I recently caught up with the amazing keyboard virtuoso Vitalij Kuprij for an in-depth sit-down interview. Vitalij of course is known in the TSO world from touring with the East in 2009 and the West 2010 until now. He has quite an extensive resume outside of TSO, including nine solo albums and long-time work with prog-metal bands Artension and Ring of Fire.
Some of the subjects we covered:
- His musical background, including studying in Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland
- That one special album that turned him onto rock
- Balancing his Classical studies and work with the neo-classical rock side
- His audition with TSO
- Performing with Savatage at Wacken
- His co-written song for TSO, King Rurik
- Writing and recording his new solo release
http://musicandartinterviews.blogspot.co...uprij.html
LOVE seeing an interview with Vitalij!! He and I share the same birthday as it turns out on July 4th so I can't help but feel a bit of connection with the man
So proud he's on my west coast side!!
Hey, that was a very cool interview. Love his TSO audition story - Ha! I was never too familiar with his stuff outside of TSO, so glad you guys talked so much about that! I definitely have some things on my "to buy" list now!
Can't wait for your next one!
Very nice article. He's a fantastic musician, and comes across as a very fun guy to be around.
Can anyone make sense of this Q&A for me?
Quote:DR: Are you playing all of the keys on "King Rurik"?
VK: I'm not sure about that. I am certainly on it, but I would rather not comment about that.
(08-23-2016, 01:54 AM)admin Wrote: [ -> ]Can anyone make sense of this Q&A for me?
Quote:DR: Are you playing all of the keys on "King Rurik"?
VK: I'm not sure about that. I am certainly on it, but I would rather not comment about that.
I can shed some light here, as I have spoken at length with everyone that I have interviewed about their recordings with TSO - which is why I asked the question to VK. Paul keeps the credits vague on the albums. Sometimes, the tour performers will come in to the studio and record some parts for a song or songs. Once they are gone, Paul and Dave Wittman will finalize the track, sometimes keeping what was recorded intact, sometimes chopping it up and keeping bits of it, sometimes re-recording it. This is why it can be a challenging question for them to answer when the question is posed, "Which songs are you on?".
Dave Z, for example, mentioned in his interview that there is only one song that he is sure that his bass recording was left intact. Dave Z:
"The only song that I know I am on for sure - and I am very proud of this song - is "Christmas Jazz". That was just me and Al Pitrelli together. That one was so much fun and it stands out more to me because it's just the two of us - there are no vocals or other instruments - it's just guitar and bass."
(08-22-2016, 09:48 PM)69RoadRunner Wrote: [ -> ]Very nice article. He's a fantastic musician, but comes across as a very fun guy to be around.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
And yes - spending time with Vitalij can be quite the adventure - he is very, very serious about the music he creates and performs, but at the same time he is funny as heck - lots of laughs were had during this interview.
(08-23-2016, 02:45 AM)danfromnj Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2016, 09:48 PM)69RoadRunner Wrote: [ -> ]Very nice article. He's a fantastic musician, but comes across as a very fun guy to be around.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
And yes - spending time with Vitalij can be quite the adventure - he is very, very serious about the music he creates and performs, but at the same time he is funny as heck - lots of laughs were had during this interview.
Ahhhhhhh Dan.......You just keep hitting home runs.....Thanks!!!.........So nice to read your stuff.......
(06-21-2016, 03:09 PM)danfromnj Wrote: [ -> ]I recently caught up with the amazing keyboard virtuoso Vitalij Kuprij for an in-depth sit-down interview. Vitalij of course is known in the TSO world from touring with the East in 2009 and the West 2010 until now. He has quite an extensive resume outside of TSO, including nine solo albums and long-time work with prog-metal bands Artension and Ring of Fire.
Some of the subjects we covered:
- His musical background, including studying in Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland
- That one special album that turned him onto rock
- Balancing his Classical studies and work with the neo-classical rock side
- His audition with TSO
- Performing with Savatage at Wacken
- His co-written song for TSO, King Rurik
- Writing and recording his new solo release
http://musicandartinterviews.blogspot.co...uprij.html
Well done indeed. That was a great interview
(08-23-2016, 04:20 AM)Sarajevo Wrote: [ -> ]Ahhhhhhh Dan.......You just keep hitting home runs.....Thanks!!!.........So nice to read your stuff.......
(08-24-2016, 06:40 AM)thedoc Wrote: [ -> ]Well done indeed. That was a great interview
Thanks guys - glad you enjoyed! :-)