Welcome to our 1st official newsletter. We feel as though it is important for you to get to know the individuals that make up the progressive juggernaut we call Concrete Prophet. Below you’ll find a 10-minute introductory video clip that cuts together some live video footage with brief interview segments. Also included are some words written by each member of the band explaining our musical motivations and inspirations. Rarely does there come a time where a band can actually claim to bring something new and exciting to the music scene. Fortunately for music aficionados, the time is now and the band is Concrete Prophet.
Meet Concrete Prophet
Michael Passen, bassist - If, in my life, I was lucky enough to be struck by the proverbial Newtonian apple and have my fate delivered to me at high velocity from the heavens, it happened on August 28, 1993. Rather than sitting under a tree, I was equally inert to (though probably not nearly as deep in thought as) Mr. Newton, firmly ensconced in front of the television, waiting for another signal from the heavens to rocket to Earth, this time via a satellite beaming a live broadcast from Pinewood Studios in London, England. Iron Maiden was bidding farewell to longtime singer Bruce Dickinson and was sending him off in style on a live Pay-Per-View broadcast. Despite all of the macabre pomp and circumstance surrounding the event, I was as unaware as Isaac sitting where I was, watching the concert only because my older brother had ordered it and I had nothing better to do.
Gravity is a funny thing: it’s an unseen force, called one of the ” weak forces” by scientists, but it’s grip is undeniable and felt every moment of every day. I suspect nothing less than the force of gravity was in play when I was drawn, very much unaware, to what would be a very strong force in shaping the path of the rest of my life. Watching that concert, particularly watching Steve Harris bounding across the stage fueled by galloping “one-and-a” bass lines, was the same to me as watching a superhero lift a car to save a man. In that moment, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be the bass player for the same kind of powerful, thoughtful, and completely dominating metal. While our career is still seeing many of its firsts, I’m sure that that’s where I’ve wound up. Isaac Newton has a birthday and a hometown, and I even bet he had a favorite food or book, but the moment that defines the man is the moment that it all came together for him, and for me, that was August 28, 1993.
Mike Newberry, vocalist - June 20, 1981. A child comes into the world…not screaming, but powerfully nonetheless. For 2 months the boy made little or no sound. Crying hurt…pain made him cry…even as an infant he was smart enough to remain silent. A congenital heart defect called Transposition of the Great Vessels threatened to shuffle him loose the mortal coil LONG before his time. After two months, I had surgery and I haven’t really shut up since.
Musically I’ve always been active. Piano lessons at 6, trumpet starting at 9. Picked up the bassoon at 12, guitar at 13. Bass at 15. Singing throughout the whole thing. Singing was always just something I did. I was in bands all through high school, and choirs all through school, but I never really took singing that seriously. I was just the guy who could play and sing at the same time and didn’t’ sound too terribly bad doing it. Being a music major in college was not even a decision…more like ” Well what the hell else am I supposed to do?” Perhaps majoring in Bassoon wasn’t the way to go, but you can’t win ‘em all.
Fast forward to 2002. I was playing with a band called Central Ventricle at the time, as the singer and bassist. We were not good. We DID however have a small following of people who thought we weren’t too bad. One night at the Brass Monkey Saloon we packed a good 75 people in there and had ourselves a pretty good time…The point of my story is that in the middle of one of our songs (Pure, to be exact) I started hearing people singing along…LOUDLY. There is no greater rush in this world then hearing a large crowd of people singing YOUR words to YOU. At that moment I realized that, as the singer and frontman, I’m in the position to really connect with people. THAT is what I wanna do. To be able to control the mood and reaction of a group of people is what defined me as a Singer and as a human being.
Brian Dobbs, drummer - I saw Eric Johnson perform on Austin City Limits back in the summer of 1996. I remember being completely floored by his sense of melody, compositional style and musicianship. Of course I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I was listening to grunge at the time so I only knew what a ‘riff’ was. I was able to record the last 15 minutes of that performance on my VCR (thank God) and for the next 3 months I came home from high school and watched it everyday 2-3 times in a row. I couldn’t get enough of it. To this day I still consider it my all time favorite performance of anyone I’ve ever seen live. As to why ACL hasn’t released it on DVD is beyond me.
Although Dave Abbruzzese (Pearl Jam’s 2nd drummer) will forever remain my biggest drumming inspiration, my musical taste eventually matured from grunge to progressive music. Say what you want about Dream Theater’s Falling Into Infinity, but I’ll be completely honest…If Elektra Records didn’t push the band towards more commercial success, then I probably never would have heard ‘You Not Me’ played on the radio. I wouldn’t even be writing this right now. One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t be in this musical juggernaut we like to call Concrete Prophet.
Kevin Boenning, guitarist - I remember a Thanksgiving dinner a long time ago when the classic question was raised by the elders at the table: “What do you want to do with your life?” My first instinct was to acquire more stuffing, but upon further thought, I shared something a little more long term: “I love working with music, so I’ll keep doing that.” The courteous and empty response of “That’s nice, but…” was telling enough: they didn’t get it.
That’s one of my earliest memories of sharing my desire to pursue music with other people. Unfortunately, the responses I’ve received since then haven’t evolved very much. For the most part, people just don’t take it seriously and I suspect it’s because they think it’s easy-but they miss the mark by about 180 degrees. Music is hard. The music I enjoy the most is meticulously composed and some of the most difficult to perform. If creating music of that caliber were easy, everyone would do it!
I have an obsession with understanding the details of how things are constructed. It permeates everything in my life, so it’s not surprising to me that I’m drawn towards music that has a lot of substance to it. Now what’s funny about that is, despite my sincerest efforts to gain some sort of command over the art of music, it always seems to move farther away. No matter how I arm myself (be it with skill, experience or knowledge), I just can’t seem to wrestle it down. But it’s there. Like a mist, it’s an all-encompassing entity that drifts away so easily, regardless of my actions.
What I’m slowly realizing is that music exists in spite of its creators. If we’re lucky, we learn to conjure it through technique and performance, and then stay out of its way (lest we drive it away in pursuit of containment). At best, we settle for a sort of distant reverence, like cavemen fascinated by the fire they’ve haphazardly invoked in front of them.
And that’s exactly what drives me to continuously pursue music. The quest to grasp the intangible, to be present in the moment when all the elements coalesce and something else is called forth. I suppose this endless cycle is analogous to a dog gleefully chasing its tail. And to an outsider, it probably looks just as bizarre- but that’s because they’re missing the point! The goal is not to catch it, but to remain in pursuit. Besides, you can’t expect a dog to stop when the tail seems to be only one step ahead.
We offer our heartfelt gratitude to all of those who encouraged, supported or contributed to our music education. We support education in the fine arts and we strongly oppose any measure or action that would limit or eliminate music programs in the public school system.
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