Peter Roy Project
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Peter Roy Project

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"Former soldiers join up for album"

Former soldiers join up for album


By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, June 22, 2007



Mark St.Clair / S&S
Brian Lindsay, left, and Peter Roy are performing in Würzburg on Saturday.



SCHWEINFURT, Germany — “This is adult music … for people sitting down enjoying some wine,” said singer/guitarist Peter Roy of the Peter Roy Project’s new self-titled album.

During a recent interview at Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, Roy and disc jockey Brian Lindsay, the other half of PRP, spoke about the new album, their five-month collaboration and everything musical in between. The duo performs in Würzburg on Saturday.

Although the former soldiers have recorded together for a relatively short time, Peter and Brian have been following each other musically for much longer. When Lindsay heard that Roy was looking for a disc jockey, he didn’t hesitate to step forward.

“The music scene right now is flooded with way too many singer/songwriters,” Roy said. “By having a DJ — especially an electronic DJ — I have an element I can bring [to my music] that normal bands can’t bring.”

“Between the two of us … we both have the [different musical] ideas and we both have the know-how — but they don’t overlap,” Lindsay said.

Roy, 34, worked on the soundtrack to the 2006 movie “Turn Left” and played in the band Black 13. Lindsay, 30, has been a DJ for six years and has a regular gig at the Airport club in Würzburg, where he’s lived since leaving the service in 2003.

Both said that though PRP’s music is hard to categorize, it’s easy to listen to.

“It’s an eclectic mix of stuff” with elements of pop, rock, trip-hop and new jazz, Lindsay said. “Because it’s so eclectic, you can’t put the whole [record] anywhere.”

Roy said the new album should be available soon on www.amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com.

PRP will perform Saturday at the Umsonst & Draussen (In Vain and Outside) Festival at the Mainweisen in Würzburg. Their hourlong set begins at 7 p.m. in Tent 1. Lindsay can be found at the Airport on the second Saturday of every month.

For more information, go to www.myspace.com/peterroyproject and www.myspace.com/djblindsay.
- Stars And Stripes


"Hard-rocking ex-soldiers collaborate on movie"

“You can’t miss us. I’m sure we’ll be the only ones with giant goatees.”
Sure enough, Peter Roy was right.
Facial hair notwithstanding, since the base food court in Schweinfurt, Germany, was virtually a ghost town, Roy and Fred Melott, sometimes known as the band Black 13, were sore thumbs. Clad in T-shirts and faded cammies, the two exsoldiers took some time on a recent Saturday to discuss what it was like making the soundtrack
for a movie recently released on DVD. When Melott, 31, walked into the military clothing store Roy manages in 2001, neither had any idea that they’d be working together three years later. Having immediately found a common interest in music — and in particular a T-shirt for the hard rock band Deicide one of them had been wearing — Melott soon found himself inviting Roy to see Hatred, the metal band he played for at the time. Soon after, Melott, who was still in the Army, found himself in Bosnia-Herzegovina. While escorting a military civilian from Heidelberg named Dominic Jackson around, he found out that Jackson was making an independent film and it needed music.
Within a year, Black 13 was recording eight songs for Jackson’s film “Turn Left,” with Melott’s Hatred contributing five and Roy’s solo effort, The Peter Roy Project, adding the final track.
“A lot of musicians tend to overlook films because [musicians] don’t get a lot of recognition in them,” Roy said. “We thought it was a golden opportunity, because in an independent film you get to take risks.” Roy’s role in Black 13 and other musical projects focuses mainly on vocals. A fan of departed Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, Roy has been singing since he
was a child.
Although Melott’s broad, tattoo-covered figure might seem a bit ominous to some at first, his mellow demeanor immediately puts you at ease. He started playing guitar at 14 when a neighbor gave him his first instrument and has never put it
down. He credits Eric Johnson, a virtuoso rock/blues guitarist, Megadeth’s “Rust in Peace” album and early Metallica as major influences. And although he’s a man of few words, he said he’s always working to find his own musical voice. “I try to write using different tunings on my guitar,” Melott said. “I like using a deep sound that doesn’t need words.” Roy, 33, completely agreed. “Fred’s got the speed of (Megadeth’s) Dave Mustaine. I’ve watched him go from that to writing the simplest acoustic songs. He’s a very lyrical guitar player and doesn’t overplay,” Roy said. Together they described their sound as “dark and brooding acoustic.” Since Black 13 relies solely on guitars and vocals, the two compensated for the lack of drums with emotive jazz- and blues-inspired arranging, again trying to achieve an overall darker tone.

Roy, who is the father of a new baby girl and lives with her mother, and Mellot, the father of three children in the States, say they work well together. “We have complete trust in each other. It was a 100 percent collaboration since we are both
perfectionists at what we do,” they said. Both also had glowing things to say about Jackson, whom Roy called a risk-taking filmmaker, and their experiences throughout the making of “Turn Left.” Jackson co-wrote, directed and produced the film.
“[Fred and I] had never worked on acoustic material before Dominic asked us for songs for the movie. He never said he wanted one specific thing, so we gave him three songs initially. Based on those three, he said he liked what we were doing,”
Roy said.
In fact, Jackson liked what Black 13 was doing so much, he told Roy and Melott that whatever they could give him before he was done editing the film he’d try to use. One track, “Snobby Jam,” was pulled from a home video taken during a meeting between Jackson and Black 13 at one of their houses. They’d been discussing more music, Roy and Melott just started playing, and the result ended up in the film. The film was a noncompetition entry in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in France, and Roy was there to work and absorb the atmosphere. “Helping promote the movie and pitching the film was an awesome experience,” he said.
In November, the film was included in the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. It was later purchased by York Entertainment and released
on DVD June 6. “Turn Left” is the story of four men, three professional assassins and a green recruit, who come out of hiding to take on one final job. They travel from Oregon to Las Vegas to help a casino owner destroy his business — which holds evidence sought by the FBI — and collect the insurance money. An endless succession of problems dog them on their journey. Ironically, though both Roy and Melott earn their bread through Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Roy with military clothing and sales, Melott in a Post Exchange warehouse, it doesn’t stock or sell “Turn Left.”
“You can go to Wal-Mart, Target and all these other places, but the only place you can’t get the movie is AAFES,” R - By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes; September 3, 2006


"Daytona beach news journal June 24, 2006 Love of music finally pays off"

As a kid, Peter Roy rode his bike around Deltona singing. "Everything about my brother is music," said sister Bethann Roy. "That's all I have known him to do is music." Even when a high school teacher told him he "had the musical talent of a stone sitting on the beach," Roy said he kept strumming to his own tune.
"You can either make something like that kill you or make you stronger," Roy said. "I chose not to make it affect me." Now at 33, that love of music is beginning to pay off for the Deltona native who currently calls Germany home. He has an album that's due out in autumn. And his music has already been set to moving pictures. He co-wrote and sang nine songs featured in the film "Turn Left."
The movie follows four retired criminals on their last job. A Las Vegas casino owner hires them to blow up his establishment to keep incriminating evidence out of the FBI's hands. By the time the insurance is collected, things go terribly wrong. A low-budget film released on DVD in June by York Entertainment, the dark comedy is gaining a small following, jumping from 1700 to 105 on the Internet Movie Database's MOVIEmeter, which ranks films based on the searches of millions of its users.
Roy said his part in the movie all stems from a chance meeting in a Humvee.
Four years ago, Roy and friend Fred Melott were enlisted Army men living in Germany when Melott just happened to be the person picked to give a ride to Dominic Jackson, the head of a small production company.
That's when Jackson told Melott he was looking for a musician to write music for "Turn Left." Melott mentioned Roy.
"One thing just led to another," Roy said. "It's amazing how one chance happening can change your life. I probably would never have gotten to do what I have done if it weren't for that meeting. Sometimes, it's all about faith."
Jackson laughs about the moment, but says he was lucky he picked Roy.
"It was done on a handshake and just sheer faith in one another," Jackson said. "They would send me stuff by e-mail and I was like, this is fantastic, and I kind of fell in love with him ever since," he said. "His voice was phenomenal."
The head of ADOWA Production and Records, Jackson fell so much in love with Roy's music that his company is producing his CD. "He has something different, something fresh to bring to the music scene," Jackson said. "I think once people around the world hear his stuff, they are going to be blown away because he has some timeless music."
Before Roy joined the Army in 1993, music had been his life, a way to fit in. But after years of playing in different bands in Deltona, Daytona Beach and the Orlando area, Roy felt like he was getting nowhere. So he joined the Army and said goodbye to music, but it found him again in Germany, when a local band in need of a singer turned to him. "Now I know it's the one thing I am meant to do," Roy said.
As a part of this journey, Roy attended the Cannes Film Festival in France last year, where "Turn Left" had its world premiere. It's a moment he'll never forget.
"The complete cast of 'Star Wars' was there and every time you turned around, there was a big-named star," Roy said. "It was a great experience to see what that next level is, but I was in way over my head. I knew I was breathing a completely different kind of air. It was a really humbling, but cool experience."
His goal now is to get to the next step, where his music supports his family. His Army duties are completed, but Roy still serves the military as a civilian worker. "Everyone has that one dream and for me, it's been music," Roy said. "My dream is actually becoming a reality and I hope that one day it will become my profession." - By NICOLE SERVICE Staff Writer


Discography

TURN LEFT film soundtrack; unreleased 2005
debut CD; released June 2007

Photos

Bio

The Peter Roy Project was started in December 2004 when Peter Roy recorded a solo song for the TURN LEFT film soundtrack. At that time, Peter had been singing for BLACK13 who also had 9 songs on the TURN LEFT film soundtrack. Peter felt the need to be creative musically without being limited to playing one genre of music. Thus, the Peter Roy Project was born. By mixing acoustic guitar, hip hop / jazz beats, piano, and other ambient textures, Peter would lay down the foundation which he would later position his trademark vocals over. After attending the Cannes film festival in 2005 to support and promote the TURN LEFT film; Peter decided to leave BLACK13 and pursue a permanent solo career.

Over the next year, Peter would write and develop new songs plus shot a video for one of his songs titled ..LOST...

In the late summer of 2006, Peter signed a record contract with the small indie label ADOWA Records. By signing to ADOWA, Peter decided to recruit a laptop DJ (DJ Brian Lindsay) to play his digital tracks while performing a live show.

Brian is a well known house DJ in Bavaria, Germany. His extensive experience as a vinyl DJ helped to bring a different feel to the Peter Roy Project. This created a visual onstage image of diverse musical styles being merged as one.

In June 2007, Adowa records released the debut CD from the Peter Roy Project. The CD is currently available online through CDBABY, iTunes, and AMAZON.