Justin Torpey

The second Mr. Toad's session also featured Mark Bohm (drums), Steve March (bass), and Justin Torpey (guitar & vocals) - this time doing all original material except for Magic Sam's Every Night & Every Day. The last two songs featured Tim Regan on vocals (Plucking Poet & The Song). The lyrics for those songs as well as Soma Street were originally poems written by Chick T. 

This is only a fifteen minute program with seven pieces performed on the classical nylon string guitar.  Many of these pieces I learned before I was ten years old and have continued to play them my entire life. Winter Music was originally recorded as an audio Christmas Card on printed cassette tapes and given away to friends and family during the Holidays. 

This record is Spoken Word poetry performed by Chick T. Many of the poems are Chick's original work, but also included are some of his favorite poems with his unique touch and presentation.

These recordings of all original material were done in a home studio on a 4-track and mixed to a DAT tape.  Justin performed all the instruments and vocals and used a drum machine for the rhythm parts. Many of these songs were the foundation of the original material Sativa Blue performed around San Francisco and appear on later works with the band both in studio and in live recordings. This collection (aka Just For You) was mastered at Mr. Toad's and subsequently released on printed cassette tapes and sold at early Sativa Blue gigs.

These demo-quality recordings were done in a home studio with a Tascam digital 8-track and never meant to be released. Most of the material is original but the performances and arrangements reflect an artist's sketch to illustrate ideas for later development. Having demos like these are also useful for teaching a band new material. Justin performed all the instruments and vocals and used a drum machine for the rhythm parts. Chick T is the featured vocalist on Ballad of John & Yoko, The Way I Love You, and Some Last Words. 

These are more demo-quality recordings done in a home studio with a Tascam digital 8-track and were never meant to be released. The collection is almost entirely original material with the exception of the first track, Earl Thomas' resurrection of Ode To Billie Joe. The performances and arrangements of this material are rough sketches meant to be developed and refined later. Justin performed all the instruments and vocals and used a drum machine for the rhythm parts.

These are more home recordings with a better digital workstation and a better microphone (AT4050). Up until recently this was the last of my creative phase in terms of writing and recording. The Akai Mixes are a smaller collection of songs, with only a handful of new ones, but there was more time and effort put into  the performances and arrangements. Chick T has a marvelous performance on These Days, which he also wrote. These songs are all original except for the guitar instrumental version of Marvin Gaye's What's Going' On.

Carlos 'Los' Hernandez is a guitar player extraordinaire in the style of Joe Satriaini & Metallica.  These demo tracks were written by Los and tracked in a home studio using a drum machine for the rhythm parts with Justin playing bass. The guitars feature Los' unique style with his soaring melodies and scorching accents and tone.