Newport Coast, CA (Top40 Charts/ ArtistPr) - When Rolfer Chris Amodeo bid on a guitar donated to raise funds for the medical care of a sick child, he had no idea that two years later, he'd have a completed album backed up by world-class musicians including backup singers for Pink Floyd, The
Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart, a music video and a headlining gig at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.
After the guitar came into his possession, Amodeo, who had no songwriting experience, and only a few karaoke, and guitar-strumming-around-the-campfire performances, said that something absolutely transformational happened. 'Friends were putting up a poignant fight to save their young son, who had an inoperable brain tumor. This boy, he was a remarkable, magical child, and for some reason, I bid on that guitar. I was just drawn to it. After playing things out of songbooks for a few months to the delight of my kids, my wife suggested that I compose a song for our own son for his 10th birthday. While I had no idea, technically, how to write a song, I sat down, meditated on his birth and what being his father meant to me and wrote the lyrics and music to what became 'Splittin' the Atom.' I thought it was a singular event, but writing that song on that guitar cracked open something in me that had been dormant my whole life.'
Coinciding with his newfound songwriting abilities, Amodeo began studying Peruvian shamanism, under the guidance of Alberto Villoldo of The Four Winds Society. During a break from one of their intensive seminars, he grabbed his guitar to entertain the group. So moved by his music, one of his fellow students opened a door, and a record production deal followed. A trip to the Amazon further expanded his perception, triggering a riot of creativity and lyrics from his heart. Amodeo's music is folk-based contemporary pop/rock that at once sounds both new and classic. The flow of the album is steady and unforced - strong on melodies and choruses that linger in your head, catchy but not cloying or trite. Critics have likened his sound to an acoustic David Gilmour with hints of Neil Finn. This first record, Homo Luminous, spotlights Amodeo's particularly eloquent lyrics. 'I suppose, if I had to boil it all down, this album is about the inherent and miraculous capacity of love to transform whomever and whatever...it's also a celebration of the numinous. I'm writing about things that matter most to me and, hopefully, to others.
When Amodeo came into contact with several like-minded musicians with a wealth of talent, it further enhanced the Homo Luminous project. Drummer Ray Weston brings 30 years of experience from the British pop scene having played with icons like Robert Palmer, Tom Jones, Mick Jones of The Clash and Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, along with younger artists such as Bjork and Gavin Rossdale. Guitarist Mick Taras is a well-pedigreed veteran session axeman who played for years in the widely successful band The Motels. Bassist Dylan Wilson has played with Alex Band (The Calling), 16 Frames, Save Ferris and many others. Enriching and backing Amodeo's own compelling voice are the brilliant vocalists Durga McBroom Hudson and Lorelei McBroom who have both worked with giants such as Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. The last half of the track 'Who You Really Are' showcase their world-class voices.
Even the title of the album, 'Homo Luminous,' meaning 'Man of Light,' is compelling, provocative and highly narrative. 'Homo Luminous refers to a new kind of human emergence, foretold in Incan myth, characterized by a quantum shift in consciousness to a more essential and perceptual state that is capable of dreaming a new world into being. The name came out of my shaman training.... It represents our collective evolutionary journey,' says Amodeo. 'Ultimately, my dream, vis a vis this music, is to play to stadium crowds with the Q'ero shamans on stage with us. The music will be part of the attraction, of course, but the real attraction will be the energy of the Q'ero who are so loving and peaceful. Like little Dalai Lamas. They are the earth keepers and the wise ones who can show us how to lead this shift so we can all become homo luminous-luminous warriors with no enemies in this world or the next.'
