The Amalgamated Rock and Roll Website of Dave Manoucheri

In September of 2024 my father passed away.  He had cancer, something so many people deal with, I know.  It's not an easy thing to watch someone so strong, so essential to your life, simply wither away.  He was still dad - strong, intelligent, and funny.  There was just less of him.

After he passed I was helping clean up some of the house with my older brother and I stumbled into his old portable reel-to-reel player.  Memories came flooding back: an old house in town, near the railroad tracks.  Dad hooking…

The Album!  She can't take much more, captain!

After a hiccup with the estate of Jimi Hendrix...recording is finished.

Again.

There's no easy way to put it.

The solo record has been delayed.

The last week of May (2019) I was on my way home from my day job and a massive accident happened.  I was injured, amazingly alive, but have several broken ribs.  Needless to say, picking up a guitar is not the easiest of things for me to do.

Worse yet, the breath control I need to sing...that's bad, too.  Not exactly easy to take a full breath and feel the ribs complaining.

For now, the gigs set up with the Ain't Got No Time band in July are…

YES! I brought 6 guitars and 3 amplifiers.
YES!  I used them all!

I hit the studio again and in a flurry of recording and mixing am that much closer to the reality of my first solo album!

"When the Giants Fell" is the title of the forthcoming album and while in the studio we recorded five new tracks for it! 

The title track: When the Giants Fell

Down the Track

My Sweet Angel

Nightfall (Man-O-Madic)

and The Breeze

That last one is not the JJ Cale song, though that's an awesome song, too.  It's an…

Hitting the Studio Again!!!

I'm going into the studio again April 17th and 18th (2019) in order to continue the long process of finishing my solo album.

Tentatively titled "When the Giants Fell", the album will hopefully be out end of 2019 or early 2020!  The plan is to complete 4 tracks including the title song!

Joining me will be Eric Rosander, from the "Ain't Got No Time (Rock and Blues) Band" on bass...as well as Chris Amarall, the drummer from the band "The Nickel Slots" and "Cretins Castle".  

…

I got an email recently asking the status of the solo LP, and when I think it might get released.

Well . . . it isn't just a matter of funds, or time, or any of the other sundry single dad reasons you normally have for procrastinating things like this.  I, put simply, can't play the guitar at the moment.  Haven't been able for awhile.

It actually started here . . . months ago.  I was recording a cover tune for an annual video I do for my family.  I played a little too hard, too long, and my finger…

Every year, on the anniversary of my wife's passing, I got together with the kids - yes, all four of them - and put together a video commemorating the last year.  It always had the memory of their mother in there with it.  The first year, being honest, was sad.  We were still wondering what had happened to our lives.  The second was angry, as many people came to us looking for help to process their own grief when, two years in, it was still fresh for us.  The third looked at where we were going.  Frankly…

I have gotten a lot of questions in the last few weeks that center around who influenced that first single?

Initially?  It was my late wife, as I was very sad and it caused me to write the lyrics.  But a few other people, whose lives encountered mine and showed me how good life is and can be were influential in giving it that touch of a hopeful feel.

But musically?  One big one that seems to come up often is The Eagles.

I actually had never even thought of them when writing the song, but the comparison…

In 1989 or 1990 (I forget which, call it lapses in the synapses) I had had enough of the cheap guitars and fighting with the tuning machines and intonation of my guitar.  I had bought a used 1985 Fender Stratocaster as my first guitar and it served me very, very well.  But I wanted another guitar; an expensive guitar; a guitar like my idol played.

I wanted a Fender Eric Clapton model Stratocaster.

I also wanted it in bright green.  I like green.  Sue me.

To quote Dr. Seuss: "I looked around but since…

Since the first single was released on April 22nd (2016), I decided you should get to know the gear that is dear to my heart.  All that I'm profiling here is what's been used in the recording so far.

Part one, you see, is my 2005 Squier Master Series Esprit, built by Fender.  It was designed by one of the Fender Custom Shop artists, to my knowledge, it was only built for a few years.  It is, essentially, a working-class version of the Fender Robben Ford model guitar.  I have always loved Ford's tone, and…