BRUCE MAIN
Hi, I'm Bruce Main. I started playing piano at six and guitar at eleven. I recorded my first original songs when I was fifteen. I studied electronics, acoustical physics and music theory but never finished college. Instead I co-founded the seminal Northwest progressive band, Medusa. We lived in a Rosicrucian commune while we wrote, recorded and played concerts that featured mystical music and slide shows. One local booking agent said it was "like having Yes in your back yard". My co-founder was Brian Phraner and the band included Don Freeborn (both later members of Phreeworld) and Gordon Raphael (later in Sky Cries Mary, Colour Twigs and producer for The Strokes and Regina Spektor, among others).
After I left Medusa I joined a midwest rock band called The Eddies. We wrote and recorded American rock in the Bob Seeger/ Bruce Springsteen vein and played live obsessively all over the middle of the country.
The band broke up after a couple of years and I landed back in Seattle where some friends (including Bruce Jones) and I decided to build a commercial recording studio. I had been mixing both live and in the studio during off times for my entire playing career so it was a natural extension for me to become the head engineer of what became Format Arts Recording. We transformed a big old church into a studio/musician's apartment complex. It was full of interesting characters and great music. We had the best Halloween parties on the planet.
During this period I recorded some solo demo tracks (using my old friends Don and Brian on drums, bass and vocals) that I shopped in Los Angeles and very nearly got signed. When that didn't happen I started a band called Mania. Mark Phraner, Don Freeborn and Freddy Krumins were all in the band at one time or another. We played progressive metal all over Seattle in the era just before the grunge revolution hit.
One of the bands that I recorded in the studio asked me to mix live for them and that started the next transition for me. We passed the studio on to a group that included my old band mate, Gordon Raphael and I went on the road as a front-of-house engineer. Eventually Mike Fisher (of Heart fame) who owned a sound company hired me as his lead engineer. The company grew into a major national sound provider doing tours for the likes of Nirvana, Jean Luc Ponty and many others. I became Executive Vice President and eventually we started a contracting division designing and installing large scale sound systems in major sports facilities like the Kingdome and the Alamodome. The design work was done by myself and my old friend, Brian Phraner (seeing a pattern here?).
Eventually we found reasons to leave. I got married, had some kids and became a partner in a business where I am able to utilize much of my accumulated knowlege. But the itch was still there.
So in 2003 I put together a digital studio and started to write and record again. I released TRACKS in early 2004 and in 2005 I released LAYERS with a certain amount of critical acclaim. In late 2006 I released ELEMENTS, my newest solo CD. It incorporates the talents of more of my musical accomplices and I think it's the best yet.
I hope you enjoy the fruits of my years of writing, playing, mixing and all the life experiences that I bring out through my songs.