Strokeland Records
"For live, recording and studio wiring, Monster Cable has always been there for me with the best product."
Jeff Tamelier
The San Francisco Bay Area was overflowing with great music. It was August 13, 1968 and a fateful audition was under way. A young Stephen Kupka tries out on baritone saxophone for a hot new soul band called "Tower of Power". He makes the grade with his fat, ballsy tone and a legendary partnership begins.
Over the 40 years since that audition, Stephen "Doc" Kupka has become probably the most-recorded baritone saxophonist in history. Doc and the Tower of Power horns have recorded and performed live with music legends such as the Rolling Stones, Santana , Little Feat, Huey Lewis and the News, the Eurythmics, Graham Central Station, Creedence Clearwater, Quincy Jones, the Crusaders, and many, many more.
Still touring and laying down their signature brand of soul music today, Tower of Power has remained true to their calling and proves with every show that they are the authority.
As one of the primary songwriters for Tower of Power over all those years, Doc Kupka has practiced and refined the craft of songwriting with his "partner in crime for a long, long time" - Emilio Castillo, and many other great songwriting partners. In fact, Doc writes many more songs than Tower of Power can record.
This led to the formation of Doc's Strokeland Records in 1998 as a platform where Doc could focus on creating great new music and not have to worry about distribution of his projects. With the release of "Kick It Up a Step" in 1998, the Strokeland Superband was formed - a collection of world-class musicians coming together in the studio to realize a soul music dream.
Followed up by "Glenn Walters' King of Retro Cool" and "The Law According to Fred Ross", Doc's Strokeland Superband continued to create great soul music. Produced by Doc's longtime songwriting partner, and former Tower of Power guitarist, Jeff Tamelier, the Strokeland Superband projects have included Edgar Winter, Huey Lewis, Bill Champlin, Lydia Pense, and many more great singers in addition to Tower of Power greats, past and present.
Although known for East Bay Soul Music, Strokeland Records also is home to a great collection of straight-ahead and contemporary jazz artists, in addition to a variety of soul music from around the USA.
Strokeland Records' latest release, "Bumped Up to First Class" by the Strokeland Superband features the great classic sound of Doc Kupka's EastBay soul music. Produced by Jeff Tamelier and Executive Produced by Chuck Hansen, "Bumped Up to First Class" will have you pumped up and jamming. (Just like 1968!)
"Bumped Up to First Class" and all the latest releases from Strokeland are available online at http://www.strokeland.com
STROKELAND RECORDS ON MONSTER CABLE
"Don't ever stop making your great products!" says Jeff Tamelier, whose credits beyond Tower of Power also include Starship, Cold Blood, Eddie Money, and being President of Net Music Makers. "For live, recording and studio wiring, Monster Cable has always been there for me with the best product."
"My home studio is completely wired by Monster Cables and powered by AVS 2000 Pro's, says Tamelier. "I produced the latest Strokeland Record 'Bumped Up To First Class' at my home studio using all Monster Cables -- guitar, bass, inserts, speaker -- everything!"
"Most tracks on our newest CD and several previous to that all benefited from using Monster Cable, and our studio power protection is all from Monster Power," says Steve Finch, the Director of Operations for Strokeland. "I'm thrilled with the Monster Cables and they make a huge difference with the sound -- the transients are much faster, the high end is much clearer, it just seems much more present and live instantly."
"We've got the whole studio wired with Monster Cable," Finch says, "including patch cables, microphone cables, any kind of interconnects, digital patch cables, interconnects from preamps into A/D converters, everything."
For more information, check out http://www.strokeland.com