Derek Sherinian

Derek Sherinian
Background information
Born	August 25, 1966 (1966-08-25) (age 44) Laguna Beach, California United States
Genres	Progressive metal, progressive rock, neo-classical metal, metal fusion, hard rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Keyboards, Guitar, backing vocals
Years active	1982 - present
Labels	InsideOut Music. Magna Carta
Associated acts	Dream Theater, Planet X, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Sykes, Billy Idol, Black Country Communion
Website	http://www.dereksherinian.com

Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is a rock keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Alice In Chains,^[1]. He was also a member of Dream Theater and is the founder of the instrumental metal-fusion band Planet X. His solo albums feature several prominent artists, including Slash, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, John Sykes, Billy Sheehan and Al Di Meola. Presently, Derek is touring with Billy Idol, and is a member of the supergroup Black Country Communion.^[2]

Sherinian has been called the "King of the Keys" by Guitar World magazine and the "Caligula of keyboards" by Alice Cooper. His influences include Elton John, Keith Emerson, Jan Hammer, and a variety of guitarists. He is an American of Greek-Armenian descent and has a special interest in Armenian history.

Biography

1966–1999

Sherinian was born in Laguna Beach, California. He began taking piano lessons at age five in Santa Cruz, California.^[3][4] After his junior year at Soquel High School, he received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he was the roommate of the later Megadeth guitarist Al Pitrelli.^[3][5] He has since studied with other keyboard players, including Mitchel Forman, T Lavitz and Russell Ferrante. His first major gigs after leaving Boston were with ex-Jimi Hendrix Band Of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles; he then joined the Alice Cooper band in 1989 to tour in support of the platinum selling "Trash" album.^[3] After touring with Alice Cooper, Sherinian played offstage keyboards on the 1992 KISS Revenge tour.^[3]

In 1994, Derek replaced Kevin Moore in the progressive metal band Dream Theater, originally just for the band's promotional tour for Awake. On February 1995, however, he was made a full-time member of the band. He recorded the albums A Change of Seasons (1995), Falling Into Infinity (1997), and Once In A LIVEtime (1998) with Dream Theater before being replaced in January 1999 by Jordan Rudess because of creative differences.^[5][6][7][8] Sherinian remained on good terms with the band, and reunited with Dream Theater for a one-off concert in 2004, which was recorded and released on When Dream and Day Reunite (2004). The band's performance of "Metropolis Pt. 1" featured an extended improvisation between Sherinian, Jordan Rudess, and guitarist John Petrucci.

During the late 1990s, Sherinian released two albums with the progressive rock supergroup Platypus, which also featured Dream Theater bassist John Myung. The group released two albums, When Pus Comes to Shove (1998) and Ice Cycles (2000), before disbanding in 2000.^[9]

1999 – present

Since 1999, Sherinian has recorded six solo albums, featuring performances by numerous well-known musicians. Sherinian's first solo album, Planet X (1999), recorded with Australian drummer Virgil Donati, led to the formation of the group of the same name (Planet X); they recruited guitar player Tony MacAlpine for the new band.^[10] Sherinian has stated that his intention when forming Planet X was to create a group of musicians that "played their instruments so fiercely, that they would strike fear in the hearts of all musicians".^[10]

In 2001, Derek teamed with drummer Simon Phillips and studio guitar player Steve Lukather to record Inertia,^[11] followed by Black Utopia (2003). For Black Utopia, three new faces joined Sherinian’s group: bassist Billy Sheehan, rock guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, and jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola.^[12][13] With respect to this fusion-influenced lineup, Sherinian stated:

I have always been a fan of jazz fusion, but from the perspective of a rock player crossing over to jazz, not vice versa. I think that is how Jeff Beck (who Sherinian stated he hopes to play with in a recent interview) approached his classic instrumental records and I like to follow in that path.^[3]

Sherinian also calls the album "a lot darker and heavier than [Inertia]".^[14] In Japan, the cover of Black Utopia was altered to remove the cross in the title; Sherinian has commented that the cross "meant nothing" and was added for aesthetic purposes.^[14]

Sherinian extended further into the fusion realm by collaborating with guitarist Allan Holdsworth and violinist Jerry Goodman (formerly of the Mahavishnu Orchestra) on Mythology (2004).^[15] In addition to another appearance by Phillips, other musicians appearing on this recording were Zakk Wylde, John Sykes, Steve Stevens, and Tony Franklin.^[3][15]

Since 2002, Sherinian has toured with several well-known artists, including Billy Idol and Yngwie Malmsteen.^[16] Derek's fifth solo album, Blood of the Snake (2006), features contributions from Idol, as well as former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, John Petrucci of Dream Theater, and Brian Tichy; Phillips, Franklin and Lukather make return appearances.^[17][18] A video for a cover version of Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" was released along with the album.^[19] Sherinian also worked with duduk master Djivan Gasparyan on the song "Prelude To Battle" on the release, written for his great grandmother who fought the Turks in the Armenian genocide. The third Planet X studio album, Quantum, was released in May 2007 to positive reviews. In 2009, Sherinian released his sixth solo album, Molecular Heinosity, again featuring Zakk Wylde, Tony Franklin and Brian Tichy. Later that year, Sherinian also performed a one-off acoustic gig with Alice In Chains to launch their Black Gives Way To Blue album.

Most recently, Sherinian has been playing in Black Country Communion with Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Joe Bonamassa.^[2]

Influences and collaborations

In a 2000 interview, Sherinian cited his early influences as being Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer and The Nice), Rick Wakeman (Yes), and Elton John.^[4] Other influences include guitarists Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, and Eddie Van Halen. Sherinian enjoys co-writing material with fellow musicians, and often finds that he writes better material with drummers.^[20] Sherinian cites Van Halen's guitar playing as having a direct influence on his unique approach to keyboards in terms of technique as well as tone; his unique signature lead patch contains numerous elements of guitar sounds such as distortion, harmonics, and palm-muting, eventually leading to playing a gig with Eddie for a party at Van Halen's home in 2006, of which Sherinian said "It was the highlight of my career, it was completely surreal." Sherinian's work with noted Toto guitarist Steve Lukather on the 2001 solo CD Inertia was cited by Lukather as "probably my best recorded work in my whole career. Great record! I'm very proud of it!".^[3]

Sherinian's collaborations with top musicians were featured in a 2007 article in Guitar World magazine, where guitarist Zakk Wylde offered "People want to play with him because he’s that good. He can play everything from the easiest licks on a piano to the most complex Beethoven sonatas with ease." Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci added "...Derek -considering the fact that he’s heavily into guitarists and rock music, his history, and the range of all the great guitarists he’s worked with —plays with a fire unheard of from most keyboardists.”^[21] Sherinian explains that he enlists a variety of guitarists because he "[does not] think there is one guitarist who can cover all the styles featured on [the] albums." Sherinian often tailors songs for specific guitarists, such as Holdsworth and Wylde for "Day of the Dead" (off Mythology);^[21] in this respect, he seeks to take certain aspects of genres and make them "collide in an eloquent way".^[14]

Equipment

A Clavia Nord Modular similar to the one Sherinian uses

The original KORG Triton released in 1999

Derek Sherinian currently uses and endorses Clavia, Korg and Roland keyboards.^[22][23] Sherinian was presented the G2 Modular synth serial number 001 by Clavia representative Bengt Lilja in January 2004.^[24] As an KORG endorsee, Sherinian was one of the first artists to adopt the Korg Trinity keyboard series in 1996. In collaboration with KORG sound designer Jack Hotop, they created Sherinian's signature "guitaristic" lead sound (the "Monster Lead", made famous on the Dream Theater album "Falling Into Infinity") on the Trinity, as well as other, more "modern" and "aggressive" keyboard patches, owing to his fondness of guitar tones and technique. Derek continues to use the Trinity and Triton successors, the Korg M3 w/RADIAS both in the studio and live. Derek has also used the Hammond B3 organ; he thinks that "every rock keyboardist should have a distorted Leslie and a Hammond as part of their sound."^[25] Sherinian records with a vintage B3 but on tour uses a Nord Electro 3 through a hot-rodded Leslie 147 speaker for his organ sound.

Derek is also known for being one of the first keyboardists to use vertical keyboard stands, influencing a new generation of keyboardists. A more detailed list of equipment can be found at Sherinian's Web site ([1]).

Sherinian currently uses the following gear: Korg M3 73, Clavia Nord Lead 3, Clavia Nord G2X Modular, and Yamaha C9 Conservatory Series Grand Piano. His vintage gear includes: Moog Taurus Pedals, Hammond B3, Leslie 147, Rhodes 73 Suitcase, and Wurlitzer Electric piano. Sherinian also owns Beachwood Manor Studios, located in Burbank, California.

Selected discography

Information courtesy of Allmusic.com.^[26][27][28]

Solo albums

Date of release	Title	Label	Type	Allmusic rating	US Sales
1999	Planet X	Magna Carta	Studio		N/A
2001	Inertia	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
April 22, 2003	Black Utopia	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
November 9, 2004	Mythology	InsideOut	Studio	N/A	N/A
August 1, 2006	Blood of the Snake	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
March 24, 2009	Molecular Heinosity	InsideOut	Studio		N/A

With Dream Theater

Date of release	Title	Label	Type	Allmusic rating	US Sales
September 19, 1995	A Change of Seasons	EastWest	Studio/Live EP		188,000+
September 23, 1997	Falling into Infinity	EastWest	Studio		160,000+
October 27, 1998	Once in a LIVEtime	EastWest	Live		75,000+
1998	5 Years in a LIVEtime	EastWest	VHS/DVD		N/A

With Planet X

Date of release	Title	Label	Type	Allmusic rating	US Sales
June 6, 2000	Universe	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
April 3, 2002	Live from Oz	InsideOut	Live		N/A
July 29, 2002	MoonBabies	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
May 18, 2007	Quantum	InsideOut	Studio		N/A

With other musicians

A complete list of projects is at Sherinian's website and the Allmusic credits page.

Date of release	Artist	Title	Label	Type	Allmusic rating	US Sales
May 18, 1993	Kiss	Alive III	Mercury	Live		N/A
1994	Alice Cooper	The Last Temptation	Epic	Studio		N/A
August 22, 1995	Alice Cooper	Classicks	Epic	Compilation		N/A
August 25, 1998	Platypus	When Pus Comes to Shove	Velvel	Studio		N/A
May 14, 2000	Platypus	Ice Cycles	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
October 15, 2002	Yngwie Malmsteen	Attack!!	Import	Studio		N/A
March 22, 2005	Billy Idol	Devil's Playground	Sanctuary	Studio		N/A
January, 2008	Ayreon	01011001	InsideOut	Studio		N/A
June 24, 2008	Billy Idol	The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself	Capitol Records	Compilation		N/A
October 14, 2008	Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force	Perpetual Flame	Koch	Studio		N/A

Movie appearances

• 1992 - Wayne's World, as himself as part of the Alice Cooper Band

References

Multimedia

• Video for Dream Theater - "Hollow Years"
• Live version of "Atlantis : Apocalypse 1470 BC"
• Clavia Nord sample 1 from Planet X "MoonBabies"
• Clavia Nord sample 2 from Planet X "MoonBabies"

External links

• Derek Sherinian official website
• Derek Sherinian official MySpace page

Dream Theater James LaBrie · John Petrucci · John Myung · Jordan Rudess Chris Collins · Charlie Dominici · Kevin Moore · Derek Sherinian · Mike Portnoy Studio albums When Dream and Day Unite · Images and Words · Awake · Falling into Infinity · Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory · Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence · Train of Thought · Octavarium · Systematic Chaos · Black Clouds & Silver Linings Live releases Live at the Marquee · Once in a LIVEtime · Live Scenes from New York · Live at Budokan · Score · Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 Compilations Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) EPs A Change of Seasons · Wither Videos Images and Words: Live in Tokyo · 5 Years in a Livetime · Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York Songs "Pull Me Under" · Twelve-step Suite · "Octavarium" · "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" Associated acts Explorers Club · Liquid Tension Experiment · Nightmare Cinema · OSI · Platypus · Transatlantic Other Discography · Band members · Songs by lyricist · Majesty Demos · Lifting Shadows · G3 · Gigantour · Roadrunner Records  Book ·  Category ·  Portal · WikiProject

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