AV ProductionWorld

Don Stagg talks to AV ProductionWorld about Canadian band Dream Aria.

Hi, everyone, my name is Don Stagg and I am the keyboard player and composer in a Canadian band called Dream Aria. Other members in the band are Ann Brustyn on vocals; Garry Flint, producer and drummer; Steve Agelakos on guitar and Jon Casselman on bass guitar. The band Dream Aria has been together for about 3 years.

How did you meet?
I met Garry through a good friend of mine and the rest of the band came through the way of the the good old internet, searching through the musician want ads.

Where do you spend most of your time together as a band?

We started out just in the recording studio, but once we released our first CD, In the Wake, we found a lot of good response from the radio stations and magazines around the world. So we decided to try the live thing and see where it would go. Our first gig was a contest that we entered. To our surprise, we won the first round, but could not continue due to losing our bass player. We have now been asked to play the Baltic Prog fest. A few other fests in Europe are also interested in Dream Aria. Also, there has been a lot of talk of a touring North America. So once we have the new CD finished, we will get back to the rehearsals and hopefully lots of gigs and touring.

How does each member contribute when you are not on stage?

Ann has done a lot of the work on our myspace.com/dreamariacanada site and the www.dreamaria.com, as well. Ann and myself, we do most of the radio and magazine interviews. I do most of the promo work (writing to magazines, radio stations, networking, setting up the gigs, writing to fans, etc.) and the composing of most of Dream Aria's songs. Garry does the recording and mixing of the songs and also the producing.

What helps you most during the creative process? Do you rely on gear, location, a six-pack?

LOL on the 6-pack! (Tried it. Doesn't help.) Coffee is a help!
In one sense, we are very prehistoric with our recording techniques. We are recording onto tape (16-track), so it forces us to play our instruments and to write the songs without the help of software. In the other sense, I use the internet (computer as the tool) to promote, network and to just generally get Dream Aria out to the public.

What is the band looking forward to in the next 6 months?

Dream Aria has a new CD almost finish called Transcend. Also, we are in negotiation with a record company to release the CD, promote it, make a video and to support a tour.

We also have a song that will be on a CD called Pirates Tales. Each song is about a different pirate and a comic book will come with the CD. ELP and a few other bands will be on this very adventurous project.

We are also in this month's Harmonie, a French music magazine and next month an Italian music magazine called Flash. Other than that, we plan to just be creative and write more songs and try to be heard.

Anyone interested in checking out Dream Aria can hear us at myspace.com/dreamariacanada or at www.dreamaria.com.

Love and Light,
Don Stagg

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