EPIPHONE PRESENTS HEART AND SOUL LIVE IN CONCERT AT 2008 NAMM SHOW

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SANTA CRUZ BASED ROCKER TOM SAVELL WILL PLAY VIOLIN WITH MODERN ROCK METAL TRIO “ARCHER” AS PART OF A EPIPHONE SPONSORED EVENT HEADLINED BY LEGENDARY ROCK BAND “HEART”

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“SO DEEP WITHIN YOU,” THE KICKOFF SINGLE FROM THE SINGER-SONGWRITER-GUITARIST'S ECLECTIC SOLO DEBUT ‘YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE IT', RECENTLY HIT THE TOP TEN ON NEW MUSIC WEEKLY'S SPINS TRACKING SYSTEM (STS) AC/HOT AC RADIO CHART

WHO: Santa Cruz, California based rocker, singer and songwriter Tom Savel, who recently released his eclectic solo debut ‘You Just Gotta Love It' – which explores the various aspects of love via dynamic new arrangements of familiar and obscure rock classics – will play violin with the popular Santa Cruz modern rock metal trio Archer, which is performing at an Epiphone sponsored event at the 2008 NAMM Show headlined by legendary rock band Heart . Savell, a longtime member of the group Superior Olive, recently cracked the Top Ten on New Music Weekly's Spins Tracking System (STS) AC/HOT AC radio chart at #8 with “So Deep Within You,” the first single from his album. The track is currently at #8. Also in the Top 10 on the chart for the week ending January 11 are Colbie Caillat, Eagles, Timbaland, Santana w/ Chad Kroeger, Linkin Park and Duran Duran. Savell, whose primary instrument is guitar, is a longtime endorser of Epiphone products.

WHAT: Legendary guitar manufacturer Epiphone, which is part of the Gibson family, presents the “Heart And Soul” Concert as part of The 2008 NAMM Show. The legendary rock band Heart is headlining on a bill also featuring contemporary R&B/jazz guitarist Nick Colionne , Bad Influence and Santa Cruz rock metal trio Archer with a guest appearance by Tom Savell on violin.

The NAMM Show is the largest music products trade show in United States . Held every January in Anaheim , California , USA the show brings together all facets of the music products industry to reveal new musical instruments/products and ideas to help music products retailers and manufacturers become more successful. More than 80,000 NAMM Members and guests attended the January 2007 show. The acronym NAMM originally stood for the National Association of Music Merchants, but has evolved from a national entity representing the interests of music products retailers to an international association including both commercial, retail members and affiliates. The long form of the name is no longer used, and it is simply known as NAMM, the International Music Products Association. For more information about Epiphone, please visit www.epiphone.com . For more information about The NAMM Show, please visit www.thenammshow.com .

Other sponsors of the event include Shadow Electronics, Guitar World Magazine, Grover machine heads, Eminence speakers, Gibson Labs, Gibson Gear, Slingerland drums and X2 Systems.

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, January 19, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Hilton Hotel Pulse Lounge
777 Convention Way
Anaheim , CA 92802
(714) 750-4321

 

 

TOM SAVELL

SANTA CRUZ , CALIFORNIA BASED ROCKER EXPLORES THE GREAT JOYS AND ROUGHER EDGES OF ROMANCE ON ‘ YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE IT ', HIS ECLECTIC SOLO DEBUT FEATURING UNIQUE TWISTS ON FAMILIAR AND OBSCURE COVERS

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The Veteran Audio Chip Architect, Who Received “Best Musician” in the 2007 Santa Cruz Metro Goldies Awards, Is Also The Longtime Frontman For the Popular Progressive Rock/Dance Band Superior Olive, Which Tours The West Coast And Performs Benefits For Toys For Tots And Valley Churches United Missions

            Tom Savell (www.tomsavell.com), the longtime frontman of the popular Santa Cruz based band Superior Olive (www.myspace.com/superiorolive), has a unique confession to make: he decided to get romantic on his long awaited debut solo album because he wants more women to dig his music.

Female fans around the country are already proving the versatile singer, songwriter, guitarist and violinist's title You Just Gotta Love It prophetic, rocking out to Savell's music along with their husbands and boyfriends—the same guys who might go crazy over Superior Olive's Zappa, Genesis and Pink Floyd-influenced progressive rock and dance band music.

The disc's first single, the bluesy mid-tempo “So Deep Within You” rose quickly towards the Top 40 on the AC/Hot AC New Music Weekly chart, as determined by the Spins Tracking System. So far, it's been receiving heavy airplay on secondary market stations throughout the Midwest — Wisconsin , Iowa and in the region around Savell's original hometown of Cincinnati . The album itself recently went on sale on amazon.com and CDBaby.com and the singer recently received “Best Musician” in the 2007 Santa Cruz Metro Goldies Awards.

Superior Olive has been a mainstay up there in hippie country for years, playing local hotspots like Henflings and the upscale Crow's Nest, performing often at Felton Community Hall and doing charity shows everywhere from their own town down to Escondido for groups like Toys For Tots and Valley Churches United Missions. Over the years, Superior Olive has also released three indie albums on their label Still Fumin' Records.

“This has been my band for a long time, and because it's more progressive rock than pop, it's been pretty much guys in the audience,” says Savell, who has opened shows for such high profile artists as Bela Fleck, Arlo Guthrie, Dougie MacLean and others. “Which is great…we love performing for them, but I also personally love a lot of other different kinds of music. I finally had the means and opportunity to branch out and create an album of what I call unconventional love songs, tunes that explore the many different sides of relationships. You Just Gotta Love It also gave me the chance to work with some of my favorite musicians from the area, as well as Aynsley Dunbar, who played drums with Zappa and the original lineup of Journey.”

Though Superior Olive has always performed its share of covers, Savell is a prolific songwriter who's composed everything from epic rockers to social commentaries and the heartfelt reflection “Lately I've Been Thinking” after emerging from intensive care one time. On You Just Gotta Love It, the singer takes a completely different approach, creating unique arrangements in a multitude of styles of eight songs from the rock era. Some are ultra-familiar, like “Can't Help Falling In Love,” which Savell re-imagines with a playful, fast grooving 80s new wave vibe; others like Neil Diamond's beautiful “Play Me” are well known but rarely if ever covered.

The first single “So Deep Within You” and the opening track “Simple Game” are more obscure chestnuts from the rich catalog of The Moody Blues, another of Savell's longtime influences; both were composed by band founding member Mike Pinder. You Just Gotta Love It also features a fiery blues-rock version of “Jezebel,” which was originally recorded by Frankie Laine in 1951; a charming and traditional 50s pop styled slow dance version of “Please Love Me Forever,” originally recorded by Tommy Edwards and later Bobby Vinton in the 60s; “Old Dog Song,” a simmering blues rock love song for a canine originated by early 70s British prog-rock band Seventh Wave; and the ballad “What Am I Living For,” by the late 60s-early 70s jazz-blues influenced British duo Mark-Almond.

            “All of these are great songs which I think in some cases haven't been presented in the past as well as they could have been,” says Savell. “Working with my producer Jacob John Save, I deliberately picked many tunes that people haven't heard before so they could be original in a unique way. I worked out my own arrangements to put in my own feelings of how they could best be heard and enjoyed by a modern pop/rock audience.

“I chose the album title You Just Gotta Love It,” he adds, “because every track is a love song in one way or another, but not in any conventional way. They run the gamut of emotions, with some relationships working out well and some like ‘Jezebel' going sour. When I started on the project, I had intended to include a few originals I had written, but then the concept of doing an all covers album started making more sense.”

When Savell isn't making music with Superior Olive or on his own, he's designing digital tools to help other musicians make their own. He launched his career on the technical side of the industry designing digital pianos for Korean manufacturers and 11 years ago moved up (with the rest of Superior Olive) from San Diego to Santa Cruz to work for E-MU Systems, a leading developer of digital audio products to serve musicians and audio professionals. Savell designs digital audio chips for effects processors (reverbs and delays) and sampling synthesizers. In addition to holding several patents in digital audio processing, his articles have been published in The Computer Engineering Handbook by CRC Press and IEEE Micro Magazine.

“E-MU wanted to work with me because I am first and foremost a musician, and will only design the kinds of products that I want to work with,” says Savell. “It's nice being part of both the technical and creative side of music and I'm very proud of the heart and soul and wonderful musicianship that went into making the album. It's great that it's getting out there and people are enjoying it so much. I also like the fact that different people are gravitating to different songs. There's something for everyone.”

And if the incredible music should fail to charm any given female out there, Savell always has the adorable album cover featuring a ten year old version of himself in cap and uniform, holding a bat and ready to swing. “When women see the CD, they tend to say, ‘how adorable, is that you?'”

You Just Gotta Love It!