User:Csabi911/Csaba Zvekan

Csaba Zvekan is a musician and founder of the band Sardonyx, Emergency and Warpdrive and currently the singer for Killing Machine with guitarist and founder Peter Scheithauer playing in the band. Csaba Zvekan played and/or recorded with members of Kiss, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P., Anthrax, Great White, Steve Vai and The Black Crowes among others.

Early life
Csaba Zvekan was born March 30 1968 .He is the son of Ernest Zvekan a bel canto singer from and Susanna Zvekan - Müller. By the age of 4 the family eventually moved to Basel, Switzerland where the parents found work and Csaba Zvekan was raised. The musical ambitious parents sent Csaba Zvekan to the musical academy to tutor him in violin, flute and classical guitar.In the age of 7 Csaba Zvekan played classical concertos and solos in front of an audience.

First steps
Influenced early by bands like Led Zeppelin,  Black Sabbath,  Judas Priest and Manfred Mann's Earth Band Csaba Zvekan soon switched from acoustic guitar to an electric guitar with distortion. It was probably around 1980 when the first garage band was formed. Just a couple of years later Csaba Zvekan has made new experiences in a recording studio by recording some originals on a 4 track machine.On these early recordings Csaba Zvekan would be playing most of the instruments by himself. After the demo tape was circulating for a while the band Emergency  was highly interested in hiring Csaba Zvekan to be their singer.

Emergency (1986-1989)
Csaba Zvekan joined the band Emergency around 1986. Several shows have been played locally. One to mention was the opening act for guitar hero Angi Schiliro former guitarist for ZeroP, Kingdom Come for whom he is still good friends with. The first record contract came for Emergency in 1988 when the German record company Big MAXX records offered a production deal to them. It was Raymond Bacharach a relative to the famous composer Burt Bacharach who produced and released the record "Turn Around" a year later. Unhappy with the performance of some of the band members of Emergency Csaba Zvekan has lined up a new band to come.

Sardonyx (1988-1990)
The three piece band Sardonyx with the members Csaba Zvekan on the vocals, Walther Sarbach  on Guitars and Manuel Montañana playing the drums was formed probably around 1988. All though earlier jam formations have been spotted. The independent record label Dream records has produced their first album "Open Gates" and was distributed all over Europe and later imported into the US market. The record has been distributed by the German company Semaphore and SPV. Since the record was limited in press the today's price is over $40 and goes under rarity.

The Hollywood years
Csaba Zvekan moved to Hollywood, CA in 1990. It started out as visit to his dear friend Manuel Montañana who attended Percussion Institute of Technology (PIT). Then later Walther Sarbach joined Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) and the three would be united again. All though Sardonyx would never perform or record in these days again. Ideas and interests would be shared by them. Csaba Zvekan was always on the look out for new bands and it just happened that one day he would meet Adam St. James. Adam St. James was a former member of the band Bible black. With his entirely new formed band he was looking for some power metal vocals. It was around 1992 when Adam met Csaba Zvekan and hired him to join his band Calling toy. Csaba Zvekan recorded new material with Calling toy in the same year. That was the time when he meet important people from Paramount Recording Studios. Calling toy eventually replaced their drummer with Derrick Pontier who now days plays in bands like Great White and with Paul Shortino.Adam St. James still continues playing in bands, teaching guitar and wrote many guitar books.

Sound engineering
The fascination with technology has always been big with Csaba Zvekan. Demo tapes and song ideas would be a constant way of life. In fact the first Sardonyx demo tape in 1988 was entirely recorded and mixed by Csaba Zvekan alone in his living room on an 8-track tape recorder. With special mix and bounce (ping pong) techniques he would make the recording sound as it was made on a 24 - multitrack  recorder. 1989 Csaba Zvekan had his first commercial recording studio named "Crystal Studios". Containing 24-Track analog Otari MKII and a 24 Track inline analog console. The whole studio inventory was sold prior to moving to Los Angeles to Angi Schiliro. Csaba Zvekan then worked later for Paramount Recording Studios in and around 1992 - 1993 doing second and first engineering. This is where he would meet and work with influential people like Steve Vai, The Black Crowes, Randy Castillo just to mention a few.

Stream
Just when Csaba Zvekan moved back to Switzerland in 1994 he receives a call from Peter Scheithauer a long time friend he used to work with during 1989 on a couple of Peter's bands : Lazily and later  Stream .Peter Scheithauer was asking Csaba Zvekan to sing on a new record with Stet Howland drums and Dave Spitz on Bass guitar. They recorded some 4 Songs but the record company replaced the vocals with David Reece a better known singer. "Take it or leave it" was released 1994. On a later date 1996 Peter Scheithauer wanted to more demos for an upcoming record he was scheduled. Csaba Zvekan and Peter Scheithauer went to the studio and did some pre-production demo work. Unfortunately these recordings were abandoned cause a new singer for Stream was found. It was David Glen Eisley that finished the " Nothing is Sacred" album that was released in 1997.

Resurrection of Dream Records
When Csaba Zvekan moved back to Switzerland in 1998 so did Dream Records. The company may had been inactive for several years. But the publishing part with SUISA very similar to the american counterpart ASCAP was still active. Csaba Zvekan has been a member of SUISA since early compositions like 1986. Soon the publishing label received a recording studio called "dream studio" and followed with "dream media" to produce the music video. Maurice Bettle and Csaba Zvekan created "Dream Entertainment" which merged all the sub companies together in one production label.

Passion for Synthesizers
Csaba Zvekan's passion for computers and electronics goes back to the eighties. But when he got his hands on a silent and defective Yamaha CS-80 it was a challenge to make this collectors item work again. He spent several month restoring this old vintage synthesizer from the 70's. Videos can be watched on youtube to demonstrate how it sounds.

The Killing Machine
As of September 2009 Csaba Zvekan is a full member and part of the composer/songwriter for the band Killing Machine. He is replacing Mike Vescera and James Rivera. The complete line up is Peter Scheithauer on guitar, Jari Kainulainen bass and Jon Dette on drums.

1980s

 * Emergency - Turn Around

1990s

 * Sardonyx - Open Gates

2000s

 * Warpdrive - God save the queen
 * Warpdrive - Get ready to trance
 * Marcos del Sol - Psalm 23
 * Warpdrive - May it be