Rick Such has been feeling the groove since he was four years-old. His love for music and sound in general led him down a sound-related career path. As a talented audio engineer for over 18 years, he is daily immersed in the world of sound design at his Emmy award-winning audio post-production studio. Rick studied percussion as a grade school student and continued all the way through college at Ball State University, where he majored in telecommunications and was awarded the 2009 Alumnus Of The Year award. A true music aficionado, his appetite for music has allowed him to appreciate music from all genres. Rick knows that the bottom line is excellence in what you do. “I have always had such respect for the guys who were the talent behind the talent in the music industry. To me, the liner notes are an album’s true artwork. Creating Inside MusiCast and giving these amazing musicians the spotlight has been something I have always dreamed of doing.” Rick is Owner/ Engineer of Earshot Audio-Post, a recording studio based in Indianapolis, Indiana USA.

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A purist and minimalist when it comes to music, cars, design and life, Eddy Cabello is uniquely connected to the world around him. He began studying violin at the age of 10 and piano at the age of 12. Today, a proficient keyboardist and visual artist, this veteran advertising creative director finds a vibe in almost everything he sees and hears. “Art moves people… and music moves us in special ways. This is what Inside MusiCast is all about. We want to peel back the layers of the obvious and reveal the technology, skill, passion, and craft of the people who make music happen.” He and Rick crossed paths while working their day jobs…advertising. “I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but when we started talking about music, liner notes, artists, albums, producers…it was a done deal. We had to do something about it. That’s when we created Inside MusiCast. It’s not necessarily work to us, but it takes alot of work to produce each episode”. Eddy is Creative Director of Cabello Associates, an advertising agency based in Indianapolis, Indiana USA, that created the branding and new website for Inside MusiCast.

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Growing up in a talented, musical family, Brian Pearson was constantly surrounded by different types of music. His father, uncles and cousins have been full-time musicians with various bands that played both the national and Chicago scene for years. Both of his parents exposed him to a wealth of music as a child, all of which influenced his development. Music is literally in his genes.

After realizing at a very early age that working in the music field was his main goal, Brian began to focus his talent working in radio, providing musical programming direction to stations in the Chicago market. With Blues and Jazz as his forte, he hosted several well-known shows that pulled-in large audiences. It was during this time that he was able to make acquaintances with artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Robben Ford, Al Jarreau, Larry Carlton, Delbert McClinton, and many more. A declining demand for radio has led to staging concerts with up-and-coming artists like Susan Tedeschi, Peter Mayer, Ben Taylor, Doyle Bramhall Jr., Tommy Castro and Coco Montoya. Brian found himself writing for music publications like Relix, The Reader, Blues Revue and The Midwest Beat. Today, he runs Deacon Grooves Media, promoting artists that need to be heard.

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Since the age of 5, Kim Reilly felt the magnetism of music through her early exposure to classic rock and pop music on 45’s and LP’s in her home. Albums such as Paul McCartney’s Band On The Run, Jefferson Starship’s Miracles, and Elton John’s Captain Fantastic, along with TV shows such as The Midnight Special paved a road that led her to the conclusion that music was much more than instruments, singing, and dancing. Kim became aware of the talent behind it all and fell in love with the music-making process. She’s a multi-instrumentalist, having performed in several bands throughout the years, and has had the good fortune of meeting and listening to some of the greatest artists who have influenced her musically. Today, she works in the music industry, side-by-side with new and established artists that have inspired her over her life. As a correspondent, Kim has supplied industry knowledge, promotional assistance, as well as musical guest contacts to Inside MusiCast.

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Born to musical parents, Max Zape is the epitome of musical and ethnic diversity (French-Dutch-Spanish-Caribbean on Mom’s side, and Spanish-Sicilian-Chinese-Filipino on Dad’s side). Since the age of 12, he’s enjoyed a busy presence in the southern California music scene, playing in various jazz bands, working in sound design and tech support for various musical instrument manufacturers and gigging world-wide with great musical friends. To his closest friends, he’s known as the librarian, with a CD, DVD, and vinyl collection numbering well over 10,000, as well as a terabyte of mp3’s ripped from his personal collection. In his spare time he enjoys restoring vintage keyboards, and probably owns more keyboards than most humans are allowed. Max has been supporting Inside MusiCast with his technical and musical knowledge for several months and is one of our Inside MusiCast forum moderators.

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During his twenty-one year residence in Los Angeles, Scott Gross immersed himself in the L.A. music scene. A regular at venues such as The Baked Potato, The Golden Bear, At My Place and The Coach House, Scott had the good fortune of seeing incredible artists such as Toto, Steve Lukather, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Ambrosia, Peter Frampton, Stephen Bishop, John Waite and others performing regularly in these intimate venues as they pushed their abilities and performances for their hometown crowds. As a music archivist and dedicated reader of liner notes, he has developed a deep appreciation for the unsung heroes - the session musicians - whose first call status earned them greater respect than it did fame or fortune. Scott performed regularly as a stand-up comedian/musician touring comedy clubs, colleges, cruise ships, resorts and as an opening act at concerts during a ten-year period.  Scott and his family currently reside in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

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At an early age, Uwe Reith came to the conclusion that there must be more to music than the pop radio music on the radio in Germany – of which he thought was simply awful. He wanted more. He loved music so much that he became aware that someday he’d play music, own a huge collection of recordings, and would be constantly surrounded by music he loves. It came true. Today he, along with his wife Anja and his children, are surrounded by music on a daily basis and also owns over 2,000 CDs. He’s also collected 13 guitars that he’s played on over 20 records as a session musician, various bands in his region, and also in church. He has collected literally thousands of volumes of music magazines over the past 30 years that has made him an invaluable and never-ending resource for us at IMC. On any given evening, his wife can find him in the basement, voraciously reading his music magazines while sipping a fine glass of Californian wine. Today, as an accomplished guitarist, he recalls being drawn deep into music by reading the German musician magazine FACHBLATT and GITARRE & BASS, which promoted TOTO-esque news and related information. Style-wise, they have changed his music appetite forever. Since then, the music of TOTO, STEELY DAN, GENESIS, SAGA, YES, CHICAGO, MR. MISTER, THE POLICE, AL DIMEOLA, MICHAEL RUFF, VONDA SHEPARD, YELLOWJACKETS, LARRY CARLTON and LEE RITENOUR has created the musical foundation that delivers sheer joy. Uwe, our first international correspondent, resides in Konstantz, Germany with his family.

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Born into a musical family, mainly focusing on classical music, Mikael Engström soon realized that his mission was to protect the interest of other genres. At the age of nine he entered the local record store and bought his first LP, “Chicago Transit Authority”. Having heard “Introduction” on the radio, his life was completely changed. At an early age he developed a love for rhythm and groove. Playing mom’s pots and cans made his parents realize there might be a drummer born into the family. Many drum kits later he’s now the proud owner of a huge Pearl Birch kit. Always surrounded by music, his collection now contains over 2700 CD’s and loads of music DVD’s. Groups like 10cc, Supertramp, Yes, Camel and Genesis made a huge impact on him as they contained the bridge between his classical roots and rock music. Lee Ritenour’s 1977 “Captain Fingers” was also a key that turned him into a true liner notes reader. Through the notes he discoverd session players like Jeff Porcaro , Bill Champlin, Jay Graydon & David Foster. He considers himself now to be a real “West coast nerd” and he’s quite proud of it. He´s also a great lover of fusion. Mikael also enjoys being involved in the Stockholm music scene as his knowledge and networking helps facilitate various concerts and artists. He resides in Tyresö, just outside Stockholm, Sweden.

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Scott Sheriff was born into a musical family and from an early age, was listening to music with a very discerning ear.  His musical tastes run the gamut from AC/DC to Bill Evans, but mostly he gravitates toward music with deep harmonic structure.  He cites early influences such as the Four Seasons and Beach Boys as instrumental in developing his love for harmony, and later gravitated toward the music coming out of the West Coast circa ‘75-‘85.  Hall & Oates “Kiss On My List” was a touchstone for his interest in rock keyboard playing.

Scott graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Music Production and Engineering.  He has toured extensively as a Keyboardist and Vocalist with with Kenny Loggins, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Susan Ashton, and has filled in dates with Richard Marx, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Michael W. Smith. Scott currently acts at the Owner of ClassicTributeBands.com, a Nashville Music Collective with several bands for hire.

He has also served as Music Director for two Nashville churches, Crosspoint Church, and Bellevue Community Church.  His praise & worship songs are registered with CCLI, and Max Lucado featured his song “Living Water” in his Come Thirsty teaching series. He also travels to teach and play for various worship conferences and seminars.

Scott also currently serves as one of the arrangers for David Foster’s ongoing series of live concerts.

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Toronto native Don Breithaupt nearly fell off his red three-speed bike when he first heard “Reeling in the Years” crackling out of his transistor radio. He was 12. Born to musical parents (and not incidentally surrounded since birth by his father’s collection of jazz piano LPs), Don received his first taste of Steely Dan like a message from outer space: “It was a revelation. I thought, you mean that’s allowed? You can play like that and use those chords in a pop song?”

Don studied composition and arranging on a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music, then began what has been an illustrious career as a keyboard player, songwriter and producer. His Monkey House project, currently signed to ALMA/Universal, has featured such guests as Michael Leonhart, Drew Zingg and Richie Hayward. He won an Emmy Award in 2009 for his theme to the animated series 6teen. He has twice been shortlisted for the prestigious Fred Ebb Award for musical theater songwriting, has won three SOCAN Awards for his television scoring, is a Gemini Award nominee, has co-written three songs nominated for Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammy), and is a past winner of the American Songwriting Competition in the jazz category. Don has accompanied hall-of-fame soul artists including Aretha Franklin and Sam Moore, and has toured with Marc Jordan, Rik Emmett and Sass Jordan, among others. With his NYC-based brother Jeff, he has created an extensive catalog of songs whose interpreters include Jane Monheit, Janis Siegel and Catherine Russell. “It’s always pure creative joy to perform any of their songs,” says longtime Steely Dan vocalist Carolyn Leonhart.

Now based in Los Angeles, Don flies his music nerd flag proudly. In 2007, after an extensive one-on-one interview with Donald Fagen, he wrote Aja, Vol. 46 of Continuum Publishing’s 33-1/3 series on classic albums. His two previous books (for St. Martin’s Press, co-authored with brother Jeff) examined pop music in the seventies. “I think a lot of musicians forget to be music fans, forget the original buzz of it all, forget to keep looking for the next thing they’re going to love. I’ve never lost that. I’m a liner note-reading, album-collecting fan for life.”

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As IMC’s first official photojournalist, Mats Uneland is eager and ready to capture musical moments at key venues throughout the world. Although photography is a key element of interest in his life, music has also been a driving force since he was a child. When he was five years old, the first record he owned was The Monkees Theme from the 1960’s TV show, The Monkees. In his teens, as his interest in music grew, he started to play drums in his parent’s basement. Self-taught, he hammered along to his favorite records – TOTO, 10CC, Lee Ritenour, Mezzoforte, Level 42, Gary Moore, Earth Wind & Fire and many others. He joined a band in college and for a short time was a member of a 12-man blues band inspired by the Blues Brothers.

At about the same time, his interest for photography increased as he learned countless “old school” darkroom techniques and developing his own black and white prints. It gave him a life-long passion for photography.

He brought his first Canon SLR camera and took it to his first live concert – 10CC – in 1980. Since then, attending live concerts has become a life-saving passion. Now, Mats attends as many shows as he is able. In 2008, Mats took the leap of faith to became a full-time professional photographer. When this happened, it became easier for him to get access to the “photographer’s ditch” in front of the stage during perormances. His excellent photos of JLo’s show in Copenhagen last year reflect his quality work.

Through his passion for music and photography, Mats has also honed his design talents and often creates album covers for many musical artists such as former IMC guest artist Andreas Aleman. As a creative, he always enjoys keeping busy, moving music forward through imagery, sound, and design.

Mats lives in the  southern part of Sweden and is actually closer to Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, than his own - Stockholm.

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