Joe Beleznay

(Fairfield Citizen-News 1/25/08)

Fairfield resident Joe Beleznay would love if his latest album, Never Change, changed his life. However, he's not holding his breath waiting for someone to sign him, nor is he actively pursuing a record deal.

The acoustic pop/rock singer-guitarist is no starving musician. He's got a solid job working in the registrar's office at Sacred Heart University. If a deal comes, it comes. If it doesn't, it doesn't, but if Beleznay's music could be heard and appreciated by the masses, it would give him some validation.

"I just want to do something with my life, to look back on and be proud of it, artistically speaking," said Beleznay.

Beleznay believes Never Change is his best work yet. He previously released a six-song album titled Running to be Gone. Running to be Gone is not "un-listenable," according to Beleznay, but he felt it was more of a "raw demo," as it was his first solo experience in the recording studio. He chalks it up as a "learning experience."

He has higher hopes for Never Change and plans to promote the heck out of it. All of the 15 songs are available on iTunes. Beleznay's Web site -myspace.com/joebeleznay - notes that Beleznay wants you to remember two things: his infectious acoustic pop/rock songs and the pronunciation of his last name. On a more serious note, the site states that Beleznay, 30, has been writing and performing his original music on the East Coast for the past four years. For a number of years after high school - Beleznay was in a band during his high school years with future Grammy winner John Mayer - Beleznay did some creative soul searching. He eventually hit his stride around his mid-20s.
Beleznay cites Mayer as a musical influence, in terms of his guitar playing style. "He had a really unorthodox style," said Beleznay. Anybody can play a note or a chord but he'd come at it a different way. Also, there was a lot of use of the thumb. He could keep the bass line going with his thumb and play the accompanying melody."

Beleznay added, "He was head and shoulders above anyone I'd seen at 16 or 17 years old."

Other musical influences include Ryan Adams, Damien Rice and Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting Crows.

Beleznay got to reunite with Mayer four years ago at the Arena at Harbor Yard. He didn't just catch up with Mayer at the Bridgeport venue; he got to perform in front of the thousands in attendance.

"It gave me a lot of confidence to know what it's like to play in front of that many people," said Beleznay. He noted that he actually gets more nervous playing to one or 10 people rather than 10,000.

"When you're in a more intimate setting, it's much more personal," said Beleznay. "At a big arena, somebody's getting a beer, somebody's on a first date, it's a sensory overload of sorts. It allows you to stay more anonymous on a stage that huge."

A year after Mayer's Arena at Harbor Yard gig, Mayer joined Beleznay for a show at Southport Brewing Co. "He sat in and backed us up and then we backed him up on some of his material," said Beleznay, who has performed at all sorts of venues, from large ones such as the Arena at Harbor Yard, to the smallest dives, such as Bar B in New York City. Beleznay described Bar B as the "strangest, creepiest little hole-in-the-wall place." He had no clue what the place looked like before he got there.

"There was Sharpie marker writing all over the walls. It was in a seedy area," said Beleznay. However, such venues can sometimes work to an artist's advantage.

"It's much cooler to say 'We played New York City last night' than to actually have been there," said Beleznay. "It's all part of the mystique of what you can hide behind."

Beleznay said many of the songs on the new album are inspired by "needing to get out" and "living a life not up to your personal standard, knowing that you can be something more than what you resign yourself to each day."

"I'm not a sad person," said Beleznay, "but we're all constantly working to be better each day."

The album touches on other subjects, as Beleznay said there is definitely one track suitable "romantic antics."

Beleznay's album - more specifically the song "Start Again" - includes a bass line contribution from Mayer's recording and touring bassist David LaBruyere. Beleznay's longtime friend, Tim Procaccini, is the featured drummer/percussionist. Procaccini was also in the high school band - Villanova Junction - with Mayer. Procaccini's uncle, "Joe Proc," also lent some bass lines to Never Change. Beleznay said the catchiest song on the track list may be "Red Letter Jacket," which has a 1950s' or 1960s' feel to it. It's about a guy trying to give his varsity jacket to a young woman, according to Beleznay.

Even though Beleznay has done his fair share of performing over the years, he admits he still sometimes gets nervous. "I think if you stop being nervous, you don't want it," said Beleznay, whose album will be available not - Content to Just Play by Kirk Lang