WHO MAKES THE MUSIC?
MIKE ‘SAV’ SAVINO
Music has always been one of the most important influences in my life. From playing the Trumpet in symphony and being chosen to tour Europe as part of American Music Abroad, to playing guitar with my friends in our garage band, to listening to Clapton on my iPod and seeing him live with Cream in 2003. Life has been a series of music filled experiences.
But for a multitude of reasons I was steered away from music and into a direction I ultimately wasn’t happy. I finally decided to make a change in my life, no matter what it took. Now my focus is on the one thing I am truly gifted at, music. Playing my guitar, singing my songs, that’s what gives me true meaning and I know will allow me to spread the most good.
I’m here because I need your help. I want to do this myself, I want this to be a business that I build with the support of people who believe in my music, my message and my destiny. My talent will give me a leg up but I need you to give me a hand. If you can spare it, I have a members area that I will be posting content to regularly, outside of social media. I want to make it a place to appreciate my fans as I grow. I know right now this seems silly but I hope and pray that enough people will begin to connect with my music that this eventually will be a feasible business. Any little bit will help but the biggest contributor in the month gets a personalized song written by me for them!
If you know me at all and want to support me, please do, it would mean the world if I could focus on my calling without worrying about the heat. If you listen to my free content and like what I’m doing please, support me. I love youse all forever. -SAV
MY STYLE & PROCESS
From what I’ve learned, my process is uniquely my own. I record like we used to, in one straight shot both vocals and guitar. Mainly because I’m not confident enough with my production skills yet! lol It’s pretty LoFi but I like it and I get decent quality out my setup, plus it challenges me. I’m continuing to expand and work on ways to produce better quality recordings while minimizing my upfront costs.
So, When I come up with a new song or riff idea, I get that initial concept into my RC-500 loop station and use that as my base melody. I then use the second track on the RC-500 to lay down another layer of lead or bass or both. Then I use one of the built in drum tracks for rhythm and I get to tinkering. I’ll just play over top of that initial loop until something strikes and then I’ll start recording. I’ll usually do a few takes into a take folder for both vocals and lead guitar.
If you want to see a deep dive of my process, check out my YouTube channel. My plan is to start posting regularly January 2025, right now I am working on developing, recording and editing some content about my new album. It will all launch together.
A BIT OF BACKGROUND
When I was 23 I had to push music out of my life in a big way because it was deeply connected to my past life. When I was young, I struggled like many do, but instead of finding my way through it, I turned to drugs. It started slow but by the time I was 17/18 I was taking every prescription drug I could get. It went that way for years until, I was 22 and realized I needed to change my life. I went to my parents and asked for help, they got me into rehab and found a good doctor who is partly responsible for helping to save my life through recovery. Thankfully rehab worked…for about 6 months the first time, then I went back to my old life (people, places and things, IYKYK) and fell back into addiction but thankfully it didn’t last long; less than a year later, August 24th 2010, I’d go through rehab again and maintain my sobriety from all hard drugs to this day. But it was a rough road, it took me cutting my friends out of my life, I had to stop hanging out at my favorite places (no more weekends in AC kinda hurt though) and hardest of all was choosing to stop playing and even listening to music. Music meant so much to me but it constantly triggered my addictive behavior and so I made the choice. I had to change who I was, and then change my behavior, and so I did. I became a 'professional’ I started working in an office, wearing suits, getting insurance and financial licenses, and I did that for over 10 years.
Since music had been so intertwined with my drug abuse and I realized it was a big trigger, I listened mostly to audio books, podcasts for those 10 years and slowly brought music back into my life. I began to miss music more and more, the feeling of listening to a classic album all the way through can be better than drugs! I knew I had to get back to music.
When the pandemic hit, I was 34 and my financial career was becoming more of a frustration. I had to leave, so I started my own small business, but after a year I realized that wasn’t my sole/soul path. Then I did a course about finding my life’s meaning, it pointed over and over again to music. It took me a year to build back my chops but I am better than ever at guitar and now, healthy and strong, I’m fully committed to music being my future!
I know I have something to offer, I have lived a lot in my relatively short life. I have seen, done, experienced more than some will in their whole lives. It’s now my turn to share the truth, the failures and successes, and hopefully help educate others on the dangers of addiction while sharing some kick ass music!
So now, thankfully 14 years later, I’m able to get back to what I’ve been meant to do my whole life, play MOTHERFUCKIN’ ROCK AND ROLL BABY.
My music is about my life, my experiences, my failures, successes and observations. It’s about my frustrations with the system, my angst towards the status quo and my struggle with the way many of us have been treated.