Brian Tarquin

Brian Tarquin

By: Lori Smerilson Carson

Being well versed in any profession lends itself to the best outcome. Guitarist/Producer Brian Tarquin certainly encompasses this idea, as he is not just an outstanding musician, but also an amazing composer, sound engineer, record producer, radio host and book author. He has topped the Billboard and Metal charts with his rock and jazz music. He has written seven books presently. He received the Network Television Performance Award from SESAC in 2006, and in 2019 he won a Global Music Gold Award for Best Album Orlando In Heaven, a tribute to the Pulse Nightclub shooting victims in 2016. He has had songs featured in several television shows such as Good Morning America, CSI, Cheers and Seinfeld, as well as movies The Sender, Desert Heat, The Watcher, and National Lampoon’s Repli-Kate. His composition for daytime drama All My Children won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series. As for videos, he won “Best Video” with Guitarist Joe Satriani for their “Speed of Sound.”

This year he released his most recent album BEYOND THE WARRIOR’S EYES which in addition to Tarquin’s versatile talents, features other musical icons Jean-Luc Ponty, John Tropea, Steve Morse, Chris Poland, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Hal Lindes, Dean Brown, Carl Verheyen, Larry McCray, Steve Kindler, and the late Phil Naro.

Catching up with Tarquin just as his video for “Beyond the Warrior’s Eyes” was released, he revealed some details about the song and album, prior projects, a bit about his past, and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: I just saw the new video. It’s awesome! I love how the animation is mixed in with the live action. How did this come about?

Brian Tarquin: I used a guy in Italy who is an Italian editor, designer on AI.   So, it actually was cool. His name is Dave Pellizza and I gave him a rough idea. I used him last year for a Joe Satriani video I had done with him called “Speed of Sound”, and I thought I’d use him again. He did a really cool kind of mixture of AI and live action.  The “Speed of Sound” one was more modern warfare, so on this particular one, I wanted him to use ancient warfare. Kind of go back through a history of warriors.

SFL Music Magazine:  The album is a tribute to veterans, but what would you say inspired BEYOND THE WARRIOR’S EYES?

Tarquin: I’ve always had a deep respect for veterans. My dad was in World War II. I did a short stent in the army, in the ROTC in the 80’s. So, I knew what everybody, all the veterans and soldiers obviously go through. I thought it was appropriate to do this. I wanted to give back to the veterans and show the obvious problems that they have, and kind of shine a light on them with PTSD and all the homelessness and substance abuse that they go through, or some of them go down that road. I like to shine the light on these charity organizations like Hope for the Warriors.

SFL Music Magazine:  I read that you are very much a supporter and a part of that organization. How did that come about?

Tarquin: I’ve always wanted to find, like through the music, find a charity to donate to. So many of them don’t give a lot percentage of money to the actual veterans. So, I did vetting and research on a lot of things. My last album, Brothers in Arms last year, I used the Fisher House Foundation. This time I used Hope for the Warriors because they have a really good connection with the Marines and the Navy, and my dad was an ex-Marine. So, I thought I’d like to show some support to that.

SFL Music Magazine: About the songs, Jean-Luc Ponty was on “Beyond the Warrior’s Eyes” and his violin solo is amazing!

Tarquin: Yeah, he’s great!

SFL Music Magazine: How did he become a part of the song (and video)?

Tarquin: I’ve been in talks with him for a while. I’ve known Jean-Luc, and I have an NPR show in Florida on the Space Coast called GUITAR TRAX on 89.5 WFIT. Basically, some of these guys I had met through having interviewed them, talked to them and so forth. So, as I was putting this project together through the pandemic, as a lot of it transpired through the pandemic, I talked to each one of them and thought maybe they would like to be a part of it because everybody was on lock down. Everybody was home a lot during the pandemic. So logistically, it was easy because we could do this online and nobody had to actually go to my studio. I thought as I was speaking to each one of them, like with Jean-Luc, I wrote the song especially for him, and that’s where I basically custom composed everything for each of the artists.

SFL Music Magazine: That’s how the collaboration with these amazing musicians came about?

Tarquin: Yeah, basically. I love collaborating with other guitarists especially for special projects and helpful causes. So, what I do is, I basically talk to them. I like to give people specifically new instrumental music because that’s what I am, an instrumental guitarist.  Basically, in the genre of fusion. The way the whole album came about was during the pandemic like I mentioned earlier, I had a BROTHERS in ARMS album that came out last year. They were all one album. This BEYOND THE WARRIOR’S EYES and BROTHERS in ARMS, but I wanted to split them up because after a while, being in lock down, I came out with nineteen songs and I wanted to split them up in genre. So, the BROTHERS in ARMS album which featured Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore, Bumblefoot from Guns N’ Roses. That was more of a metal CD. Metal instrumental CD. So, I released that for that genre. This one, BEYOND THE WARRIOR’S EYES came out to be more of a jazz fusion, prog rock record. So, I put that together and released that as a CD. That’s kind of how the whole thing came about.

SFL Music Magazine: “Behind the Iron Curtain” has a heavier intro with the drums and guitar. The song honors the sacrifices made. It featured Chris Poland. How did it come to be that he played on that song?

Tarquin: I’ve worked with Chris Poland for years. He’s actually a great guy and we’ve done a number of projects together. So, I thought this would be perfect for him. His style, and he never disappoints. Did a great job. I thought it would probably be really cool to have him on a track for the veterans, and he was all down for it. With these tracks, I usually let them do basically what they want. So, I leave them room. If they want to join me in the melody they can because basically, when I send these tracks out, they’re all written. They’re all composed, recorded. The melodies are done. My solos are done, and I leave a spot for them to improvise on. If they want to join me with melody they can. So, that’s kind of how I presented it to him.

SFL Music Magazine: Is that the same with the song “Faith & Hope” which sounds more rock and funkier with great guitar riffs featuring Steve Morse and John Tropea?

Tarquin: It was kind of similar. With that, I orchestrated for the both of them. I’ve known Steve Morse for a really long time. He’s a great guy. We’ve done projects together. He wanted the middle section, so I let him orchestrate the whole guitar melodies and everything. Then, John Tropea has a very different style than Steve, and I had him do kind of the B sections. It actually worked out really well. Again, I wrote it in their vein of like the Dixie Dregs and John Tropea style from the 70’s, from his fusion style. I was actually really pleased with how that came out as well.

SFL Music Magazine: On “These Colors Don’t Run” you have Phil Naro who passed away, singing on that. How did that come to be?

Tarquin: Phil was introduced to me years ago by Bumblefoot. We had done a number of vocal albums together in the past. We did an album called BAND OF BROTHERS where it was all hard rock and all vocals for Cleopatra Records, and a Christmas album. We did a few things. So, I had this song left over with him and Steve Morse from one of the other tribute albums we did for veterans. So, I listened to him, and him having passed away and it was never released. So, I thought it was a great way close the record with him. He did such a great job singing. I love his lyrics on that particular track. I think they really hit home, and it’s the only vocal track on the album and being a ballad, I thought it would be a nice way to end it.

SFL Music Magazine: What would you say attributes to the success that you have? You’ve been in the industry for years. You have three Emmy Awards. What would you say has helped you be as successful as you are?

Tarquin: Oh, I guess I can’t take no for an answer. You have to have I think, thick skin and also be able to persevere and be able to get through everything to kind of hear the music as you hear it, and do things according to your heart. Because obviously, the record industry has changed quite a lot in the past thirty years since I’ve been in and started. It’s consumed differently. There’re no more records, physical, and everything is streaming now. People don’t even download. I tribute a lot of it because I have such perseverance and I kind of like are stubborn, and I just keep moving forward. I also think it’s because I served in the record industry for a long time, early on in my career. Working at record labels, and I understood the whole system and how it works. I’ve been through a lot. I started as an assistant engineer in New York City back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and worked at record companies in L.A. and New York. I also covered jazz artists as well, so I saw what worked with instrumental music and what didn’t. I’ve been composing for television for pretty much the same length of time. So, I think with all of that, the older I get, the more I see what works and what kind of reaction you get from listeners and things without actually sacrificing too much of the music. So, it’s kind of a combination of things.

SFL Music Magazine: What would you recommend to a young person wanting to get into the music industry?

Tarquin: Ah, become a dentist.

SFL Music Magazine: I had a feeling you would say something like that!

Tarquin: It’s tougher today because the flood gates are open so much. When I first got into the industry, everybody wanted to be a rock star. Nobody really wanted to do composing for television or film. It was kind of looked down upon or like B side music or red headed step child kind of music, but now of course, that door has been blown open. Now there’s an overzealous amount of people trying to do it all. Probably the best thing is perseverance, I would say. If they really want to do it, its gonna take a while. Networking is probably one of the best things. Also, you need to find your own niche in your own little spot of what you do well, and be able to fulfill that. Maybe you’re just good at vocal songs. Maybe you’re just good at acoustic songs, but probably not try to do it all. Try to just find out what you’re good at. What success that you have with listeners and with the industry, and pursue it that way. When I was starting out, that’s kind of why I wanted to work in record labels and publishing to find out you know, how you get paid. What recoupment means and reserves held, and all of that. I even wrote a book called The Insider’s Guide to Music Licensing. Survival guide for music composers because when I was coming up, there was no book. Like, maybe an attorney kind of book, and it was very dry and difficult to follow. I wrote these books like in laymen terms, in just showing people, in musician terms. At the end, this is how you can actually make money and understand. Understanding the industry and where you’re getting paid in royalties is probably really key on being successful.

SFL Music Magazine: What made you decide to get into the industry?

Tarquin: Oh God. I didn’t really want to do it and it was kind of funny. My parents were in advertising, so I started out a long, long time ago in advertising and that’s how I got into the jingle side of things, in music side of things because I thought you were either a rock star or you weren’t. I didn’t really know about composing for television and film, and all this background music, and all these other things that you could be lucrative at. So, at first, I tried not to, and it’s crazy. I moved from New York to L.A. Originally, I wanted to be a Cecil B. DeMille director with a Bolex 1960’s camera and had these dreams of doing films, but everything just led the road to doing music in my path. Even if I tried not to, it would lead me back to something to do in music and composing, and by that point, I was having success with television and film. I guess it was ordained for me to do it.

SFL Music Magazine: You composed for All My Children?

Tarquin: Yes. That came about through my albums. They hired me through that. They wanted a better production for, I think for their music. So, they hired me because they were using my music for contemporary jazz days on the show, so they just hired me to do the music.

SFL Music Magazine: This album (BEYOND THE WARRIOR’S EYES) was recorded in your Jungle Room studios?

Tarquin: Yes.

SFL Music Magazine: Is that in Cape Canaveral?

Tarquin: Yes, my studio is in Cape Canaveral. I have a very unique studio because part of my whole thing is that I like to rely on both analogue and digital. So, like on this record, I recorded everything down originally to analogue, went to the digital realm to be able to fly in the parts and the different guests, and then I mix the final down to analogue. Then it was mastered off of analogue. My studio is on a twenty-eight-foot custom made studio trailer. I have a recording studio trailer. It has two rooms. A live room and a control room, tape machines, and a Trident (London 24) console, and a lot of great stuff and analogue gear. Also, I rely on the sound as well and the way it’s recorded. So, that’s a whole other passion.

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything else that fans can look forward to coming out?

Tarquin: Yes, actually I am working with Joe Satriani on a new song that’s gonna be coming out next year for a new EP. Also, Gus G from Ozzy (Osbourne) and Stu Hamm. So, some exciting other guests too that I’m gonna confirm, but it’s never ending. I always like to stay busy.