Inside MusiCast

When he was only 13 years old, Joe Vana’s life was forever changed through a chance meeting with Survivor’s Jim Peterik. As Joe will tell you, Jim taught him everything he knew about music and the music business. But it wasn’t until he was 28 years old that he discovered his voice, but when he did he became Peterik’s in-house demo singer for many years. Joe and Jim eventually created a band called Project Voyager, which ultimately became Mecca. In 2002, Mecca released its debut, self-titled album that featured David Hungate on bass, Shannon Forrest on drums, Fergie Frederiksen and Joe on vocals, Mark Aquino on guitars and Jimmy Nichols on keyboards. Nine years later, Mecca released their follow-up titled “Undeniable” and on October 14 of this year, Mecca released the band’s third album “Mecca III.” Here to discuss the new album is Mecca’s Joe Vana.

Amy Holland has been surrounded by music since the day she was born.  Her mother was a singer and performer and her father was also involved in the music industry.  She headed to LA when she was only 15 years old to pursue her own career in music, which is where she met Michael McDonald, who co-produced her first album and eventually became her husband.  Amy was on top of the world with her top 40 hit “How Do I Survive” and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1981, along with a follow-up album in 1983.  After a lengthy and difficult battle with cancer, Amy returned to music and released her third studio album in 2008 titled “The Journey To Miracle River.”  Amy’s musical journey continues and a few weeks ago she released the brand new album “Light On My Path.”  Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Amy Holland.

Six years ago, Inside MusiCast discovered an incredible band out of Minneapolis called Terramara.  When we heard their music, we just knew we needed to invite the band’s front man, Rob Meany, to be a guest on our show.  Since that interview, Rob has focused his efforts on writing songs for a brand new album, but not for Terramara.  This time Rob has created a debut solo album titled Ferris Wheels Unbound which he released on May 1 and contains 12 new tracks that explore Rob’s singer/songwriter approach, as well as some tracks reminiscent of Terramara.  Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome back to the show, Rob Meany.

On this episode of Inside MusiCast, we welcome back Jon Herington to discuss his new album, “Adult Entertainment” that will be released tomorrow - June 14. This is Jon’s first studio release since “Time On My Hands”, which was released four years ago. Since then, Jon has been busy touring with Steely Dan, Madeleine Peyroux, completing his book of arrangements and tablature for guitar, as well an instructional video. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Jon Herington!

Since 1992, Don Breithaupt has steered his band Monkey House on a path of musical progress.  In 2012 when we first connected with Don, the band had just released their third album “Headquarters,” which caught the attention of all us here at Inside MusiCast – most notably how their songs contained a heavy melodic approach reminiscent of Steely Dan. The band’s latest album “Left,” which will be released on June 3, picks up where “Headquarters” left off and includes contributions from some incredibly talented guest musicians, including Elliott Randall, Drew Zingg, Michael Leonhart, Jay Graydon. Kim Mitchell, and Lucy Woodward.  “Left” contains brilliantly crafted songs that may be the band’s finest collection to date.  In fact, during our chat with Don today, you’ll hear the world premiere of a few songs from the album.  Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Don Breithaupt.

On this episode of Inside MusiCast, we welcome one of the greatest voices in the history of popular music, Jon Anderson. The original voice of Yes, Jon has been creating music for close to five decades and shows no signs of slowing down. He is currently on the road with Jean Luc Ponty and will soon reunite with Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin to create more Yes inspired music. But that’s only the beginning, as Jon’s musical spirit is filled with galaxies of music with his best work yet to come. Inside MusiCast is honored to welcome a music legend, Jon Anderson.

In cooking, there’s always that secret ingredient that make a dish special. In the LA music scene, Lenny Castro has been that secret ingredient for decades.  Lenny has recorded and toured with hundreds of major recording artists throughout his amazing career. His mastery of percussion has made him a first-call studio musician and one of the most recorded in the history of popular music.  Lenny had the good fortune to not have to “pound the pavement” for his first gigs in LA. It was Melissa Manchester who encouraged the teenage New York native to follow her to LA. He didn’t think twice and took the job.  One contact led to another and he found himself playing gigs on a regular basis. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome the legendary  Lenny Castro.

Michael Sherwood hails from a deep lineage of musicians, and similar to his family members, Michael has formed a solid career in the music industry. From his early days growing-up in Las Vegas and forming the band Lodgic, Michael eventually befriended the Toto band members, which led to his long-time friendship with Steve Porcaro. In addition to his songwriting collaborations with Steve, Michael has also worked with Air Supply, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe, Chris Squire, Conspiracy, Circa, Lisa Loeb and Andrew Rosenthal and their incredible Swifty’s Bazaar album project. Recently, Michael was involved with both David Paich and Steve Porcaro with writing duties on Toto XIV and has co-produced Steve Porcaro’s soon to be released debut solo album titled “Someday Somehow”. Inside MusiCast welcomes Michael Sherwood.

While Inside MusiCast has focused on bringing you the legendary musicians who have helped to shape the world music, we’re always keeping our ears peeled for the next generation of musicians who will keep this spirit alive and ongoing. On today’s episode, we turn our attention to the Los Angeles based jazz, funk and soul trio, Organ Freeman. While the band’s name might make you snicker, their music will definitely put a smile on your face and a new groove in your soul. This fresh, new band is starting to make a name for themselves in Southern California and the Bay area, so we thought we’d help spread their music and their story. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome organist and key bassist Trevor Steer of Organ Freeman.

Great musicians make great albums, but when you add a world class recording engineer and producer to the mix, you can take your project to another level. For nearly six decades, this is exactly what Al Schmitt has done for the world of music. Since the late 1950’s, Al Schmitt has engineered and produced thousands of album projects for some of the most well-known artists in the world, such as Henry Mancini, Sam Cooke, Jefferson Airplane, George Benson, Steely Dan, Toto, Michael Franks, Pablo Cruise, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, Tower of Power and so many more. Al’s approach to recording and producing music is as much about simplicity as it is about technicality. His ears and his instincts are the heart of his craft, as well as his ability to be the musician’s best friend in the studio. At 85 years young, Al Schmitt continues to be a first call engineer and his plate is full for the coming year. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Grammy award-winning engineer and producer, Al Schmitt.