Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, KISS, Toy Matinee, Queen, The Scorpions, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath, Maynard Ferguson, Yes, Marillion, Toto, John Coltrane, Kansas, Elvis Costello, XTC, Aerosmith, Stan Kenton, Mother Love Bone, Dire Straits, Chicago, The Cult, Tony Williams Lifetime, Buck Owens, Van Halen, The Dickies, Deep Purple, Charlie Rich, and tons of other bands that make stuff that sounds good.
An eclectic, yet enjoyable and accessible amalgam of its 5 musically diverse members, Big Wedge engages listeners in a journey that starts somewhere between Physical Graffiti-era Led Zeppelin and ends at BS&T--with stops in Chicago and Nashville along the way.
New York City based Big Wedge's latest indy release, Minutiae, consists of 11 original songs that mix elements of funk, hard rock, 50's rockabilly and country all within a decidedly pop structure. Produced by Steve Fleck, Kevin Distel, and Bob Stander, Minutiae was conceived as a vehicle to restore melody and quality musicianship to pop music. Stander's renowned resume includes producer, engineer, songwriter, arranger, guitarist, and bass player credits on hundreds of recordings. In addition, Stander has worked with countless professional bands, including touring on lead guitar for The Platters, and forming a band with Simon Townsend (Pete's brother) and drummer Mark Brzezicki (Big Country, Pete Townsend) in England.
Primarily driven by guitarist/songwriter Steve Fleck and drummer/songwriter Kevin Distel, Big Wedge defies any one musical genre. This freedom allows the players to create and perform material that is a distillation of the many styles of music each cut their teeth on while growing up. That said, it isn't easy to round out a band with other players and writers that have similar goals and influences. You won't find many musicians whose iPods contain tracks from the likes of Al Caiola, King Crimson, Willie Bobo, Coltrane, Mahavishnu, Toto, The Yardbirds, Queensryche, and The Meters, just to name a few, but these guys did.
The other three-fifths of Big Wedge include seasoned writers and performers: Mike Jos on guitar and Chris Appel holding down the low end on bass. Longtime cohort Breeze is gifted with great vocal texture, pitch and phrasing, matched only by his musical vocabulary. This was honed by thousands of gigs all over the country singing just about anything the crowd requested, including a standing gig doing classic Motown tunes in NYC.
The reviews for Minutiae have been overwhelmingly positive, which is not surprising, because there is something there for everyone, whether they truly get it or not. Shortly after finishing up Minutiae, Fleck and Distel were called upon to produce and record with several other bands in the NY area. This has kept them busy for the past 9 or so months, but now with much of that out of the way, they are free to once again focus on The Wedge.
Minutiae is available at CdBaby & Tower Records.com
