Tab Benoit, Doug Gay, Cyril Neville

BRMS owner, Doug Gay, has officially resigned as Dunham School Band Director in order to become full-time touring drummer for Grammy-nominated Louisiana Blues Artist, Tab Benoit. The job will require Doug to be on the road approximately 250 days per year, but he will continue to serve as CEO and director of program development at BRMS. Doug will be using his new position to seek out new and exciting opportunities for our students to learn and perform.

Doug will be blogging throughout his many adventures so that the students can keep up with him. His hope is to inspire our students to live life to the fullest and to realize that hard work in music really can pay off. To read Doug’s blogs, make sure to stop by www.brmusicstudios.com.

Tab Benoit at Hollywood Casino this friday 10.30.09

Come see Doug perform with Tab before the band leaves for its Northeast U.S. Tour next week. This rare Baton Rouge Performance will be THIS FRIDAY at HOLLYWOOD CASINO. Show starts at 9pm.

For a complete list of Doug’s show dates click here!

Members of Unison

On Saturday, October 17th, the students of the Young Band Development Program will perform at the St. George Fair. The performances begin at 12pm sharp and will run for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. All 10 bands will perform in this mid-semester showcase, performing songs from our Fall 09 theme, ROCK MUSIC OF THE 60’s AND 70’s. The bands are as follows: Unison, Scary Gypsy Children, Amped, The Hurricanes, NgoBot, October Tuition, Days Till The Moon, High Voltage, Revelation, and Phasers on Stun. This show is free to the public. Tell your friends and family to come out and support our students!

Photo by Libby McKerley

The culminating event of our Summer Slam semester was exciting and fun. Nine bands performed in the showcase/battle of the bands event. All of the bands did a great job! We truly hope the students had fun and learned something, not only from Saturday’s event, but from the whole process throughout the summer. Thanks to all our friends and family who came out to support the students and instructors. A special thanks to the judges, Patrick Bordelon, Ryan Harris, and Peter Simone for their help. And CONGRATULATIONS to The Time Travelers for winning the battle portion of the showcase. The band will receive a full day of recording at Black Dog Recording. Thanks to Rick Naquvi for his help with recording the students. On this day of recording, the band will work with Doug, who will serve as producer, on a recording of their original song. The song will be mixed, mastered, and sent to Disc Makers who will professionally replicate 50 CD’s complete with art work and liner notes. Runner up for Battle of the Bands was High Voltage. Each member of the band received an i-tunes gift certificate. Congrats to all of the bands for such great performances!!!

Come see all 9 Young Bands perform at the Summer Slam “Battle of The Bands”!! In June, 40+ students of Baton Rouge Music Studios were divided into 9 bands. Through the Young Band Development Program’s initial summer camp (Garage Band 101), students were taught leadership and communication skills in order to work effectively in groups. They were then challenged to implement these skills for the next 7 weeks as they worked together in their groups to learn 2 cover songs and write one original song (through the guidance of BRMS instructors). As summer is wrapping up, the students will showcase the product of their efforts at The Manship Theatre Hartley Vey Workshop on August 1st. The showcase will take place in the form of a “Battle of the Bands” to create a competitive, but fun and educational environment. The winner of the BOB will get to record their original song at a professional studio and will receive 50 professionally replicated CDs complete with artwork. All runners up will receive a CD of their live performance. Come and support Baton Rouge’s musicians of tomorrow!

When: Saturday August 1st
Where: The Manship Hartley Vey Workshop (The Shaw Center for The Arts)
Time: 6pm-8pm
Cost: SOLD OUT!
Visit www.manshiptheatre.org for more what’s happening this fall!

CD Cover Art By Erin Liljegren

In March 09, BRMS owner and director of programs, Doug Gay, recorded with Chicago-based band Flame Shark. Since the tracking work at Piety St. Studios in New Orleans, the band has worked feverishly on additional tracking, over-dubbing, mixing, and mastering between Chicago, IL, Madison, WI, and New Orleans, LA.
“Of all the sessions I’ve done over the years, this one was among my best experiences. Being a sideman and hired session musician makes the business side of things less complicated, but I miss recording with friends as an equal part of the creative product, a band that works and plays together all the time. In the 5 days I spent with the band, it felt like I was recording with ‘my band’ working together to produce something great, with equal say, and a shared vision. I look forward to working with them in August for some new material the band is recording soon after the marketing and promotional campaign for ‘Raw Flowers’ is underway. Their music is intelligent and meaningful, and the guys are great people.”

Flame Shark has so much material, they couldn’t even wait for the Raw Flowers release before setting up more sessions for another future release. Doug will be joining the band again in August for a 5 day rehearsal retreat in Wisconsin followed by a series of tracking sessions at Engine Studios in Chicago, IL. Check out Doug’s Video Blog Page (bottom of the “pages” list of links) to get a glimpse of the Raw Flowers adventure, and keep checking in for more blogs as Doug prepares for the August session work.

Kindermusik - Starting June 15th, certified Kindermusik instructor Yannah Gustafson will take your little musicians on an adventure! Featuring classes “Creatures at the Ocean,” “Around the World,” and “On the Road.” Visit the Kindermusik website for more info or contact Yannah directly at 225.761.8438 memorylane@bellsouth.net!

REGISTRATION CLOSED! CAMP FULL!  Each summer, students can form new bands or stay in their spring semester bands. Summer slam kicks off with a week-long camp that teaches the students about leadership skills in addition to basic song writing and learning cover songs. After the camp, the bands continue to meet once a week to work on at least one original and two to three cover songs. Then, on August 1st… THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS!!! The winning band gets their original song recorded at a professional studio and recieves 50 professionally pressed CD’s complete with artwork and liner notes.  Email contact@brmusicstudios.com to sign up. Please see Terms & Policies for more info.

ALL SLOTS ARE FILLED FOR SUMMER SLAM!!!     SEE YOU IN THE FALL!!!!

Come out to Fest For All on May 2nd and 3rd to see our 7 Young Bands perform the Music of The Beatles! The students have been working hard. Dancers from the Mid City Dance Project will be dancing to select songs. Fest For All is located at 3rd and North downtown. Click on the icon to learn more about Fest For All, and to learn how to potentially win a VESPA! The performance schedule for Young Band is as follows:

SATURDAY MAY 2ND
Life Silence, Amped, High Voltage, Unison, Steel – 12:30 – 2:30
Unison, Steel, Amped – 4pm-4:40pm

SUNDAY MAY 3RD
The No Names and The Time Travelers – 4:20-5pm

Back by popular demand, the Dunham band department presents “An Evening of Jazz” on Thursday, April 2 from 7pm – 9 pm in the gym.

The jazz showcase teams Dunham band students with professional musicians from the Baton Rouge area for an evening of contemporary and classic jazz favorites. Local jazz musician Michael Foster will serve as emcee with special guest artists including members of the Michael Foster Project, Ernest Jackson, Duane Huff, Jason Marchand, Chuck Brooks and Dunham’s own John Gray and Doug Gay! The event also features a silent auction featuring a golf package, music lessons, artwork, and more!

Chicago based band Flame Shark is coming to Louisiana from Friday March 13th to Wednesday March 18th to record tracks for their upcoming CD Raw Flowers. As the band is currently in between drummers, lead singer Justin Janhke asked BRMS Owner Doug Gay to perform as session drummer on the CD.
 

I found this to be a perfect opportunity to show all of the students at Baton Rouge Music Studios one of the things I do professionally in the music business that they rarely, if ever, get to see. Students can always come to a gig in a public venue, but most of them have never even seen the inside of a professional recording studio, much less get to be a fly on the wall during real session work at a legendary studio such as Piety Street Studios who has recorded big bands like The Dixie Chicks, The Shins, and The Black Eyed Peas, not to mention just about every jazz legend the city of New Orleans has produced.

So, Doug decided to start a video blog page that will bring the students from preproduction to postproduction; from the process of working out parts through demo work and emailing, to rehearsing before the session once the band is in B.R., to the session work in N.O. and eventually a wrap up blog once the CD is finished and on the market. Scrub Brush Productions, a New Orleans based production company specializing in music videos, will be recording Doug and the band on the night of March 17th for a new music video. Check out the video blog and stop in time to time to be kept up to date throughout the process! Click here to check out Doug’s Video Blog!