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A Wyandotte, Michigan native, Sean is a big-time movie
buff and autograph collector. He lists Kevin Smith
and his films Chasing Amy, Dogma, Mallrats and Clerks
as personal favorites and has attended VULGARTHON,
a festival celebrating Smith and his work. Sean is
also a sports fan with a particular bent towards pro
boxing and trading baseball history his Father, Rick.
Sean also has a son, Lil' Sean, whom he regularly
visits at his home in suburban New Jersey and who
also contributes his guitar talents to The Sean Baker
Orchestra CD. Sean
began playing guitar over 25 years ago (early starter)
and is an accomplished classical player as well as
having the innate ability to coax the most viscious
and punishing sounds out of his fiddle. Having taught
guitar for several years, Baker has a deep fundamental
knowledge of music that lends a unique perspective
to his compositions. While maintaining a certain musicality,
Baker is also able to express the angst, aggression
and deep-rooted passion that is at the essence of
the his sound.
His
main musical influences being Paul McCartney and Paul
Gilbert, Baker derives inspiration from a wide array
of artists both current and past, running the gamut
of styles from heavy thrash rock to eclectic classical.
This unique view of music lends itself to Baker's
originality as a rock guitarist, and adds a certain
undeniable edge to the music of The Sean Baker Orchestra.
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Having being influenced by the earlier
grunge era, Cyamak began playing guitar while living
in Seattle during the post-Cobain frenzy. Quickly
being escalated to more sophisticated and aggressive
musical tastes, he adopted a liking to early Megadeth
and Pantera and was sent spiraling on a craze of guitar-laden
music that has not stopped since.
Eventually
he found himself in the metro-Detroit area during
his high school years and spent much time practicing
and trying to adopt a sound that he felt would distinguish
himself from other players. After much trial and
error throughout his college years at Central Michigan
University, toggling between blues and jazz fusion
and heavy metal, he finally felt ready to begin
an original project. Eventually, through the Detroit
music scene, he came to meet Sean Baker.
Now, several
music awards and one college degree later, Cyamak
teaches at a music academy in Detroit and plays
with the Sean Baker Orchestra as well as several
other projects. Having played virtually every style
of music from hip-hop to heavy metal to jazz, Cyamak
still says his greatest guitar ideas come from a
terrific song-writing base. He sites Chris Cornell
and Frank Zappa to be some of his favorite artists,
while his guitar influences come from players like
Guthrie Govan, Andy Timmons, and Shawn Lane.
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David Donigian started playing bass at age 14 with
drummer, Lawrence Wilson. After playing in countless
local bands and a two year stint as a guitar tech
for Blackfoot, David was asked to try out for The
Sean Baker Orchestra. After landing the gig, David's
focus has been on laying the heaviest bass lines possible.
Some
of David's influences are Steve Harris, Geezer Butler,
Ian Hill, and Mark "The Animal" Mendoza. |
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Lawrence Wilson first
picked up a pair of drumsticks when he was just 9 years
old. That's when he taught himself to play drum parts
by emulating the great Peter Criss of Kiss and Roger
Earl of Foghat. Before long, he had started his first
band and began playing clubs by the age of 12.
By
the time he was 20, he had numerous releases under
his belt ad decided it was time to learn more about
the music world. Lawrence jumped at the opportunity
to work as a drum tech for Detroit drum legend Gunner
Ross with the national touring band, Blackfoot. After
spending 3 years studying Gunner's ability to pay
close attention to detail, Lawrence joined up with
former Blackfoot bassist, Rick Mayr. Together they
toured America for 2 years with the group Raggedy
Ann.
In
1993 Lawrence decided it was time to strip down his
style of hard rock playing, which was influenced by
many metal greats such as Frankie Benali or Quiet
Riot, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Charlie Benante
of Anthrax. Those names are just a small fraction
of drummers that have influenced Lawrence over the
years. At this point he decided to tackle the art
of groove and feel the beat of blues style playing.
Lawrence studied the great Chris "Whipper"
Layton of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble. In
1994 Lawrence formed the band Texas Flood as a tribute
to S.R.V. which evolved into The Brotherhood, playing
to packed clubs until 1999.
In
2001 Lawrence decided to hit the books and enrolled
in a jazz theory class at Detroit's Marygrove College
to learn more about feel. With his newfound knowledge,
he figured it was time to break out the "big
kit" and return back to his first love of hard
rock drumming. In 2005 he began studying the masters
such as Mike Portnoy, Neil Peart, Virgil Donati and
Mike Mangini. He is always trying to meld the art
of feel and progressive style to which he is forever
drawn.
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Alfredo
started playing the guitar at the age of 6 in Detroit, MI,
where he lived with his family. His father (Jose Riojas)
was a songwriter/player with a song on the Billboard Charts
in Europe at the time. His grandmother played cello for
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in her youth. Alfredo learned
from his father the appreciation for song writing as well
as fundamentals of guitar, while learning learning from
his older brothers and sister (who all played instruments
as well) the modern music of the times. What his mother
instilled above all was the appreciation and love for classical
music.
Alfredo
has many musical influences from Bach to Bill Monroe to
Bob Marley. As for electric guitar influences, they include
but are not limited to: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie
Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman,
Paul Gilbert, Bruce Bouillette, Allen Holdsworth, Frank
Gambale and Mattias IA Eklundh to name a few. That, coupled
with the belief that something can be learned from every
player you see, gives Alfredo a truly refreshing and unique
twist to the face of metal.
As
a kid, Alfredo found himself gravitating toward guitar rock,
learning Iron Man at the age of 6 by ear. Music programs
through middle and high school helped to broaden his horizons
as he excelled to first chair in stage band wind instruments.
As none of these instruments proved to have the satisfaction
of the guitar, they were put down for his first love, electric
guitar. As fate would have it, at the age of 14, Alfredo
met a friend at high school baseball practice by the name
of Sean. This would prove to be one of Alfredo's longest
and still running best friendships. The two became kindred
spirits sharing playing as well as personal tips and pushing
each other to go bigger and better in all facets of life.
So, when you have a chance to see the two of them play together,
it's a real treat to know the brotherly history therein.
The smiles are always genuine, and so is the riffing!
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