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Artist History ==> Web Page 6 of 26
Dombrovski resigned as drummer from the PINK FLOYD tribute group ECHOES in August 1991 to attend the world-renowned BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC in Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., where he studied jazz drumming, composition, arranging, songwriting, music notation, and theory. Upon the advice of his private instructor at BERKLEE, said private instructor recognizing Dombrovski's pop-music sensibilities, Dombrovski left the Boston music college to move to Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., in January 1992, where he spent most of his time auditioning on drums for many bands.
DOMBROVSKI: I began attending BERKLEE on September 2, 1991. Given that musicians I respect passed through BERKLEE (John Abercrombie '67, Vinnie Colaiuta '75, Al Di Meola '74, Elliot Easton '73, Donald Fagen '66, Bill Frisell '77, Jan Hammer '69, Greg Hawkes '72, Bruce Hornsby '74, Quincy Jones '51, Jeff Lorber '71, John Scofield '73, Steve Smith '76, Mike Stern '75, Steve Vai '79, Miroslav Vitous '67, Ernie Watts '66, Brad Whitford '71, Joe Zawinul '59), I felt going to BERKLEE was a kind of rite of initiation for me. I'd been a drummer and songwriter in a classic rock cover band performing some original power-pop (RAEL); I'd been a drummer and wrote an original song in a heavy metal/hard rock band (EXXESS) performing all originals; I played keyboards on and finished a demo of my own original keyboard-dominated pop material; I performed progressive/art/concept rock with quasi-classical overtones as a drummer in an all-PINK FLOYD cover band (ECHOES); so here I was getting a formal concept of what jazz was about, jazz being the next logical step in terms of the complexity of the music I was allowed to play. Going to BERKLEE was a step forward.
DOMBROVSKI: After my entering class' invocation speech, keyboardist Joe Zawinul of WEATHER REPORT performed with BERKLEE students. For a guy like me coming from a primarily rock, cover-band background, that was a heavy-duty experience realizing the potential to hook up with musical heavy weights like Zawinul existed at BERKLEE, if you were good enough. Although I only attended BERKLEE very briefly in 1991, that was enough to seriously widen my very limited perspective of music, said limited perspective a result of only being exposed to music primarily in my hometown of Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A.
DOMBROVSKI: BERKLEE helped me get beyond feeling the music I enjoyed in my brief 24 years on earth were all that mattered or existed. Also, it's good to be around people who are more proficient and accomplished on their instrument than you are. Furthermore, it's good to be around people who are just as consumed with, and passionate about, their music as you are. Many of these people come from other countries all over the world. You know, BERKLEE gives a musician a certain clarity about the realities surrounding music and a possible career in the contemporary music scene.
DOMBROVSKI: My private drum instructor at BERKLEE was Dave Weigert, and my drum lab instructor was Jon Hazilla. Jon Hazilla is also a faculty member at NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC, which is very near BERKLEE. Both those guys helped expand my concept of what the drums can do. My concept of drums for the most part was coming from and limited to rock music. Dave and Jon couldn't help but make me aware I was suffering from tunnel vision. They could hear some very important fundamentals of drumming that were missing in my playing, and they were able to show me the things I needed to do to improve my musicality. That alone was worth the price of admission for me.
DOMBROVSKI: It's known far and wide there's a heavy emphasis on jazz at BERKLEE, so while I was there I was able to take a good look at the nomenclature of that style of music. Some people have a problem with that, which is OK because jazz is a performer's art, and music is simply the language of the musical. Incidentally, experiencing Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., was cool, too. I ate at some good restaurants there.
DOMBROVSKI: While I was at BERKLEE, I had a miniature recording studio setup in my dorm room. There were: keyboards, microphones, drum machines, a multi-track recorder, effects, etc. I was cutting pop demos there, which I would play for my private drum instructor, Dave Weigert. Upon hearing what I was doing, Dave mentioned my pop stuff sounded like stuff coming out of Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., and my approach was like that of those in Los Angeles. Well, I was 24; I was a young dude in a hurry, so I started thinking maybe I needed to cross the country and check out what's happening in L.A. My brother, Dave Anthony, also a drummer, was out there working with a guy cutting an album for A&M RECORDS, so I decided I was going to L.A. after the semester finished.
DOMBROVSKI: On December 21, 1991, I was back in my hometown of Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A. On January 30, 1992, I was living in Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., with my brother Dave Anthony. On February 1, 1992, I responded to a message from a producer looking for a producer's assistant, whose message I read in Music Connection Magazine.
QUOTING:
"Producer needs assistant. Must be motivated, Mac-literate, musical, ambitious, have good eclectic taste (KCRW). Good pay-great opportunity. Call (310)-XXX-XXXX, leave message."
DOMBROVSKI: On February 2 and 3, 1992, a guy named Tony Berg left a couple of messages on the answering machine for me, and I met with Tony Berg on February 4, 1992. I didn't realize Tony Berg had worked with the likes of: Beck, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Hornsby, Robbie Robertson, Counting Crows, Pat Metheny, Michael Penn, Squeeze, Public Image Ltd., and Edie Brickell. All I knew was I was in a beautiful home drinking great, fresh-squeezed orange juice served to me by a beautiful lady; then Tony and I went into a very cool and well-equipped studio in the backyard. I believe Tony was working with Michael Penn at the time. Tony and I talked. Tony said he would REALLY like to have a drummer as an assistant, but I'd have to wait for an answer because Tony was deciding amongst four other qualified people. On February 9, 1992, Tony gave me a call, and he said the job was up between another guy named "Earl" from BERKLEE and me. Needless to say, I didn't get the gig with Tony, but I was convinced L.A. was a place where music was looked upon as something more than a hobby.
DOMBROVSKI: I spent time talking to and auditioning on drums for a lot of bands during my first time in Los Angeles. I mean, I'd been in several bands back in DELAWARE, U.S.A., and I was just out of BERKLEE, so I could compare the bands and musicians I played with before with the bands and musicians I was auditioning for here in L.A. Some were a lot better; some weren't as good. My basic feeling was a lot of these guys wanted a serious commitment from me right away to support original material I didn't think was that strong; yet despite that, some of these guys thought their record deal was just around the corner. A band is a lot of work. There's learning material, writing material, rehearsals, moving equipment to gigs, setting up, playing, tearing down, contacting people, booking gigs, promoting, financing, etc. There's also the simple question of whether you can get along with the other people in a band. You don't know that until you work with people for a while. I didn't have the time. I was too busy trying to learn how to survive in Los Angeles.
At the same time in Los Angeles, Dombrovski's brother Dave Anthony was working with A&M RECORDS recording artist ERIC EDEN on EDEN's 1992 debut recording Grooving Up Slowly. Anthony played drums on 11 of the 12 tracks on EDEN's debut, and high-profile producer Hugh Padgham (Sting, THE POLICE, Phil Collins, GENESIS, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, YES, XTC, Paul McCartney) engineered the recording's basic tracks. Via his drumming brother, Dombrovski was afforded a true, behind-the-scenes, blow-by-blow factual account of the often unglamorous and disillusioning process involved in making and promoting a major record label release. Dombrovski, just out of music college at 24 and in Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., for the first time, could not have been more fortunate and received a better, nor timelier, real world music education anywhere at any price.
DOMBROVSKI: Yeah, all that behind-the-scenes stuff my brother Dave talked to me about was helpful. I realized a lot of factors can exert an influence on the sound of the music you want to present to the world, and it's worthwhile to spend time considering them.
DOMBROVSKI: That wasn't all I learned after my brother returned to the East Coast, and I was without an apartment. Some fond memories of my early days in Los Angeles were: the signs in those cheap motels I stayed at reading "NO PROSTITUTION"; finding a woman staying in the motel next to mine murdered because her blood stains and the white chalk outline of her body decorated the street; discovering a motel bucket is sometimes an adequate toilet; and watching a parade of cockroaches in my motel room instead of the TV because its picture consisted of a thin red line of crackling fuzz. I couldn't get Randy Newman's song "I Love L.A." out of my head. The Los Angeles riots of April 29, 1992, were just around the corner, although I'd returned to DELAWARE, U.S.A., on April 13, 1992, just before those occurred. I watched L.A. burn on TV. I was smitten with the land of the beautiful people, and I knew I'd be back. God Bless the Wild West.
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Artist History ==> Web Page 6 of 26