Album Notes

Ron Ziai was born in Englewood, NJ on January 29, 1974 and was given the name 'Reza Ziai'. As a quiet child, he quickly gravitated towards all things of an "artistic" nature. When he was 15 he picked up a guitar that his brother brought home one day and started practicing somewhere from 5 to 8 hours everyday for several years.

During his highschool days at Hackettstown High, Ron played in cover bands acting almost exclusively as a guitar player, singing only on rare occasions. His musical progress continued throughout college as well. During his career at Rutgers University as a pre-med student, Ron spent most of his time playing guitar in his band, Broken Dam, rather than studying. He quickly realized that his aspirations lied in something other than science.

Ron graduated from Rutgers in 1996 and then came to Pittsburgh to pursue a Masters degree at Duquesne University in psychology. During his studies he played djembe and lead guitar in a blues band called "Blue Gill Bob and the Horsebreakers" mostly for fun.

The years immediately following his graduation from Duquesne were riddled with very troubled times which included severe melancholia, self-scrutiny, and various peregrinations around the country. It seems that the seeds planted in him from his trip to Rishikesh, India in 1997 still had some growing to do.

Towards the end of this period, Ron started a downtempo/atmospheric band, that was later called 'Cloudmachine,' with his friends. They played several shows in Pittsburgh, but soon disbanded mostly due to social problems that were within the band stemming mostly from Ron's troubled past.

The breaking up of Cloudmachine was bitter sweet. This forced Ron to actualize the maxim: Necessity is the mother of invention. Being without band members for the first time and wanting to create music, Ron discovered the wonderful world of Digital Audio Workstations and started recording extremely rough demos.

In the winter of 2006, right while Ron's demos were coming to some sort of formal fruition, his neighbor upstairs accidentally set fire to the building, destroying everything. The event was catastrophic, but everyone turned out okay including his friend, Lee K., who Ron pulled from the fire upstairs, his two cats, and his dog, Cheyenne. Ron received an insurance settlement and bought new gear to continue his work.

After moving to the Lawrenceville area of Pittsburgh, Ron formed and fronted a group called 'Diving for Orchids' where he sang lead and played guitar for the first time. The group performed several gigs and received critical acclaim. However, due to musical differences, the group disbanded leaving Ron alone again with his DAW and a roomful of guitars.

Moving once again, this time to Bloomfield, Ron immediately began work on what is to become his first CD release. Aside from some guest appearances from several local musicians, including, but not limited to, former Broken Dam vocalist, Gautam Malhotra, Terry O'hara (formerly of Cloudmachine), and former Diving For Orchids guitar player, Dave Warren (currently in The Satanic Bat), ALL THE MAIN TRACKS WERE WRITTEN AND RECORDED BY RON USING CUBASE 4.0, REASON 3.0, AND HIS CREATIVITY..