWN
TIME SPENT IN THE ARMY: 10YRS
As a recording musician, WES COSTELLO excels in creating outstanding music across many genres. Guitar player by trade and with 20 years playing experience, his guitar sounds run the gamut from Eric Clapton and John Mayer to Guns ‘n Roses and Metallica. Although well-rooted in rock and blues, Wes also composes cinematic, contemporary electro/orchestral music in the style of John Powell and Hans Zimmer, as his film specialties include action/suspense, drama, and martial arts genres.
In 2006, having spent nearly 10 years in the Army and spending quite a long time in Iraq, Wes had lost most of his musical knowledge bank because he was so long out of practice, and he decided to really dig in and make music his passion again. Spending nearly 2 years practically relearning everything he could about his instrument and music, while at the same time cultivating relationships that might be mutually beneficial in his musical career, in 2008 he broke through and became a session guitar player at Score Concept (www.score-concept.com).
After expanding his musical efforts, Wes ventured into film scoring and multimedia projects. He soon began writing small bits for feature-length movies such as the award-winning Eyeborgs; The Intruders; and Never Surrender. With this experience, he cultivated smaller, short-film projects on his own including the award-winning martial arts short, "Five Minutes Flat" (www.naqproductions.com) a student-produced film titled "HazMat," and a web series titled "Searching."
MY COMMENTS: The pianos at the beginning sound as tense as Trent Reznor's work on The Social Network, but then the drums similar sounding to Michael Bay's The Rock kicks in before bowing out in video game guitar mode.
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| Woke up this morning desperation a.m |
3#
[STEVE MOHACEY]
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ARTISTS: STEVE MOHACEY
TRACKS KNOWN FOR: RETURN TO DARKNESS
GENRE: JAZZ NEW AGE
MILITARY RANK: UNKNOWN
TIME SPENT IN THE ARMY: UNKNOWN
STEVE MOHACEY was born in Munich, Germany, but calls Texas his home. Being an Army brat, his early childhood was marked with many moves. He grew up in San Antonio, where he attended high school. Steve began playing saxophone at age 12. He started college at North Texas State University, but finished at the University Of Texas at Austin in 1988 with a Bachelor of Music degree.
Steve was a member of the Disneyland All-American College Band in 1987, and was one of the Music Directors for Sea World of Texas in 1988. He taught high school band in East Texas, and then joined the Army band. He has played in bands with Peter Erskine, Bobby Shew, Bobby Mintzer, Adam Nussbaum, Diane Schuur and many others.
Steve's recording credits include "Mo in Seoul" with the Taste of Jazz quintet, "Monk Munch" with The Four Spot quartet, "Hip Hop Nation" with People Crew, "Sweet Lights, Sweet Music- LIVE!" with the Temple Jazz Orchestra, and most recently on "Baghdad Blues" with the Josh Distefano Quartet.
Steve has also played several shows, to include Five Guys Named Mo. He was a member of the UT Jazz Orchestra on the PBS special "Mirror Ballet", a four part jazz ballet which first aired in 1988. Having just returned from a yearlong combat tour in Baghdad, Iraq, Steve and his friends Josh Distefano, Chris Kerley, and Brian Archer are set to release 2 CD's of original jazz music which represents a musical diary of their experiences.
LISTEN:
MY COMMENTS: The encroaching opening notes remind me of the - its about to be a thunder storm - trumpets from Laurent Garnier's The Man With The Red Face. And at times of 80'/90's Spike Lee films. I could see it fitting in with the soundtrack of Jarhead when it starts to get Jazzy but by the final third it kind of mellows out to fast movement, move your body tones that says it's not over till its over.
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| "I feel like a beetle on its back!" GANG OF 4 |
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4#
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| [artist artwork] |
ARTISTS: AARON LEE MARSHALL
TRACKS KNOWN FOR: HEAVEN CAME DOWN
MILITARY RANK: MP
TIME SPENT IN THE ARMY: UNKNOWN
AARON LEE MARSHALL served from 2004-2005 in Baqubah Iraq as a Military Police Officer attached to the 1st Infantry Division. Originally in New Hampshires own ANG with the 2/197 Field Artillery unit, he was retrained as an MP and sent to the front lines. Divorce, PTSD and problems with Alcohol almost took his life before it began. But instead of giving up, he turned to music and released his debut album "Now Maybe" in late 2009 where it earned him a spot as one of the Top 5 Best-Selling Maine Artists in Down East Magazine.
It turned into a local phenomenon that perhaps saved his life. He then formed a band and began playing out at big venues like the Rochester Opera House and Boston's Hard Rock Cafe. Members included Alex Mills on percussion, Darren Finnegan on Bass, Scott Fleming on Lead Guitar and Scott Whittle on keys. Only a 2 months after the formation of the Aaron Lee Marshall Band as if was now called, he realeased a LIVE album called "Take it and Like it" (Named after a scene in a 1940's Humphrey Bogart movie).
Then he went into the studio to record his second studio album with Superior Media Group. He started searching out the best Maine Musicians around to help create the dream concept rock album he had been planning since his Tour of Duty in Baqubah, Iraq in 2004. Amazingly, he was able to get the licensing rights to use some material from the late comedian Bill Hicks who appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman 12 times. On his 12th appearance on the show he became the only performer to ever be completely censored and the entire act was cut from the show. Bill's passion for opening up peoples minds to the real truths in the world is why this album is named in his honor. "Its Just a Ride". Bill Hicks passed away of pancreatic cancer on Febuary 26th 1994. He was only 32 years old.
LISTEN:
MY COMMENTS: Distorted guitars, howling wah wah feedback, grungy bass, the stuff war movies are made of. The only track in this bunch that included lyrics, lyrics such as: 'Heaven came down for a time today, take me on a trip it's all the same / all the ones I really want to see will be dancing with the devil at the bottom of the sea.' In Aaron's words: some real trippy rock. Just when you think it's over it goes into Kasabian's Empire anxious crescendo strumming mode.
"Ought to control what I do to my mind
Nothing in there but sunshades for the blind"
GANG OF FOUR
Rae Burnz
