Ferocious Designs, the music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has released “Domination (feat. Christian Beach & Tariq Mohammed),” a track from the upcoming album, Looking for the Light. The song was originally written in 1989 when Kelley was in an Asbury Park, N.J.-based synth-rap band called TMC+The New Generation with longtime friend and singer-songwriter Christian Beach and rapper Tariq Mohammed.
“We were just teenagers working with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and a sequencer, in a genre that didn’t really exist — think Run DMC meets Depeche Mode,” said Kelley. “We didn’t quite know what we were doing, but we crafted original songs and performed a few times — most notably at the dearly missed Green Parrot Rock Club in Neptune, New Jersey.
“Fortunately, we recorded a rough demo into a boombox, and one of the times we performed it was captured on grainy video — now on YouTube — so it wasn’t lost to just our memories and an old floppy disk with sequencer data on it,” he added.
“Domination” is available for download/streaming at Bandcamp, and will soon be available from most streaming/download services via FerociousDesigns.com.
Kelley had revisited “Domination” over the years and recorded a revised version as a demo in 2010. He started working on yet another updated version of the song ahead of the release of Ferocious Designs’ 2021 debut EP, A Matter of Time, before deciding not to include it with that collection. Instead, he decided to contribute the track to a BlowUpRadio.com benefit compilation, but not before calling in reinforcements.
“I decided to see if Christian and Tariq could contribute virtually to the track and basically put the first TMC+The New Generation recording out into the world. And, thankfully, they obliged,” said Kelley. “It was great to have Tariq lay down a new rap break and Christian add some acoustic guitar — and both recorded backing vocals.
“That BlowUpRadio.com version was a bit different. I think the one I’m releasing now sounds more like it would have in 1989 if we had better technology, access to some kind of decent studio, and a little more of a clue,” added Kelley.
“Domination” will be one of three or four reworked older songs to be included on Looking for the Light. Recording of newly written material for the album has begun, according to Kelley.
“I have at least some basic piano and vocal parts down for the new songs, with the title track a bit farther along so I’m hoping to release that as a single in the next couple of months,” said Kelley, who expects the album to be released in late 2022.
“Domination (feat. Christian Beach & Tariq Mohammed)”
Music by Christian Beach & Brian Kelley; Lyrics by Brian Kelley & Tariq Mohammed (rap break)
Brian Kelley - lead & backing vocals, keyboards, electric guitar, other instrumentation
Christian Beach - backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Tariq Mohammed - backing/rap vocals
Video produced by Ferocious Designs and features stock video footage from Videezy.com as well as home video of TMC+The New Generation performances at The Green Parrot in Neptune, N.J., in 1989 and 1990.
Ferocious Designs is the music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley. Although he has spent most of the past 30-plus years as a songwriting hobbyist, Kelley is not a complete stranger to the New Jersey music scene. He is a longtime collaborator with singer-songwriter Christian Beach, spending time with him during the late 1980s and early 90s in a band that played the much-loved and long-gone Green Parrot Rock Club in Neptune, NJ, multiple times. Kelley has played keyboards, accordion and percussion in Beach's backing band since 2007, and has recorded with him as well. The project name is borrowed from the lyrics of “Cover My Eyes (Pain and Heaven)” by Marillion. The debut, five-song EP from Ferocious Designs, A Matter of Time, was released on July 16, 2021. That same day, the project’s debut single, “Lay It on the Line,” was named Makin Waves Song of the Week by longtime New Jersey music journalist Bob Makin.
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