10-20-2015, 07:40 AM
Hi. This is Scott from The Wizards. Thanks for the compliment...I think?? LOL. So let me put this in context. First off, I write all the music for The Wizards and the band helps flesh out the arrangements. While I really enjoyed the early years of TSO, ( they were really something special back in the day) personally I don't find any of the new material to be even remotely creative. I think the creativity left with Kinkel. To me, the new album sounds like something thrown together to appease the label gods. Of course, all of these statements are controversial, but they are just as I see things. Nothing more or less.
As far as sounding like TSO, I actually don't even consider them much in my influences. I believe overall, we are more like a Styx/ Kansas with some female vocals thrown in for good measure. If anything, the new song you heard can be likened to "Grand Illusion" by Styx. Our instrumentation is different...no string section....and we feature the flute to some degree. Even when you take it down to bare keys patch sounds, we are much more heavy orchestral brass and organ than TSO. When hearing from Jane, she will tell you that just about all she plays is piano and strings. You will also find odd meters in our material. I don't recall TSO ever doing pieces in 5/7 etc. If you listen to the song ' The Journey" from our last album, you will hear ELP " Tarkus" influences in the keys. Keith Emerson is my all time favorite player. , As you have heard from the first song off our new album, besides being prog oriented, we also write with a lot of commercial hooks. What was the last hooky TSO song you heard? Again, I am not saying what is right or which is better, just that we are very different in the end. Lastly, I don't tend to lean as heavily on re-crafting existing holiday songs or integrating classical works. While we do some of that, it is not nearly with the same focus that TSO puts on them. Obviously TSO is a massive success. We are not even remotely in the same league. But as I of right now, I am very excited about the new material we are about to release and the possibilities it will bring. If you boil it down in the world of holiday music, there is TSO on the high end production,everything staged to the last detail side of things.....and Mannheim Steamroller for the over 70 crowd. That leaves plenty of room for us to present our brand of music, without it impacting the others in the least. Hopefully this doesn't come off rude because that absolutely is not my intention. Sometimes the intent of written word can be misconstrued. Thanks for letting me post.
As far as sounding like TSO, I actually don't even consider them much in my influences. I believe overall, we are more like a Styx/ Kansas with some female vocals thrown in for good measure. If anything, the new song you heard can be likened to "Grand Illusion" by Styx. Our instrumentation is different...no string section....and we feature the flute to some degree. Even when you take it down to bare keys patch sounds, we are much more heavy orchestral brass and organ than TSO. When hearing from Jane, she will tell you that just about all she plays is piano and strings. You will also find odd meters in our material. I don't recall TSO ever doing pieces in 5/7 etc. If you listen to the song ' The Journey" from our last album, you will hear ELP " Tarkus" influences in the keys. Keith Emerson is my all time favorite player. , As you have heard from the first song off our new album, besides being prog oriented, we also write with a lot of commercial hooks. What was the last hooky TSO song you heard? Again, I am not saying what is right or which is better, just that we are very different in the end. Lastly, I don't tend to lean as heavily on re-crafting existing holiday songs or integrating classical works. While we do some of that, it is not nearly with the same focus that TSO puts on them. Obviously TSO is a massive success. We are not even remotely in the same league. But as I of right now, I am very excited about the new material we are about to release and the possibilities it will bring. If you boil it down in the world of holiday music, there is TSO on the high end production,everything staged to the last detail side of things.....and Mannheim Steamroller for the over 70 crowd. That leaves plenty of room for us to present our brand of music, without it impacting the others in the least. Hopefully this doesn't come off rude because that absolutely is not my intention. Sometimes the intent of written word can be misconstrued. Thanks for letting me post.