Dean Merrell is our interview this month. Dean is a Guitar aficionado and music artist from Tucson, Arizona. Dean has a recording studio in his home to capture music ideas. Dean, thank you for granting Harbinger Magazine this interview.
Tell us about your collection of guitars and musical instruments you have acquired over the years, and do you play them all?
Thanks for interviewing me! One of my favorite guitars is one given to me by David Bixby himself, with his signature on the underside of the pickguard, an Epiphone Riviera Custom P93 LTD Black Royale hollow body electric guitar. It’s a real beauty, in black with glitter binding and vintage style features. And, of course, I have a real sweet tooth for old vintage guitars. Some of my favorites include a 1974 Gibson SG Special electric in cherry, and a 1974 Swedish-made Hagstrom ‘Swede’ electric in black. I also love my 1974 Gibson B 45-12-string acoustic, and Martin D 28 ‘Reimagined’ with its vintage features and 1 3/4’ nut, for finger style. Personally, I like the deeper, resonating, haunting tone of the dreadnought for finger style picking, as opposed to smaller bodied acoustics.
How long have you been playing?
I’ve been playing guitar going on 31 years now. I also play bass, shakuhachi flute, classical silver flute, organ, and didgeridoo.
Tell us about the record you produced and what is the name of it?
It’s called ‘Magickal Power’. I published it about 5 years ago and wrote, performed, recorded, and produced all of it myself. Listen on Bandcamp. The cover is a picture of me and my little niece ecstatically holding up magick wands Haha. Much of the music is inspired by ancient mythology and legends involving ecstasy and nature.
How did you discover the 1969 Ode To Quetzalcoatl Lp?
In 2016 I found it for sale at Bookmans, a record store in Flagstaff, AZ. Soon after I happened to meet David Bixby himself, not knowing he was the guy I was going to meet to buy a tow hitch from, by an ad he had posted. This album has become one of my favorites and I’m honored to have become friends with David.
What songs or projects are you working on right now?
Soon I’ll be releasing a new self-produced album on my bandcamp site. It’s all original stuff, with some new instruments that I’ve just recently begun to play, including the classical flute, and a vintage tube-powered pump chord organ. It follows a similar tone to ‘Magickal Power’ in its dreamy psych-folk sound, but a little more complex with bass, organ, flute, and rattles.
Describe your studio to us.
My home studio is a pretty simple set-up in a room in my house. For simplicity’s sake I use mainly digital audio recording stuff, as well as a tube powered condenser mic, and an Aston Origin cardioid condenser mic.
We understand you are also a high school teacher. Would you tell us about that?
I teach a variety of ages, including high school and junior high. I teach social studies including ‘ancient societies’, US history, world history, and civics. My background as an Archaeologist, excavating numerous ancient villages of Arizona Hohokam people has given me a lot of insight into both ancient and modern humans. I just find us humans to be such fascinating, complex creatures.
What are your plans?
My record label, Rattlesnake Trance Records, will be continuing to publish original music by myself and others. I’m attracting musicians to publish on my label. Also, on my 40 acres I plan to build some indigenous-style earth houses, partially underground (also known as ‘pit houses’).
How can we find your music?
My Bandcamp site and Facebook page.
Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?
If anyone is interested in having their music recorded and published on my label, please message me on my Bandcamp site or Facebook account. I’m honored to have become friends with David Bixby. He’s truly a man of integrity, hard work, creative genius, and handyman skill. He even helped me build a little cottage on my property. What a renaissance man!
– David Anthony
Listen to Dean’s latest album, Rattlesnake Trance HERE!
Dave Bixby 