What do you get when you match a Brit from London who loves American AOR with an American from California who grew up on British Prog?
Dukes of the Orient is the masterful pairing of vocalist John Payne (ASIA Featuring John Payne, ex-Original Asia, GPS) with keyboardist Erik Norlander (Last In Line, Lana Lane) who now present their eponymous debut album, ten years in the making.
Dukes of the Orient will release their self-titled debut February 23rd via Frontiers Music Srl. The first video and audio offering from the album for the track “Strange Days” can be seen below
“With Dukes of the Orient we have dug deep with analog soundscapes, superlative musicians and song-driven epics. Add to this the masterful artwork of Rodney Matthews and a journey that started with the supergroup ASIA, we give you the next chapter, one we are extremely proud of,” says Payne.
Payne’s powerful arena-seasoned vocals carry soaring melodies and lush harmonies over the sea of classic synthesizers and keyboards artfully painted with Norlander’s signature sonic palette.
The two are backed by a world-renowned ensemble of top musicians including Jeff Kollman, Guthrie Govan, Moni Scaria and Bruce Bouillet on guitars and Jay Schellen on drums. Payne provides bass guitar and additional lead and rhythm guitar parts to complete the audiophile production. The album was mixed on a traditional analog console to preserve and enhance the natural depth, clarity and soul of the tracks with great care taken to avoid over-compression, extreme equalization and distortion.
Dukes of the Orient has its origins in 2007 as ASIA Featuring John Payne, a band that continued on after ASIA keyboardist, Geoff Downes, left to re-form the original 1982 lineup. Payne recruited Norlander to join Guthrie Govan and Jay Schellen for tour dates in the US and initial recordings, some of which endured to appear on the Dukes of the Orient album here. Govan left the band to form The Aristocrats and was replaced by guitarist Bruce Bouillet followed by Jeff Kollman and Moni Scaria. The final lineup resulted in the track “Seasons Will Change,” released as a video in 2013 and also now appears on the Dukes of the Orient album. Following the death of original ASIA vocalist, John Wetton, in early 2017, Payne and Norlander decided that these recordings should give birth to a new band, both out of respect for Wetton and for clarity with the Downes-led ASIA.
Track Listing:
1. Brother in Arms
2. Strange Days
3. Amor Vincit Omnia
4. Time Waits for No One
5. A Sorrow’s Crown
6. Fourth of July
7. Seasons Will Change
8. Give Another Reason
Band Members:
John Payne (vocals, bass, guitars)
Erik Norlander (keyboards)
With
Jay Schellen (drums)
Jeff Kollman, Guthrie Govan, Moni Scaria and Bruce Bouillet (guitar)
Who is Dukes Of The Orient? Well, it is what you get when you match a Brit from London who loves American AOR with an American from California who grew up on British Prog! Dukes of the Orient is the masterful pairing of vocalist John Payne (ASIA Featuring John Payne, GPS) with keyboardist Erik Norlander (Last In Line, Lana Lane) who now present their eponymous debut album, ten years in the making.
The two are backed by a world-renown ensemble of top musicians including Jeff Kollman, Guthrie Govan, Moni Scaria and Bruce Bouillet on guitar and Jay Schellen on drums. Payne provides bass guitar and additional lead and rhythm guitar parts to complete the audiophile production. The album was mixed on a traditional analog console to preserve and enhance the natural depth, clarity and soul of the tracks with great care taken to avoid over-compression, extreme equalization and distortion.
More details and the first taste of music coming in January!
TRACKLISTING:
1. Brother In Arms
2. Strange Days
3. Amor Vincit Omnia
4. Time Waits For No One
5. A Sorrow’s Crown
6. Fourth Of July
7. Seasons Will Change
8. Give Another Reason
PRODUCED BY: John Payne
STUDIO: ADA Recording Studios (Las Vegas, NV), Think Tank Media (Placerville, CA) and Ocean Studios (Burbank, CA)
RECORDED BY: John Payne and Erik Norlander
MIXED BY: John Payne
MASTERED BY: Joe Bozzi
BAND MEMBERS: John Payne (vocals, bass, guitars) and Erik Norlander (keyboards)
Veteran California artist releases new solo album June 21st featuring keyboard-heavy prog rock
Surreal is the new full-length visionary album from California keyboardist Erik Norlander. A landmark event, it was nineteen years ago on June 21st that Norlander released his very first album Threshold. After two recent highly-acclaimed releases with his Rocket Scientists project, Norlander now presents the follow-up to his 2009 solo epic The Galactic Collective released in several forms including a live DVD/CD set. Surreal continues in that spirit with traditional rock band instrumentation fronted by Norlander’s own timeless, signature keyboards. Surreal gives both a nod to the past and puts an eye on the future with lush analog soundscapes, real living human grooves, and unforgettable melodic lead work that will keep the songs playing in the listener’s head long after the music stops.
Like The Galactic Collective, Surreal is mostly an instrumental affair with 5 tracks driven by keyboard and guitar melodies. But there is a sixth song, the title track, that features vocals by Norlander’s chanteuse spouse Lana Lane. Norlander writes in the album liner notes, “If there is only going to be one vocal track on an album, it had better be great, right? The vocal range of ‘Surreal’ is rather wide, going from ballad-like warm lows to stadium-inspired powerful highs. And I think as Lana performs these vocal acrobatics in such an honest and skillful storyteller’s style, you don’t even realize the register shifts as they are happening.”
Surreal employs the same rhythm section of The Galactic Collective with Mark Matthews on bass and Nick LePar on drums. The two have toured with Norlander extensively in the 7 years since The Galactic Collective was released and have become an essential element of Norlander’s signature style. Another familiar face is percussionist, Greg Ellis, who played on 3 other Norlander solo albums including his 1997 debut Threshold. “There’s actually a real thread of continuity with Greg,” says Norlander. “Since The Galactic Collective re-recorded existing compositions, Greg is really the percussionist on the last album of ‘new’ music released under my own name, Seas of Orion, 12 years ago back in 2004!”
Ellis also played on the epic 2014 Rocket Scientists instrumental track, “Traveler on the Supernatural Highways.” And to make the Rocket Scientists connection complete, Surreal also features Don Schiff on cello and NS/Stick, and Mark McCrite on acoustic guitar. Surreal also highlights the guitar work of the always-in-demand Alastair Greene and Jeff Kollman - two of Los Angeles’ finest axemen and stellar musicians that Norlander has worked with on other projects. All three guitarists - Greene, Kollman, and McCrite - toured with Norlander’s band in recent years ahead of this album’s recording, and the well-defined interplay between guitar and keyboards is evidence of that finely built foundation.
Surreal launches with a YouTube and Facebook video of the song, “The Galaxy Collectors,” with more videos in the works. A short version of the “The Galaxy Collectors” (the “Proxima Centauri Mix”) is also available as a free download on Norlander’s Bandcamp page: http://eriknorlander.bandcamp.com/track/the-galaxy-collectors-proxima-ce...
The album will be available via Norlander’s web site http://www.thetank.com, as well as on Amazon, iTunes, and at fine progressive rock retailers around the world. Digital downloads for Norlander’s entire catalog including Surreal are available at Bandcamp. A high-definition 24-bit / 96kHz version will be available directly from the artist. To coincide with the new album release, Norlander has relaunched his web site with new features and updates at http://www.eriknorlander.com.
Erik Norlander is an accomplished keyboardist, composer and producer with over 40 album credits including 8 previous solo albums, 7 with his Rocket Scientists project, and 10 albums with vocalist wife Lana Lane. He toured with the Asia spinoff Asia Featuring John Payne for 6 years and co-wrote the band’s only original release “Seasons Will Change.” He is currently touring with Last in Line featuring original Dio members Vinny Appice and Vivian Campbell. Outside of the music world, Norlander was the co-designer of the legendary Alesis Andromeda analog synthesizer, and has led many synthesizer and sound design projects for major companies around the world. Norlander also actively works with The Bob Moog Foundation to advance the legacy of the maverick synthesizer pioneer.
