When the members of The Maruce Project recently released their first CD — a melodic, 17-song collection of hard-rock numbers — it was more than just the result of several long months in the studio. It was the fulfillment of a 30-year dream.
The two-man musical endeavor features musicians “Bite” and “Cuzz,” formally known as Bruce Barbini and Mark Zikosky. And though neither man’s name appears on the album, Barbini says now that the CD has been in stores for a few weeks he’s ready to let the cat out of the bag. Their past projects included The Junction, Revenge and Stone Age
“We sort of wanted to stay anonymous and see what happened if we put out a CD,” says Barbini. “I’ve been in the business around here for 30 years, Mark has been in the business 30 years … we didn’t want to worry about who made the music. It was more important that people just listen to the music and see what they thought. We wanted it to speak for itself.”
The self-titled CD was recorded at Windmill Agency Studios and was produced by Eric Ritter of the band Newpastlife. Session musicians who appeared on the CD are drummer Jerry Hogan, keyboardist Ian Ritter and percussionist Billy Lieback. Barbini says that after years of slugging it out in area clubs, the two musicians finally felt the time was right to unveil their own songs.
“This started when the bar owners were finally opening their doors to more original music,” he says. “We’ve been waiting 30 years for this to happen. I wrote my first song, literally, when I was 14 years old, and it’s on the album. I always wrote my own music, but as I got older, I found out this area was about covers. Finally, after being in cover bands and hair bands my whole life, I was starting to finally see a trend where a lot of bands were playing their own music and drawing some people. I told Mark, ‘Hey, this is the best time to get our music out and get our music heard.’”
Barbini says the next step was to collect the best songs they’d penned over the years, find a studio and get to work. They picked 17 tunes, decided upon Windmill and would then spend nine months and 400 hours cutting the CD. Some of the songs contain more than 60 tracks.
“I just wanted to get that deep, wide affect that Metallica and Queen has,” he says. “The studio was a playground for me, and still is. I’d much rather be in the studio than on stage. It’s a playground of unlimited creation …
“This is my life’s work, musically. I wanted to put everything I could into this music. I wanted it to sound the way I always wanted it to sound in my head, and Eric understood exactly what we meant.”
Barbini says the fun he and Zikoski had recording the album led to the formation of a band. Local drummer Mark Traglia heard the CD, liked it, and is now a member of the project. It’s a three-piece for now, but Barbini says additional guest musicians will help fill out the live band.
“You never know who’s going to show up and play with us on a night out,” he says. “We’re going to use literally everybody we can in the valley that’s into our music, and we’ve had a lot of musicians from other bands say they’d like to come and play a night. And that’s the whole idea. It’s a project.”
The new CD is available at all Gallery of Sound stores. Influences on the project include KISS, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Thin Lizzy, Metallica, Aerosmith and Megadeth.
“We’re a rock band,” says Barbini. “You’re not going to see us change. We’re not glam band. We just play good rock music with a nice hard melody line. It’s not like we’re trying to go back to the ’80s or the ’70s with our music, but you can only tune down so far, and you can only tune up so much. A power chord is a power chord. A good melody is a good melody. A good riff is a good riff. Other than that, it’s just plugging into a Marshall and kicking ass.”
And the message? Don’t sift too deep. This is a party band.
“I don’t write about politics. I don’t write about the world’s problems. I don’t write about my problems. I just write about having fun with life. That’s what rock is.”
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Go:
The Maruce Project:
April 5 @ Fahey’s Riverfront Caf�, Pittston
On the Web: www.myspace.com/themaruceproject