AXA

An Introduction

I've been playing in bands, performing and singing in choirs it seems like my entire life. When I was 15, I began to form solid ideas about sound forms. I would experiment with intertwining visual images with the dynamic of symphonic concepts and infuse the experience with contemporary music patterns. From there I went on to delivering live performances on stage. To my surprise and delight, sometimes it was in front of a packed house.

After a few years of playing live I moved to Erie and became lost in the creation of new works. I built a makeshift studio in our little house on Schley Street and began to form what would eventually become the AXA sound. I brought in musician Frank Emanuele to add his unique rhythms and perspective to the sound I was constructing. There then came that moment when I transformed from experimental artist to a musician with a message that contained a real and intense meaning. I moved to Greensburg and set up shop in a commercial studio. I was finally ready to record a debut album, which would be called Images at Sunfall. I emerged almost a year later with the Prelude to Sunfall EP completed and much more ready to roll.

I chose to build the AXA experience with a sort of grass roots mentality so that its construction would be based on a foundation devoid of pre-conceived notions and pop music conventions. I wanted the AXA project to be more a mode of transportation than a 'name the band that influenced us' contest. Music to me is about the color of the sound, where progressions cool into blue or heat up into fiery reds. So it's about the color of the music, its temperature, and the sonic furniture that gets moved around to provide the listener with a different view through each room of the AXA journey.

I'm proud of the music that's been created. Within it lies my heart and soul. I hope that you enjoy listening as much as I did the recording.

Cheers,
Bill Stankay