Joe Deninzon

Joe Deninzon & STRATOSPHEERIUS

Traveling on tour and living your life will definitely lend itself to worldly experiences, and Violinist/Vocalist/Guitarist Joe Deninzon has poured those events into his sixth Stratospheerius album IMPOSTER! Since their debut album THE ADVENTURES OF STRATOSPHEERIUS released in 2002, the band has put out several albums and singles over the past twenty-two years, displaying their incredible prog rock talents. Deninzon has worked and performed with many world renown musicians such as Ritchie Blackmore, 50 Cent, Alex Skolnick, Les Paul, Smokey Robinson, Peter Criss, and Sheryl Crow. He has received several accolades and has played violin or has string arrangements on over one hundred albums. He also provides his exceptional music abilities to educate, including co-founding the Grand Canyon School of Rock in 2007 for Northern Arizona High School students.

Catching up with Deninzon in the middle of his Kansas tour and on the day that IMPOSTER! was released, he divulged some details about the new album that he and Drummer Jason Gianni, Guitarist Michelangelo Quirinale, Bassist Paul Ranieri and Keyboardist Bill Hubauer collaborated for, as well as new videos and singles, some past experiences, and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: Congratulations! Your sixth Stratospheerius album is out today (October 11^th) IMPOSTOR! It was written over several years. What would you say inspired this album?

Joe Deninzon: Well, I write what I feel. Sometimes it’s personal. Sometimes, I like to write about psychological conditions and I talk about social commentary. I try not to be specific to one side or the other although, I have my opinions. I think it started with the conversation I had with a friend of mine who I admire in the music business who’s a great musician, who said she suffers from impostor syndrome and I thought, how could you suffer from impostor syndrome when you’re one of the coolest, most talented people I know? Then I realized it’s common among everybody. Even people we think are successful. Then the concept of that song which is the title track was, the first part is dealing with your own impostor syndrome, and the second part is how the people that run the world are the real impostors a lot of times, and don’t have any problem with that (he laughed). The wrong people have way too much confidence. It’s kind of that. So, starts in the personal and then it goes more universal.

SFL Music Magazine: The last time I interviewed you, we talked about the song a bit and you were contemplating whether you wanted “Impostor!” to be the name of the album. What made you decide to go ahead and make that the title?

Deninzon: We took a vote with the band. We considered a few different options, but I always kind of in the back of my mind thought, man, that title has an impact. It’s a really catchy title for the album. Even though that song was written first out of all the songs and it’s been around for a while, but it works. It sets the tone.

SFL Music Magazine: It’s a great song! I love the rock, prog rock with a little bit of jazz, and like you said, it stems from sort of a political view of our society. What’s also really impressive is that the song is eight minutes with many elements! “Chasing the Dragon” is twelve minutes with a wonderful piano opening. What inspired that song?

Deninzon: It’s funny. I call it my mid-life crisis song. In the last few years, I’ve come to know a lot of people in the prog rock community, and I have a circle of friends who all have bands and all wanted to be rock stars when they were kids, and are all in their late forties, early fifties, still playing music and recording and playing clubs, and kind of chasing that childhood dream. I thought to myself, man, we’re all a bunch of kids that never grew up (he laughed). It’s kind of pathetic or maybe not, but it’s a fictional character loosely based on me and my friends, who maybe is a frustrated musician who started out with these grand goals and fantasies for his life, and he wakes up one morning leading kind of a morning routine existence. Working a day job. Playing on the weekends. Still chasing that dream and wrestling with his inner child so to speak, which we all are. What happened was, Jason, our drummer who is a co-writer on a lot of these songs, sent me a minute and a half demo that he put together with a bunch of melodic ideas, and I kind of took it and ran with it, and it turned into this twelve-minute rock opera. We kept adding sections and adding sections, and just went really over the top with it because, why not?

SFL Music Magazine: I did notice some tempo changes and very cool elements. “Outrage Olympics”, what inspired this song? The video is out already, correct?

Deninzon: It came out two weeks ago. That song is raging against cancel culture. Even though I lean to the left, I was really kind of a big critic of cancel culture. Having come from the Soviet Union, it has overtones of that kind of everybody’s spying on each other and snitching on each other, and something you say with the best intentions could be misconstrued and could cause you to lose your job or ruin your life or lose your reputation which is sometimes deserved, but often times not deserved. In the video, we have a lot of surveillance cameras and it shows us running from walls with eyes following us. It’s the idea that there is this surveillance state. There’re surveillance cameras everywhere, and there is also us spying on each other, surveying each other. So, it’s kind of a dystopian present that we live in.

SFL Music Magazine: I remember we talked about that song in our last interview. You have “Voodoo Vortex” part I and part II influenced by Jean-Luc Ponty and Jerry Goodman. You also wrote “Tripping the Merry-Go-Round” which was sort of inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light”? How did those songs come about?

Deninzon: Well, going back to “Voodoo Vortex”. It’s inspired by my violin heroes from the seventies like Jean-Luc Ponty, Jerry Goodman, Eddie Jobson. It’s in the style, kind of retro- style. It’s an instrumental track. It was supposed to be a trilogy, but we ended up using two parts and using part two as an intro ‘cause it worked really well, but not changing the name of it. Just to be kind of clever (he laughed) or whatever you want to call it. That’s a fun track. “Tripping the Merry-Go Round”, I describe it as if Gentle Giant wrote “Eleanor Rigby”. A lot of layering, counterpoint vocals and string quartet. It’s a relationship song about the merry-go-round of life and not finding enough time for each other. That kind of thing, and the title was taken from a lyric in the Springsteen song. I’m a huge Springsteen fan, lifelong. I got to play with him a few times.

SFL Music Magazine: I remember we talked about that also in our last interview. You took away some cool things from that experience. “Storm Surge”, I love the acoustic violin intro and then how the song becomes more dramatic. Kind of like the hurricane we all just went through! What would you say inspired that one?

Deninzon: That was written during the pandemic. That’s how long we’ve been working on this record. It was originally about the inner storm we were all feeling. The anxiety of the pandemic. The uncertainty about the future. Also, what was going on with Black Lives Matter at the time and the fight for social justice, and all the stuff that was going on. Just the sense of dread and anxiety during that time, but it also is universal. It applies to what’s going on now, literally with the hurricane sweeping through the southeast. So, the song transcends that snapshot of a moment and speaks to the times, I think. It was taken from a piano étude that my son had been practicing at the time that was played very, very fast by Friedrich Burgmuller. I thought, these are beautiful chord changes. I want to slow it down and turn it into a power ballad. Micheal Sadler contributed some lyrics. We invited him to sing lead vocals. Jason Gianni co-wrote it with me and it turned into this kind of Queen-esc, grandiose, epic rock ballad which we’re very proud of. Had some special guests on it too like Rachel Flowers.

SFL Music Magazine: How did it come together that Rachel and Michael contributed to that song?

Deninzon: I got to know them in the prog world. I met Michael at ProgStock in 2018 when we were playing there. I met Rachel then. Fell in love with her music and fell in love with her as a person, as a musician, and I really wanted to have them on some tracks. I think this whole album, the idea of having a huge cast of characters and guest artists really appealed to me, and I wanted to do that on a bigger level than I’ve ever had on previous records we’ve done. So, that was fun. Also having different lead singers as opposed to just me. It’s the first time we had done that.

SFL Music Magazine: The vocals are very strong as well as the harmonies.

Deninzon: We had Randy McStine from Porcupine Tree guest vocal on “Cognitive Dissonance”, and Chloe Lowery from Trans-Siberian Orchestra guest vocal on the last track “Chasing the Dragon”.

SFL Music Magazine: What did inspire “Cognitive Dissonance”? It’s heavier.

Deninzon: Yeah. That’s actually inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What sparked that song was we had a neighbor who was Palestinian and we’re Jewish, and our son was playing with that kid when they were eight. They’re very innocent. Then when the kid found out that we were Jewish he said, “we’re all going to hell” and wouldn’t play with Max anymore. But the theme of the song is that we all start on a clean slate, and we just want to hang out and play ball with each other. All the hatred comes from older generations that put the weight of history on our shoulders, and we have to carry that hatred from previous generations where we just start out just wanting to hang out with each other and not thinking about any of that stuff. It’s kind of a universal theme. That’s kind of the vibe of that song, and the end of it is kind of a battle between guitar and violin symbolizing the endless argument that we’re having.

SFL Music Magazine: Would you say the theme of the album in total is life in general and our society in general?

Deninzon: I think a lot of progressive rock albums, the lyrical content sometimes is too symbolic. Too esoteric, and I like to write about real things and just whatever is on my mind. Whatever’s in my heart. Some people might get offended by it (he laughed), but I try to be honest. I also like to write about universal topics that I think most people can agree with regardless what side of the political or ideological fence they’re on. I like to present it in a way that could be interpreted by both sides.

SFL Music Magazine: The last time we spoke you said you came from a family of classical musicians. Your dad was a violinist. Your mom is a pianist, but you didn’t want to just stay in that classical zone. You’re such a phenomenal musician with all the instruments you play. Do you think having that background helped form the musician that you are today?

Deninzon: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, one thing classical training gives you is discipline. A work ethic, a practice method, technical foundation, and when you have that, you can do anything you want. Whatever genre you pursue, you take that work ethic and that discipline. My thing was, I love classical music. I still enjoy it. My wife is a musician in the New York Philharmonic, a violinist. So, I’m around classical music all the time, but I just always was drawn to rock and roll and jazz and things like that. I wanted to be more creative and I wanted to write. I love to perform which in classical music, you don’t really get that many opportunities to be creative and really kind of ham it up onstage which I love to do. It’s always been in my nature. So, it kind of satisfies those elements in my nature.

SFL Music Magazine: That led to forming Stratospheerius?

Deninzon: Yeah. I was working as a freelance violinist in New York for many years doing Broadway and weddings and back up orchestras, but I really wanted to have a vehicle to explore my favorite kinds of music and put my own music out there. It just always needed to be a part of my life. So, that’s what shaped the formation of what became Stratospheerius. Just the strong desire to create my own music and do the things I wanted to do with the violin and with my writing. The challenge was finding like-minded people who wanted to play it (he laughed).

SFL Music Magazine: You definitely did! The last time I asked you what you would recommend to a young musician and you gave some great advice about being open to new experiences and learn as much as you can. In your bio you mentioned that being in Stratospheerius led you to Kansas. Being with them now (since May of 2023) what would you say you might add to that advice for a new musician or band?

Deninzon: I would say compartmentalize. Have the part of yourself that is of service to others. Meaning, be a good sideman. Serve whatever project you’re working on or someone’s hiring you to play, to the best of your ability. Then have another avenue where you’re just satisfying yourself artistically and doing what you want, but treat every project with the utmost respect. Every outside project that you do, and that will inform your original music as well. Just treat people well and work hard, and be true to yourself. It’s really simple. I think the same things I was talking about last time; I still feel that way, strongly.

SFL Music Magazine: That is great advice! Are there any new videos coming out for fans to look forward to?

Deninzon: I might want to do one for “Voodoo Vortex”. That’s what I’m thinking because that song has gotten a really good reaction. So, I might do something more abstract with that video. I have to see. Something that might not have the band in it per se. I got to think about it. We’re going to be doing some shows soon to be announced when I have a break from Kansas. So, yeah, stay tuned!

SFL Music Magazine: Kansas is touring through the end of the year, right?

Deninzon: Yeah. We’re on the third leg of our Fiftieth Anniversary Tour. The last show for that will be December 11th in Pittsburgh.

SFL Music Magazine: Was there anything else you want people to know about IMPOSTOR!?

Deninzon: People can get the album at 7dmedia.com and that will take you to all the streaming services and band camp. You can visit our website stratosband.com or joedviolin.com, that’s mine.