Prog Tribute Bands and Prog Radio - Leon Alvarado Strangers In Strange Places

On a personal note,
It has been a very exciting journey. Within the next couple of months I will have a couple of records under my belt and I must say it feels very satisfying. Along the way I have made some friends and spoke or worked with some "heavy hitters" in the industry. On my first album I had the opportunity to work with Tony Cousins who had done the great bulk of the re-mastering on the Genesis box sets. In between that, he did some of my music as well as some by Peter Gabriel. I also got to work with Ty Tabor (founder member of King's X). Ty is a very gifted musician who's talent stretches over many aspects of music production.

Steve Hackett and I have become somewhat of pen pals, we keep in touch from time to time. I sent him a copy of my first CD which he liked quite a lot.

For my second album I had the good fortune to having John Goodsall playing on one of my own compositions. To top that off, the drums on that piece are played by Bill Bruford who is one of the best drummers ever to grace the world's best concert halls.

Somewhere in between projects I have held several conversations with some key people that in their own way, have helped me through the making of these projects. Among them: Billy Sherwood (Yes, Circa and now YOSO), Nick Davis (Genesis Producer), Anto Drennen (guitars on Genesis' Calling All Stations Tour), my friends over at the Anderson Group of Companies (Ian Anderson) and Callandria Productions (James Anderson), Doane Perry (Jethro Tull drummer), Steve Hackett (already mentioned), Brad Cole (Phil Collins) and Paul D'Adamo (who sometimes drives me crazy but you got to love the man).

In all, it has been the experience of a lifetime. Whether hanging out with Phil Collin's band after the shows in NYC, back stage with Jethro Tull in Texas, shooting a documentary for Paul's new album or staying in the studio until the wee hours working on a mix, it has been fun and something to remember.

I hope that at the end I find enough people of similar taste to understand what I'm trying to do here. It is not for the money but strictly for the love of music and art itself. My projects are 100% percent independent and funded by my own money. It is the only way to have total creative control which is very important for a CD.

Those who have listened to my previous album either by buying it (CDBbaby.com) or through iTunes or Amazon.com, may want to have something to look forward to. The new CD may only be an EP of three songs at around 20 minutes but, it will pack a gate-fold cover reminiscent of the mini LPs with some pretty interesting artwork. A lot of care went into my last album and the new project should reflect that as well.