Dave Weiner

Dave Weiner ‎- On Revolute - 2010 - Revolute Records

"On Revolute" is Dave Weiner's second studio recording. It features 11 tracks, 76 minutes of today's most cutting edge progressive guitar playing. Dave's songwriting style is very focused on creating just that, a song, not a backing track with guitar wankery all over it. The songs are aimed at musicians and non-musicians alike containing verses, choruses, strong melodies, ear-catching hooks and clever ideas that will make players say "I wish I thought of that!" Dave is best known for his 11-year tenure in the Steve Vai band ('99 - present). Dave also created and hosts the internet's premier guitar education video series entitle Riff Of The Week® which started in November 2005 and airs every single Wednesday. – from Album Notes @ & © http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/DaveWeiner

I’ve been following Dave Weiner for quite a while now after realising he was the rhythm guitarist in Steve Vai’s band a few years back which in itself is no mean feat, you can imagine how particular Mr Vai is so you need to be a bloody good guitarist for the job. Another reason I have been following Dave so closely is his excellent Riff Of The Week series on YouTube which recently has included riffs from his new album “On Revolute”. “On Revolute” is not your typical shred album in fact I wouldn’t even call it shred, it is a very easy to listen to melodic album with moments of absolutely brilliant guitar playing, clever use of effects, great orchestration and brilliant production, it is very much like a film score. The opening track “The Calm” is very aptly named, it is the calm before the storm with atmospheric reverse guitar effects, slide melodies and crunchy clean leads that has nice layering and dynamics and gently leads out with an acoustic guitar into “Ignition” which is the exact opposite and is really a kind of showcase track as Dave displays not only his melodic side but also his Vai-like precision technique and shredding too, it has a really catchy chorus and infectious drum grooves. “Ignition” also carries through the Slide playing from the opening track with a solo in the middle. This is one of my favourite tracks it just has so much energy and memorable melodies that you’ll be whistling after hearing the track a few times. Dave Weiner is not afraid to experiment with effects and “Dismantle” is a good example with it’s use of Delay to create rhythmic patterns and the Digitech Whammy pedal on the main theme, you can see how the main theme works with the Whammy in Dave’s recent lesson on YouTube. The opening chords of “Blue Fade Silver” sound like something Steve Vai would compose but the layered melodies are certainly Dave’s style, hard to describe but Dave creates certain sounding melodies throughout the album that share a common theme maybe it is the scales he uses but it’s cool how the tracks gel together so well. This is another of the uptempo rock tracks but it does break down a lot with some nice clean tones. “Moonlight Path” is an acoustic track with some cool triplet phrases and multi-tracked harmony lines. It definitely shows a different side to Dave’s playing and builds to a section where electric guitar is introduced before reverting to an Acoustic outro section. It is a really nice relaxing track to listen to. “One Day More” begins with a minute of solo guitar and interesting delay effects setting up the main theme before the band comes in and the main theme is reintroduced with the main lead guitar. This is a pretty laid back track with key changes that create moments of tension that are then resolved, all the time the acoustic strumming figure creating a solid backing to drive the track, this acoustic figure segues into the following track “Traces Of Breath” creating a seamless extension developing the acoustic theme into its’ own track with a dramatic strings backing accentuating the melody. These two tracks are a good example of why I think the album is like a Movie soundtrack, very atmospheric and musical. “The Mojo Rhyme” begins with an awesome baseline before the lead guitar comes in with a theme that wouldn’t be out of place in Top Gun, it is very Steve Stevens! The main track launches into a funk rock style track with nice distorted Stratty tones as well nice thick lead tones presumably from one of Dave’s many humbucker equipped guitars. Again this track has one of those hummable sections in the middle of the track, thick with multiple layers of guitars. I think some of Steve Vai’s production influence has rubbed off, this album sounds amazing with headphones on. “Other Words For Beautiful” is a ballad showing a little of Dave’s jazzier side, nice tones, nice melodies, job done. “Reflections” is a cool track that begins with a nice delay effect, it sounds like the Eventide at work and it builds for about a minute and a half and sounds like it is going to take off before dropping back to the start theme again before building again and again. The entire 7:15 is entirely comprised of guitars, no drums, no bass and just a little bit of keyboard and it is captivating and leads so well into the title track “On Revolute“. The final and of course title track “On Revolute” is an epic piece of music, a second over 12 minutes and takes you on a journey starting with a quiet clean guitar intro with hypnotic guitar backing. After a couple of minutes building on this melody and improvising Dave brings in the rest of the band, quietly at first slowly introducing the main theme with different backing treatments. Around the 4 minute the track finally erupts into the main section which has a majestic, anthemic style. Each time this theme is reintroduced it is more powerful than the last. This is the masterpiece of the album to me, so many dynamics and strong themes. The first time I heard the album I thought it was good, by the 3rd and 4th time I realised it was great. If you would like to order the album head over to Dave’s website – http://daveweiner.com You can also follow dave on Twitter @daveweiner Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/daveweiner And of course his excellent YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/daveweiner - See more at: http://guitarnoize.com/review-dave-weiner-on-revolute/#sthash.wwe3jPH6.dpuf You should follow me on twitter Posted by & © Jon in Reviews @guitarnoize June 16, 2010 at 12:00 am - See more at: http://guitarnoize.com/review-dave-weiner-on-revolute/#sthash.wwe3jPH6.dpuf © 2013 Guitar Noize. All Rights Reserved. http://guitarnoize.com/review-dave-weiner-on-revolute/

Dave has said the following about “On Revolute”, “I wanted to do the second record around 2006, but touring got in the way. I tried to write and record on the road, but that’s next to impossible. So I would record little ideas casually to start building up the concepts. When I starting planning for record number 2, I was at a fork in the road with my playing. I loved what STSA was: very composed, orchestrated, layered, dramatic. But in recent years, my preferences have heavily turned down the improvisational path. I have a fusion/improv trio back in Philly named ‘Jace’ with Mike Kernicky (drums) and Rob Smith (bass). Jace is all about the opposite of what I usually do. It’s good friends who get together, stuff our faces at Nick’s Roast Beef then jam for hours… no prep, no work, just 3 musicians feeding off each other creating musical stories through improv. It’s easy. It’s the best. And these cats are serious; trained in all sorts of genres with dynamics and ears to match and better anyone. They’re the reason I’m the player I am today. In early 2008, I just didn’t feel I was ready to produce a serious recording of fusion improv. As much as I wanted to, I felt it was a better decision to do a follow-up to STSA while I continue to up my game in the improv world… meaning the new record will be more ‘rock’, more composed and orchestrated… and that’s fine, because I left STSA short and had a lot more of that to say in big, big ways. I had the idea to write the new record front to back; meaning song 2 wouldn’t be worked on until song 1 was finished and so on. That way, I could create a flow to the record that is otherwise overlooked. I wanted this record to be like STSA but times a million on all levels: playing, producing, engineering. I wanted stronger melodies and hooks and have at least one element in every song that would leave players saying ‘man, I wish I had thought of that.’ This kind of writing took time, from January to June of 2008. Recording took place during the next 6 months of the year… and then I had to stop. I was a bit burnt. I worked hard on this record and needed some space to regain perspective, so I shelved it for a good 6 months. I was offered a job teaching at the music school I attended, Musician’s Institute. I happened to be feeling that I needed to get back into the middle of things (career wise) and make myself readily available again. I still want to work in a vocal project and I’d like to tour with more artists. I already have a strong network in LA, so it just made sense to head back to the center of camp so to speak. Mixing took some time due to how long and dense this record is. I’m not a perfectionist, but it had to be right. That, plus the fact that I do it all myself (for the most part) made things take a bit longer than expected. But it was worth it.. this was a serious record and it turned out amazing.” So from conception to release, this album took over four years to get right. A reviewer on Amazon.com called this album a “series of musical ideas that were carefully crafted together”. Dave has said that “Instrumental wasn’t my first choice. I know its limitations. Not all, but a good amount of instrumental guitar music simply sounds like someone practicing over a backing track. I wasn’t hearing a song. I didn’t hear verses, choruses, melodies, hooks. I didn’t want to produce that kind of music. If I was going to make instrumental guitar music, I was going to do it a completely different way. I want musicians and non-musicians alike to enjoy my music. Even though it doesn’t have vocals, you can still hear the distinct parts: the melodies, the hooks.” Anyway, originally Dave Weiner’s music was good enough to impress Steve Vai, so much so that he was asked to join Steve’s band. You can read about this @ http://www.daveweiner.com/bio/ “On Revolute” is an outstanding instrumental progressive rock album. A lot of time and effort went into the creation of this album, so give it a listen and try and listen to Dave’s “Shove The Sun Aside” album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 168 Mb]

TRACKS

1 The Calm 1:55
2 Ignition 5:10
3 Dismantle 8:23
4 Blue Fade Silver 8:31
5 Moonlight Path 6:57
6 One Day More 8:48
7 Traces Of Breath 4:08
8 The Mojo Rhyme 6:50
9 Other Words For Beautiful 6:04
10 Reflections 7:15
11 On Revolute 12:00

All tracks composed by Dave Weiner

MUSICIANS

Dave Weiner - Guitar, Bass
Devin Bronson - Additional Guitar on Track 4
Chris Maute - Bass on Tracks 6, 8
Bryan Beller - Bass on Track 10
Tony Macalpine - Piano on Track 7
Les Cleveland - Drums
Mike Kernicky - Drums on Track 10

BIO (WIKI)

Dave Weiner (full name David Jason Weiner, born on September 24, 1976) is an American guitarist, most widely known for being one of Steve Vai's touring guitarists. He also posts instructional videos, called the "Riff of the Week", every Wednesday on YouTube, iTunes and his own website. He also gives online lessons. Weiner first joined Vai's band when Weiner went to Los Angeles to go to GIT. During his time there he got a job as an intern for an office, and his boss at this office knew Steve Vai. He would deliver paper to Vai's house, and Weiner got to know him personally and subsequently gave him a demo. About two weeks later his boss got a phone call from Vai and was asked to come over to Vai's studio, learn fourteen songs, and go on tour with him. Weiner continues to tour on Vai's personal tours as well as with G3. Weiner has also released three solo albums. The first, entitled Shove the Sun Aside was released originally in June 2004 on the Meyer Jane Music label and re-released in March 2005 on Favored Nations. It is an instrumental album on which Weiner primarily plays a seven-string guitar. Weiner continues to tour with his own band. His second album On Revolute started shipping on May 25, 2010. His third album contains 10 acoustic songs and is titled A Collection of Short Stories: Vol. 1. It was released August 10, 2012.