Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius' New Single "Impostor"

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius’ new single, IMPOSTOR, is out and available for the fans on all digital music platforms—stores and streaming media through Melodic Revolution Records. The group premiered the song at ProgStock Festival this October.

IMPOSTOR is also the first song recorded for the band’s upcoming album.

Produced and written by Joe Deninzon, the 8-minute prog recording IMPOSTOR features virtuosity from Joe’s violin, and his bandmates –bassist Paul Ranieri, drummer Jason Gianni, and guitarist Michelangelo Quirinale.  It was engineered by Joe's longtime engineer Rave Tesar, mixed and mastered by Rich Mouser, with special guests Bill Hubauer (Neal Morse Band) & Randy McStine (The Fringe, Stu Hamm, Robben Ford).

The song addresses the Impostor Syndrome, as it applies to all the wrong people having too much confidence and those who need more having not enough. Lyrics about power, celebrity, success, and self-doubt. 

Joe says IMPOSTOR is based on conversations he’s had with many other friends that are actively working in the music world.  “A few years ago, a friend. who is a very successful musician and writer, confessed that she often feels like an impostor, like sooner or later everyone will figure out that she’s actually a fraud. I realized that I had felt this way many times in my life. After some research, I learned that this is called “impostor syndrome” and is common among many people around the world.”

Joe Deninzon has been called “The Jimi Hendrix of the violin,” the group have showcased their “frenzied mélange of progressive rock, jazz fusion and funkabilly” throughout the world. Their latest album, GUILTY OF INNOCENCE hit number 4 on the Relix/Jamband radio charts, 72 on the European Indy charts. Fresh off the main stage at ProgStock, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius is a favorite of music festivals and colleges.  Their music has received over 3 million plays online, and the band’s opened for John5, Gary Hoey, Martin Barre, The Levin Brothers (Tony and Pete), Tim Reynolds, Mickey Hart, and John Scofield… Stratospheerius was a winner of the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition, and was named “Best Jam Band” in the Musician’s Atlas Independent Music Awards.

Carmine Appice Remembers His Friend Ginger Baker

Carmine Appice and Ginger Baker, along with the Who’s Keith Moon and Jimi Hendrix’s Mitch Mitchell, pioneered hard rock drumming.  Carmine feels that Ginger's influence is everywhere.

"I admired Ginger's drumming because he combined technical skills, with a jazz feel and innovating double bass drum patterns. He could pretty much play anything in the jazz, rock or afro arenas. His influence is tremendous and it is everywhere. We became friends in 1967 when Cream and Vanilla Fudge toured together, we toured again in later years and Ginger and I also did drum clinics together. Ginger was always the wildest guy on the tour and although he could be quite prickly, we had some mighty good times.

It saddens me that so many of my early contemporaries are gone -Keith, Mitch, and now Ginger. I believe we were four that pioneered the underground rock music movement. Everything was new, including the drumming which combined elements of old and new, and gave birth to the hard rock, progressive and psychedelic genres. God bless you, Ginger. RIP."

-Carmine Appice

PHOTO from Guitar Center's Rockwalk Hall of Fame induction. Carmine, Ginger and Alex Van Halen. 1991. Also inducted that day: Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, John Bonham.