A Man DRIVEN
Interview and commentary by Ken Boyd
Most of us know the rocker Tracy G to be the growling hard hitting rhythm assault maestro from the band Dio. Many have compared his intense rhythms to Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi—quite a compliment, if you ask me. He has worked with Hard Rock Legends like Munetaka Higuchi, Jimmy Bain, Mandy Lion, Jeff Pilson, Vinny Appice, and of course, Ronnie James Dio. What you may not know is this man has a great many hidden talents. Some of which he is getting ready to make use of.
He is of course speaking of his new project DRIVEN. This was
one of the main subjects discussed during the interview.
I knew right after this comment we’d get along well. Tracy has a great sense of humor, and I found that we were laughing and bullshitting as much as discussing his new direction in music.
“I was honored to get the gig,” Tracy commented about
this, “and I was always honored to play in the band. I knew I probably
wouldn’t be in the band forever—cause nothing seems to last forever. When it
was time for me to leave it would be obvious and I think this was the obvious
time I was supposed to leave.”
From the recent live
chat here are Ronnie’s comments on the separation of Tracy G from his band
Dio:
<ronnie> Tracy was placed in a very difficult
situation. He had to try to
be all the guitarists I've played with before and still retain his own special
identity. Unfortunately, he
was never accepted, except for the few who understood it all, but that wasn't
good enough. We needed to
reconnect with our audience and so reunited with Craig Goldy who always filled
that need,
<ronnie> Tracy will always be a good friend and a musician that I have tremendous respect for. You will hear from Tracy and his music again, and I will always be there for him.
“So tell me about Driven.” That was the first thing I asked Tracy, once we got down to business.
“Okay, It started as a side project about a year ago,” Tracy told me. “It was while I was in Dio, but the Dio material always came first…that’s just the way I am.”
“Were did you get the name for the band?”
“The lead singer and I, Timm Saxon, got together,” Tracy explained, “I thought he was pretty trippy with what he was doing, and I’d never worked with a singer like him. So I asked him if he would write some stuff if I threw him some riffs. He came from a real rough upbringing, and one day he said this stuff sounds like we’re just driven…and it was simple and just sort of said it all.”
“The drummer, Ray Lazier, is from the David Lee Roth band,”
Tracy went on, “He laid
down all the drum tracks and was totally surprised on how it came out…really
happy with it.” Tracy indicated he had originally met Ray when the drummer had
auditioned to join WWIII, years prior.
“I did all the writing, all the arranging, all the mixing, all of it…yeah, I did everything except for sing it.” Tracy also plays bass on all the material as well—some really heavy back beat anchoring the music in its intense feel.
“So, how do you feel going into this new project?” I asked. “It must really be something to be in control of the whole project from front to back, all the way to the mixing of final tracks.”
“It’s a good feeling, [but] one part of me it feels kinda scary, I’m basically out of a job now…I really don’t know what doors are gonna open for me now, or in the future.” Tracy got very serious when he answered this particular question. “I feel like a lot of weight has been taken of my shoulders…I have a chance to be more creative now,” he continued. “This [new] stuff is a little like Strange Highways…a little like WWIII. It’s real heavy, angry...y’know intense.”
Tracy played a portion of one of the finished tracks for me over the phone. Subsequently later he sent me a really nicely done three song CD sampler from the upcoming release that included the tracks Wrecking Ball, Fearless and Camel’s Broken Back. (Click the hyperlinks to check out these tunes for yourself from The Dio Juke Box).
I found the tracks to be quite different from the material previously worked on with Dio in Strange Highways, Angry Machines and the double live Inferno. The heavy shredding that Tracy is best known for is definitely there and distinguishable, but the music itself harkens back to his early releases with WWIII. Real Clip
Timm Saxon, the vocalist Tracy teamed up with, is something of a treat after the predictable wailing’s of Mandy Lion—much too rooted in the ‘80s metal sound. This new kid is fresh and modern with a stronger creativity when he hit the studio.
I particularly found Camel’s Broken Back to be very intriguing in that it breaks some traditional boundaries. The tune begins with some Sabbathesque intro by the piano. “I can’t even play piano” Tracy told me when he was describing the song to me over the phone. “And, it’s a really weird little piece I came up with while fooling around one day when I had cut my finger…it’s a spooky little thing. It starts with piano, its real dark and scary with the end of it a kind of Eleanor Riggby—fully orchestrated thing with violins going on in the back with a full blown drum solo going on, with piano parts going down, and the guitar. You will see exactly what I am saying when you hear some of these tunes.”
Fearless has an unusual flavor that reminds me of Red Hot Chili Peppers meet Sepulture with an insane twist of Tracy’s unique grinding thrown in for good measure. Tracy himself likened it to a more modern taste, moving away from the traditional rock feel. I truly enjoy the surprise of Don Knotts at the beginning and right in the middle bringing in an intense time change. That is likely the best feature of the whole tune is the timing keeps you off guard a much of the time, all the way until it winds down to a plodding conclusion with some really great guitar soloing by Tracy over the top of Timm’s insane screaming barks that close out the piece!
Wrecking Ball may be the most intense of those I was given to listen to. It opens with a total assault by the guitar right from the start. Then the drums and bass come in to show you that this band is not fooling around. Finally, you have the vocals that instantly force you a step back as you wonder just what you got yourself into. The solo is really more flittery and all over the place than we might be used to hearing from Tracy. There is a lot of contrast in this piece that is well placed and nicely enhances the cut as a whole.
All in all Wrecking Ball is my favorite track with Camel’s Broken Back coming in a close second. But take a listen and make your own judgments.
“It’s pure anger, angry and heavy—a lot like WWIII. RAW, with a screamer on it! This is a lot like WWIII and anybody who liked that will love this.” Tracy assured me., then chuckling a bit he added: “Everyone else will hate it.”
“You sound really upbeat and enthusiastic about this Driven. So, it sounds like you’re really happy with the direction it is going.”
“Yeah, I am,” he insisted, “It’s totally artistic shit…It’ll stand up to anything I’ve ever done—that’s all I can say.”
“Do you think that
being in Dio, and the contributions you made there will help you or hinder you
in your own progress?” Real Clip
“Both, “ Tracy
told me, “I think in some ways it will help because I played with one of the
best singers in the world. But it might also hurt me because someone might say
‘Oh, you were in Dio? He’s old [news]’, if you know what I mean?”
“I know you are always keeping yourself very busy, are there any other projects you are looking at for the future?”
“Yeah, I am,” He told me, “In fact I am working on another blues project…like the Mark Bramlett thing. We have a really killer blues singer and sounds a lot like Government Mule. Hard rock blues…It is a whole different band from Driven, completely different.”
“How far along is that project?” I asked.
“We have six songs done now,” Tracy answered, “But it comes after Driven—that’s my main priority right now.”
“Sounds promising.”
“[We are] still writing songs,” he told me, “but [we] start recording on Monday.”
“You mentioned that you do all the writing on Driven. You did all the writing on Rags and G Factory. What can you tell us about your writing process?”
“My
writing is done by just noodling around,” Tracy said, laughing, “but
sometimes hard to write alone. I don’t have the chance to bounce it off other
people. A lot of the time I get drum machine going and play riffs against it and
just build on top of that. I don’t write lyrics right now—I give others
(singers) my riffs and see if they can do something on top of it. I don’t
write [sheet] music, but I role tape on it and just start jamming while I have a
little recorder going. Then when I play it back I just build on it, and keep the
stuff that’s good—y’know, sort of steal from myself.” Real
Clip
“Sounds
pretty down to earth to me.”
“Yeah,
it’s great,” Tracy said, “Lots of fun. I enjoy it a lot.”
“Well,
Anything else we should keep our eye out for in the future from Mr. Tracy G?”
“Yeah…I’ll
be around. I want to do another instrumental piece. I want to do it as soon as I
can afford to. And I only have so much time…Gotta pay the bills [first], then
I’ll be working on some more things.”
“Hey,
Tracy I appreciate you taking the time to keep the fans informed of what you
have going on.”
“No
problem, bro”
After
listening to the music Tracy has already made available and being ready to jump
back into the industry full force, along with friends like Ronnie and supporters
like you the fans, I have a feeling that we will be seeing a LOT more of Mr.
Tracy Grijalva and his distinctive shredding in the near future! Real
Clip
Since this interview there have been some developments on the Driven front.
Ray Lasier is no longer with the band as their drummer--following through with other commitments (Touring withThe Nixons). He has been replaced by Mike Terrana (unknown at this time what other band associations he was affiliated with). Mike is reportedly in Germany at this time in order to set up a recording deal for the band.
Also for a total change in the Driven sound from Citizen X--the very first Driven project to come to fruition, drop by Tracy G's web site and check out Bitter Sweet--a pretty cool video and a REALLY different sound from the band that I think will quite impress you.
Also be sure to check out Tracy’s new page and URL at http://www.tracyg.com
Ken
Boyd
The Man On A Silver Mountain