I hadn’t heard of Brian Kahanek until I received a press release about him saying the following:
“Brian Kahanek and his song, “Gemini” have been catapulted into the spotlight by the amazing success of the Guitar Hero II video game. “Gemini” is featured in the coveted unlock position and is now the inspiration of many aspiring guitarists, as evidenced by the numerous postings on Youtube and the countless discussions throughout social media networking channels.”
Well I’m not a big Guitar Hero player but it’s true just search on YouTube for Guitar Hero Gemini and see how many people have posted their game. I also got sent a copy of Brian’s latest release “One True Thing“, Brian Kahanek teamed up with the legendary Dave Concors to mix the new tracks. Concors’ mixing background includes Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Billy Idol’s Charmed Life and Whiplash Smile, The Clarke/Duke Project, and soundtracks for blockbuster movies such as The Breakfast Club, Top Gun and Scarface.
“The new recording combines elements of rock, blues and country into a collection that weaves in and out of styles that fans call reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. While not simply duplicating what has been done in the past, Kahanek is truly creating something fresh and new for the next generation.”
That is a really nice and true summary of “One True Thing“, Kahanek’s playing has both the subtlety and power of Hendrix with tone to match but with an obvious Country influence thrown into his Blues Rock playing. The instrumentals on the album are my favourite tracks, notably the Shuffling Texas blues influenced “Bottle Rocket” which have the tremelo tones of Stevie Ray and Hendrix like Octave and Vibe effects for good measure, the Rock ballad “Dreamland” which starts out with a Gilmour-esque ethereal sound and builds to a crescendo with some pretty amazing shredding thrown in. This track actually reminds me of a Joe Satriani style ballad.
There is some nice slide playing on “Starlight” and “One True Thing“, the title track being an acoustic southern rock/country blues track with electric slide playing the melody with a really nice slide tone whereas “Starlight” is a shuffling 6/8 acoustic backed track again with Gilmour-esque slide melodies.
The final track “63 Candles” is pure unabashed Hendrix, from the guitar tones, licks and “Hear my train a comin'” chorus. This epic track is over 8 minutes and is amazing, in fact why not see for yourself just watch the video below of Brian performing the track live in 2007, listening to the record this might be the actual version on the CD as it has the same hum in the silences. Great playing and it really does capture the spirit of Jimi Hendrix in a way I’ve only seen Robin Trower do it before.
Check out Brian Kahanek’s site http://briankahanek.com