Derek Day
Los Angeles, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2015
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POP/ROCK ARTIST DEREK DAY TO OPEN FOR LEGENDARY STEVE VAI
Vai Gives Young Recording Artist Dream Gig For Hundreds of Fans (Hollywood, CA)
For Derek Day, “3” seems to be his lucky number: He had 3 brothers who gave him a passion for literature and music; at age 13 he watched a video of the G3 CONCERT— Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen — and fell in love with the sound of electric guitar; after his first 3 years as a professional musician in LA, Steve Vai saw a video of Derek on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade and saw a spark of magic that inspired him to say, “This guy has a nice fire in him…he has a powerful charisma…”. Via then invited the wild, young Pop/Rock Derek Day to open for him in concert on 1 of possibly 3 concert dates. So, on Saturday, December 10, 2016, Derek Day gets to do what others only dream of: open for his guitar idol, Steve Vai. Day and Vai will appear in concert at The Complex, 536 West South in Salt Lake City, Utah at 7pm. For more information go to:
HTTP://WWW.THECOMPLEXSLC.COM/EVENT-1240.HTM#STHASH.IQQAH60K.DPUF
The child of honorable working-class parents, Derek Day was born & raised in and around Downtown Los Angeles. His older brothers highly-influenced his “right to rock”: Kenneth is a guitar-hobbyist who fostered Day’s love for Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan; Stanley is a UCLA graduate who majored in literature and taught Day the value of words; Waldemar was the first to teach a 10 year old Day SMOKE ON THE WATER, IRON MAN and BLITZKRIEG BOP. But it was the moment Day begged his brother to teach him the opening guitar lick in Derek & the Dominoes LAYLA that that truly cemented his passion for song. Soon after, Dad gave Day his dream guitar: a Pacifica Yamaha like one one Hendrix played. Day spent hours plugged into a small, hand-me-down Fender amp playing PURPLE HAZE, CROSSROADS and WHITE ROOM — songs he still plays now, busking on Hollywood Blvd and the Third Street Promenade between gigs and tours, to keep his “chops” up and build his fan following….and get discovered by Steve Vai.
In 2014, Day & brother Waldemar formed the Radio Rock band HOT STOP and were signed to Blue Elan Records, but after tours and record sales did not pan out, Day left to pursue his solo career.
January 2016 marked a turning point for Derek Day: music manager Ali Shayestah heard him backing actress and fledgling singer Rachel Fox. Ali booked Derek at the infamous ULTIMATE JAM NIGHT, produced by Quiet Riot bassist Chuck Wright who immediately noticed Derek’s star quality. Derek is now a weekly, regularly featured artist at the historic Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, sharing the stage with: bassist Paul ILL (Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Pink); bassist Philip Bynoe (Steve Vai, Slash); drummer Brendan Buckley (Shakira); dance music chart topper Debby Holiday; guitarist Scotti Hill (Skid Row); frontman Eric Dover (Jellyfish & Slash’s Snake Pit); drummer Mike Dupke(WASP); keyboardist Michael Klooster (Smashmouth); Johnny Martin (Tracii Guns) among other notables.
It is easy to see why Derek is excited to play with his idol, Steve Vai: Vai’s work has been recognized with a long list of awards, including an even dozen from Guitar Player. The TEC Foundation honored Vai with the prestigious Les Paul Award, created in 1991 to salute those who have set the highest standard of excellence in the creative application of technology (past winners include Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Herbie Hancock and Steely Dan). In bestowing it on Vai, TEC noted, “Steve Vai’s sheer breathtaking facility on the guitar is acclaimed in the rock world and beyond… Vai has dedicated his talents to creatively advance the language of music. While many artists fit easily into a single category, Steve Vai remains unclassifiable. He is a musical alchemist of the highest order.”
Derek Day and Steve Vai will appear in concert at The Complex, 536 West South in Salt Lake City, Utah at 7pm. For more information, go to:
HTTP://WWW.THECOMPLEXSLC.COM/EVENT-1240.HTM#STHASH.IQQAH60K.DPUF - Highwire Daze
Opening Sunday’s show at The Rose in Pasadena, CA was Los Angeles based guitar phenom DEREK DAY. A frequent guest at Ultimate Jam Night at The World-Famous Whisky a Go-go (produced by legendary QUIET RIOT bassist Chuck Wright), this guy killed his set with a passion seemingly unmatched today. Not only were DEREK DAY’S guitar skills off the charts (It’s easy to see why STEVE VAI chose him to open several of his shows in 2016), his vocals were simply amazing. He has a bluesy tone reminiscent of early Marc Bolan fused with the incredible power of BULLET BOYS front-man, Marq Torien. DEREK DAY is a star on the rise and someone to keep an eye on down the road. - Hunnypot
Derek Day, fresh off his opening slot on Ted Nugent’s East Coast tour, which included a few select West Coast dates, is once again proving that he’s a force of nature to be reckoned with for sure!
His 45 minute set was filled with all original tunes, with the exception of “Benny & the Jets” by Elton John, which he puts his own unique spin on. Derek is one of the most animated, charismatic and humble up & coming performers today. His energy needs to be bottled & sold! His vocals are spot on and his guitar playing…? Well, that’s why we’re all here in the first place. At times it’s almost impossible to snap a photo of him. He never stands still for very long & utilizes every single inch of the stage. Needless to say, he’s VERY entertaining to watch.
Derek also seems to have found the right combination of musicians to compliment him. He is joined by bassist, Steaks Lyons and Tosha Jones who beats the crap out of her drums. Deservedly so, Tosha is now endorsed by Vater Drumsticks.
I highly recommend checking out Derek and crew when they’re at a venue near you. - Will to Rock
Discography
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Bio
Derek Day, 24. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA he infuses the power of Rock N' Roll N' Other Genres (R&B, Soul, Punk and Pop) as he engages with and captures the audience theatrically. He's on the lead, licky, riffy Electric Guitar to accompany his burning-lead, gritty, soulful contralto Vocals.
Paying dues and starting small, he was a self-taught street performer out in Santa Monica since he was 13, formed a number of stylistically-interchanging bands and recorded a few EP's and one full length by the first year of Community College-
A couple months after releasing his first official solo-experimental EP in Summer 2016, he took the opportunity to be the direct support for the final days of Steve Vai's 25th Anniversary tour of the Passion And Warfare album, which Day, himself, was majorly influenced by. This quick success launched a snowball for 2017
Immediately performing at NAMM, the Sundance Film Festival and by the end of May, opening up for Living Colour in Scottsdale , Arizona.
As the winds of the Day kept whistling through the music world, he was asked to open up for the MOTOR CITY MADMAN- Ted Nugent- for his “Rockin America Again” tour. And so he bought a mom-van , assembled a fresh band (Tosha Jones and Steaks Lyons) and traveled sea to shining sea playing nearly sold out theaters. Amidst that, he did a few unrelated shows , one of which was at the Lincoln Center performing with Living Colour's Vernon Reid and Corey Glover for the Chuck Berry tribute.
Right before the band drove back home to LA, Day released his latest single, FACE ME, co-written with his most inspiring friend, Debby Holiday- which includes performances from Philip Bynoe (Steve Vai/Slash), Roger Carter (John 5/Rick Springfield) and Paul Trudeau (Billy Idol/Lifehouse).
All of the buzz turned on the chief marketing department of the legendary guitar company, Fender. Derek Day is officially endorsed by Fender, and just in the right time:
In October/November, Day opened up for Living Colour in roughly 14 major southern US cities for their Shade in the USA tour. Halfway through was an opening show for Steel Panther in Ft. Lauderdale.
The crew came home by December and had several successful headliner shows In the LA gig scene and even again opening for Steel Panther at The Roxy.
Right at midnight on Jan 1 2018, Day flew to New York to write a handful of songs with Vernon Reid as they formed a friendship from the tour days. He Came back after a week to record 2 singles , play NAMM again for VocoPro, Vocal Eze and Fender and get things ready for a trip to Nairobi, Kenya for more writing and a short tour the beginning of February.
Day returned in March and was approached by up-and-coming band Classless Act to be their frontman. This hot new Rock N Roll band not only had a bit of a buzz in the LA scene but also a huge pull in South and Central America. Day accepted and so far the band has had great success, eventually opening up for Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators at the Palladium in October. That was their 6th show as a band.
“It’s a great way to exercise myself in performance art without the guitar. But rest assured, you’ll be seeing plenty new things from the Solo Project,” says Day.
And he kept his word opening for Lynch Mob in April , releasing a modern neo-rock single “Social Kitten” and toured Sweden and England in August where 2 of the shows have been at the politically charged music and arts event, The Byline Festival - headlined by Pussyriot.
One of the more interesting events was right after the euro-tour in September for a charity event thrown by ExtraordinaryFamilies and Steve Vai to help foster children throughout the USA.
52 hours of non-stop music by huge hitters , and Derek not only had his own set , but also got to perform onstage with Steve Vai himself, Vernon Reid, and Moby. The event was viewed by 850,000 people worldwide.
To bring this bio to a close , perhaps a shout out from nationwide satellite radio personality Eddie Trunk : “talented kid, very impressive and a promising , great player...”
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