HISTORY

Brian Bart's musical history goes back to his early childhood in Minneapolis Minnesota, starting with piano lessons at age four. At age seven he started playing drums. The melodic aspect of piano and rhythmic side of drums led to a perfect upbringing for guitar, which his father bought him at age nine. He soon started a neighborhood band with his future longtime Dare Force partner Johnny O'Neil. With his brother Dave on drums and Brian and John on guitar "The Rebels" played little shows and concerts as well as wrote some of their own original songs. One memorable show was put on at their elementary school with help from their music teacher David Zimmerman (Bob Dylan's brother) under their new name the Psyco's (after Brians mother told him about the new Hitchcock movie she had seen). One day a freak incident occurred when a box of records fell out of the back of a truck and all the neighbor kids split them up. After already having been huge Beatles fans the new records introduced them to Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The Psyco's increased their play list with new material along with a few original songs, and did many more school, church and neighborhood shows.

After Brian's parents got divorced when he was in 8th grade, his mother moved him and his four brothers and sisters out to California. Upon arrival in their new foreign home, Brian and his brother Dave started a band with some new friends Robby Lopez and Matt Deleon called Ivory Tower. The group was now playing songs by Deep Purple, Bad Company, Black Sabbath, UFO, Blue Oyster Cult, Trapeze, as well as Steppenwolf, Grand Funk and their own original songs. Ivory Tower played numerous party's and soon became a local favorite in home town of Thousand Oaks, a suburb of L.A.

Brian and his family moved back to Minneapolis when he was midway through 11th grade. Johnny O'Neil was playing in other bands and Brian met Future Dare Force Bassist Brian Lorenson and Started a new Minneapolis version of Ivory Tower. The band played many parties and wrote new songs until Brian graduated from High School. This was the summer that Dare Force was formed after finding Drummer Mark Miller the band set to travel and play full time. Playing the seven state midwest region and tours through middle Canada, the band gained a large regional following and was playing 250 nights a year. Dare Force had a P.A. system, a light show, a road crew and a truck and remained active for another ten years.

The first big change happened when they got lead singer Xeno (the original Cheap Trick vocalist) in the band and started writing many new originals and did their first seven song recording demo. Xeno still had ties to Cheap Tricks manager and got the band some bigger gigs in the Chicago and Milwaukee area. In the meantime the band had grown a large Twin Cities fan base and continued to play large clubs like First Avenue, as well as ballrooms and opened for a few medium sized national acts.

The musical direction had changed to more of a power pop sound and the original band members felt like they wanted to move in a heavier hard rock direction. This is when they discovered a young energetic new singer named Dave Reese, who later went on to join the German band "Accept". Still playing up to 300 gigs a years the band continued to grow it's fan base and played numerous club concert openers. Although the band did it's share of "partying", Dave Reese had taken the expression to a new level and the band found itself facing another change with Reece getting too out of control. They decided to return to their four piece line up, and went back into the studio. This is when the years of gigging turned the direction of the band into concentrating on writing material and recording. The Band went into Cookhouse Studios in Minneapolis and recorded three of the songs on their first release. One of these songs "On My Way" was chosen to appear on a local radio station compilation album that soon became a local hit, receiving massive airplay and another song from this session "Pushin' Your Luck" landed on another local radio station compilation album and received considerable airplay. The band was invited to play a concert in San Juan Puerto Rico in 1982. The show was huge with 9,000 people attending. The show was promoted so that they were huge rock stars in Puerto Rico.

Ironically with this new recording success and a huge following, Brian was approached by the band D.V.C., who were signed to a subsidiary of Sony records, to join and go tour with Van Halen. This is where Brian met drummer Johnny Bolin (younger brother if the legendary Tommy Bolin). D.V.C had just finished recording their second album and Brian really liked the strong songwriting and made a huge decision to quit Dare Force. The Band did do concerts with John Melloncamp, and David Johanson. Unfortunately after a few months of rehearsal and regional gigging, the label deal and tour fell apart. Meanwhile, Dare Force had gotten Dave Reese and another British guitar player in the band and continued with a large following. Brian attended a concert at Met sport center where Dare Force headlined a concert, featuring the local hit "On My Way" which he had written and sung, and felt like he had made a huge mistake. Dare Force and D.V.C. actually did a gig together.

With the D.V.C. project falling apart, and Dave Reese returning to his old antics, while talking to his old bandmates, Brian found out that a mutual regrouping was in order. Unfortunately, Dare Force Drummer Mark Miller had developed carple tunnle of his left wrist from years of massive rocking and was having trouble playing drums. The talk of rejoining Dare Force now included bringing Johnny Bolin into the band with him. During this era Dare Force opened for KISS and Ted Nugent, and Brian entered and won a Kahler guitar compitition, receiving international recognition for his playing.

The band immediately went back in the studio and recorded seven more songs that along with the old three became their first album release, the self titled Dare Force album.. Through all of the fate of the D.V.C. endeavor, three things happened, Johnny Bolin joining Dare Force, the band releasing it's first album, and Brian selling the large share of P.A. and lighting gear that he took with him to D.V.C. Dare Force had already replaced the equipment when he rejoined, and this was the start of Brian's recording career. He bought his first 8 track, synthesizer, drum machine, and misc. gear, and started going home every night after gigs, and spending all day writing music and learning to record audio and sequence MIDI. Soon the studio was expanded to 16 tracks, and several new pieces of equipment

Dare Force went back in several other studios and started recording at Brian's newly built studio on Medicine Lake. This is when Logic studio was created, and Brian began recording dozens of other artists, along with his own solo material. Meanwhile the band was at it's peak with a huge Midwest following, playing 250-300 gigs a year, opening concerts for KISS, Ratt, Kansas, Ted Nugent and many others, and finishing their second album 'Makin' Our Own Rules" The band released the album in 1986 and set off on a tour of the Chicago, Milwaukee, the Midwest, Denver, Texas, Arizona, and another exciting set of concerts, this time in Venezuela. The shows again were a huge success like Puerto Rico, with massive South American airplay and press interviews. The band came back to their Twin Cities hometown and continued to get airplay, press and concerts.

Dare Force was now getting major label attention and were real close to many contracts that almost occurred. Some of the labels felt that a lead singer / front man was missing. Although the dual guitar / singing combo of Bart and O'Neil worked well, they were always interested in getting a powerful lead singer and front man. They found Roy Hedges, who had a great voice and look, and integrated him into their shows and future recording plans. During the Roy era, the band opened large concerts with Kansas and Ratt. The band was back in the studio writing with Roy. Label shopping continued with word a of a new singer and several majors were very interested, but the deals all got very close and fell apart. Unfortunately the heavy touring schedule was hard on Roy's voice and personality problems arose, the band once again went back to their four piece roots after a short eight month stint with Roy.

The year was 1987 and some changes were beginning to happen in the lucrative midwest gigging market. Even though the band had new airplay and press, as well as a new Bart penned song "Stay The Night" getting heavy rotation airplay, the gigging scene was changing. Drinking ages were raised, D.U.I. laws enforced, cable T.V. and video rental, saw the start of the end of a bygone era where numerous Midwest bands were able to actually make a full time living playing. Many clubs and ballrooms closed, work became more travel oriented and it was Brian's idea to concentrate on recording and shopping for a record deal, and not relying on rock and rock for their sole income. The other band members thought that that was easy for Brian to say since he had started making money with his studio, and it was decided that the band would break up after 10 years, thousands of shows, two records, heavy airplay, major label interest. and many major concert opener shows.

This was the start of a new episode in the Brian Bart story. Brian continued to record and produce his own music, as well as several other clients, and began making a name for himself as an up and coming producer/engineer. He was nominated for best Producer / engineer at the Minnesota Music awards and won the best rock instrumentalist award that same year. He also won a local guitar competition. He had a vision for a solo album and started recording with Johnny Bolin on drums, and playing and singing all the parts. Later that year he released "Future Vision", a double album with a wide musical variety ranging from metal, to ballads, to instrumental Tommy Bolin like songs. In fact the Bolin song "Post Toasty" was included as well as his Dare Force song "Stay The Night" and a new song "Electricity" which won a Seagrams Talant search, and got massive local airplay. Brian put together a three piece band called the "Brian Bart Project" and played many gigs to promote Future Vision. Bolin was joining Black Oak Arkansas (who he is still with to this day) so he got his old friend Mark Miller on drums and met a bassist / songwriter Dean Vallicillo. About this time Mark Miller's wrist began acting up again and he recruited a new drummer, Paul Peterson.

This is when his old buddy Johnny O'Neil and him got together and decided to make a new Dare Force album. They went with Dean and Paul from Brian's solo band, and found a voice they had been looking for with Karl Young. The band went into Brian's studio and began laying tracks for "Firepower". Brian also got together with John Purtle and other winners of a local musician competition and decided to simultaneously record a rock fusion instrumental album entitled "groovism" with his other band "Outsiders". Both albums came out in 1989 and both got regional airplay as well as successful concert shows. The timing of the release of Firepower was during the start of the grunge era, and although many major labels were interested, once again many close deals fell through. Outsiders were also talking to several labels and were very close to deals. Brian and Johnny decided that Dare Force would end for a second time after Karl Young left the band. He then concentrated on a second Outsiders album called "What Planet" that was released in 1991.

In the meantime Brian's Logic studio was very busy with several local band's recordings, new producer / engineer nominations, and continued Outsiders success. One of Brian's former band clients turned him on to some European distribution connections that led to Dare Force - Firepower gaining significant underground distribution and a following in Europe and Japan. About this time Outsiders other guitarist Greg Herzenach moved to California to join the Peter Himmelman Band after Outsiders label deals never materialized and the band called it quits. This began another new chapter in the Brian Bart story.

After marrying his longtime girlfriend they had a son Joshua in 1991. The studio was booked solid and, he decided to check out an audio teaching position at Musictech College. This became a change of pace by living a two career life. Brian became certified by the state of Minnesota in analog and digital audio as well as advanced MIDI, graphics and video editing technology. He worked part time at the college and full time in the studio, producing hundreds of projects. During this time, a new band was formed called Life After Dark, with former Outsiders members. The band lasted only a few short months, although a few new songs were recorded that would eventually end up on a future solo CD called "Always Busy". The marriage lasted three years, and after a divorce, Brian kept up his producing and teaching routine for seven more years. He was nominated several more times as best producer / engineer, as well as developing curriculum and heading the digital technology department at Musictech. He also began doing graphic arts and has done dozens of album graphics projects. This was the year that the studio upgraded to all new equipment and went 32 track. Brian also continued pursuing advertising sound design and did work for Showtime, Kawasaki, Yamaha and many regional jingles and voice overs. Although Brian had played on over 50 albums, he got the itch to record his own stuff again. This time with three bands at once.

He hooked up with his friend Brian Reidinger to play drums on his solo album, as well as another band called "Union Jack". At the same time he started a new CD, playing bass for a new band named "Little Egypt". The three albums were all released at the same time and all three projects gigged to promote the releases. The solo album entitled "Always Busy" depicted the extreme schedule of producing, teaching, playing live and being a parent. Life was good, productive and very busy. Unfortunately the bands took up a lot of time and it became a very expensive hobby. Realizing he was losing thousands of dollars, Brian decided to concentrate on the studio, teaching and his solo album and the other bands folded. Brian now had recorded 200 albums, thousands of demo's, gained 50,000 hours of studio experience, and taught audio for ten years. The year was 2000 and another equipment update occurred with a new digital hard disc system. Brian was recommended to Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger fame after he was inquiring about studio's and guitarists. A mutual friend said "I know a guy who can do both", and the two started recording the "Time Passes" album. A European record deal was solidified with Frontiers and the two with help from Jimmy Peterick of Survivor fame played in England in 2000. Time Passes has had extensive international success.

The year 2001 became a new era for Logic studio. After 15 years at the old Medicine Lake location, a brand new studio was built on six acres lakeshore of Lake Minnetonka. Four months of construction transformed the studio into a lavish new design along with further equipment upgrades to fully bring Logic and Brian into the new millennium. Several new records were soon recorded at the new studio. In 2003 Dare Force got an international distribution deal for a re-release of Firepower with bonus tracks and live video footage on Metal Mayhem Records. A follow up re-release of Makin Our Own Rules released in late 2005. Brian and Kelly Keagy also got a song on an international compilation CD called Melodic Rock dot com out of Australia.

The new studio was heavily booked as always when Brian hooked up a 30 record deal with Bobby Z. of Prince fame, doing tribute CD's with Liquid8 Records. The deal became so successful that Brian decided to retire from his twelve year part time teaching career at Musictech in 2004. To date there have been 28 Tribute records made at Logic with Brian producing and doing most of the music, as well as bringing in top Twin Cities singers, rappers and session musicians. Brian has also recently done music for the Minnesota Twins, Northwest airlines, and Zantigo. 2006 brought old friends Johnny O'Neil, Brian Lorenson, Mark Miller and David Reece back together to record seven new Dare Force songs. More information about the "World Run Amuck" recordings can be seen and heard at myspace.com/dareforce. 2007 brought a new Kelly Keagy solo record called "I'm Alive". Brian played three solo's on the CD. The studio has also been working with neighbor Joey Molland of Badfinger fame again on multiple projects. Brian is currently producing and playing on several records a year, as well as working on new tribute records, advertising music and new original compositions.

Travels:

1979 - Los Angeles, California

1980 -Canadian Tour w/ Dare Force

1981 - San Juan, Puerto Rico w/ Dare Force

1986 - Caracas, Barquisimento, Maracaibo, Venezuela w/ Dare Force

1990 - Cancun, Mexico

1991 - New York

1991 - St. Thomas / St. Johns, U.S. Virgin Islands

1992 - Oahu / Maui, Hawaii

1993 - Dominican Republic

1994 - Oahu / Maui, Hawaii

1995 - Grand Bahamas, Bahamas

1995 - Boston / Cape Cod / New York

1996 - Cancun, Mexico

1996 - Steamboat, Colorado

1997 - Cayman Islands

1997 - Oahu / Maui, Hawaii

1998 - San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Reno

1998 - Keystone, Colorado

1998 - Amsterdam, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy

1999 - Cancun, Mexico

1999 - Florida Keys

2000 - Breckenridge, Colorado

2000 - London, England w/ Kelly Keagy

2000 - Los Angeles, California

2001 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

2001 - Amsterdam, Italy, Capri, France, Spain

2001 - Liberia, Costa Rica

2002 - Banff, Canada

2002 - Big Island, Hawaii

2003 - Cancun, Mexico

2005 - Sanibel / Ft. Myers, Florida

2006 - Oahu / Kauaii, Hawaii

2007 - Atlanta / Hilton Head

2007 - Orlando, Florida

2007 - Sanibel / Ft. Myers, Florida

2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada

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