Skysaw - Photostream

On Flicker.

The Swerve - Skysaw Live Review

Skysaw at Hard Rock Cafe - June 28, 2011

Moar...

...The highlight of the show was "Cathedral." Chamberlin and Anthony Pirog traded riffs throughout until Chamblerlin let loose with a solo that brought the audience to their feet with wild cheers encouraged by Mike Reina. Chamberlin is a musician first, and his skill allows him to forsake the theatrics of other drummers. The ease with which he plays most songs allows the audience to underestimate him until he lets loose with a solo of this caliber.

While it would be great to see Skysaw play Pittsburgh again, hopefully they will land a venue more appropriate for their talent and sound.

Great Civilizations Reviews - Collected Here

I'll try and grab as many as I can, as they trickle in; hit up the comments if you see one I miss.

Cheers.

...Great Civilizations is rich with drum rolls that grab your attention, convicted guitar melodies and heart-felt lyrics. The whole album is an acclamation, a moving anthem. The tracks are arranged in a way that controls the mood; one song leading up to a frenzy the next turning the mood to a more reflective tone... >The Owl Magazine

...Chamberlin isn't able to play drums like it's 1995 (as he told this reviewer last Monday) but you'd be hard-pressed to convince listeners otherwise on album highlight "Capsized Jacknifed Crisis." His ridiculously fast but smooth stick work, and the pop rock behind this well-produced piece of work are pleasurable to listen to every time.... By the time you get through these 10 tracks, if you're like this writer, you'll appreciate and dig Chamberlin's new direction more than you thought you would and will definitely want to hear a follow-up to Great Civilizations, one of the more impressive debut records of 2011   >BlogCritics 

Skysaw’s debut album Great Civilizations is a tour of prog, arena, and quiet keyboard rock.  Pirog’s guitar hooks are fast and relentless; Chamberlin’s drums are tight and martial.  [Great Civilizations] reaches for the booming symphonies of Rush's Fly By Night or Moving Pictures. But only a handful of its 10 songs achieve those heights... One wishes Skysaw had included “Cathedral”, a seven-minute spectacle of shredded fury and ricocheting drum crashes the band has been playing at recent shows and one that could make Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart envious. > Washington City Paper

...in this ten song set that proves immensely listenable from start to finish and actually scales higher peaks as it works its way forward...Great Civilizations does occasionally bow to its handle with some sweeping sentiment. Indeed, songs such as the effusive "No One Can Tell," a soaring "Nothing's Ever Easy," and the ever-insistent title track diminish any cause to quibble about Chamberlin's intent...Great Civilizations excels on its own merits, a damn fine debut due the kudos the press is bound to toss its way. > BLURT

...Skysaw struts through modern rock with the kind of confidence you'd expect from a musician as sharp as Chamberlin (the song "Capsized Jacknifed Crisis" evokes its title primarily because of Chamberlin's superbly wrecked drums), and there's a wonderful '60s delirium along the music's edges -- backwards guitars (guitarist Anthony Pirog) and woozy bass wobbles and MGMT-worthy psychedelic voices (vocalist Mike Reina). > Chicago Sun Times []

Skysaw seems to be great prog simply because they do not try so hard to be great prog. Instead, they walk that fine line between complexity and accessibility, pooling their impressive musicanship to craft melodic riffs and textures that have the momentum of a roller coaster. As a result, Great Civilizations is accessible enough to be worth checking out, and deep enough to be rewarding in the long term From the Pharmacy of Dr. Spin

SKYSAW - GREAT CIVILIZATIONS - PRESS RELEASE

Just thought i'd post here, for posterity n all...

SKYSAW

Great Civilizations

Release Date: June 21

Dangerbird Records

SKYSAW is the new project helmed by Jimmy Chamberlin, who wants to make one thing clear at the outset: “This project is not the vision of one person. It’s a band, a total collaboration. After being in the biz for 25 years, I know unity holds the power and gets the job done. Skysaw is a full democracy, the sum of all our personalities. If it becomes huge, great, but it’s really about creating an environment to grow some musical ideas. No matter what happens, I’m still happy to keep doing it. It feels good to be in a room with these guys on a purely musical level.”

The seeds of Skysaw were planted after Chamberlin left the Smashing Pumpkins in 2009. Sitting in his home studio, musical ideas began pouring out at a rapid pace. “I recorded 25 or 30 tunes, instrumentals without lyrics. One day I told Bill Thomas, who helped set up my home studio, ‘If I could find a songwriter with a great voice who lives in his studio, I’d do another band.’ He told me about Mike Reina.

“I got Mike on the phone and he sent me some tracks with a dark Beach Boys meets Tom Waits feel. I knew if we could combine what I know about rock dynamics and what he knows about melody and songwriting, we could do something original. I flew him to Chicago to record a song and get to know each other.” Chamberlin and Reina had similar ideas about blending progressive rock with cohesive melodies and simple vocal harmonies. They started writing the songs that became Great Civilizations.

“We worked on the album for a year and a half and Mike kept telling me about Tony,” Chamberlin continues. “We finished a song called ‘They’re Watching’ and left a space for a guitar solo. We sent it to Tony and what he sent back was blistering. I was sold. We invited him to join and he’s been a fantastic asset to the band.”

The music on Great Civilizations is full of the contradictions that make compelling music, at once light and densely layered, simple and progressive, expansive and down to earth. “Capsized Jackknifed Crisis” shifts between a dreamlike verse and a dramatic chorus, propelled by Chamberlin’s powerful drumming and Pirog’s icy guitar accents. “This song shows my Eno influence,” Reina says. “The band is named after the first track on Another Green World.” Chamberlin’s half time rhythm and Pirog’s aggressive, almost metallic guitar generate the overwhelming tension that makes “No One Can Tell” so compelling. “I layered up loops, pedals, backwards guitar parts and lap steel to fill out the sound,” Pirog says. Reina’s vocal captures the tension of a man watching his life fall apart, while pretending that everything is normal.

“Great Civilizations” has the anthemic feel of a U2 track, with an uplifting vocal from Reina, supported by Chamberlin’s emotive stick work and Pirog’s complex guitar pyrotechnics. “I used the Edge’s delay pedal for this one and added a 12 string guitar part, a flurry of arpeggios and a lot of open string country guitar scales that weren’t easy to play,” Pirog says. “My right had was really tired when we finished that track.” Reina blended keyboard and guitar sounds to create the ominous instrumental harmonies of “All I Hear Is Snow.” His vocals slip in and out of focus, to convey the late night struggle of a man trying to stay awake at the wheel as the weather, and his life, slowly turn to darkness.

Great Civilizations was created with the trio writing, playing and producing the music themselves. “We played the basic tracks live in my studio or Mike’s,” Chamberlin says. “Mike’s a great arranger, but we all had input into every song. We did a lot of self-policing as the album progressed. ‘Is it good enough?,’ is the question you have to ask yourself, but we’re all perfectionists. I’m always touching up my drum parts and Mike does and redoes his vocals till he’s satisfied. We think that care shows in the music.”

Skysaw recently played their debut gig at the Complex in Los Angeles with Paul Wood and Boris Skalsky of Dead Heart Bloom filling out the line up. “The players were fantastic. We were well rehearsed and, to get a crowd in LA to even clap, is amazing,” Chamberlin crows. “We got a great response. People saw we were a real band. Even the record company people, who thought the group only existed in my mind, were impressed. I can’t wait to get on the road and start playing for the rest of the country.”

Meet SKYSAW

Jimmy Chamberlin was born in Juliet, Illinois, the youngest of six children. He father worked on the railroad and played amateur clarinet, informed by artists like Artie Shaw and Pete Fountain. “My older brothers and sisters were into music and listened to Dylan, the Doors, Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zep. Everything from Duke Ellington to Jimi was coming out of the rooms in our house,” Chamberlin says. “My older brother Paul was a drummer. When I was 7, I’d play on his drum kit in the basement. I took lessons with Charlie Adams, who played for Yanni later on, until I turned pro at 15.”

Chamberlin played with local rap/rock bands, but his bread and butter was a gig in the polka band of Eddie Karosa, who hosted a weekly TV show called Polka Party on WCIU. “From there I played in any professional group I could find. I was making 200 bucks a week, enough to buy a car and not have to work a day job. I played in polka bands and cover bands doing everything from Broadway show tunes to the Beach Boys. When the Smashing Pumpkins came to see me, they rescued me from blue sport coat cover bands. I was into progressive jazz at the time - Tony Williams and Weather Report. In the Pumpkins, I found my own way to express myself. I could do anything I wanted in that band.”

After leaving the Pumpkins, Chamberlin joined Billy Corgan and Matt Sweeny in Zwan. They made one album and broke up. “Then I started The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. From a musical standpoint, it was successful and continues to this day, but we haven’t released any music since our first album in 2005.” After rejoining and leaving the Pumpkins again, Chamberlin went home and started writing songs.

“I never wrote that much before and wondered where it was all coming from. I knew I needed someone who could sing and put lyrics to this stuff. Bill Thomas gave me Mike Reina’s phone number and after a short exchange of musical ideas, we agreed to work together.

Mike Reina was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. “When I was a boy, I used to sleepwalk and turn on the stereo every night. An early indicator of my love of music,” Reina says. “My father played piano, accordion and guitar. He had a nice Gibson nylon string that became my first guitar. I took piano lessons, but when I reached my teen rebel years, I stopped playing. I picked up guitar again in high school when I discovered The Beatles and kept at it. In college, I got a Rhodes piano and joined Inches to flood, a progressive rock band. I wasn’t the singer, but I did write the songs. That got me back into keys and led to synthesizers and an obsession with Roger Waters’ era Pink Floyd. I found a whole world inside my synth; I’ve been synthesizers them ever since.”

Reina was a fan of Phaser, another local outfit. After a conversation with band members Paul Wood and Boris Skalsky, he joined the band. “That was my first professional experience. When that came to an end, I built a studio and started a solo album. When I put together a band to do a one off gig to play some of the songs I’d been writing, it went so well I asked them to come in and add to the record.” Reina called the group The Jackfields. They became one of the top bands in the DC area. “I saw Anthony play one night and thought he was phenomenal. I asked him to join the band and he did. We were in the process of finishing The Jackfields album, when Jimmy called and we got sidetracked.”

Anthony Pirog grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC. His father played in surf bands in the 60s and bequeathed his son a 1963 Fender Jaguar. “I taught myself to play Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’ from a video I got from the library,” Pirog says. “From then on, I played all the time. My dad listened to Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, surf and doo-wop. I took it all in. I was in 15 different bands during high school. By my junior year, I was into free jazz and experimental music.”

A scholarship to a summer session at Boston’s Berklee School of music to study jazz guitar was a turning point. “I knew I wanted to be a musician, but wasn’t sure I could make it. Berklee was only offering 17 slots for that summer session. I decided I’d become a musician if I got a scholarship, so the decision as made for me.” After high school, Pirog stayed at Berklee for two years and finished his degree in Jazz Performance at NYU.

Pirog moved back to DC and became known for his shredding style and an ability to play everything from outside jazz to freak folk. He played in rockabilly, oldies and electronica bands as well as free form solo gigs that allowed him to explore the outer limits of his creativity. “I started a label called Sonic Mass Records to put out my first album, Beginning to End, solo improvisations for guitar. It was atonal, far out and experimental. That led to Janel and Anthony, a cello and guitar duo that I have with my girlfriend Janel Leppin, which got us deeper into the experimental scene. About a year ago, Mike came to one of my shows and asked me to join The Jackfields. I stayed for two years before moving to New York with Janel to play jazz. When Mike started working with Jimmy, they asked me to add guitar on a song they were working on. That got me involved in the project. They’ve given me the opportunity to play rock without limitations, so it will be interesting to see how far we can go.”

For more information, please contact:

Good Cop Public Relations

 Here's a picture or two;

SKYSAW - [Live Review]

http://stereosubversion.com/reviews/minus-the-bear-live-the-handlebar

I assume Skysaw takes their name from the Brian Eno song of the same name, because, like Eno, their music is full of tension, yet melody.  And, like Eno, they know the importance of texture.  Singer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Reina’s voice comes out like a mixture of Ted Leo and Peter Gabriel—a forceful tenor able to capture a melody and make it his own.  Skysaw’s drummer is none other than Jimmy Chamberlin, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins—a fact I found out only a day before the show. As always, his style is tight and rapid-fire, but oddly enough, a bit understated.  As it turns out, Skysaw was originally Chamberlin’s outlet for some of his new musical ideas post-Smashing Pumpkins, and Reina worked with Chamberlin to flesh out the ideas along with the other band members.  But Skysaw aren’t the single vision of anyone, as it’s clear that the band is well-rehearsed and embodies a symphonic space all their own.  I’m anxious to hear more from them in the future.

The Answer to Your Question, the Answer to Your Guess...

Jimmy Chamberlin and Mike Reina talk SKYSAW, Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, SP Archives and... Mike Byrne

Special thanks to John Prinzo we've got a couple of your questions answered below.
Check out his site or the suburbanapologist.com for the full interview. The whole thing is most definitely worth a read.

The typical trajectory of a band starting off is to tour then record – how does it feel to turn that concept on its head?

MR: It’s interesting to construct tightly wound songs and then go looking for the places where they can stretch out a bit live.

Who put together the orchestral arrangement on “Am I Second?”

MR: Jimmy wrote the orchestral arrangement, Anthony transcribed it and we recorded it at my place.

How many songs have you recorded as SkySaw?
MR: Eleven – I think and demoed probably 12-15 others.

What was Roy Thomas Baker’s involvement with the record?

JC: We worked with Roy early on.  Jimmy sent him “No One Can Tell” and asked if he wanted to be involved.  He loved the song and came out to my place to work with us for two weeks.  After the first two weeks we decided to remain insular and produce the record ourselves.  We started from scratch and continued working together as we had previous to our stint with Roy.  He was hilarious, by the way.

Have you changed up your kit for SkySaw? I noticed a few pictures that didn’t seem to have the left mounted 14” tom or quite as many cymbals. If so, is this a reflection of your approach to this sound or brand of music?

JC: I moved things around for one show. My configuration is the same.

(DP: The drummer for the Constellations, who are joining Minus the Bear and Skysaw on tour tweets: "Wanted 2 clarify-he's still using yellow Yamahas while his DW kit is being made."

What is the name of this song…

…and will it see a release?

JC: “Cathedral.” It is fairly new, not yet recorded and will be on the next release following Great Civilizations

Rumors are that the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex had a couple of tracks in the works, details?

JC: The complex lives and will rise up again at some point. Mohler and I started working on stuff before I left the Pumpkins and we continue to do so.  It’s really just a time issue. We are both very busy these days.

What, if anything, can you say about the upcoming Smashing Pumpkin re-masters and re-releases?

JC: I am very excited.  Those records are sacred to me and I’m thrilled that they will be Repackaged and marketed to another generation. The Pumpkins still have a lot to offer, old and new I’m sure.

As a respected musician and accomplished drummer, what is your summation of Mike Byrne? Ya know, if you were evaluating him or grading him or just your opinion.

JC: I think Mike is perfect for what Billy is doing now; a great drummer with an extremely bright future.

__________________________________
 Again, check out the full interview right, here

Another Interview with Mike Reina of SKYSAW

HERE

Including a little bit more talk about the cross-country collaboration involved the recording of Great Civilizations.

Mike Reina Interviewed about Skysaw

Right here

Apparently Mike writes the lyrics and they might play some festivals this summer

Jimmy Chamberlin's SKYSAW - LIVE

Well, last night Mike Reina, Jimmy Chamberlin and Anthony Pirog's SKYSAW made their long anticipated live début last night. They were joined on stage by touring members Paul Wood and Boris Skalsky. Here be a quick multimedia recap of some of the goings on.

JC's 'new' set up...

Pedal's galore - but apparently there's more! :o

A couple more photo's on this stream.

Thanks to: @lukasjudge, @stefangoldby & especially @cundinama (who I suspect & hope, will write a full review anon...)

Also super special thanks to TMS [regular] Dystopic who reports;

They played the first 5 songs off the EP, plus 3 other tracks.

Jimmy was playing a silver DW kit with a 10/12/13 (rack) 16/18 (floor) tom setup (my best guess, anyway). No 14" left mounted tom. Could have been a rental. Also, holy shit does Anthony Pirog use a lot of pedal...

I talked to Jimmy really briefly afterward, gave him props and then asked about tour plans and the upcoming record release. He said they're touring with Minus the Bear this summer and the record will have the This songs remixed,  plus others not on the This record.

This support slot alongside the aforementioned Constellations, for at least one of the dates, has as been confirmed by Steve Hall, of Steve Hall productions on facebook;

Supporting Minus the Bear at Sky City in Augusta Georgia on Memorial Day Monday, May 30, will be Skysaw & The Constellations, be sure to check both bands out! Adv tix are just $15 & on sale now at http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/organizationSearch.jsp?organization_id=755&cobrand=skycity

Lastly 'theeagleishere' has posted a couple of snippets over on his YouTube;

Here's one;




I think the most notable aspect of the gig, from reports so far is Jimmy's set up. I suspect that it may be down to getting in a rental kit, as others have suggested;  I can not imagine JC switching manufacturers at this point and from all the rehearsal photo's JC was still using his signature set-up.  He did of course mention that he was considering reconfiguring his kit at some point, when he was interviewed with Terry Bozzio.   I guess to know for sure we'll have to wait until the next show to get a better idea.

Until then, here's one last video of Chamberlin rocking an equally unique kit;

SKYSAW MUSIC VIDEO

Jimmy Chamberlin's Skysaw have a video! :)

SKYSAW

Anthony Pirog just got in touch:

SKYSAW are on Twittter: http://twitter.com/#!/skysawmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/pages/Skysaw/157990764248631
Website: http://www.skysawmusic.com/ (coming soon)

Record release > 16 APRIL

On the Brink of This...

A Look Inside: The Brink Studio

In the first in their series of "music geek pieces", Better Propaganda  brings us some shots of a studio called The Brink. The space is owned by Mike Reina.  Jimmy Chamberlin and Mike just finished recording the new THIS record there. Although, it appears to me that not all of the album was recorded there... Anyway, here's some words, from Mike and some piccys. Be sure to visit Better Propaganda for the full set of photos and texts....

Mike Reina: "Aside from the obligatory 4 tracking in high school and college, my recording experience was mostly limited to digital until my band got an MCI 1" 8 track. I hate to admit that a machine could have the power to change my life, but there is more than enough evidence in the racks to conclude that It did.

Since then, I have been assembling, disassembling and reassembling my studio with an obligation to keep all of this aging technology alive. There are plenty of people fighting that fight, but I feel an unnerving awareness that it will all slip away somehow, and that it's just a matter of time before it reaches relic status. As melodramatic as all of this sounds, I swear that I am not an analog snob!

I think digital platforms are great, but early on, I stumbled across the realization that the main benefit of tape wasn't it's great, vibrant sound. It was the edge of the canvas that it drew...the guardrail at the side of the highway. Limitation became my favorite influence on creativity. I began to see how limitation had guided my hand in all that I did leading up to this point in my life.

I graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Architectural Design and there, too, limitation was a driving force acting on my work. Recording with a tape machine felt like an extension of the creative process that had been slowly etching a path in my mind since school. In comparison, recording to Pro Tools felt like jumping off a cliff into a vast, blank sky. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face because the limitlessness was blinding.

I got along great with this old gear until one night, the tape wouldn't stop rolling...literally. If I was going to continue working with vintage equipment, I knew I would have to learn how to maintain it. To my own annoyance, I became rather obsessive about it.

The studio is centered around a 42 channel 1978 MCI JH-500 series console. I love this desk because it has Jensen input transformers for the microphones, output transformers, and a four band inductor based EQ section using switches instead of pots for frequency selection and boost/cut. I soldered everything in the studio directly to the back of the console. I record to an MCI JH-24 16 and 24 track depending on the song or project. I mix to an Ampex ATR-100 1/2" 2 track. My tube compressor/limiter collection includes a Gates SA-39B, Gates Sta Level, RCA 86A-1, Collins 26U-1, Collins 26W, (5) Federal AM-864/U, GE Unilevel, (2) Fairchild Model C. I built (2) 1176 clones, and adapted (2) Russian made tube EQs. I recapped and in many cases rebuilt all of the vintage gear in the studio."

THIS Photos

Lurking in the new media tab, you may well notice a couple of pictures of This, from back in Janurary this year. Check out Jimmy, Mike and the one and only Roy Thomas Baker, in Kiku Fukuzumi's photo stream.

_________________________________________________________________________

Update: 29 June 2010

With the kind permission of Kiku, take a look :)

Also check out Kiku's JC Website, it puts my blog to shame.

This

So, to date we know Mike Reina, Anthony Pirog and Roy Thomas Baker are involved thus far. Sounds promising to me judging by their respective works. I wonder if there'll be more to come?

I've added a couple of audio rips of the new This demo from the Big Beat and Clinic events in the download section if anyone wants them.

Until there's some more news, here's Jimmy demonstrating the drums to 'PSA' (Psycho Sonic Anomaly) by The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex at the SEE Drum Clinic.

Jimmy Chamberlin's New Band - This

Former Pumpkin beats out a smashing clinic

He's played stadiums, won a Grammy, sold millions of CDs and toured the world.

And yet Jimmy Chamberlin, former drummer for the 1990s alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins, was anxious before giving a free drum clinic for 200 fans Thursday at SSE Music.

"I'm used to three other people up there with me," Chamberlin said. "It's different on my own."

The evening was a mix of music and motivation. Chamberlin talked about drumming and played songs from his solo project, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, and his newest band, This.

But Chamberlin went beyond the music, encouraging people to follow their passion.

"Anything you do, make sure you can be happy doing it," Chamberlin said.

Drumming always has made Chamberlin happy, something he's done for 37 years. His idea of success, he said, isn't selling millions of records.

"I've seen people walk off the stage of stadiums miserable, and I've seen people playing smoky clubs who are lighting up the room with joy," Chamberlin said. "Fame and fortune doesn't equal happiness."

Chamberlin has followed his own advice - he left the latest incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins last March.

"For me, I felt like I needed to be more than a drummer," Chamberlin said. "I didn't feel like I had enough ownership. It's better sometimes to say ‘It's time to do my own thing.'"

That's where This, his latest band comes in. He describes the music as "progressive, symphonic pop," and said the band plans to hit the studio in January. It has challenged him musically and given him more freedom - things he finds essential for happiness.

"You need to find your own idea of what success looks like to you," Chamberlin said. "It all has to do with formulating a clear vision."

SSE Music usually has a drum clinic once a year, said owner Steve Earp.

"It's become a tradition," Earp said. "This is probably our largest one. It's our way of giving people an opportunity to see and hear a national artist."

Drummers Chris Paquette, 18, and Aaron Frost, 20, liked that Chamberlin talked about more than music.

"You usually just hear about technique," Paquette said. "I liked what he had to say about finding what you love, even if it isn't music."

"He took it beyond that level," Frost said. "He seems to really have a passion for it."

Jimmy Chamberlin Hints at New Band in Radio Interview

For those of you who missed the afore mentioned JC radio interview on WPGU 107.1 - 'True Alternative' - you can download and listen to it here, thanks for the recording Redbull, over on Netohria. 

OK. So Jimmy was in the main promoting the Big Beat charity event. But with regards to new music; No mention of Jon Brion or the Starlight Orchestra. However, he said that he's been working on a new, as yet untitled, band with Mike Rayner (sic?) ED. Reina (cheers HU) and they have around 12-15 songs. Hopefully they'll be recording in January and releasing something in March. However, don't expect him to be blogging, creating a website or promoting anything before the music is complete... "Trying to sustain something that doesn't really have a foothold yet gets really tedious... i'm not into talking about how great something will be when it comes out...".

He also says as a huge music fan (paraphrasing) he 'doesn't have enough time to listen to ten songs from an [album], let alone sit around and listen to people bitch about people not listening to albums any more... it seems kind of silly'.

Check out a couple of Mike's other bands here: Phaser and The Jackfields. This makes me excited.

Listen to the interview: