We’re glad to announce that Los Angeles, United States-based guitarist John DePatie will release his new song “The Viking Princess And The Troll King” under the name The DePatie Melt, on April 1st.
Electric, dynamic, and passionate to the core, guitarist John DePatie has been laying down his own very special brand of guitar on stages and in studios for the past 40 years. DePatie has shared stages with artists like Nancy Sinatra, Leif Garrett, Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley, Little Steven, Greg Walker (Santana), Richard Street (Temptations) and legendary Wrecking Crew keyboardist Don Randi. As a songwriter, he’s also been on the Billboard Top 40 chart and on HBO; and as a bandleader, DePatie has performed under his own name in the US, Norway and Germany.
DePatie was asked to co-write Acoustimania with Wrecking Crew session legend Don Randi, co-wrote the Jezebel album for Cathouse Thursday (commissioned by Sonoton) with Will Faerber and Aaron Bagley, scored the full length cartoon film Seaper Powers, and has had other compositions used on PBS, The Voice, and in various films.
DePatie has also led a number of groups; he began his first jazz/fusion trio soon after he moved to Los Angeles in 1992, has co-led Corazon de Leon (a latin rock outfit made up of LA’s top session musicians) for the last 15 years, and recently formed The DePatie Melt: a band of rotating musicians formed by John DePatie to play his original music.
“DePatie Melt” as a title first appeared as the opening track on Don Randi and John DePatie’s Acoustimania CD from 2012. Then, in 2019 producers Will Faerber and Peter Wilson used it as a title for a couple of shows that they presented of DePatie’s music, along with special musical guests. More recently, in 2021 The DePatie Melt as a group released their first recordings. The band members range from A-list Los Angeles session musicians, to up and comers, to longtime musical associates and collaborators of DePatie. Much of the music is instrumental and guitar-based, and will appeal to fans of Jeff Beck or Joe Satriani, but there are often guest singers and many of the musicians are also vocalists who get to share the spotlight.
The DePatie Melt will soon be releasing a new single, “The Viking Princess And The Troll King,” on April 1st. John DePatie wrote the track while on vacation in the summer of 2018, drawing on classic songs from the early days of rock for inspiration and merging these influences with his 80s upbringing. With only an iPad and a guitar at the time, the track came to him in nearly record time; and the melody and chords were entirely unchanged from the original demo when he re-recorded it for release.
Elaborating on the backstory behind “The Viking Princess And The Troll King,” DePatie says, “I try to write a song a day while I’m away from home. I was away in August 2018 and working on songs. I was going for something a little bit classic sounding that would be a fun song to play. I was also thinking of something that would be a good vehicle for improvising.
I had come up with the title while I was visiting Norway in 2017. I was imagining a fairy tale like Beauty And The Beast. I knew I liked the title and wanted to use it for a song but I didn’t have the song for it yet.
When I listened back to the music that I wrote I felt it was special to me and then it dawned on me….that I’d written the music to go with the title.”
If the video for “The Viking Princess And The Troll King” looks authentic, it’s because it was shot while the actual recording was happening. The song was originally to be released as a video and then re-recorded, but DePatie felt he had captured some magic on the video and got superstitious about redoing it. Thus, the video for this song has predated the track’s official release by a couple of years.
“The Viking Princess And The Troll King” was written, recorded and performed by John DePatie; and the artwork was done by The Reddot.
For first-time listeners, John DePatie writes, “I’ve put out three vocal tracks as The DePatie Melt, but the instrumentals are much more representative of my music. The first instrumental release The Place Of The Two Ponds, is an uptempo hard rock rock song while The Viking Princess And The Troll King is a bit more of a traditional type of ballad. What they have in common and what I strive for are strong melodies and hopefully tasteful guitar playing. I want to leave people with a feeling in their heart and a catchy tune in their head.”
“The Viking Princess And The Troll King” begins with contemplative arpeggios played by a clean-toned electric guitar, their wistful chord progression setting the perfect introspective backdrop for the lead electric guitar’s emotive melodies; while subdued percussion further sustains the track’s laid-back mood. The lead guitar lines build dynamically on the track’s melodic themes with passion and exceptionally clear tone, their notes ringing with sustain as they bring about a wonderfully soulful atmosphere. “The Viking Princess And The Troll King” is quite an enjoyable listen throughout, showcasing John DePatie’s brilliant songwriting and superb musicianship. I would highly recommend this song to fans of instrumental electric guitar music and rock ballads alike.
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify. You can also check out his official website. If you enjoy his music and are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp; for virtual concerts you can go to songkick “Live from their sofa to yours”.
You can obviously find it in the following Playlists on release day April 01st : Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Alterindie State Of Mind, and 12 New Songs This Week.
P.S. If you enjoy discovering new artists and fresh new music you can subscribe to this blog Less Than 1,000 Followers and follow the Playlist with all the artists that we have presented here!!!
This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator
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