Tag: youth

Lyric Dubee Young and Restless and enjoying Success!

Lyric-logo-Lyric Coming SoonOne of the greatest advantages of being the founder of Rivenmaster’s Place is that I have been privileged to watch so many young artists begin their careers. A number of them had not yet produced their first music video or even had a photo shoot prior to my first contact with their parent or manager.

A few on the other hand were well on their way to success even at the tender age of just 12. Such is the case of Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Lyric Dubee. In fact, he was working on his second album at the time, on an unfinished song called “Perfection!”  

We are proud to have that EXCLUSIVE VIDEO which was posted on that introductory article!

While I was provided the opportunity to meet with Lyric in person in Hollywood CA this past summer, I was also privileged to attend his latest CD release party which was held on September 19th in his home town of Barrie, Canada. Although it meant driving more than 6 hours, it proved to be more than a worthwhile trip.

 

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In case you haven’t been following Lyric or his music, Lyric just released 2 full length CDs. His 3rd album had a planned release for 2014 but was put on hold after the 1st single “Black Ice” (Watch Music Video) dropped and caught the attention of Legendary Rock & Roll Photographer Robert M Knight of Nevada.

Robert signed Lyric in September of 2014 and put Lyric in the studio with Grammy Award Winning Producer “Warren Huart” (Aerosmith, The Fray, James Blunt).

Black Ice was of course one of the songs that I could not wait to hear live at Lyric’s concert and I have to tell you, “The song sounded even better live than it did on the studio recording.”

For those who may not know, Lyric did all the instrumentation on his studio recordings which even further proves just what an amazing musician he is!

 

 

 

 

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Lyric Live at CD Release Party 9/19/15

The entire evening of music and socializing with Lyric’s fans was a great experience! Anticipation continued to grow as the sold out crowd waiting for Lyric and his new band members to take the stage. Something that I noticed right away was the diversity of the crowd that gathered. Lyric has fans from all age groups and backgrounds. Both young school age kids, teens his own age, Mom’s and Dad’s with small children and the older set as well, all made their way into the concert hall. Lyric’s merchandise table, displaying his CD’s, T-shirts, Photos and miscellaneous items was being met with a flurry of young people trying to get their share of the fan merchandise

Even though Lyric’s new band members had only been together less than a month for practice these guys sounded like a band that had been together for years. They opened the concert with the band’s new Music Video for Lyric’s new hit single “Young and Restless” following it up with another Lyric original bringing the audience to their feet with cheers and applause!

Lyric Dubee Young and Restless

Watch new hit single by Lyric Dubee “Young and Restless”

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Alex Shumaker Nine Year Old Demonstrative Drummer

Alex Shumaker on stage

I love playing drums more than anything in the world!   Alex Shumaker

 

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Nine Year old Alex Shumaker heralds from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA and has had an interest in Classic Rock bands such as Journey, Foreigner, Reo Speed Wagon and Styx since age 4. When Alex was 5 his parents took him to his first live concert to see Journey, Foreigner and Night Ranger and he was mesmerized! 

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Alex Self Made Drum

Following that concert experience, while most 5 year olds were headed to the Toy section at Walmart Alex would always ask to go to the Electronic Department to look at CD’s. On February 10, 2012 while browsing the CD’s Alex found a DVD of the band Journey with their new lead singer Arnel. Alex became fixated with drummer Deen Castronovo. Alex would get out an exercise ball, put it in front of the TV, and grabbing some kitchen utensils would proceed to play his make-shift drum set. He would watch the video over and over again and ultimately broke every kitchen utensil his parents had. To remedy that problem his dad created a pair of drumsticks out of plastic coat hangers for him to use. 

One evening while Alex was playing his homemade drum kit his Mom captured the moment on her phone and posted it to Facebook with the heading…… 

“You Gotta do what you Gotta do when your parents won’t buy you a drum set!” 

The phone soon rang and it was Alex’s Nana wanting to speak with him. His parents weren’t all that thrilled when he started screaming; 

“Nana and Papa are buying me a real drum set”.  

Alex received that little drum set and played it for hours on end, at least 3-4 hours a day watching the Journey DVD over and over trying to copy Deen’s every move. 

Every time Alex went to Walmart he got a CD. A few months later another DVD appeared, this time it was the band Foreigner with then drummer Brian Tichy. Alex became obsessed with Tichy’s theatrics of stick throwing and bouncing. 

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Alex with his first Drum Set from his Grandparents

 

 

After a few months of playing, Alex’s parents enrolled him in weekly drum lessons with teacher Brian Rowan with whom he is still receiving instruction. 

Alex progressed and kept his passion for drumming. His tastes in music evolved and he started playing a wide variety of genres of music. His parents and grandparents realized at this point this wasn’t just going to be a childhood phase and decided to purchase an adult size full drum set for his 7th birthday. Instead of asking for toys for birthdays and holidays, Alex would ask for musical equipment. Thus, his drum set has become quite massive over the past two years. 

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Alex rocken with Jeff from Foreigner

 

Alex’s parents began taking him to more concerts and numerous local shows. Alex has had the chance to meet many musicians and has become friends with a number of them, some even inviting him on stage during their performances. 

 

His biggest moment was getting to meet his hero Deen at a Journey concert along with Ross Valory and Jonathan Cain before the show. Deen was simply amazing to Alex. Deen even called out Alex’s name in front of 30,000 people while on stage and is still in contact with Alex today. 

That concert also opened Alex up to Country Music. He instantly fell in love with Rascal Flatts who were touring with Journey at the time. 

One of Alex’s first times being on a big stage was with the band Foreigner in 2013. It was an experience he will never forget. Alex has met Foreigner several times since. One particular occasion was when Alex used tickets to their show awarded to him by winning a Tonight Show inspired Lip Sync ontest the band put on. 

 

Alex on stage with Jefferson Starship 2014

While attending a Jefferson Starship concert in Pittsburgh in 2014 Alex was taken on stage for the final song with the band. The band members had no idea he was a miniature musician but singer Cathy Richardson said she kept getting this vibe about this little 7 year old boy sitting in the front row she had to invite him up!  

Alex and his parents traveled to New Jersey to attend a show called the “Bonzo Bash” produced by his hero Brian Tichy. Brian puts on this show on the both the West Coast and the East Coasts to honor the late John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Brian brings in top drummers from many bands to each perform 2 songs by Led Zeppelin. Alex got to attend the rehearsals for this show at the Gibson Guitar Show Room in NYC the day before the show. At the end of rehearsals Alex was given the chance to play while Brian Tichy (who is mostly known as a drummer) played guitar, Michael Devin of Whitesnake played bass and Chas West of Jake E. Lee/Tango Down performed the vocals.

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