Metallica Songs Covered by Solo Pianist Scott D. Davis

Scott D. Davis,

the "rock concert pianist"...

How many heavy-metal piano heroes can you name? There's no such thing you say? "Rock concert pianist" Scott D. Davis would beg to differ.   As a pianist and a lover of heavy-metal music, he chose an individual path from the beginning. Perhaps New Age Reporter best described him by saying "his exuberance and originality are invigorating and his upbeat attitude contagious."
Interestingly enough, if you ask Scott about his musical background he might surprise you. He comes not from a background of polished piano music, but instead his piano playing developed under the influence of progressive metal artists such as Queensrÿche, Metallica, and Dream Theater. He then pursued rock music as a career throughout his college years, playing keyboards for a number of local progressive metal bands.

It wasn't until his band's lead guitarist introduced him to the piano music of David Lanz that he began to consider a career as a solo pianist. "Prior to hearing Lanz, my idea of 'solo piano' went no further than classical music, a form of music I always admired, appreciated, even studied, but never felt much connection with. Lanz's impressionistic style was at that time unlike any music I had ever heard. Our guitarist brought me a copy of 'Skyline Firedance', and the music grabbed me right away. I found myself playing around with a few melodies at the piano and I just never stopped."
While Scott loved playing in metal bands, there was one little problem; the bands kept breaking up!   Frustrated by this, he finally decided to go the solo piano route. In late 2003 he released Tahoma, his first full-length solo piano CD. Not willing to sit around and wait to be discovered, took his music directly to the people by playing and selling his CDs in shopping malls. "At first it was just a way to test and see if anyone but me would actually think my music is OK." But he was unprepared for just how successful it would be, selling on average 100-200 CDs each day. "It just sort of turned into a four-year, coast-to-coast promotional tour. Before I knew it, I had four albums done, a huge mailing list, and over 40,000 units sold."

Scott released his Christmas CD Winter Journey in 2004, and the solo piano rock tribute Rockfluence in 2005. Then in 2007, he unleashed the metal-head part of his personality onto the piano, in all its fury, when he recorded Pianotarium: Piano Tribute to Metallica. The piano is a very powerful instrument. Un-amplified, it's one of the most powerful instruments there is! It has more bass than a bass, and is actually loud enough to cause hearing loss with no amplification whatsoever! "As far as I know, it's the only acoustic instrument that can truly sound 'metal'." So bring on your energy crisis and rolling blackouts, you cant' stop me from rockin' hard!" Finally, the "metal-head turned pianist" had found his calling.

In March of 2006, Scott realized a long held dream of meeting and performing on-stage with Grammy nominee and platinum selling pianist David Lanz, the man who's music first influenced Scott to pursue a career as a pianist. "It was literally a dream come true, and now we're planning even more show's together! It's very exciting."   They have since shared the same stage four more times, and many more shows are planned.

Scott is now a featured performer on Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio, an internet based broadcast that draws over 1.6 million listeners each month. In fact he's been chosen to host and perform in concerts presented nationwide by Whisperings.

Now, Scott looks forward to touring the world to perform his unique brand of "heavy-metal piano" for die-hard metal fans and chin-stroking classical aficionados alike.

Scott D. Davis official web site www.inspiringpiano.com