Recent Hours Blog

Good day, friends.

Before trying to understand the music Recent Hours enthusiastically puts out, one must first study the gear that brings forth such a wide range of dolcet tones and terrifying frequencies. In order to make sense of the beautiful chaos, let’s deconstruct the pieces one by one and see if we can unravel the musical psychology of this innovative quintet.

We must begin at the begining. Mike Powell, guitar extraordinare. Through his ear ravaging riffs, heart cleansing melodies and boundary-pushing shredding techniques, Mike has sparked the flame of creativity more times then one could count. At rehearsal, on stage, in the studio and in life.
His loud, amazing and original guitar playing is liable to fry your circuits if you get too close. Equiped with:

Ibanez, S series guitar,
Fender Metal Head 400 watt head
and 4×12 cabinet,

Mike has more tone in his little finger then most of us do in our entire hand. In addition, his training as a sound engineer helps him to achieve such thunderous tone for himself AND in the studio, while mixing personal and collective tracks.
Composing, pushing boundaries, and rocking your face off at shows is what he does. With the help of God-given natural skill, and the little friends he has acquired along the way:

Shure wireless
Line 6 DL4 (delay)
ML4 (modulation)
Boss digital delay
Eh Micro-pog
Korg Electribe synth/sequencer
and 2 separate maxx play tru-bypass Fx loop pedals,

Mike is able to bring his “mad scientist” schemes to fruition. Is it genius ? Is it insanity ? We say: “A little from column A….a little from column B, but one thing is sure, we’re all glad he’s nuts.”

Next in line would HAVE to be the brilliant, ALWAYS tasteful stylings of Andy Miller. With such a gargantuan feat placed on him, having Dr. Frankenstein as his counter-part, Andy refuses to be overshadowed and makes his OWN footsteps in the sand that is Mike Powell’s beach. With the highly respected desire of ONLY playing what is best for the song, Andy brings sanity and structure to the madness, while displaying emotion through his instrument and originality that is unmatched. He consistantly embodies the skeleton of the song adding structure to the relentless storm of music….a life line to his crew in the hurricane. The 7 foot German never faulters.
Let’s take a look at what the ying to Mike Powell’s yang has up HIS sleeve on stage:

PRS guitar
Mesa Boogie dual rectifier
Marshall 4×12 1960 cab
Line 6 DL4 delay pedal
Boss digital delay
Boss tremelo
Boss chorus
Boss flanger
BBE Wah
BBE Sonic Maximizer stomp pedal
Shure wireless

With these items and his wit, Andy has been known to dispense musical ass beatings on stage, at rehearsal and in the studio.

Which brings us to our next culprite. John Dortone. As one of the last few additions to this rowdy crew, John has successfully held up his end by quickly writing and efficiently executing his bass lines for the debut album “Definition of Replacement” and rocking out stone-solid live shows. Whether he’s slappin’, poppin’ or groovin’, dude came to bring “the thick”. And despite his size, this young man wields a massive sword of sound that helps Recent Hours cut through the walls of any live venue, to bait unsuspecting patrons in other rooms. The low end gets ‘em every time and they want to dance, Johnny. Show ‘em what you’re working with:

Warwick Thumb bass (bolt-on neck)
Ampeg SVT Pro 4 head
Ampeg Classic series 4×10
Ampeg Classic series 1×15
BBE sonic maximizer
Fuhrman power conditioner
MXR M80 Distortion D.I.
Shure wireless

Now I know what you’re thinking ! Enough about strings, what about the drums ??? When are we gonna talk about drums ??? We’ll, you’re in luck, cause I was just getting to that. Andrei Traistaru- lead drums.

Having a lead drummer can be tricky for some folks but not for this talented bunch. Molding like water to Andrei’s high energy, hip-hop and metal-oriented barage of beats and allowing him to “wild out” as the music takes him to new dimensions in his psyche where he plays for God; Recent Hours seems to have found another piece of the puzzle on the road to musical zen.

With a sickening NEED to play, compose and breathe music, the Romania native takes his own drum kit to places it’s never been with his unique, signature style as well as showing ANY house kit who’s boss no matter when or where. With lightning speed and great feel he comes to do the damn thing and always delivers.
Sound guys and strangers in the audience are left wanting to experience the same fury on a kit of their own, as Andrei’s drumming inspires the spirit, hypes the mind and rocks a nay-sayer stupid. Here’s where the magic happens:

Pearl 6 piece fusion EXR with 16″ tom (all maple)
Pearl EXR maple snare
Gretsch Renown maple snare
Remo clear pinstripe tom heads
22″ Evans EMAD bass drum head
Evans zero rings (10″, 12″, 14″ and 16″)
Remo ambassador snare heads
Pearl kick-pedal with reverse beater
Click pad
Pearl hardware
Tama drum throne
Vic Firth 2b nylon sticks

Sabian:
Hi-hats
AAXplosion 16″ crash
22 “Ride

Zildjian:
8″ Zilbel
18″ China
20″ Avedis Crash

Paiste:
10″ Signature splash
18″ Signature crash
18″ Signature china

Latin percussion:
LP ice bell
Lp tambourine hi-hat attachment

And FINALLY, the last piece to the puzzle. The vocal conjurer, Dusty Trullender.
As the last member to join Recent Hours, Dusty had a tough road ahead of him. With almost an entire album of music ready to go, the members of RH, looked to him for lyrics and melodies while nervously glancing at their watches. The pressure of shows lining up quickly as Dusty looked up at a mountain of incomplete material could have twisted the bones of any lesser musician into submission. But instead of giving up, he made a plan. Guerrilla tactics.

Boldly venturing out to gigs on the Tristate circuit with RH, a few hooks and ideas in mind, Dusty found himself freestyling, molding and imbedding melodies into his head live, therefore leaving a small piece of his soul at every gig. The rest of the band, the onlookers and club owners started taking notice. In a short time, he finished writting his vocals, and recorded the band’s first album with his own recording gear:

Boss Br-1600
Shure Beta 87a and sm57 mics
Presonus preamps and headphone amp
Octava Condenser mics
Audio-Technica Condenser mics
AKG drum mics
a pair of Rode Nt-5’s

Dusty helped mix and re-mix individual and collective instrument tracks for the band proving himself a worthy addition. His original, open-minded, and intense approach to singing is only a fraction of his talent, thanks to Divine inspiration and a heart set on creating meaningful music.  At this point, his amazing vocal range can shatter wine glasses from across the bar or be as sweet as the icing on a well-baked cake.

These days, Dusty continues to hone his skills and remain flexible at the same time. Whenever encountering a bigger gig, he brings his Line 6 X3 Live for all the “bells and whistles” and when playing a smaller, more intimate set for his audience, he likes to “raw dawg it”, preferring to use whatever the house has to offer; usually a beaten and battered Shure SM 58 which his powerful whaling brings to life every time.

And that’s how we roll!