Holding Pattern is a band which has been around for a long time and released three albums. They are pretty active on the gigs circuit too. I got in touch with the mainman Tony Spada for the Holding Pattern story.
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Your
biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's
bypass the biography details.
But
why did you choose that name and which bands were you influenced by
?
-
The
band was named after an airline term when I was starting to learn to
fly.
I
started the band while studying classical guitar/composition at a
University.Tired of playing Rock and roll and looking to fuse
Classical /Rock and Jazz.
There
were no real influences in particular but we did have some favorite
bands we did enjoy which were doing music in a similar style at that
time.
This is
an archive based interview also intended for the fans you get well
after both you and I have passed away so let's go straight to your
albums. Please
give us your long or brief views on your albums, starting with.......
Holding
Pattern from 1981
The
first album came about from an early demo that found it’s way onto
many college radio stations. When it started to top their playlists
we started to grant interviews and shows were being offered. At that
point we were not a band, just myself and Robert Hutchinson on
drums.
When the
final members were added we needed to issue an album due to requests
for more radio material. I’m happy to say that this album has been
rereleased over the years on several albels and fans continue to
enjoy the music on it. Although musically the group has evolved
enormously since the early days ,it traces very nicely the foundation
of those exciting times.
We never
really took a break during that time. We released an MTV video
entitled “Mercenary” in 1983 and continued touring. The band had
recorded an album titled “Radio Safe” which we never released but
at that time we were under new management that were shopping the band
to Major labels through out the rest of the 80’s into 1990. I
refused to issue “Radio Safe” as I felt the fans would view this
as way too commercial and uninteresting due to the addition of a
vocalist and the lack of musical adventure.
Majestic
from 1991
Majestic
was a compilation of various material recorded from the original
lineup and a demo that would eventually end up on my solo albums
later on. It included the entire first EP and some live concert
performances as well as the “Mercenary” video soundtrack.
Another long break again. Sixteen years
this time. What happened ?
There
really was no long break as you seem to think lol
In 1992
I decided to leave the band and record solo albums and build a trio
to tour and get more into a guitaristic prog style . I became friends
with Steve Morse who liked what we were doing and helped expose me as
a solo artist to his audience.
I
signed with California label “Art Sublime” and they issued Tony
Spada-“Balance of Power” in 1993.
I
started to tour more frequently with acts like Kansas, Dregs, etc.
Also at
this time I was giving clinics and endorsing equipment .
In 1996
I started to record demos for my next solo album “The Human
Element” and it was released in 2004 with amazing success. The
reviews and sales were incredible. After touring here and in Europe
many fans would write and ask if HP would ever record together again.
I had no intention at that time to reunite but an interesting turn of
events occurred and the demos for what would have been my third solo
record were reworked and “Breaking the Silence” became a reunion
album and tour. We just concluded the tour in Europe this past
summer.
How is
the current availability of your three albums ?
All of
the band’s albums and my solo albums are selling still in good
numbers and are available quite easily worldwide.
How
would you describe your musical development from the self- titled
debut to Breaking The Silence and how would you describe your music ?
My music
is drawing form so many styles and forms that It’s sometimes
difficult for me to say.
I am
truly classically trained but have a love for Jazz fusion/Celtic and
Heavy Rock .So musically I’m kind of all over the place.
Breaking
the Silence to me sounds like the original first album band that grew
up .I’m a much better composer and guitarist now then when I was a
kid. When I listen now to the first record I am amazed that there
really some very strong moments musically on it and am proud of it.
It’s still one of our best sellers. It’s nice for the fans to
hear where we started as we still do a few pieces from the debut
record. ”Honor Before Glory” still is requested for encores.
What is
your experiences with the music industry and the gigs promoters ?
We still
tour every year all over he world and have so much fun. The music
industry and our fans continue to support us and it’s still fun to
this day. The promoters really do take good care of us and it makes
for a better time.
What is
Holding Pattern's current status and what is your plans for this
year and beyond?
We are
about to start touring again this summer and the first show is in
France at Crescendo Festival .
To wrap
up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview?
Just
want to say thank you for your interest in the band and I hope I have
filled in some of your timeline questions.
Prog
Archives has always kept up on my music and I’d like to thank you
very much.
Thank you to Tony Spada for this interview
Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here
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Holding Pattern
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