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Sean - Drums

Full Name: Sean Lee Sunderland

Birth date: March 31, 1990

Position: Drums/Percussion

Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee

Equitment: Gretsch Catalina Maple Series Drums, Zildjian Cymbals(18" Paiste Alpha Rock), 14" Mapex Maple Snare

Musical Background: I started playing on pots and pans when I was 7, quickly thereafter my parents decided to upgrade me to my first drumset when i as about 9 years old. It was a Mark II drumset and it was with it that I discovered my love for drums and percussion. My first drum idol was Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band. I began worshiping him and learning all of their music as his ability on the drums blew me away. I played that kit for about 8 years until it broke and I got my Gretsch kit.

I have been involved in many bands in the past, most recent as a band called Monolith which has recently disbanded. I am currently studying under Scott Corey at Trevecca University in Nashville, I have been there for almost a year. I pursued joining Zasz in late April 2010 mainly because I enjoy the music, and I knew it was somewhere where I could have some freedom and room for creativity as a drummer.

Influences: Steely Dan, Earth wind and Fire, The Mars Volta, The Carter Family, Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews Band, Billy Joel, John Coltrane, White Stripes, Al Green, Michael Mcdonald, Roy Acuff, Led Zepplin, Gorillaz, Ella Fitzgerald, Pink Floyd, Charlie Parker, Chicago, Fleetood Mac, Kings Of Leon, and The Beatles.

Amanda - Bass

Full Name: Amanda Louise McCoy

Date of Birth: August 12th, 1987

Position: Bass Guitar

Hometown: Coshocton, OH

Equipment: I exlusively perform with Fender basses and Ampeg amplifiers.

              Basses: Fender Jazz V (custom built) and Fender Precision V (custom built)

              Amps: Ampeg BA-115, Ampeg PR-1528, Ampeg B2R

Musical Training: I have studied bass guitar extensively with Pandel Collaros (Steubenville, OH), Victor Wooten (Nashville, TN), Steve Bailey (Myrtle Beach, SC), Regi Wooten (Nashville, TN) and Molly Pauken (Columbus, OH).

Bass At The Beach 2007: studied extensively with Kenny Aronoff, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Howard Levy, Frank Gambale, Mike Pope, Dave Welsch and many others.

Bethany College 2009: Bachelor of Arts in Music, Music Major, Electric Bass, Guitar and Vocals, Coursework 2005-2009 Minor areas of study: Piano performance and Music business Studied extensively with Pandel Collaros.

Music: Neil Young, Tori Amos, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Victor Wooten, Pandel Collaros, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Coldplay, Johnny Winter, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Ani DiFranco, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Keb Mo', Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Muse, Ben Folds, Of Montreal, Big Mama Thorton, Bob Dylan, Cream, Janis Joplin, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, The Who ... and so much more! I love music - those are only some of my favorite artists/bands.

Bio: Amanda performed at the Heritage Music BluesFest (Wheeling, WV) 2008 – as both a solo acoustic artist and bassist for The Catch Blues Band. Amanda and The Catch Blues Band combined forces to perform a smokin’ hot set as the opening act for blues legend Johnny Winter.

As a bassist, Amanda has performed and studied with many world-renowned musicians and bands – the list reads like a who’s who of the music industry, and includes Kenny Aronoff, Victor Wooten, Pandel Collaros, ZASZ, Steve Bailey, Mike Pope, Howard Levy, Frank Gambale, Brandon Barnes, Zack Wiesinger and Molly Pauken. Amanda has developed a solid, funky, and soulful style that keeps her audience at the edge of their seat – anxiously awaiting her next “soul-shaking” bassline.

After auditioning in 2007, Amanda was among 60 bassists internationally selected to attend Bass At The Beach, a five-day conference for serious bass guitarists. Here she met world-renowned drummer Kenny Aronoff – who became a major influence and dear friend.

"When I met Amanda at Bass At The Beach – I was impressed with her upbeat, and vivacious personality combined with a down to earth sensibility. When I played with her, I told her that I loved her feel, enthusiasm and exciting vibe when she played the bass. She rocks with an R&B feel.” –Kenny Aronoff

Amanda started playing the guitar at age three – and started playing bass shortly thereafter. Coming from a very musical family, Amanda’s parents played a major role in shaping her style and love of music. At the age of nine her Father taught her a simple blues progression. From that moment forward – Amanda has never looked back.

Amanda’s experience and training at the hands of skilled performer/pedagogues such as Victor Wooten and Kenny Aronoff have imbued her with a sense of professionalism that is lacking in most folks her age. Her interest in the music of the African-American blues masters has made her expert in the performance of blues, R&B, and rock musics. Her formal training and experience has provided her with reading skills that allow her to cover the gamut from jazz to musical theater. Amanda has mastered a variety of musical genres and equipped herself with the tools appropriate to tackle any musical style. Her solid, funky, and soulful bass playing just adds another dimension to her prodigious guitar, piano, and singing abilities.

When Amanda McCoy takes the stage, her musicianship and presence are both guaranteed to knock you off your feet.

Amanda graduated in 2009 from Bethany College with a Bachelor's of Arts in Music – primarily focusing on bass guitar performance.

When Amanda isn’t playing her bass guitar – you can find her in Nashville’s hottest venues performing her songs for an eager audience.

In November, Amanda released her first E.P. entitled “Jade.” This special collection of songs is getting reorganization wherever it is heard. All songs were written and arranged by Amanda McCoy. Brandon Barnes (Pittsburgh, PA) arranged and performed all of the percussion on “Jade.” Along with Amanda, Pandel Collaros produced the E.P. and also recorded and mixed each of the songs. Pandel’s expertise and vision was essential and is evident in the final outcome of “Jade.”

“In spite of her youth, she proved to be a talented and strong individual whose soul runs deep blue.” – BJFM / Blues Triangle Update.

Dan - Keys and Synthesizers

Full Name: Daniel Anthony Shyles

Date of Birth: August 8th, 1988

Position: Keyboards, Samples, Graphic Design

Hometown: Glenmoore, PA

Equipment: Yamaha S-80, Ensoniq - SQ1, Peavey Amps (KB series), FL Studio 9.0

Musical Background:

 At six years old I began imitating my sister on our upright baldwin at home. As she was taking lessons at the time, I became ravenously interested and wanted to play  just like her. I began classical training with various college students from the surrounding area learning the basics: scales, arpeggios, reading score, chord structure, time & key signiture... the works. As I excelled, I needed to expand my learning. At 10 years old I began lessons with Dr. Robert Bedford, professor of piano performance at West Chester University. Though reluctant at first to take someone so young, after asking me to prepare a few pieces of Mozart and Bach, he took me in... his only student under 18 years.

After eight years of private study, and countless recitals and pieces including Beethoven, Chopin, Hayden, Liszt, Korsakov, etc. I attended West Chester University School of Music, continuing my studies with Dr. Bedford, and expanding my horizons, throwing myself completely into a music based curriculum. My first semester I became the first freshman to perform Liszt's 13th Hungarian Rhapsody at West Chester.

That same semester, I met Tim, who would later be known as Zasz, someone I had heard a lot about, but had never had the opportunity to actually encounter. A mutual friend told me he was looking for someone to play keys in his new project. Based on what I'd heard about him, I gave it a shot. He only had ten songs finished at the time, but when I listened I couldn't help but think that I had never heard anything like it before. I have a very wide taste in music... from progressive to metal to electronica to classical, and the music that I heard was like all of those and none of those simultaneously. Very weird. After listening I told him I was in. Since then, it's been a ride like no other.

I can't wait to see what's next.

Favorite Music: Radiohead, The Mars Volta, Opeth, The Notwist, Aphex Twin, Bloc Party, The Sounds, Beck, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Circa Survive, Ben Folds, Between the Buried and Me, Catch 22, Coheed, Daft Punk, The Postal Service, Deftones, DJ Logic, He Is Legend, Incubus, Jurassic 5, Mindless Self Indulgence, Necrophagist, Of Montreal, Ratatat, RJD2, Sublime...

Facebook: Dan Shyles

Zasz

Zasz, aka Tim Zimmermann, is an American musician, composer and singer. He is currently based in Nashville, TN, and is 25 years old. He has been playing music since he was 3 years old, being the son of a theatre musician and a singer, as well as a member of a family who's musical history dates back to the Civil War. He played the drums all through Middle School and High School, participating in several regionally successful metal and hardcore bands, doubling as a singer (not the screamer). Upon graduation from High School, he joined the Army Band, and served his time there until 2009 gaining the rank of Sergeant. After playing drums in several bands he became disillusioned and frustrated, searching for a musical outlet he could not find. Only weeks away from joining the Army in active service, he began experimenting with FL Studio music producing software (a program his mother bought him for his birthday), and reinvented himself as Zasz. Since then, he has composed, produced and performed on two albums ("wakeup.feelsomething." and "Destiny Beside the Great Divide"), and toured every state east of the Mississippi and south of (and including) New York City.

Currently, Zasz is hard at work at the newest creation to the catalog, a rock opera called "The Interstellar Healer". This project is the biggest Zasz has attempted to date, and will likely see the light of day within the next year as he and the band begin performing selections from it live.

Zasz' vocal style is akin to the high tenor rockers that have preceded him. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Jeff Buckley, Cedric Bixler (The Mars Volta), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Bono (U2), Chino Moreno (Deftones) and Matt Bellamy (Muse) and Peter Gabriel (Genesis) have all been great sources of inspiration for his vocal style.

Compositionally he writes all different kinds of music, but usually there is a lot of piano with heavy rhythm and bass. He takes great care in writing harmonies, and uses digital music software to write parts that he cannot physically play. This gives him a lack of limits that let's him push his creativity to places that he might otherwise not go.

Besides a full time career in music, he also is the Music Director for School of Rock Franklin, a performance based rock music school. He likes to cook, spend time with his family and friends and watch the Office and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Heaven When I'm Gone

I'm looking for God...in the faces on the road,
Miracles pass me by, living with angels, fighting the demons side by side.
And i have created and destroyed gifts from above.
See me as Your innocent son of original sin, when I need love.
The gates aren't far away as the evidence weighs in.
Sit me down with the saints and you and I’ll tell you my name and the people I've been.

Walk with me now, silent shrouds of ages hearts open fall down,
In the darkness I’ll be found again.
Picking locks and closing doors, it’s not like I've never been in danger before
Now I rest my eyes like a baby just born,
I'm gone. I'm in heaven now.

Rest easy, don’t waste your prayers on me
Just love me like the pictures in the magazines you read,
It’s not as fatal as it seems.
The soul yields the body’s whims, ignore reason and vagrancy steps in
Foolin’ me, foolin’ you, I’ll be good again, dead.

The circus ends, new life begins,
The debt is paid square with the house again,
Through the races I've been broken and bent
Thought you were my friend, but I'm alone at the end

I'm gone.
I'm in heaven now.

Are you scared of being alone? 
Open your eyes, open your heart.
I'm afraid to go in the dark.

This does not compute in my brain. 
Don’t want to be a tragedy will you save me from the world? 
It’s a favor it’s the least that I deserve
All I wanna know today, tell me the truth, I wanna know, will it hurt to go that way?

I am flawed
Was that heaven’s light I saw?
No stay of execution, injection comes at dawn.
This is my restitution, Oh, God, will you help me if I’m wrong?
I’ll be in heaven when I’m gone.

wakeup.feelsomething.

And I'm backed into a corner, nondescript, lips against mine,
Impossibly perfect, taste her while she’s still around.
I hear sounds of alarms, screamin’
Wakeup, wakeup. 

Dream sequence begin.
I was a hero saving the world. 
I better wake up, I better wake up
Before I think this it's for real and they’re taking you away.
Still believe you were there and I’m ok.
I won’t let them take you away.

Faces blend with mine, cast out taste turpentine, oh god I must be blind, to believe that this was real.
<shapeshift and cease to feel>
Dreamer sleeps, hallucinating, light refracts and I’m creating pictures, falsify the light, set my eyes on fire
And I’m hearing sirens in the night.

Dread the daybreak in the window, the night is over, morning has come.
We were so afraid of this time, waiting for the sunrise.
Somewhere in the night, in the midst of a dreamland dust covered photograph, reaching back in time through eons, chains all over the floor.
Shapeshift, consciousness like a baby just born, I have seen the damage and if nothing we had style. 
Hey, dreamer, wake up.

wakeup.feelsomething.