Sonic Bridges is a music CD project created by a team of ambitious musicians from all over the world. Truly unique talent is exhibited in a great diversity of styles, sonic landscapes, instrumental compositions, and cutting-edge musicianship.
Jeff Treadwell:
Jeff Treadwell is a guitarist, composer, and instructor from the Chicagoland area. His musical style ranges from progressive rock to extreme metal. Jeff has just recently released his first solo album "Nightmare" in September of 2008. While primarily self taught, Jeff has studied guitar with Zack Uidl to further improve his musical skills. His primary influences include Iron Maiden, Opeth, Dream Theater, Symphony X, King Diamond, Nevermore, Testament, and Judas Priest.
Mark Court:
Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Mark has enjoyed listening to and playing music ever since he can remember. Starting out with the guitar and later playing bass in high school, Mark developed a love for both writing originals and performing live. After surviving a serious motor vehicle accident at the age of 18, life and music as he knew it had to be put on hold. Eager to get back into music after a long period to heal and reflect, Mark formed a band with a few friends and hit the Hamilton bar scene playing covers. The band worked in clubs for 2 years and eventually parted ways. Knowing that music was the only thing he wanted to do, he sought after lessons, advice, and wisdom from anywhere he could find it. His interest and curiosity led him to find virtuoso mentor Tom Hess and local producer, mentor and friend Carl Jennings. Mark is currently writing and recording his debut album at Westmoreland Recording Studios in Hamilton Ontario with producer Carl Jennings.
Teemu Kleemola:
Teemu Kleemola was born on the 8th of February in the 1976, Porvoo Finland. He have been playing guitar since the age of 10.
He admired, and still admire, great guitar players like Al Di Meola, Vinnie Moore, Tony McAlpine and Steve Vai just to name a few. Later he heard Dream Theater and John Petrucci and the final inspiration was found.
In the year 2000 he went to the Porvoo Pop/Jazz school taking both private lessons and theory classes. Erkki Salmi taught him how to play Pop/Jazz music and how to understand it. He has also had a lot of band experience since the beginning.
Matias Kupiainen (Stratovarius) gave him a couple of excellent private lessons in the year 2008. Currently he is studying with Tom Hess and Luca Turilli (Rhapsody of Fire, Luca Turilli).
His instrumental song called "Running in Changing Weather" will be featured on a "Sonic Bridges" compilation CD (10 000 copies) and Teemu is currently writing his debut album. He is teaching guitar locally here in Finland.
Antony Reynaert:
Born in Belgium, Antony learned to play classical piano at the age of seven. At the age of 17, he saw a friend playing the guitar and later got intensely into guitar. During high school he practiced for more than 5 hours a day. At the age of 19 he found a teacher who was just perfect for him, and learned to play blues and country-influenced music as well as other styles.
Antony is currently studying jazz-guitar, and being mentored by virtuoso Tom Hess. After graduating as an interior designer he now devotes his time into improving his music skills and to uplift a career in music and teaching. It's Antony’s purpose in life to become the best musician he can be and to share his music with as many people as possible.
Norman Kim:
Norman Kim is a guitarist, violinist, composer, singer/songwriter, and teacher based in New York. Originally classically trained on the violin, his life as a guitarist began at the age of thirteen when a friend, after seeing him pluck his violin like a guitar, urged him to play the guitar. Norman began to write music soon after buying his first guitar and was heavily influenced by bands such as In Flames, Arch Enemy, Opeth, and Sonata Arctica.
As a competitive violinist in his area since the age of seven, Norman has recently switched gears to become competitive as a contemporary musician and has since won various first prizes including talent shows and school events. Norman is also currently attending Berklee College of Music.
Mike Breen:
Professional guitarist, independent recording artist, and music educator based out of Tokyo Japan. Mike is currently working on a full length instrumental album, teaching music, developing instructional products, and performing in various bands in the Tokyo area.
Originally from Seattle, Mike was heavily involved in the music scene during the 90’s, recorded several albums with former bands, worked in production/engineering, and played all over the Seattle area.
Mike picked the guitar at the age of 14 and after hearing the first Van Halen record dove head first into the world of guitar driven rock music. His playing style and attitude have been greatly influenced by Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, and Greg Howe.
Char Davis:
Char Davis is a new student of guitar, fulfilling a life-long dream of becoming a professional-level player. She first begged her parents for an electric guitar at the age of 12, but was instead encouraged to pursue athletics and scholastics. While growing up, she set athletic records in track and field, lifted weights, competed in swimming and bicycle racing, and became a champion archer. Later she took a 4.0 college GPA to professional pharmacy school at Oregon State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Now, having satisfied the expectations of others in her life, she found herself free to turn within and pursue her innermost passions with music. She wanted to rock!
Her favorite musicians and bands include Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Cream, Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin, BB King, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cactus, and many others.
Denis P. Clément:
Denis P. Clément is a songwriter and musician from the Ottawa region in Canada. He started playing the guitar at age 16 and was quickly interested in writing his own material. He was the lead singer in various bands in Quebec during the mid 90’s and achieved recognition as a promising upcoming artist in Montreal. While he spent the last 15 years pursuing a professional career outside of music, Denis is now back with renewed enthusiasm. His upcoming projects are focused on blues and melodic rock in preparation for his solo album.
Andy Mclaughlan:
Andy Mclaughlan is a guitarist, composer, performer and instructor from Glasgow, UK who specialises in rock/metal styles. He has studied with some excellent musicians and teachers, including world class virtuoso Tom Hess.
Andy will also be releasing instructional materials in the coming months. These include a Music Theory Ebook and different articles which will all be uploaded to this site for your viewing.
His main influences include: Shawn Lane, Chris Poland, Al Di Meola, Chris Amott, Buckethead, Devin Townsend, Eric Johnson,Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Gene Hoglan, Guthrie Govan,Rob Pagliari, Billy Cobham, Kofi Baker, Jonas Hellborg
Nancy Hutagalung:
As a musician, Nancy enjoys performing and listening to a variety of traditional and contemporary genres, ranging from the mainstream to the underground. Though classically trained on the piano, she began her musical life on a steady diet of classic rock, progressive rock, 80s pop, and much later, 90s alternative rock. Her true passion, however, has always been rock, which inspired her to take up the guitar in high school. She is currently studying guitar with Karl Johnson, who has replaced renowned guitarist Allan Holdsworth in the LA-based progressive/fusion outfit K2.
As a music educator, Nancy has a particular calling for helping teens and adults get more confidence and enjoyment at the piano and keyboard.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in music, Nancy felt that academia was wanting and impractical, which led her to be mentored by virtuoso guitarist/teacher/entrepreneur Tom Hess.
Under her alter ego Nancee Marin, she hopes to re-form a post-rock/shoegaze/ambient outfit with fellow indie rock fans in the vein of Stereolab, Broadcast, My Bloody Valentine, Swirlies, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, MONO—to name a few. Fulfilling her longtime dream of co-writing, recording, and releasing original materials, she has contributed a guitar-driven track for the Sonic Bridges compilation album.
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