As I travel around, my mind contemplates a variety of things. Often, this helps my writing, and I will use the voice recorder on my phone.
One thing that’s become abundantly clear is that I’m getting my money’s worth from my subscription to Sirius XM. I got nearly all the NFL games I wanted to listen to last year, along with Rangers baseball and plenty of Premier League football. And the fantasy sports channel actually has some people who look at real numbers. Good stuff.
Of course, many of them are music. Most are rock, including several metal channels. In general, I’m listening to a broader range of music than ever before. The bad news is that my CD buying list is getting larger.
There is an oddball channel, oddball at least in terms of every other music channel. There’s a channel that plays 1930s and 40s big band stuff. Glen Miller, Glen Gray, Andrews Sisters, Duke Ellington, that sort of stuff.
And now what I desperately want is for Mike Portnoy to gather a bunch of musicians do an album of hard rock / metal covers of big band songs.
Part of this stems from Sam Nunn’s Evolution of Metal documentary where he looked at the roots of metal. One of the people he talked to was Bill Ward, drummer for Black Sabbath, who pointed out how the power of big band songs was taken by Black Sabbath and their successors. Look at “In the Mood,” for example, and think of its up-tempo beat. Now imagine metal guitars hammering that rhythm, maybe alongside trumpets, maybe not, but I hear something that could be really awesome.
Why Mike Portnoy? I can’t think of anyone who has collaborated with more hard rock and heavy metal musicians right now, plus he has a broad, jazzy, progressive rock background that could translate well.
Who are some of the others I’d like to see? Well, I’d love to hear Jonathan Davis and Maynard James Keenan. Bruce Dickinson would be awesome. And, of course, my favorite voice right now, Serj Tankian. I don’t like Lady Gaga’s music, but I don’t know too many with better voices. Put her with Lizzie Hale and one of the Nightwish singers and you could do some amazing Andrews Sisters number.
Oddly, I’d like Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill simply for their voices, despite the fact one’s a drummer and the other’s a guitarist, because King’s X has some of the best harmonies of any hard rock band ever.
On guitar, I want to hear what Zakk Wylde would do. Scott Ian, with his hip-hop metal collaborations, would add an interesting feel. Given Ward’s comments, I’d want Tony Iommi. Joe Satriani and John Petrucci would add a diverse feel, though I don’t know if Petrucci would be willing to work with Portnoy given their past. All these would be good, but the two I most want are Richie Blackmore, with his interest in translating medieval music to modern guitar, and Alex Lifeson. It’s not like Alex is working on any thing else right now.
Same would be said for Geddy Lee. He’d be my first choice. Gotta include Dug Pinnock, and the thought of Lee and Pinnock having a bass off just gives me chills. I also think Steve Harris would have a blast.
On drums, this might be the one project Neil Peart might join, if he got a chance to do some of Buddy Rich’s music. Mike would of course be the primary drummer, but I’d also want Bill Ward and I’d bet Ginger Baker would jump at the chance, assuming he can still play.
These are the names that come to mind quickly, but I’m sure there’s more.
As for songs, I’d want a mix of the big ones like “In the Mood,” but it’d be neat for them to pick some of their personal favorites.
So. Who do I know can tell Mike Portnoy to make this happen?