Peter B. Emerson - Music Services
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Voyager Tribute
Fender Stratocaster
Korg Poly-800
Yamaha DX-7
Michael Jackson's Billy Jean
Tube-Echoplex circa 1959
The Police -
Reggatta de Blanc
Red Dawn - 1984
Night of the Comet - 1984
Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles
This page is dedicated to the Band "Voyager"
a totally '80's original band that helped form my musical psyche.
With fondness and apologies for any historical inaccuracies - Peter B. Emerson
It was the summer before our 8th grade year began that I believe our parents suggested that Brian Kleinsmith and myself get together and combine our blossoming musical talents. Brian had recently acquired a cream colored Fender Stratocaster and also owned the ground-breaking Korg Poly-800 Keyboard. I can remember being in the family room at the Kleinsmith's and being impressed by Brian's agility on guitar. We would sit all afternoon and hammer through chords and melodies together, me on keys and Brian on guitar, mixing every lick that we could muster and trying to mimic our favorite songs. The year was 1983.
After deciding that our new-born coalition was definitely destined for stardom, we decided to branch out and add some more musicians to our line-up. Eventually we added Ben Lorenz, a 6th grade drummer who's dad was a professional musician, and our friend Scott Shinall on bass guitar. Scott was a tenor sax player in the Wiliam C. Drager Middle School band that we were also members of, Brian played alto sax, I played trombone.
We picked out several names and debated the merits of them all before we found Dawn Voyager, and finally a more streamlined Voyager. I think the name was symbolic of our collective youth and the paths that our lives were on. We felt like we were going places and besides the name Journey was already taken.
Just as the Beatles did, we went through an early line-up change. We picked up Ben's friend Jay (last name perhaps Morehead) on bass for a while, and I can remember being in Ben's basement for a while trying to play blues-based rock tunes and simple songs from the '60's when Ben's dad, jazz pianist and educator Mike Lorenz, came down with a few new toys. He introduced us to the Yamaha DX-7, the keyboard that was truly the sound of the the mid-'80's. I remember it well because Ben's dad was so proud of it and we spent most of our rehearsal listening to him play things like the bass line from Michael Jackson's then current hit Billy Jean. We didn't really go for that as we thought of ourselves as rockers, not so much into the R&B scene (not that there was one in Adrian, MI). Mike Lorenz did bring something else that we thought was way cool. He had an Echoplex, a machine that used magnetic tape to record and playback sound at a delay doing what we take for granted today with a digital delay plug-in. It was hard to operate. That technology was developed in 1959.
Well middle school came to an end and Brian and I moved up to Adrian High School to start 9th grade. There we met drummer Andy "Dude" Jones. Andy was a sophomore at the time and boy could he play the drums. Andy was into bands like The Police. He would sit up in his converted loft attic space (that would later turn into our unofficial rehearsal space) and pound out Stewart Copeland polyrhythms for hours and hours at a time. Andy had an air of mystery about him. He was the quintessential "cool" drummer who was rarely seen without his sunglasses.
We also made our last change on bass with the addition of then junior Dana Gillin. Dana was a double bass player with the orchestra, and also played electric bass. When Dana joined the group things really started to click. Not only was Dana a fine bass player, he also had a car. Now we were really rolling. Dana also added to our musical flexibility in that he contributed compositions to our set list. In fact, Brian, Dana and myself all contributed to the original material for Voyager.
So the line-up was set;
Brian Kleinsmith - Guitars, Vocals, Keys
Peter Emerson (me) - Keys, Vocals
Dana Gillin - Bass
Andy Jones - Drums
This would be the core of a musical collaboration that would last for more than the next four years. I can't express the depth of my admiration and appreciation for what these guys enabled me to do while I was developing my musical sensibilities.
The great thing about Voyager besides that fact that we could act like rock stars was that each of us, though at times it got competitive, could contribute in any way that we wanted. We played songs written by me. We played songs written by Brian and also Dana. If Andy wanted to sing a song, we'd play it. We played anything and everything that we could.
Here is a partial list, that Brian and I have been able to come up with off the tops of our heads, of the types of songs that Voyager played.
Finding My Way Back Home - Rush
Tom Sawyer - Rush
Walking on the Moon - The Police
I Can't Stand Loosing You - The Police
Big Time - Peter Gabriel
You Know I Love You, Don't You - Howard Jones
Games People Play - The Alan Parsons Project
Changes - David Bowie
Come Sail Away - Styx
Fourplay/Long Time - Boston
Jump - Van Halen
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Roundabout - Yes
Cocaine - Eric Clapton
Recording Sessions
During what was my Sophomore year in school (1985-'86), we had talked about trying to record some of the original material that we had been working on. I think that I took this as seriously as I could have. I opened up a bank account specifically for saving money that we would raise to pay for time in a recording studio. I then worked over my friends and family asking for donations to the project. Amazingly people actually gave me the money we needed to spend a day in Toledo, Ohio, at the home studio of Mike Lorenz, (our first drummer) Ben Lorenz's father. In return for donating their lunch money our benefactors were promised a copy of the "cassette tape" that we would produce.
One of my most significant memories of that first Voyager session actually took place in the car on the way there. Mrs. Gillin (Dana's mom) was driving us the 35 miles southeast from Adrian, MI to Toledo, OH. I can remember us being about 2 miles away from our destination when all of a sudden there was a multi-car accident that was happening around us. Mrs. Gillin gripped the wheel of her car a little tighter and you could feel the intensity of the moment as she leaned forward slightly, as if willing her car away from danger. She was able to hit the brakes, and then in one dexterous motion, accelerate and avoid the collision that was forming in our path. We all turned in shock and disbelief at what we had just narrowly escaped. From that moment on, in my mind, Dana's mom became a hero in the cause of our band. Go mom!
I had spent some time in Mr. Lorenz's studio a few years prior when I recorded one of my first pop compositions entitled "Dream Girl". Like the bands sessions, the "Dream Girl" session was payed for by benefactors. A local lawyer and now judge, Chuck Jamison, was thinking of investing in Mr. Lorenz's business, and so paid for my studio time to record a few songs so that he could see the finished product Mr. Lorenz could produce. It was a small studio set up in the basement of his house. We were recording in stereo to an 8 track recorder (if memory serves me). It all was very cool, furthering our illusion that we were rock stars.
Studio Session
at Mike Lorenz's Studio
Promises I Can't Keep - a plucky punk flavored song that Dana had written and that I sang. This song really shows of the ability of Brian's guitar playing as he nicely fills with a lead sound throughout the song. You can also hear the Stewart Copeland influence in Andy's playing in the choices he makes with his hi-hat and snare pattern. Very advanced for a high school group. There is a certain carefree innocence to this song that I truly love, and I giggle a little when I hear the tiny edge I try to put in my voice to fit the moment.
Promises I Can't Keep
Don't Look to Me - an energetic song of optimism and youth that Brian wrote and sang (in fact, I'm not sure if I played on this song at all). This song really showcases Brian's talent compositionally with all it's modulations and unique chord progressions and aggressive guitar playing. This is truly progressive rock. The recording below was most likely transfered to CD on a fast tape machine as it appears to be in the key of Bflat when I'm sure that it would have originally been in the key of A. I may try to slow it down to it's original pitch at a later date.
Don't Look to Me
Nuclear Philosophy - this is a song that I wrote and sang. It is as close to a protest that I have ever been involved in. Movies like "Red Dawn" and "Night of the Comet" had been released in 1984, Sting released his solo album "Dream of the Blue Turtles" in 1985 with it's haunting song Russians, and so I wrote this song to express my worldview back then nearing the end of the Cold War. At almost 6 minutes long, I'd say that this was my magnum opus.
Nuclear Philosophy
Live Recordings
Alive & Well - this is another one of Brian's songs that we played quite often. You can really hear the progressive rock influence of groups like Rush and Triumph and just like my Nuclear Philosophy this song has a middle section that features a drastic tempo change. I look forward to playing Alive & Well at any future Voyager reunions. Notice the car horn just before the music starts and there is evidence of foul language on my part at the end of the song. Very funny! (Sorry for soiling the demo)
Alive & Well
I Wanna Be a Star - I don't remember much about this recording. This may have been done at the same time that the Alive & Well live recording was made. I think I hear some of the rest of us in the background. The song itself was written by Brian, and this recording is just him playing guitar and singing.
I Wanna Be a Star
On Through the Night - I vividly remember recording this song at Adrian College in Jones Hall next to Dawson Auditorium. This is a song that I wrote and it features not only me singing, but this is some of the only evidence that I have of Andy singing. Classic stuff. It's a little rough. You can actually hear the squeaking of the pedal on the Steinway concert grand piano that I was playing on.
On Through the Night
Alive & Well/WVAC Radio Interview - we did a live radio interview at Adrian College with our friend Eric Stone. Eric was an Adrian High grad attending the collegeand had a radio show a few nights a week. We were definitely trying to be a lot cooler than we actually were. I actually 'dissed Beethoven in this interview. Boy were we lame. Anyway Brian, Andy and I did this interview and played Alive & Well on Live Radio. I'm not sure why Dana wasn't there with us, but I actually got this recording from him a few years ago. Ah, youth... it's wasted on the young.
Alive & Well/WVAC Radio Interview
Assembly Pictures
Voyager if probably most known for playing the assemblies at Adrian High School. These assemblies were for Winter Carnival, Homecoming and so on. Here are a few pictures that my parents found recently. I did not take them. I'm not sure who did, as I am in several of them.
Dana & Peter
Dana, Brian & Peter
Eric Parker singing with us
Cheryl Siler singing with us
Peter, Scott Shinall, Brian, Dana
Andy Staging mock suicide (background) Dana, Brian, Cheryl Siler, Peter
I Can't Stand loosing You - The Police
Notice Chris Hickman sitting behind Brian
(More to Come)
Please Visit Again Soon!