Colie Brice - Luna Muse Improvisation in A (feat. Jay Walker) [10/19/10]

November 9. 2012 (with Elijah Brice)

Colie Brice - "Walk Away (6/14/12 Saint Asbury Park, NJ)

Hymn For Her Presents Lucy & Wayne at the Eastport Arts Center 8/2/13

Trying to piece together apt superlatives to convey the magnitude of what I experienced last night while listening to Hymn For Her Presents Lucy & Wayne at the Eastport Arts Center. . Truth be told I had a tough work week and was feeling cranky and out of sorts. Was more in a brooding bear in cave type mode rather than the spirit of community fellowship kind of mood.. I went anyway, and I am so glad I joined my wife Manuela for this performance. The grace, authenticity, courageous exhibition of artistic exploration and freedom, fierce dexterity, humor, contrast between brash bold emphasis and soft subtle textures was like a manic spinning wheel of textured sound.
HYMN - world class guitar chameleon, a kaleidoscope of tried and true riffs and leads from across the full spectrum of popular guitar - surf, country ROCK, Metal, punk, blues, Samba? Wayne just flows impeccably from style to style in full service to the songs and sound on an acoustic guitar. Even his missed notes become deft, graceful turn of phrase that compliments the moment at hand. The guy is triptastic and exudes a zen like cool control - a player that truly and thrives lives in the natural presence of the moment. The guy just has an ability to let go completely. As a life long guitar player, observing him was both humbling and inspiring all at once. OH! and by the way.. The guy is usually pounding out tasty beats and accents on a bass drum and hi hat simultaneously. I won't even get into that for now.. Truly amazing..

HER - Her voice and persona reminds me of a summer wild flower in late September. Slightly but delicately wilted in a graceful and still gorgeous way, beauty intact, deepened on another level, a trace of world weariness accompanied by emerging wisdom but still fortified with a certain vitality of youth. Yet there is a contrasting dark side to her voice that has a slightly sneering moonshine whiskey side as well. A voice that has sung in good times and bad, has taken its shots yet remains defiant in the face of adversity.. Not quite the virtuoso her husband is on string instruments, yet her note choices and PLACEMENT are gritty, heart searing, and just simply on point.

The real triumph here is that these two titans can come together and play so cooperatively. Raising a child together on the road, the financial stress of being completely independent musicians, and somehow managing to metabolize all that as fuel for their intense performance is just.. Sorry.. F*CKING BAD ASS is all I can think is left to say.. Bravo..

Colie Brice Releases 25th Solo Album

Colie Brice Releases 25th Solo Release

For Immediate Release:

Eastport, Maine - Recorded swiftly in and inspired the emerging energies of Spring, Colie Brice recorded April Reign over the course of several weeks.  The album explores a lot of archetypal and spiritual themes associated with Spring and personal renewal. 

As Colie trys to explain," it was a transformational but also turbulent experience.  I wasn't especially fun to be around as I experienced a profound array of fierce emotional energy and emotions around the time I wrote "Forgiveness".  Somewhere in my soul, there was a yearning to face and break free from some residual pain and sadness from my past - so I could move forward while being present.  Easier said than done, and I don't know if I achieved a long term catharsis or not, but I did spit out this album.

After is was all done, I realized it was my 25th solo album.  It was a self affirming realization.  Modern life can be crass and soulless.  We are constantly bombarded with manipulative, commercial media messages preying upon our ignorance and fear that erode our own perception of our self worth.  We the sheeple give away so much personal power worrying about what other people think via toxic codependent relationships etc.

Like me, some of my music can can be a sloppy mess - in every respect, mind, body, and soul but I think I'm beginning to realize why I have been so indiscriminate in what I've released since my tenure with Phantom's Opera.  It's been my personal rebellion against conformity and the "paint by numbers" approach so many aspiring musicians get rutted into.  My pursuits as an artist haven't always been elegant or eloquent, but they've often been defiant, authentic and sincere.  In a world grown so cold and superficial, that means something and will value up over time.  I don't give a damn if my music is ever  "good enough" to be sandwiched between obnoxious commercials.  I'd rather meet my last days with a defiant satisfaction and dignity of having my soul still intact by at least trying to be true to myself. What greater purpose should life serve?"

About Colie Brice:

Colie Brice has been a performing musician, recording artists and music industry veteran for almost 30 years.  He has danced along the periphery of mainstream success many times but never really "made it" per se.  He enjoyed modest success with Phantom's Opera which at one time or another included members of Prophet, Bon Jovi and Michael Romeo of Symphony X fame.  His deep musical catalog reissue work at PolyGram awarded him on seat on the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Preservation and Technology Committee, credits on box sets by Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and many other others. At Classic Records/The Music.com he worked with the Led Zepellin catalog, secured a deal to release several of Cameron Crowes' soundtracks, and masterminded the Encore Series featuring a box set of the Who's 2002 Concert Tour, at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab he secured licensing for vinyl and SACD releases for much of Aimee Mann's catalog, and helped engineer the label's hugely success come back.  This was followed by a glorious failure at the Creative Entertainment Organizer for AERIA Records, a small record label based in Asbury Park, NJ and distributed by Fontana/Universal Music Group that did not survive the confluence of P2P filesharing and the utter decline of the CD market..  For the past 6 years Colie has been a software tester and the operations manager for Asbury Media, a small company that provides consultation and IT services to to the record industry where he helps support brilliant young minds who are building the applications and tools for the new music business.

Throughout these vocational experiences Colie has lived the songs more famous Jersey artists just sing about.  Working a day job, raising a family, doing odd jobs to make ends meet and still remaining active as a performer and a recording artist isn't a particularly easy task but it infuses Colie's music with genuine heart and soul that can only come from sincere sweat equity.  For more information please visit:  http://coliebrice.com

Colie Brice | Winter Meditations, Vol. I | CD Baby Music Store

Colie Brice | Winter Meditations, Vol. I | CD Baby Music Store

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