Jimmy Bain (1947-2016)

Sad to report yet another musician loss this month...

One of the enduring institutions of UK hard rock, singer/bassist Jimmy Bain passed away doing what he loved: performing for enthusiastic audiences.  Associated with some of the most well-known bands of the 1970s and '80s, Bain worked with Rainbow, Dio (co-writing some of the ensemble's most well-known songs), and Scorpions, as well as a number of other music legends such as Phil Lynott, Gary Moore, Vinny Appice, and John Cale.  He was also the founder of Hear n'Aid, a charity formed to raise funds for famine relief.

Trevor crossed paths with Bain in his London-era career when he co-produced the debut for Wild Horses, The First Album, released in 1980.

Here, from a bootleg audience recording, is Trevor guesting with the band in London, 1979.

Media Watch: Ryan's other job

Captain Cuts - the songwriting and production trio of which Ryan is a member - was profiled today in the Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-captain-cuts-20160121-story.html

(Supportive papa that he is, of course Trevor had a hand in their burgeoning aspirations.)

And here's the mashup mixtape the article references.

What this birthday needs is...MORE TUBA!

A very Happy 62nd Birthday to the Maestro...as always hoping it's a day (and a year) filled with love and happiness, good health, wonderful family and friends, great adventures of many kinds and the most beautiful music.  And lots and lots of tuba...you heard me, Trev, bring it on!

photo by Michael Lewis

The Man of a Thousand Credits: a big voice needs a big guitar

One of a continuing series in regards to the myriad variety of Trevor’s discography.

Spotted on Twitter: legendary frontman David Coverdale - no stranger to working with great guitar players - answered a fan query regarding a solo track, "The Last Note of Freedom," which appears on the soundtrack of the 1990 film Days Of Thunder.  The movie is also notorious for being the project in which Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman first met.  The question was who plays on this particular song, and the man himself responded:

@MasaSuni I know the guitar player...the most excellent Trevor Rabin...:)

— David Coverdale (@davidcoverdale) January 9, 2016

And to listen to it, you can totally tell it's Trevor on lead guitar.  The song was written by Billy Idol and Hans Zimmer (who composed the score for the film).  As it was produced by Trevor Horn, we already know he favored using the other Trevor Charles as a session guitarist, whose solo is all fiery fretwork as per the usual.  So if you haven't heard it prior to this...enjoy!

More GREAT news!

About the most I can say for now is that we have decided to tour. thanks for all the good vibes.

— Trevor Rabin (@Rabin_News) January 9, 2016

Of course the entire Internet now knows this, but speaking from the perspective of someone who has studied the whole of Trevor's career (and career aspirations), I believe this is a very important statement because it seems in recent years even as Trevor has stated he would like to tour, he didn't appear to take it under serious consideration.  In this instance -  as he is referring to AWR - it seems far more likely it will occur because Trevor won't have to carry an entire show, and it will certainly be a pleasing line-up for prospective promoters.

Will 2016 be the year in which we not only get to hear Trevor but see him as well?  Here's wishing and hoping it will be so!

A new song!

Here's another piece of good news...

I didn't get a chance to watch the Agent X finale "Fidelity" until this past Monday.  In the song which played during the end credits sequence I heard what I could swear was Trevor singing over a very lovely guitar-driven melody - I listened to it several times to be certain.  Sure enough, I did some digging and found this tweet from series creator William Blake Herron from when the episode originally aired on TNT.

Original song by @Rabin_News 'Fragile' - so beautiful! #agentx @sharonstone @HEPHNERJEFF @PeterOFallon1

— William Blake Herron (@HERRONBLAKE) December 28, 2015

Hopefully all you faithful Rabinites noticed it too...it's only one word (which we hear, anyway) but it's exciting to hear Trevor sing again in a more traditional way after so long.  Wouldn't it be great to hear the entire song?  I'm hoping soon we'll get the chance!

Oh by the way...

Though it's true I have previously scoffed about whether this collaboration would happen, today Trevor indicated it's all happening...so 2016 is getting more interesting by the minute!

PS...great stuff happening with Jon and Rick

— Trevor Rabin (@Rabin_News) January 6, 2016

What's past (and future) is prologue.

Happy New Year everyone!

If you're a habitual watcher of SyFy like I am, you'll have already seen some of the latest spots for 12 Monkeys, encouraging viewers to rewatch Season One in preparation for the show's return in April.  The actual premiere date has not yet been announced, but showrunner Terry Matalas was already spoiling fans for the title of the S2 finale, "Memory of Tomorrow."  Filming for S2 wrapped in Toronto last month, which means Trevor and Paul are hard at work on the score!  (This also means we might get some more tuba action from Our Trev.)  I queried Matalas who indicated that one of the S2 trailers currently showing may contain new scoring excerpts.

Here is the "first look" trailer from the official website:
http://www.syfy.com/12monkeys/videos/12-monkeys-season-2-first-look

Season Two is looking very interesting, with many more timelines - including Cole and Railly in the 1940s, and Cole and Ramse in the 1970s.  Plus Jennifer rather meta-esquely quoting yet another time-travel classic, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.  Because she's a wacky kinda gal, am I right?!  But apparently "sane" in S2, according to actress Emily Hampshire.

Also, congratulations are in order for cinematographer David Greene, nominated for his work on S1 episode two, "Mentally Divergent," in the category Episode of a Regular Series for the American Society of Cinematography Awards, winners to be announced on February 14th.