The NEW release of our CD. Includes New "The Way It Goes", Lynn Carol's "The One" and more. All songs have been remixed and remastered with George Puleo on Lead Guitars. This is a great National quality CD. Check our Website for more info.

14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Progressive Rock, ROCK: Classic Rock



Details:
"RockStar is a "New Rock" band from Western New York. Through their website, RockStar is building up an international following of loyal fans, stretching from New York, New Jersey, and Washington, to Florida, Canada and Europe. RockStar inspires music today with the addition of lead guitars, synthesizers, and harmony vocals, reflective of great Arena Rock bands. If you're sick of bands being called modern just because there's no lead guitarist, then RockStar is for you!

Part 1 - The Musicians

Part 2 - The Album

Part 3 - Time

The Musicians

Heading up the band is it's founder and lead singer, Steve Supparits. Most musicians know Steve through his years of entertaining shows throughout Western New York with rock band Relenting Faith. In 1998 Steve decided to switch from the path of playing cover songs and originals live in concert, to performing all original music. Thus, RockStar was born.

What group would be complete without George Puleo on Lead Guitar? George has built up a reputation as arguably the best guitarist/songwriter to ever come from Western New York. Having spent years on stage with bands Gamalon, and The Need, George is unrivaled as a performer whose musicial ability and stage presence can command a crowd. As a guitarist, George's incredible gift for phrasing cannot be copied.

Joiing on Vocals and Keyboards is co-founder of the group Lynn Carol Schriver. Lynn is from the first family of Country music in Western New York, the Ramblin' Lou Family Band. Lynn is a phenominal vocalist and piano player who has been captivating audiences for years with her live performances, including yearly appearances on Jamboree USA, in Wheeling, WV, and Jamboree In The Hills.

On Bass guitar is Andrew Noto, a melodic bass player who rivals a younger Chris Squire. Andrew's arsenal includes 4, 5, 8, and 12 string basses. Andrew, a resident of the US, and Ontario, Canada, is the son of legendary trumpet player Sam Noto. Luckily for RockStar, talent runs in the family.

Joining Steve from former band Relenting Faith is Drummer Gary Bianchi. Gary is a student and protege of Ted Reinhardt. Gary has the talent and ability to not only be the group's metronome on stage, but he's a phenominal player as well. "We definately give him the opportunity to show off his skills with this music", said Steve. "When we used to do Rush covers, it was like watching Neil Peart on stage."

As a 5 piece group, RockStar has a fantastic array of new music, with everything from blood pumping rock songs and melodic journeys, to 4 part harmony ballads and more.

The Album

Is it possible for a group of poor, struggling musicians to record a quality album at home? One word, yes.

When Steve formed RockStar in 1998, he had almost no money, and he needed to conquer two problems encountered in previous band Relenting Faith. The first problem was the lack of a keyboard player. Steve was having difficulty playing keyboards and guitar parts at the same time on stage, and we don't believe in playing to a track live.

The second problem was the lack of a quality demo to showcase their music. Relenting Faith had spent a ton of money in local Western New York studios trying to capture their live sound on tape, and they went all the way to Trackmaster, which was the best studio around at the time. The problem was the lack of professional studio engineers in Western New York. 4 track demos recorded in Steve's living room were sounding better than stuff that the band had paid thousands of dollars for. Nothing puts more stress on a local band than spending all their money on a poor product.

The solutions. First, Steve joined up with Keyboard player Lynn Carol Schriver. "I had been doing sound for her country shows and I was captivated hearing her sing" said Steve. "I called her up and asked if she liked rock music as well. When she said yes, I knew we were on to something spectacular."

Because of the past recording problems, Steve had been building his own recording studio at home. Being a live sound engineer for years, Steve decided it was time to learn Studio Recording. Reality had hit them in the face. Either record it themselves, or move to a big city and start from scratch; and moving from their jobs was out of the question.

Lynn helped Steve complete the Studio and RockStar started writing and rehearsing for their recording project. Lynn also bought a new Kurzweil PC-88mx Digital Piano, and Steve found her an Oberheim OB-8 synthesizer over the internet. Real analog synthesizers were something RockStar always wanted, and now had.

The first to join Steve and Lynn was bass player Andrew Noto, and Drummer Gary Bianchi. The group recorded Gary's drum tracks in Steve's living room, and then started laying their parts down. You'll notice a couple of guest lead guitarists on the album credits, because we were literally auditioning guitarists when we started recording the album."

Enter George Puleo. As time passed, the songs were completed, and all but two lead guitar tracks had been completed by guest giutar players. That's when Steve decided to reach for the brass ring. "I knew George was the best around. I had done sound for his other bands and they hadn't played out in a while, so I gave it a shot" quoted Steve. "George originally came in to record the last two lead tracks, but he was so phenominal that we decided to re-do the whole album, and George became our Lead Guitarist". Life is good.

For all the Gearheads, we have a big gear list attached to our CD credits!

Time

Through all this, we come to where we are in early 2004. Everyone wants to see a young, boy-band on stage, but without the right connections, and a huge financial backing, it's impossible for real musicians to get an early break.

We are not a boy-band! I say this proudly, because this group of musicians has established things that you can't get in a corporate-sponsored "fashion show" on stage. For starters, RockStar has more stage presence than most groups out there. Knowing how to command and entertain an audience can't be taught. It's learned through years of working and interacting with audiences everywhere.

RockStar aslo believes in Live Music! We will never play or sing to a track, and we don't use samplers, arpeggiators, or sequencers of any kind, whether live in concert or on the album.

RockStar has broken the mold by writing, recording, and producing their own album with no financial backing, and now takes the big step of mastering and distribution.

"My favorite thing about this group is the lack of ego's" said Steve. "We're basically a group of people who really like to play together and have a good time"

Please join us as we continue to open new markets to our music, and make sure to preview our CD on the Audio page.

Most importantly, take the time to see RockStar at a live event! As proud as I am of our new CD, nothing compares to our Live Events, and that's the difference between the "boy-bands" and us!

Thank you sincerely,

Steve Supparits