| Project Vector's history can be traced all the way back to the mid '80s... |
...when Dave Gastambide became obsessed with Rush and Yes
in his teens. He had been taking piano lessons since the age of
ten, but progressive rock inspired him in a new way, giving him the
urge to write and record his own music instead of just playing what
others had written decades or centuries before. Like many teens
who dream of being successful rock musicians, Dave used to sit
in class and do little sketches of what he might one day use for
album cover artwork. The name he gave to his imaginary future
band? "Vector." So, even the name he now uses as an artist
handle is drawn from those early days.
For the next few years, Dave experimented with recording on a
4-track cassette unit (which is what most musicians started out
with before the days of inexpensive computer-based recording).
After high school, he played keyboards and bass in a few cover
bands, but none of them were really suited to recording original
material.
Finally, around 1993, he put a Macintosh-based computer setup
together that incorporated sampling and 4-track hard disk
recording and recorded his first album. Although there were some
decent musical ideas in play, the production quality fell short of his
hopes. He recorded another album in 1996 which also
disappointed him and was never released.
A period of upheaval and dealing with personal issues devoured
the next few years. When the dust finally settled, Dave finished up a
new album called Immovable Mover, which was released via the
internet in early 2003. It was a big step forward in terms of
production quality and did generate a little bit of interest in the
progressive rock community, but in hindsight, Dave felt the album
was too derivative of his influences and not original enough.
At that point, Dave was becoming fascinated by modern
electronic-based genres and the latest developments in
synthesizer technology. This led to the first album released under
the "Project Vector" name, 2005's Reality Show. It was a slightly
uneasy marriage of progressive rock and modern
techno/electronica which one reviewer described as reminding
him of "a more progressive-minded Thomas Dolby." It was a bit
strange, but it was also a useful step towards finding a more
individual sound.
Later in 2005, Dave briefly attempted to get a musical collaboration
going, with a view towards having some kind of performing unit
that could actually play material live. It quickly fell apart and, feeling
disillusioned with attempting to work with others, Dave decided to
just be a complete solo artist and adopt "David Vector" as his artist
handle and delve even deeper into electronic music. The result
was Go, released at the end of 2006. Again, it was an unusual mix
of rock, electronica, and even a hint of funk here and there.
Dave got the itch to start working on another new project almost
immediately after Go was finished. January 2007 saw the start of
what would become a very prolonged search for musical direction.
The next three years found him recording music varying in style
from modern electronica to synth-heavy atmospheric rock to even a
few tracks that had a bit of urban jazz flavor. It wasn't until the end of
2009, when he started checking out Porcupine Tree at a friend's
urging, that he decided maybe it was time to circle back around
closer to the progressive hard rock music that had inspired him to
get into recording in the first place.
So, Dave bought a guitar off of eBay and started thinking more in
terms of guitar-driven, intelligent rock. He had dabbled a tiny bit
with guitar in the past, but it had never amounted to much, so for all
intents, he's still a complete guitar novice, using the instrument
more as an orchestrational tool than a device for shredding and
showing off. The early results have been very promising. Dave
plans to record additional guitar-focused music and tweak a few of
the other songs he's recorded over the past three years to fit in with
the new design, with a view toward getting a new album out later in
2010.
Stay tuned...
in his teens. He had been taking piano lessons since the age of
ten, but progressive rock inspired him in a new way, giving him the
urge to write and record his own music instead of just playing what
others had written decades or centuries before. Like many teens
who dream of being successful rock musicians, Dave used to sit
in class and do little sketches of what he might one day use for
album cover artwork. The name he gave to his imaginary future
band? "Vector." So, even the name he now uses as an artist
handle is drawn from those early days.
For the next few years, Dave experimented with recording on a
4-track cassette unit (which is what most musicians started out
with before the days of inexpensive computer-based recording).
After high school, he played keyboards and bass in a few cover
bands, but none of them were really suited to recording original
material.
Finally, around 1993, he put a Macintosh-based computer setup
together that incorporated sampling and 4-track hard disk
recording and recorded his first album. Although there were some
decent musical ideas in play, the production quality fell short of his
hopes. He recorded another album in 1996 which also
disappointed him and was never released.
A period of upheaval and dealing with personal issues devoured
the next few years. When the dust finally settled, Dave finished up a
new album called Immovable Mover, which was released via the
internet in early 2003. It was a big step forward in terms of
production quality and did generate a little bit of interest in the
progressive rock community, but in hindsight, Dave felt the album
was too derivative of his influences and not original enough.
At that point, Dave was becoming fascinated by modern
electronic-based genres and the latest developments in
synthesizer technology. This led to the first album released under
the "Project Vector" name, 2005's Reality Show. It was a slightly
uneasy marriage of progressive rock and modern
techno/electronica which one reviewer described as reminding
him of "a more progressive-minded Thomas Dolby." It was a bit
strange, but it was also a useful step towards finding a more
individual sound.
Later in 2005, Dave briefly attempted to get a musical collaboration
going, with a view towards having some kind of performing unit
that could actually play material live. It quickly fell apart and, feeling
disillusioned with attempting to work with others, Dave decided to
just be a complete solo artist and adopt "David Vector" as his artist
handle and delve even deeper into electronic music. The result
was Go, released at the end of 2006. Again, it was an unusual mix
of rock, electronica, and even a hint of funk here and there.
Dave got the itch to start working on another new project almost
immediately after Go was finished. January 2007 saw the start of
what would become a very prolonged search for musical direction.
The next three years found him recording music varying in style
from modern electronica to synth-heavy atmospheric rock to even a
few tracks that had a bit of urban jazz flavor. It wasn't until the end of
2009, when he started checking out Porcupine Tree at a friend's
urging, that he decided maybe it was time to circle back around
closer to the progressive hard rock music that had inspired him to
get into recording in the first place.
So, Dave bought a guitar off of eBay and started thinking more in
terms of guitar-driven, intelligent rock. He had dabbled a tiny bit
with guitar in the past, but it had never amounted to much, so for all
intents, he's still a complete guitar novice, using the instrument
more as an orchestrational tool than a device for shredding and
showing off. The early results have been very promising. Dave
plans to record additional guitar-focused music and tweak a few of
the other songs he's recorded over the past three years to fit in with
the new design, with a view toward getting a new album out later in
2010.
Stay tuned...
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