Shadow Gallery

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Shadow Gallery
Current Shadow Gallery line-up (l-r: Allman, Nevolo, Ingles, Wehrkamp, Cadden-James, Baker)
Background information
Origin	Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, USA
Genre(s)	Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, Progressive Rock
Years active	1992 - present
Label(s)	InsideOut Music
Website	ShadowGallery.com
Members
Gary Wehrkamp Joe Nevolo Brendt Allman Mike Baker Carl Cadden-James Chris Ingles
Former members
Kevin Soffera

Shadow Gallery is a six-piece American progressive metal band formed in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania during the early 1980s, originally under the name Sorcerer. After changing their name to Shadow Gallery (taken from the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore) and recording a short 8 track demo, the band was signed to Magna Carta Records in 1991. Shadow Gallery's eponymous debut was released the following year in Japan and Europe. On May 30th, 2005 (Europe) and June 7th, 2005 (USA) Shadow Gallery released their fifth studio album (Room V), their first under new record label InsideOut.

The band has a reputation amongst fans for complex song structures and virtuoso musicianship, and as such, they have been compared to contemporary progressive metal veterans Dream Theater, Queensrÿche and Symphony X. The members of Shadow Gallery have also collaborated with other progressive metal bands. Dream Theater's James LaBrie contributed backing vocals to the song "I Believe" (which appeared on Shadow Gallery's 1998 album, Tyranny),^[1] and in return Shadow Gallery members have contributed to LaBrie's side projects (such as Mullmuzzler).^[2]

Despite the many complex passages in their songs, Shadow Gallery manages to combine them with tight songwriting, production and performance. Their songs, often in the context of a concept album or story, are frequently long with extended instrumental pieces in the middle. Their music is heavy at times and mellow at others, providing an interesting variety to the listener.

1 Influences
2 History
3 Creative process
4 Shadow Gallery as a studio band
5 Current formation
- 5.1 Former members
6 Discography
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Influences

Shadow Gallery combines musical influences from virtuoso guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, and Steve Vai, from progressive rock bands such as Rush, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater and heavy metal outfits Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. When interviewed on the subject, Gary Wehrkamp has also added that "The band likes everything from Tori Amos, to old Metallica, Alice Cooper, Gamma Ray, Type O Negative and Nine Inch Nails. Lately, for me, my favorite progressive rock CD is by Ayreon. I highly recommend Into the Electric Castle to anyone."^[3]

[edit] History

[edit] Sorcerer: 1985 - 1991

Sorcerer originally consisted of Mike Baker, Carl Cadden-James, Ron Evans, and John Coonie. The band began as a cover band, particularly interested in covering difficult to play songs by artists such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Rush. In 1985, guitarists Chris Ingles and Brendt Allman joined the band, with Ingles immediately switching to keyboard duties. At this time, Ron Evans departed in order to pursue other musical interests and goals.^[4]

[edit] Debut and Carved in Stone: 1991 - 1998

After changing their name to Shadow Gallery and recording a short 8 track demo, Mike Varney eventually signed them to Magna Carta records on August 23, 1991 as the label's second contract (the first having been Magellan). The record label's objective had been "..to bring a fresh breath of progressive rock to an audience who was subdued by larger record companies quest for typical commercial music".^[5] Impressed with Shadow Galley's initial demo, Varney suspected the band could help fulfill this objective.

Shadow Gallery's eponymous debut was released the following year in Japan and Europe. However, before the arduous commitments of a supporting tour and a new studio album, the band needed to secure a stable lineup. April 1993 saw the recruitment of guitarist/keyboardist Gary Wehrkamp, originally of the band The Boxtops. Another lineup addition followed in April 1994 with drummer Kevin Soffera. With this new solidified lineup, Shadow Gallery released its second studio recording on July 11, 1995, titled Carved in Stone. However, time constraints and other commitments precluded the band from touring in support of both albums.

[edit] Tyranny: 1998 - 2001

Carved in Stone was followed up by their 1998 release, Tyranny. The album is a deeply political concept album, with themes including the nature of war and the military-industrial complex. The lyrics comprise a narrative about a weapons designer coming to the realization about the true nature of the military-industrial complex. The narrative is introduced in the opening lines of the track War for Sale, which includes the lines "Time came to leave / You know there's something / About the principle / Of what goes on behind the scenes / The military machine / The way they led me on... Machines of mass destruction / Well I helped to design them / The guilt of children's blood stains on my hands." The true power of the military industrial complex is revealed to the former designer in the track New World Order, in which it is explained (from the perspective of a capitalist) that through "Advanced communication / You're at our fingertips now / We own the TV stations / Entertainment, Publications / Wall street is our breeding ground / The sphere of our control extends through / Governments and leaders who will buy our arms / Yes buy our arms and run our evil wars"

Tyranny is also notable for the contributions made by a number of guest musicians. Beyond James LaBrie's vocal contribution to "I Believe," D. C. Cooper (a former vocalist of Royal Hunt) contributed vocals to the track "New World Order," and violinist Paul Chou made a guest appearance on the tracks "Spoken Words" and "New World Order," with the former featuring a duet between Mike Baker and Laura Jaeger.^[6] Shadow Gallery would return the favor to LaBrie in 1998 when Allman, Cadden-James, Wehrkamp and local musician/songwriter Gary Sloyer appeared on and aided in LaBrie's musical side project, Mullmuzzler. Their debut record, Keep it to Yourself, was released by Magna Carta in the Summer of 1999."^[7]

[edit] Legacy: 2001 - 2005

On April 10, 2001, the band released their fourth studio album, Legacy, which would prove to be their last under Magna Carta Records. While this album was released in between Tyranny and Room V, it had no relation to the ongoing narrative of the two albums, instead forming a collection of independent songs.^[8] The album was met with generally favorable reviews,^[9]^[10] for example Dan Birchall of Screaming in Digital wrote that:

“	"Legacy is more progressive, artistic and technical than the band's previous work, although there are a couple nods to the possibility of mainstream radio airplay. It exhibits the well-balanced sound and highly polished production they're known for, with flawless instrumental work and vocals that, while not as emphasized as those of Geoff Tate or James LaBrie, are clear, emotional and perfectly suited to the music. It's not a sequel to Tyranny any more than Empire was a sequel to Operation: Mindcrime, but it's definitely some of the better music out there."	”
	— excerpted from a review by Dan Birchall of Screaming in Digital, 25px

[edit] 2005 - Present: Room V

On May 30th, 2005 (Europe) and June 7th, 2005 (USA) Shadow Gallery released Room V; the band's fifth studio album, and first under new record label InsideOut. It is a concept album which continued the narrative set out in Tyranny. The album included Jaeger returning to perform a vocal duet on "Comfort Me."

Included as a limited edition, the band also released a second disc. In addition to a multimedia segment titled The Story of Room V (that can be accessed on a computer's CD ROM) the album contained five extra tracks, including a Joe Nevolo drum solo ("Joe's Spotlight"), an unreleased demo (entitled "Memories"), an acoustic version of Room V's "Rain", and a long medley covering many Pink Floyd songs titled Floydian Memories. This track is particularly notable, as it features Mark Zonder performing drums on the "One in a Crowd" portion of the medley, as well as Arjen Lucassen performing guest vocals and the "Shine On" guitar solo.^[11]

[edit] Creative process

Wehrkamp has described the creative process involved in creating a Shadow Gallery album as follows:

“	One of us will start working on an idea, and work quite a bit with it. Most of the members of Shadow Gallery are audio engineers to one degree or another, and multi-instrumentalists as well.... so an idea can be developed and recorded quite rapidly. Very often the process if to record some "musical idea" first, then have the lyrics fitted in later, at which point the music may be altered or more fitted to some melodic vocal line. Most often Brendt or I programs the drums into one of our drum machines, or sequencers, and we start layering almost immediately. The process usually develops into a two-man songwriting team. We have covered all the 2-man possibilities, and listening to Tyranny, you can hear the different approaches based on which two people start writing the song..such as Chris/Brendt on War for Sale or Out of Nowhere as opposed to Carl/Gary on I Believe or New World Order. Once the initial demos are recorded by the 2 person-music-only group, the cassettes are made and passed on to everyone else. Then we all think about what else we could add. At this point Carl and Mike take over much of the work, working on vocal melodies, then turning them into lyrical vocal lines. Its a bit of "back and forth" for a while 'till the music and lyric contain the same emotion. Many times are sons change drastically or have parts that are re-written many times. I remember re-writing certain parts of the musical sections for New World Order over and over till it was just right - This is where having everyone else's input can help quite a bit... When the latest tape is met with a round of "Alright!! Wow! That's it!" You know the part was justified in being reworked to its full potential.	”
	— excerpted from an October 6, 1999 interview with Gary Wehrkamp, http://www.ram.org/music/articles/wehrkampinterview.html

[edit] Shadow Gallery as a studio band

To the chagrin of long-time fans, however, the band has never conducted a live tour (nor played a live show) despite having been together (as Shadow Gallery) since the early 1990s. When asked the question in one interview, Wehrkamp explained that "We have always been more a studio band than a performing band unfortunately, and while we rehearsed for a tour just before Tyranny was started, a few obstacles blocked our touring options, and we were locked back in the studio to make another record. I know there are many people who cannot understand why we haven't played in support of this record, and I can see why they feel that way, but honestly, it's very difficult."^[12]

In a more recent 2005 interview, he cited the band's various side projects as a reason, stating that "I truly think that it will maybe never happen as we all have full diaries, families, full time jobs and mortgages... I for instance give lessons and I play in 2 other bands... But we will seriously consider it this time, as it will be very difficult to get all the guys of the band together to go on tour. Besides it was never our intention in the first place to do live gigs as SG is most and for all a real studio band. Maybe, some day, never say never…."^[13]

[edit] Current formation

Mike Baker - Vocals
Gary Wehrkamp - Piano, guitars, keyboards, vocals
Brendt Allman - Guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Carl Cadden-James - Bass, vocals, flute, fretless bass
Chris Ingles - Piano, keyboards
Joe Nevolo - Drums

[edit] Former members

Kevin Soffera - Drums

[edit] Discography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Categories: American musical groups | Progressive metal musical groups | Progressive rock groups | Pennsylvania heavy metal musical groups