Is This Thing OnJohn DennerIs This Thing On?
CD will be released Spring 2009
Featuring:
John Denner
Billy Sheehan on bass
Jamie Humphries
Phil Hilborne
Owen Edwards
Ivan Mihaljevic
Brett Garsed
Pete Riley (Drums) for Is this thing on?
Is This thing On?
Song List:
Blast Off
No Stop Signs
A New Hope
Is This Thing On
Sunrise
Solar Wind
YodaVanHalen
In The Nick Of Time
Launch
Free Fall
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| Voted the “Best Rock Bass Player” 5 times in Guitar Player magazines Readers Poll, an honor which placed him in their “Gallery of Greats” (alongside Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee and Eddie Van Halen to name but a few), he has also won readers polls in Germany, Japan, Korea, Italy, and many other countries. On January 27, 1999 Billy’s handprints and signature were preserved in cement on the Hollywood Rockwalk at Guitar Center. An honor attributed to those artists who have made a significant contribution to Rock and Roll. In Japan, Billy has won the prestigious “Player Magazine” (Japan’s #1 Music mag) Readers Poll for Best Bass Player an unprecedented 14 consecutive times and Burrn! Magazines (Japan’s #1 heavy metal mag) Readers Poll 5 times while selling out Budokan arena 3 consecutive nights with his band Mr. Big. He started the new Millennium 2000 by performing before 40,000 fans with Mr. Big at the Osaka Dome in Japan then began work on his long awaited solo album. With recording completed, Billy’s first solo album entitled “COMPRESSION” was released on April 25, 2001 on the Favored Nations label. On “COMPRESSION”, Sheehan wrote, sang, played Baritone 12 string and 6 string guitar, played bass and programmed drums on the entire record, except for 2 tracks featuring Terry Bozzio on drums and an amazing Steve Vai solo on the song “Chameleon” (the first pairing of Steve Vai and Billy since the David Lee Roth days). Other upcoming records include a new Mr. Big album (their 6th) slated for release in Fall 2001, an all instrumental bass album, an experimental Bass & Drum record w/ Terry Bozzio, and the 5th Niacin album featuring Dennis Chambers on drums (Funkadelic, Steely Dan, and Mahavishnu Orchestra). Niacin is an all-instrumental Bass, Drums, and Hammond B3 band at the cutting edge of a new musical movement. |
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If you’ve heard anything about John Denner, you probably know he was born without a right hand.
And if you’ve had the privilege of hearing him play, you also know he’s one of the most phenomenal guitar players in rock today.
These two facts alone are enough to amp up the guilt in your “I can’t because . . .” file.
But you can’t feel bad around him. There’s something about John that makes you want to celebrate … to marvel … to wonder what it is about his playing that moves you so deeply.
What you can know is that 1) John doesn’t read music. 2) He had to invent a makeshift picking device before he could even attempt the guitar. And 3) He honed his skills by learning to play Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” by ear.
What you can hear is the result of endless hours, days, and weeks of going deeper and deeper. and deeper still. Searching for ways to coax and stretch and pick and purge every exquisite sound from those strings.
And what you can feel is the existence of a creative force transcending the conscious mind.
This goes far beyond ability.
Technical proficiency, even as stunning as John’s, is still only the key that opens the door. Stepping through, surrendering that hard-won proficiency, surrendering control, to a force far greater than individual perspective…that takes real courage.
This courageous “letting go” seems to be where John’s musical magnificence is fully realized.
When you experience John playing from this dynamic, monstrous place— feeling the rapid fire riffs shooting through his veins, muscle and tendon tensing with every surge and crash of soul jarring sound–there are no words to adequately express your amazement.
You just want to laugh with the joy of it.
It is the place you’ve hungered for. The elusive “home” you want to return to…but can’t seem to find.
And you can’t help but gravitate to people like John who have found it. You want to bask in the warmth of their atmosphere. Especially when you believe your own passionate dreams can’t be shaped and offered up for entrance.
So maybe what moves us so deeply when John plays it involves our own primal longing . . .
Maybe it’s the sound from the other side of the door.
Maybe it’s a renewed sense of our own possibility.
Maybe it’s John demonstrating so clearly that the only real disabilities are fear and doubt.
Maybe it’s all of that … and some really cool music! John Denner Ernie Ball Guitarist