brian egeness

"I was always drawn to music from early on. When I was 5, I heard...really heard, for the first time, a violin. I was watching a movie on TV and this amazing piece of music came on and instantly drew me into the scene...it was a huge sweeping melody...Ralph Vaughan Williams-ish...and the swell of the string section triggered something. I still remember it clearly. That day I told my parents 'I'm going to make music'. A short time later, as luck would have it, my grandmother said their was an old violin in the attic that I could have if great care was taken. It had been in the family for as long as anyone could remember but none of our relatives had been musically inclined so there it remained...forgotten...until then. And that's what started it all."

A few years later, Egeness' focus turned to the guitar. "I overheard my parents one day after having endured many hours of my special style of 'learning','Where does he get it from?...'.

"I think they were quietly expressing some regret at buying an amplifier for my guitar (I played it loud...all day....everyday!!!). But I wondered the same thing...where did it come from...this all-consuming desire to make music?"

Well, the answer would come literally from the inside of yet another musical gift from the attic of his grandparents. It was an 1894 Washburn mandolin in showroom condition. Upon removing it from it's odd little velvet lined case and inspecting this new thing of beauty, out from it's sound hole fell an old tin plate photograph...and there, in the only photo of his great great grandparents, was the answer. Placed prominently on the table of his distant relatives was...

...the very same 1894 Washburn mandolin.

Egeness later found out that the forgotten violin had also belonged to this relative in the photo, Christian (Christianson) Egeness. He had played both instruments with the Norwegian orchestra.

"I see a musical pattern within everything. The grey matter seems to fire a bit left of center when processing what I'm looking at and turns it into a rhythm or melody which I see as well as hear in my head. Gets pretty cluttered at times but it is what it is. It's where I find rhythm and melody for almost every piece I write."

After learning to play the guitar by ear over the next 7 years, Egeness formed a band called die kreuzen along with 3 like minded musicians. Over the next 10 plus years the band toured America and Europe in support of 5 releases on Touch & Go records and saw a great deal of the world from a different point of view.

"Man, there was a point there when die kreuzen were the best band in the USA." - Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

die kreuzen helped to usher in what is now known as alternative music and are featured in the movie 'American Hardcore' released in September '06 by Sony Pictures Classics. Egeness left the band in the early nineties to pursue a career as an engineer and producer for recording artists, working in a variety of studios, taking great care to help other musician's realize their vision.

After the market fell out of midsize pro studios with the advent of inexpensive home digital recorders he toyed with the idea of becoming an aerobatics flight instructor while working toward his PPL taking aerobatic lessons. But music kept calling him back and so began the first steps into the world of music for film.

But life started getting in the way of the creative process so a change was needed to clear the air...it was off to St. John, USVI with him and all of his music instruments.

During the three plus years of solitude and furthering his home studies in music composition, he met his wife, Caroline. After another six months on the island it was time to get back to the states to pursue the career that was hinted at so long ago...composing for film.

"I hope you enjoy my music..."