The Guitar Player's Resource
Do you remember Michael Schenker's album "2001: Dreams And Expressions"? Basically snippets of unfinished instrumental songs, riffs and solos strung together to form a different kind of musical expression. England's Rich Newport has submitted the shred/eclectic/demo version of that on his CD-R, Potions, Notions, Spells & Miracles. While most of Schenker's tracks were done with a full band, Newport has opted to record most of his pieces with just guitar; just a few tracks feature a percussion accompaniment. 17 tracks in all, many under one minute, all but one under two minutes - you have shred, jazz, blues, country, reggae, a short vocal track, metal, hard rock and ambient represented. The longest track is a jazz version of the classic "Over The Rainbow", checking in at almost 5 minutes. He doesn't really detail what he is going for with the demo, so it probably would serve as a musical statement that he is a guitarist looking for a better opportunity somewhere. Good player though.
Rich began playing guitar at the age of 13, moving to electric at 15. Initially, influenced by Jake E. Lee, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert, he started his first band at age 17, Ambition, playing local clubs and pubs. Later, Rich attended GIT in Hollywood, graduating in 1994, while also teaching his own students, and playing in local bands. In 1996 he moved to Italy and spent the next 8 years teaching in almost every music school in Milan. Rich was also involved with a number of bands at the time, including Tyndale (hard rock), Problem Child (AC/DC tribute band), Proto Cosmos (fusion) and Wildside (hard rock). Rich has recently moved back to England is currently teaching at the Harrogate school of music. In December of 2005, he toured with Blaze Bailey as a stand in and session guitarist on his latest Blood and Belief European tour.
Newport's future goals are to work as an international session guitarist, to continue to work towards an AOR/hard rock major or independent label recording contract, and hopefully to be part of the world's guitar scene.
Rich Newport
United Kingdom