Alex Deep, the man behind Merlinmoon, was going to school in Boston when his best friend died in terrible motorcycle accident and the cold hand of reality slapped him in the face. He recognized that his life was no going in the direction he wanted and a change was necessary. Against the advice of family and friends he left his studies and decided to pursue his dream of a career in music.
He left everything behind and decided to travel and see the world hitting Mexico City, New York, Miami, Rome and London while writing a book on his own philosophy and making demos.
During this time Deep was frustrated and felt like he was getting nowhere. He was also getting flack from his family and friends for abandoning his studies and felt that maybe following his dreams was a bad decision. It was when he felt the most down that he would have this reoccurring dream:
“I had this dream about this wizard that would pop out of the ocean and fly up to the moon and he would tell me what I should do. He would tell me that I was talented and not to give up and that I should do this and that. I would get frustrated and put all my equipment up on eBay and then the next day after the dream I would wake up and find more energy to keep fighting. I started writing this poem for the song “Stoned By Dreams” and I saw Merlin reflected in the water with the moon and so I ended up naming the band that. It’s in honor of the little wizard that was helping me out.”
With the guidance from his magical muse, Deep was able to wake up and find the strength to bring his dreams to fruition. He found it easier to communicate his feelings from within his soul and thus the album Stoned By Dreams came to fruition. In the album Deep takes listeners through a gamut of human emotion, from desire to struggle, in a psychedelic journey – sans psychadelics. He explains that the album title is meant to communicate a natural high he gets from his music.
“I have tried a few of them [drugs] a while ago and I am kind of a lightweight. I try to stay away from it for the most part. I remember I was having this conversation with my brother’s wife and she was telling me that she was very impressed with the way I was just living life and my way of seeing the world and expressing myself emotionally – it’s like what people experience when they do drugs and when they drink alcohol. They get to the level I am at naturally…she made me understand that I live life being stoned from my dreams.”
Influenced by classic artists such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, The Beatles and Bob Marley, Merlinmoon spins 70’s style rock into long flowing jams of melancholy that crescendo into guitar solos and lasting up to 15 minutes. At live shows Merlinmoon typically opens with singles from Stoned By Dreams then goes into improvised jams supported with poetic lyrics of philosophy and lessons learned.
Deep is currently working on a five-song EP that will be known as Stoned By Wood. It’s a selection of songs played completely acoustically. Computers were left aside during production and everything that was electric was analog. Nearing the final stages, this next work from Merlinmoon will be available in spring or early summer.
~ by Skyler on February 25, 2010.
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