Skinny Webb unleashes ‘progressive rock’ project

Tomorrow is an important day for Red Oak native Skinny Webb. It is the day the first single, called “Not Our Home” is released from The Skinny Webb project, which he’s been working on the past several years.
 “The Skinny Webb Project is a progressive rock venture I started about four years ago when I recorded some songs where I played all the instruments and sang all the vocals, but I always wanted to take it further,” Webb said. “I had to wait for the right moment to meet the right people in order for it to get to where it is today.”
A harder rock project than what he’s accustomed to, with music similar to that by the group ‘Yes’ and ‘Rush,’ Webb said it’s music a lot of the people he normally plays with isn’t accustomed to, either. Therefore, waiting to find just the right people.
“I get ideas all the time. I do a lot of using my phone, voice recorder, to record ideas.
This was my chance to write exactly what I want to write, whereas in a lot of past instances where I’ve worked with a country artist or someone who sings R&B, I change my writing style to fit their singing or playing ability,” said Webb. “In this project I do what I love based on my experiences and my influences.  It’s primarily rock based. Progressive rock encompasses a lot of different styles; when you refer to progressive rock ot is an algamation of a lot of different styles put into a rock context.”
Not Our Home is a hard rock song influenced by 1970s heavy rock, like Led Zeppelin, explained Webb.  
Webb met and made friends with Ron Wisco, a drummer who previously worked with David Lee Roth, Cher, Foreigner and who is currently on tour with the Steve Miller Band. In addition to playing, Wisco does a lot of musical production, so Webb asked if he’d like to collaborate on a song and Wisco said yes.
“I sent him a song I had demoed out where I played all the instruments on it. It basically had a drum loop, so I asked Ron to replace the drum loop with real drums. He did and sent the track back to me with the drums done. It sounded incredible,” Webb said. “The more we talked, I asked if he wanted to collaborate on the production end of it and he said sure, so we began to work together on that.”
Wisco then introduced Webb to Wally Minko, a well-known keyboardist who has previously worked with Toni Braxton. Webb asked if Minko would play keyboards on the same track Wisco had played drums on. Minko did and sent the track back to Webb.
“Minko knew Matt Bissonette, who I saw on tour with David Lee Roth at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha back in 1988. He is currently on tour with Elton John and that is about as big time as you can get. We sent Matt the song, he recorded his part in his hotel room and sent it back,” Webb explained.
The lead vocalist, Webb said, is Jessica Gray from Kansas City and part of a band called, Into the Gray.
“She is about the best singer I’ve ever worked with.  I asked her if she wanted to sign on.  I sent her the song and she actually put lyrics to it and hit it out of the park,” Webb said.
Wisco and Webb then finished mixing the song and then started on the correlating video.
“I can’t thank Ron enough for getting me in touch with the other musicians,” said Webb. “The video are all the musicians in their respective studios recording themselves playing.”
Over time Webb said he will release singles instead of an album, as it is the way people consume music now a days.  He’s also working on another couple songs with Gray, and they will use the same workflow as they did with the first song. New songs will be released every few months, Webb said.
“The great thing about modern recording is everything is digital,” Webb explained. “I have a home studio where I can put together the song using drum loops and drum machines to start out; then play bass over top of that, then record over top using the computer. I can put the whole song together start to finish and when I’m done, it almost sounds like a finished song.”

“You don’t need a large studio like you did 30 years ago,” said Webb, who serves as the guitar player, executive producer and writer for the project. “I’d like to continue working with the same musicians I did this time, especially Ron, who is co-producing with me.”

To find out more about The Skinny Webb Project, go to https://www.facebook.com/skinnywebb/, https://skinnywebb.com/, or https://music.amazon.com/artists/B09SKR4DDS/the-skinny-webb-project