INTERNET SAMPLING
Micahel Deal - Lead Guitar player
Musical training began when Christopher Montgomery was 12 years old.. He received his first Fender guitar that Christmas.. He says he had received a Fender Stratocaster, but wanted a Telecaster. "My wide-necked Srat'," he said, " was ideal for my hand profile. I learned at a young age how to bar cords." At 17 years he could play for more than 2 hours at a time. He started practicing with other musicians, doing live sets in preparation for live performances.
CLASSICAL MUSIC CD
Chris Montgomery played around with different groups. Like most musicians, he wanted to get into the studio and produce a CD.. "We found that producing a disk was very expensive then." He said that even if they were to record only a few songs, the cost was still "way out of reach." Most recording was done in 8 tracks. The reproduction was not always suitable for agents nor, would guarantee a recording contract with music publishers. Montgomery said that "I saved everything. I composed, documented and mixed various combinations of my classical music on whatever equipment I could lay my hands on." Using back-stage recording methods, Montgomery painstakingly recorded his musical odyssey. He learned all of this while living in the land of Nirvana. "Kurt Cobain grew up in Hoquiam, Washington. He and his band Nirvana achieved fame and later moved to Mercer Island. Our pasts are similar in many ways." He said. "Many bands traveled Greyhound, which was my primary mode of travel because flying was so expensive." That, he said, was where he was exposed to their lifestyle, music and philosophy.
FUTURE PROJECTS
Q: What prompted you to produce a record?
"Recent Advances in digital reproduction has made it possible for some of my best musical recordings to be burned onto a CD. Technology has made it all possible. This wasn't available in my day. You made do with what you had. It wasn't as easy back then. I am sure that there are people reading this that have always had techno and gear that wasn't in existence back in my younger days.
"New software and microchips have made it possible to burn, rip and label analog recordings. The list is to include freeform and jazz fusion.. I will convert those renderings into CDs. All of this is in the works right now, and will be digitizing VHS and Cassette Recordings for publication on the web.".
Groups, jams and public appearances
Q: At what age did you begin playing and composing music?
"I began my musical odyssey at a very young age. I took music lessons. Although I am self taught. I learned allot from people I met. My first musical experience was learning how to hold and play the guitar." After learning fingering and chord structure, he knew it was time to strike out on his own. "I dropped out. I began experimenting with harmony and melody. I would hear a melody that would come to me, playing through my head. It would replay it over and over in my mind until I could get to my instrument and play/write it down. I learned my circle of fourths/fifths and continued to study music theory. In the mid-seventies, I started hanging out at Cornish in Seattle. It was around that time that I started to hang with people who dabbled in Free Form Jazz. It was all experimentation at that point. We'd queue the players and begin whipping the fence post with two beater-chords. He said that "This would lead to hours of (musical) enjoyment." For Montgomery, music took on a life of its own. "When I learned to play single note melodies, I began talking with my guitar . I found my place on stage. It was lead (guitar)."..
"There were many musical influences in my life that would somehow directly affect my particular style. I can rattle off the names of a lot of artists that inspired me. For example, Jethro Tull (Locomotive Breath, Aqualung) had definitely shaped and influenced me. Not only did I like the flute, I met someone who played the instrument! We would spend hours practicing folk, classic and rock to 8-Track tapes and LPs. I felt that we played and performed every bit as well as Tull. Later, Cat Sevens (Teaser, and the Fire Cat, Peace Train) had a strong acoustical influence on me. Don Mclean sang American Pie, as Jim Croce strummed "Time in a Bottle."