Martin DeBourge
Martin DeBourge's career as a vocalist has stretched across several genres, including a time with a choir, performing tenor solos to expand his musical horizons. But his main love is metal and progressive rock.
His first serious work was with a Southern California Band named "Torman Maxt" when he says he “cut his teeth” by recording the vocals on their debut album "Just Talking About the Universe... so far" . The band’s guitarist Tony Massaro is still a good friend today.
After Torman Maxt, Martin just bounced around and tried his hand at the choir. But once his wife Hande stepped into his life, Martin, feeling alive again, hungered for the edginess of metal and progressive rock once more. The past few years have been a whirlwind of great opportunities, being called upon to do the session work that is truly his passion. When asked what is going on now, Martin was glad to speak of it. “Recently, I've been diving in to session work with Pauersphere out of Illinois (tech-metal) and Mach X out of Southern California (progressive pop metal). I'm also pretty excited about an album I'm on tap to record with Damien Thorne out of Chicago. They're a great group of guys that are kinda legends in their own right. Considered one of the first thrash metal bands on the Roadrunner label, I'm definitely honored to be a part of their forthcoming album.”
But the love of music doesn’t stop at performing. Martin is an avid reader, spending as much time as possible in the library (Yes, the library) “We as Americans are in a unique position to go after any pursuit of knowledge we desire.” says Martin, “ I believe it is a travesty to let that go to waste. We are not told what books we can read, what subjects are off limits, etc - so it's a shame that we as a society sometimes put more value on knowing who the starting line up is for a favorite sports team rather than reading something... anything! I suppose this comes from being able to quickly locate our credit card (that we can't pay down) but have no idea where the library card is... or if we even have one.”
He also is a lover of vinyl records, and has a collection of turntables ( at last count 8) to choose from to spin them on. Referring to himself as a bit of a “purist and history buff”, his collection of turntables are not all the new cutting edge ones that you would expect. Each one stirs within him a memory, a nostalgic feeling. The floor model Zenith , “reminds me of my grandparent's house where I was required to take an afternoon nap while listening to old country music emit from the warm speakers next to my ear.” And the funky Whamco toy model “reminds me of the cheap knock off players my cousin and I would listen to Aerosmith as kids thinking this was the most mind blowing sound we ever heard.” His favorite? Well that’s his Marantz.
Right now Martin is working on the biggest project to date., an album to be named Quester. This has been his main focus, and he describes as a “ very detailed, intensely personal concept album.” The musicians and writers reads like a Who’s Who list. Derek Corzine is helping with the creative writing. Derek has played with Alethian, Bloodline Severed and Whisper from Heaven. Bryan Beller is lined up on bass. Bryan has played with Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, Dweezil Zappa and Dethklok (the Cartoon Network spin off band). Martin has also lined up some special guest appearances , such as Shawn Phillips on surbahar. “Shawn has an interesting history and brings a certain royalty to the album that I am freaked out about having.” said Martin. “ He gave Joni Mitchell guitar lessons, taught George Harrison the sitar, sang backgrounds on Lovely Rita from the Beatles and has a slew of albums that span 40+ years including work with Donovan. So you can imagine that I find myself a bit humbled in the presence of some of these contributors.” The album is hoped to be completed in 2010.
Martin’s view on music is simple “I take an approach to music that is not necessarily revolutionary, but is certainly worth repeating... "Music is what moves you" That being said, all music impacts us one way or another. It could be from our own CD players or whatever is on tap at your friend's house. The melodies that entered your mind while picking up your niece from choir practice have left an impression on you just as much as the odd sounding Stravinsky compositions that you thought you hated do.”
Again….spoken like the artist he is.
Martin is available for recording work contact him at MartinDeBourge@gmail.com
Transcript of Interview with Martin can be viewed at My Interview with a True Vocal Artist
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