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ABOUT "CIVILIAN": Adam Pascal never considered himself an anti-war person, and he's careful not to label his new album Civilian as an anti-war record. Also laced with love songs and tracks inspired by his children, Civilian journeys through the past few years for Pascal personally and for the nation facing tragedy and violence at home and abroad. "The record is coming from a political perspective," Pascal says. "The whole record was inspired by and influenced by 9/11, and sort of everything that happened since then." Building from the title song, which comes from the perspective of someone who has never been in a war, the album delves into the rage, mental anguish, and frustration brought about by current events. "I became obsessed with the news and obsessed with reading it and obsessed with watching TV and obsessed with all of it," Pascal says, "but at the same time I couldn't take it any more." Yet Civilian matches these harsh emotions with feelings of celebration and love. Just one month after September 11, 2001, Pascal became a father. Many of Civilian's most touching tracks are songs written to, or inspired by, Pascal's two sons. Pascal's first solo record, Model Prisoner, was released on Sh-K-Boom Records in 2000 and greeted with critical praise and sold-out concerts. After leaving the hit Broadway musical Aida last June, Pascal began work on Civilian. "On Civilian, who I am as a writer, as a songwriter, is much clearer to me," Pascal says. "My creative direction of the type of music that I want to make is much clearer on this record." Pascal co-produced Civilian with Glenn Sherman, who also collaborated on several songs, and Jim Abbott. Both appear on the record, Sherman on vocals and guitar and Abbott on keyboards. Winston Roye on bass and Gary Seligson on drums and percussion round out the album's band. Though Pascal cites Led Zeppelin, Queen, Billy Joel, and Pink Floyd as major influences, he credits newer bands such as Jet and Muse with influencing the energy he wants to put forth in his music. Still, Pascal's main influence on the music on this album hasn't changed. "It's probably the Beatles and probably always will be the Beatles in one way, shape, or form," Pascal says. "Their influence shows up in a lot of difference places and a lot of different ways, whether it's overt or subtle. It's just a lifetime of influence." Pascal credits all these bands in teaching him to simplify his songwriting. "There certainly can be complex arrangements and there can be deep, complex lyrics, but ultimately there's something basic about it that affects people on a basic level," Pascal says. "That's what I'm trying to achieve as a rock song writer: that connection with people on a really basic, primal level." Pascal's 12-track album hits many different emotions and experiences. In his own words: 1) Beautiful Song "That was the first song that I wrote with Glenn when we first started working together and it's basically about becoming a father. I wrote the lyrics before [my first son] Lennon was born. It's sort of a love song to your unborn child, in a way." 2) Tomorrow and the Sun "The phrase 'Tomorrow and the Sun' came to me, and I didn't really know what that meant. I started to expand on that, and that idea, and basically the song became this fable that I made up. It's about tomorrow and the sun and the struggle between one day going into the next day." 3) Wonderchild " 'Wonderchild' is one of those songs that came together in pieces and was somewhat laborious. Parts of that song I had been working on for a really long time and I sort of had to take it apart and put it back together again. [It's] meant to be an inspirational song for a kid who's struggling." 4) Something of Ours " 'Something of Ours' was written about a [woman's] 35-year relationship with a married man. While she was married, while he was married, she was divorced. He would never give himself fully to her because her wouldn't leave his wife, and he wouldn't leave his family. She just [had] this fantasy that she held on to for so many years." 5) Civilian " 'Civilian' is basically... it's my anti-Bush song. There's this immense, just monstrous divide in this country where there's so much anger and there's so much venom. I feel like we're on the brink of a civil war. If you're a Republican, Democrats like hate you. And vice versa, I'm sure. Certainly in our lifetime I've never experienced anything like that, where the chasm of divide is just so huge." 6) Ordinary Men Abound "That was a song that was sort of post-9/11 about the sort of dark mental state that 9/11 brought on for me. It wasn't just 9/11. There were a lot of child murders and child abductions and horrible things happening to children and there were several big high profile ones in a row. And it was really making me mentally ill. So that's kind of what that song is about." 7) 10,000 Miles "That song was inspired by the movie Castaway because it was just such a heartbreaking concept to me, that someone would be stuck on an island for that long and be just motivated to survive by the love of this person. So it was sort of inspired by that idea." 8) No Trace " 'No Trace' is sort of just a broken relationship kind of song. It's the type of song where you're still in love with somebody and you're trying to tell yourself you're not, but you really are. And you really can't get yourself out of it, even after all this time, all these years, all this distance." 9) Mother's Child " 'Mother's Child' is a direct response to that child murdering stuff. Those two or three or four of them in a row where I just went so insane. It's just the evil that men do and the rage that that invokes in me is really what that song is about." 10) Book of Endings " 'Book of Endings' is about crazy fans. It's about crazy fans and crazy stalkers. But the idea becomes much more broad. It's very tongue-in-cheek. There's no animosity there. There's no malice. It's tongue-in-cheek. It's meant to be somewhat of a joke." 11) The Ringing in My Ear "That's a song that went through a lot of lyrical changes. And it's basically just a love song and there's not much more to say about it. It's an ambiguous love song about the love of another person being able to pull you out of a dark place." 12) I'm With You " 'I'm With You' is a love letter to my kids. A lot of it was written right after Lennon was born, before Monte was born, but there are certain direct references to things that he, Lennon, was obsessed with-the sky and the moon. It's basically just that. It's a love letter to my kids." Civilian is set for release on Sh-K-Boom Records on November 2. Exploding with emotion driven by real experience, Civilian promises to affect the listener as much as the creator. "I've never had anything in my life that drove me artistically to create the way that these situations did," Pascal says. "Nothing in my life up until that point had ever even come close to so profoundly affecting me, good, bad, indifferent, but in such intense ways. The songs evolved in many cases in ways that I never anticipated and had gone in directions that I never anticipated. It came out better than I could have imagined." ADAM'S BIO: Adam Pascal's talent is awe-inspiring. He shines when he is in his element and has a voice and a face that stands out from the crowd. Through his evolution as a musical talent he has developed the ability to bring such passion and feeling to the words he sings that he has that special ability to take people with him through what he is feeling and experiencing and give the audience an escape to their own world that is individual to each person who experiences it. From his deep and inspiring lyrics to his sultry and beautiful sound, Pascal has proven time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with in both the musical theater and traditional rock world. Recently celebrating the end of AIDA's run on September 5th by reprising his Award-winning role of Radames, Adam is back to his rock roots. On November 2, 2004, Sh-K-Boom Records will release Adam's second CD called Civilian. Civilian journeys through the past few years of Pascal's personal life and the nation facing tragedy and violence at home and abroad. It matches the harsh emotions with feelings of celebration and love. Many of Civilian's most touching tracks are songs written to, and inspired by Pascal's two sons. Music has always been in Adam's life. Born in the Bronx and raised in Long Island, Adam lived a life defined by music. A "total metal head as a kid," who wore out albums by Queensryche, Iron Maiden and Ronnie James Dio, Adam also credits The Beatles, Billy Joel, Queen and Pink Floyd as major musical influences. At age 12, Adam started his own rock band. He performed as lead singer with various incarnations of the band for about ten years as they played their brand of heavy metal music at high school dances, parties and local clubs. Over the years, the band evolved and played New York clubs like the legendary CBGBs and China Club. They also recorded a CD that was released in Japan by Zero Communications In 1996, at the suggestion of a friend, Adam tried out for the then unknown off-Broadway production of RENT. Originating the role or Roger, Adam, grouped with such then unknowns as Taye Diggs, Jesse Martin, Daphne Rubin Vega, Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp, received unparallelled critical acclaim with lyrics and a storyline that captured the current events and the feelings of a nation as the show quickly became the definitive hit of the decade. Appearing on the covers of Newsweek and Time, Adam earned a Tony and Drama Desk award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, and a Theater World Award and an Obie Award for Outstanding New Talent. Adam then went on to open the London production of RENT in 1998. Never leaving his musical roots and desire to continue to write music of his own, he continued to write and develop his own music. However, in 2000, Broadway came calling again this time in the form of a new powerful musical entitled AIDA written by Elton John and Tim Rice. In the lead role of Radames, critics heralded his performance and he was honored with a Drama League Award for his moving portrayal of a man who went to the ends of the earth for forbidden love ultimately paying the ultimate price for his passion and desire. Adam is prominently featured with Heather Headly and Sherie Rene Scott on the Grammy Award-winning cast recording. Shortly after the opening of AIDA, Adam released his debut solo CD Model Prisoner on Sh-k-boom Records, an independent record label dedicated to bridging the gap between pop music and theater. Produced by Grammy-winner and Academy Award nominee Joel Moss, whose credits include The Eagles, Joe Cocker, Talking Heads and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, critics heralded Model Prisoner as "a modern rock masterpiece" The New York Times hailed "his voice is by turns and plaintive and powerful, melting and earthy." During Adam's first stint in AIDA, Adam and fellow RENT alum and "Law & Order" star Jesse L. Martin produced the hit off-Broadway play FULLY COMMITTED, which went on to play numerous productions all over North America and is currently playing to sold-out houses in London. Following AIDA, Adam was invited by the Roundabout Theater Company to be the final Emcee in the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of CABARET. Proving he can seamlessly move between genres of music, musical theater and film, Adam can be seen in the Paramount runaway comedy "The School of Rock" starring Jack Black. He is also featured on the film's soundtrack. Adam currently lives I Westchester with his wife Cybele and their two sons, Lennon and Monte. For more information visit Adam Pascal's website, www.adampascal.net. Check out the artist's website: http://www.adampascal.net Track List: 1. Beautiful Song 2. Tomorrow and the Sun 3. Wonderchild 4. Something of Ours 5. Civilian 6. Ordinary Men 7. 10,000 Miles 8. No Trace 9. Mother's Child 10. Book of Endings 11. The Ringing in My Ear 12. I'm With You Suggested CDs:
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