SUNDAD
The Journey Continues
(Sundad Records)

 

Sundad make music to calm the heart and soul. If that sounds like a bunch of New Age dross to you, check out the 2009 Sundad CD The Journey Continues. Contrary to popular opinion, New Age didn’t start with Windham Hill or Miramar Records back in the ‘80s. Astute musicologists may point to the early ECM releases and around that same time, from artists like Steve Tibbetts or even earlier with groups like Oregon or the Paul Winter Consort. Suffice to say, if you were fortunate to hear guys like Tibbetts and Paul Winter and groups like Oregon early on, you’ll love Sundad. Interestingly enough, the group is actually comprised of guitarist John Eurell and his son John Eurell Jr. So, hence the Son / Dad connection. Also lending support on percussion is Chet Soares. Instrumental acoustic guitar music at its finest, Sundad's The Journey Continues brings New Age into the future with a hypnotic and supremely relaxing album of meditative guitar magic. www.sundad.com

MUSIC WEB EXPRESS 3000 presents Guitars Center Stage
with John Eurell Sr. and John Eurell Jr. of SUNDAD
Guitarists making waves in the music world, their new recordings and gear!


Musical Background

John jr: Well, I was subjected to quite a bit of music growing up. My dad was in and out of bands playing all kinds of music, and I was brought along to many, many gigs. I started playing guitar when I was about 14 or so, when guitar-heavy rock was the rage. As I got older I experimented with funk, and jazz to a small degree.

John Sr: I have been playing the guitar for over 40 years. My musical experience includes rock and roll, hard rock, blues, funk, disco, and jazz and I have played with a number of well-known local bands in the Westchester, NY area including Electric Abraham and Satsang. I studied guitar with Sonny Sharrock, Alan Hanlon, Bucky Pizzarelli and George Barnes.

New CD

John Sr: Our latest CD is titled The Journey Continues. It was recorded in 2007/2008 at Couch Creative Services in Brewster NY (run by Buck Brundage the co-producer) and mixed/mastered by 3 time Grammy winner Phil Magnotti at Silvermine Studio. 99% of the guitar work was recorded acoustically. The engineer simply mic’ed the guitars – using his extensive knowledge of recording acoustic instruments. I layed down the rhythm track(s), then we would add the melody tracks, leads, bass tracks, and percussion tracks all in different sessions. The CD has done very well, ranking #13 on the NAR radio play charts for 2008. It also received a nomination for “2008 Best Instrumental Acoustic Album” in the New Age Reporter Lifestyle Music Awards and has been in the Top 100 Most played albums for 8 of the last nine months as tracked by New Age Reporter (June 08 through Feb 09). As you can tell by listening, the compositions on the album have influences from many different styles of music. When I compose my goal is to make the listener feel good and “at peace” you could say. My son and I feel we have accomplished that with this release.

Favorite Guitars

John jr: Heh, where to begin? I love anything with strings on it. My current guitar is a hand built from Canadian builder Trevor Kronbauer, just a fantastic guitar. Beautiful flamed myrtle wood back and sides, wenge purfling. Maple bound ebony fretboard. The pickup I use is a K&K Western mini. On the electric side of things, I’ve always had a soft spot for Les Pauls, though now I typically use hollow bodies and telecasters. Effects? I was big into distortion, chorus and delay as a youngster, but the older I got the more the effects went out the window for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to sit for a few hours in front of an amp tweaking knobs on my Line 6 Echo Park(among others), but for live playing? Just give me a guitar and an amp, or in Sundad’s case, an acoustic guitar and a PA system!

John Sr: I use a Guild DCE-3 acoustic guitar for live performances and recording. That is the guitar I used on both of our CDs. I love the tonal quality of the guitar both unplugged and amplified through our PA system. The action is wonderful on the guitar. It feels like a well setup Les Paul.

Musical Influences

John jr: And again, where to begin? There are just So many fantastic players and musicians who’ve made lasting impressions on my style. Initially it was players like Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Tom Scholz, and Eddie Van Halen. Then I found the acoustic John McLaughlin, who opened all kinds of new ideas and sound preferences. Bireli Lagrene is another monster. I always have to point to Bill Connors as probably my most profound influence, he was with Chick Corea and RTF on the album Hymn of the 7th Galaxy. That album just turned my world upside down. To this day I can’t get enough of that album…

John Sr: As I mentioned earlier I have been influenced by many styles of music and guitar. I have played in so many different styles of bands it has definitely affected the way I compose music now. I started out listening to Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, BB King, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, etc. As time went on I started listening to different Jazz guitarists such as Wes Montgomery, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Gabor Szabo, John Abercrombie, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Bill Connors, and more. I was also listening to other instruments – not just guitar – Jimmy Smith, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Paul Winter, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Wayne Shorter, and on and on. These guys were all great players. I think the albums that had the most influence on me were Spellbinder by Gabor Szabo, Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, I Sing The Body Electric by Weather Report and Light As A Feather and Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy by Chick Corea and friends. I mean I could go on forever with this stuff. There is just so much great music out there. I know I left a lot out.

Web Site

John Sr: Sure. Our web site is Sundad.com and you can contact us at info@sundad.com

 

 
   
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