UK guitarist
Mario Parga will appear at the 2009
NAMM (
National Association of Music Merchants) show, which will be held January 15-18 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. He will perform an all-acoustic set on January 17 at the
Fishman Transducers Inc. booth alongside his friends
Graham Bonnet (vocals;
RAINBOW,
ALCATRAZZ,
MSG),
Tim Luce (bass;
ALCATRAZZ,
SAVAGE PARADISE) and
Eric Ragno (keyboards;
JOURNEY,
SAVAGE PARADISE,
TAKARA).
Due to "personal circumstances," former
BLACK SABBATH singer
Tony Martin was unable to appear in the new music video for
"Spirit of Night", the vocal version of
Mario Parga's popular song, which was filmed in Los Angeles.
The vocal version of
"Spirit of Night", featuring a guest appearance by
Tony Martin, was released through
MidnightCafé Music as a CD and download single on June 27.
Mario's new band project
SAVAGE PARADISE featuring
Tony Martin on vocals,
Kevin Valentine (
CINDERELLA,
KISS) on drums and
Tim Luce (
ALCATRAZZ) on bass, has commenced work on its first album.
Parga, born in Lytham, Lancashire, England on August 7, 1969, came into the spotlight during the late 1980s when he began appearing in numerous guitar and rock magazines such as
Guitar Player,
Metal Hammer,
Kerrang!,
Metal Forces and played a live guitar solo on
MTV's
"Metal Hammer" show.
During the early 1990s,
Parga toured, played and recorded with numerous artists, most notably
Cozy Powell and
Graham Bonnet. In 1991, his debut guitar instrumental album
"The Magician" was released by
President Records. Following disillusionment with the music industry,
Parga shied away from the scene until he re-emerged in Los Angeles in 1998, playing guitar on
Graham Bonnet's
"The Day I Went Mad".
Considered by many to be one of the greatest sweep arpeggio players of the guitar "shred" and neoclassical metal genres,
Parga combines complex arpeggio patterns with rapid alternate picking, sweep-picking and string bending. He is also renowned for his emotive slower playing.
In 2000,
Parga was approached by the guitar label
Liquid Note Records and recorded his instrumental
"Valse Diabolique" for their
"The Alchemists" album. Two years later, he recorded his haunting ballad
"Hourglass" for
Lion Music's
"Warmth in the Wilderness II", a tribute to fellow guitarist
Jason Becker.
Early in 2007,
Parga announced the creation of his own record label
MidnightCafé Music (the name taken from his track
"The Midnight Café" from
"The Magician") and plans on releasing his future instrumental rock guitar music through it. His latest album
"Entranced" was released on the label on April 14, 2007.