| Aztec Jade
are a New York based Progressive Metal band formed in 1992. Aztec Jade is : Timothy Becker on Keyboards Matt Howenstein on Guitars Bryan Kowalski on Bass Rick Miller on Drums Leon Ozug on Lead Vocals How would you classify your music? Well, even though we don't like to be "pigeon holed" or specifically labelled, We would all agree that we fall into a Progressive Rock / Metal category. At least that's what all of our fans say. Do you all have day jobs and if so what do you do? Like all other struggling musicians' out there, yes we all do have day jobs. Here's a quick break down of what we do: Our drummer Rick is co-owner of ADD-Life Kitchens, a family owned kitchen cabinet business, where he manufacturers and installs new kitchens. Matt, the guitarist, works as a computer drafter/engineer for the New York STATE Thruway Department. The singer Leon is employed as an agricultural assistant at The GREENERY, a local greenhouse. Tim, our keyboardist, works for a large music/media distributor called TRANSWORLD in Albany, NY in their MIS/computer department. Bryan, the bass player, is employed at GENERAL ELECTRIC in their Information Services Division as an EDI consultant and web designer. How did the band get together? Well it all started about 7 or 8 years ago. Rick, Matt, and I were in bands together on and off for a few years, but we were never really satisfied with the line up or things never really took shape. Then in 93' another venture of ours started to come to life. We had recruited a keyboard player and rhythm guitar player to our line up and formed the band "Sidewinder" - sort of an all 80's cover/originals rock band. We did that for a couple of years, with different singers and the trimming of the extra guitarist. While recording our first demo ( AZTEC JADE - "Desperate Land - long version, "Without you" - our ballad, and the infamous "Regatta Fugue Part I" )we had to change the name due to copyright reasons. After much thought, we came up with AZTEC JADE. The first singer for the group, David Hart, was not looking to travel in the same direction musically as the rest of us and we parted company shortly after the studio. On a lighter note, We are all still friends and Dave occasionally comes to a show now and again. How did Leon come to be ? After Dave left, we were struggling for a replacement vocalist, one who could sing James la Brie or Geoff Tate. It was not an easy task. After many, many auditions of "Slightly less than qualified" singers, Tim mentioned he knew this guy who could sing Queensryche and might be interested in playing with us. After one audition Leon Ozug became the final member of AZTEC JADE - thus completing the mix we have today. What are your musical backgrounds? Everyone is self taught for the most part, only taking some form of lessons / or some instruction early on in their musical careers. Tim is classically influenced and used to play organ for a church when he was younger. Bryan was a member of the school band / orchestra since the fifth grade and is proficient in 5 other instruments aside from bass. Matt is self taught and currently is working with a flaminco instructor for improvement in that area. Leon is self taught and is quite an accomplished guitarist and drummer in addition to being the main voice for AZTEC JADE. Rick also is self taught and took lessons for a few short weeks when he was younger, but then stopped when his teacher told him he should be teaching HIM instead ! What kind of music do you like to listen to when you're not playing? We all listen to something different, most of which is completely different which from what we all play. Matt & Rick like to listen to Progressive Rock / classic rock and Country music. Tim likes more of the techno-industrial side of things and with some folk/new age thrown in. Leon listens to Progressive music / Classic Rock / Mainstream Alternative. And finally Bryan likes New age / Nature Recordings and Japanese Anime music - quite a diversified group eh? What do you do to relax? Once again, we all do different things to relax. Tim has his own recording project on the side, while Rick plays golf or drives around in his monster truck. Our guitarist, Matt, is a big muscle car enthusiast, while Leon is a Sony Playstation guru who also likes wrestling. Finally, Bryan, the bass player( that's me ) spends countless hours on the Internet ! Well, not really but I love watching Anime or mall hopping or going out to various clubs with the other JADE members. Additionally, 3 of us ( Matt, Rick & Myself ) enjoy playing various role playing games when time permits - it's fun to watch Rick beat things with a big sword ! If you had the chance to jam with any band, who would that be? I am sure if the guys had their way - they'd all jam with Dream Theater ! I am sure my fingers would get tied in a knot trying to keep up with them ! But we all think it would be really fun just to play with any of the big boys in prog rock: Queensryche, Fates Warning, DT, Rush, etc. It might be distracting performing with such legends though, but I am sure we would get over that quickly ! What's the best thing that has ever happened to you? Band wise ? Well, I think getting hooked up with our producer has been the best thing for us. He's more like a mentor, he took us under his wing and always has our best interests in mind. Scott has taken us already very far under his label ( CMG ) and we plan on sticking with him for a long time to come. He himself has been in the music business since he was 15 and is the founder of the Capital Music Group and CMG studios. Luckily we haven't made many mistakes under his watchful eye - he won't let us ! Honestly, he is a great guy and it's not like "work" when doing work with Scott. A lot of times we just like to go and hang out at the "Crib" ( the studio ) as we like to call it. Not many bands can say they have that kind of relationship with their producer, we are proud to say we do. What's the worst thing that has ever happened to you? I would have to say, personnel changes. It took us awhile in the beginning, back in 94, to get the line up right. We had auditioned many singers, but none had worked out. Finally with the addition of Leon as the voice for AZTEC JADE, things became set. Not to say we've haven't had our share of bad gigs, everyone does - you'll always have some. But like I said, our producer is always looking out for us, So we've been pretty lucky so far that nothing REALLY bad has happen to the group. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Who writes the songs? We all write the material. Mostly Tim and Matt write the music, but everyone comes up with their own lines and lyrics depending on the situation. Where do you get your inspiration from? Life, the world, and everything around us that we are exposed to. Who thought of the band's name and how did you choose it? After our very first studio experience, we were moving toward a more progressive sound and the current name didn't really seem to fit any longer. We needed a name that was reflective of the style of music we were doing and something that would set us apart from the rest of the ongoing trend out there. So we thought and thought and thought some more and finally came up with AZTEC JADE. I think it was one of Matt's initial ideas. Which are your personal favorite songs and why? As a rule, the guys that write a particular song enjoy playing it the most, because it usually has a personal meaning. We all feel very strongly about the material that we do and it is this emotion that carries through into he music. There are exceptions sometimes, I enjoy playing a lot of Tim's material and Rick likes a lot of Matt's work too. There are a few particular favorites off the new album, here they are: Tim - Atlantis, Requiem, The Calling Matt - Regatta Fugue 2, Nosferatu, Requiem Leon - Atlantis, Nosferatu Bryan - The Calling, To Believe, Gates of Babylon Rick - Mad not Crazy, Desperate Land Do you play many gigs and if so where? We don't play many gigs in our home area. The eastern side of New York State is very "unappreciative" of our style of music and it at times it becomes frustrating doing shows where no one is into it, let alone the money factor. On the average, we play about once a month in various places in NY, MA, and NJ. Some of the more notable venues include MAMMA KIN ( Boston ), and CBGB's ( NYC ). What is your view of the music scene in Albany ? Like I mentioned above, the music scene in Albany NY ) is not a hotbed of progressive metal acts. There are a couple other groups here that go through the same thing we do and they have resorted to playing out of the area as well. Most of the "scene" in Albany is alternative or hardcore, with some cover and country music thrown in. What band would you say has had most influence on you? Probably Dream Theater or Queensryche. They've been a reference point for a lot of the material we come up with. Not to say we try emulate them because we don't. We work very hard in keeping our own distinct sound and do not wish to be "cloned", that's what we are all about. It's true, a lot of the stuff we listen to shows through in our music and that's only natural. At times we've been compared to DT, Savatage, a lighter Stratovarious, Queensryche and many others in that music vein. But it's our style that sets us apart from the aforementioned groups, we seem to have a knack for writing very catchy progressive songs with good melodies that are around the 5 minute mark. Many people are astonished on how we can pull that off, but to us it just comes naturally. What are your plans for the future? Touring, touring, touring ! We plan to finally get overseas and spread the word of JADE to all the countries over there, starting with Germany I think - that's where we have the biggest fan base so far. Additionally, this August we will be performing at POWERMAD 98' here in the states. Then in the fall, we will begin work on our new CD at CMG. We are using the working title " Concrete Eden" and it will be a little more of everything: progressive, heavier, and longer. We already have 5 completed cuts for the album of which include "Concrete Eden", "The Final Hour", "Empty", Victory Precession", and another "Atlantis- like" tune called "The manifestation". We will be performing some of these at the powermad show for the fans who are eager to hear Jade's new music. Any last words or remarks? Although many aspects of AZTEC JADE go against the current trends toward simplicity, apathy, and underachievement, We all continue to remain optimistic that our music will awaken minds to the wonder and possibilities of the world, and bring color and imagination into today's music. AZTEC JADE would like to thank all our fans for their support and enthusiasm with the band and our material. For without you, our music would never be heard or appreciated. Look for many great things in the future of AZTEC JADE as we will continue to provide great music for those looking to experience the "Music for your mind, not just your ears." Thank you once again, and Keep Rockin' AZTEC JADE Be sure to visit us on the web at http://www.klink.net/~aztecweb |