Stacy Parrish | |
|---|---|
 Stacy Parrish at his studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stacy Parrish Whitehead |
| Years active | 1985–present |
Stacy Parrish (born Stacy Parrish Whitehead, October 18, 1968 in St. Charles, Missouri and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American songwriter, musician, engineer, and producer.
Early life
editStacy Parrish began playing piano at age 7 and was often recruited to be the family entertainment when his parents, Hal and Susie Whitehead, would have guests over. Hal and Susie would have him stand on the fireplace and pantomime to songs by artists such as T.G. Sheppard, Roger Whittaker, The Bee Gees, Dr. Hook, Earth Wind & Fire, and Neil Diamond.
There was always music in his house when he was growing up. His father, Hal Whitehead, was in a band in the Midwest at the age of 14. The story goes that Hal and his friend wrote a very catchy tune which they recorded at a studio in Chicago. The producer at the studio offered them a deal but being young and scared the boys wanted to get permission from their parents first. They rode the train home and got permission, but by the time they called the producer back he had moved on, giving the riff to another group.
His mother, Susie, often played records when she cleaned house and Parrish would keep her company playing with his hot wheels, all the while learning songs and lyrics. Parrish started to get serious about music in 1985 when he met classmates Jeff Cannon and Michael Brown who shared his desire for writing, recording and performing music. Together, they formed a band called Arena. Parrish sold his truck in high school to buy his first synthesizer, a Roland Juno 60, and began composing original music right away.
Writing/Performing Career
edit1980s
editParrish co-founded the band Arena with high school friends Jeff Cannon and Michael Brown in 1985 and was joined by Parrish's brother, Shannon Whitehead, in 1986. Arena changed their name to Virtu in 1987[1] just before meeting producer and engineer Billy Stull at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Virtu—Parrish (keyboards/vocals), Cannon (bass), Whitehead (drums/vocals) and Brown (guitar)—recorded three demo EPs at Norman Petty Studios between 1987 and 1989. Virtu changed their name again in 1989 to The Rudiments. In 1990, Brown left The Rudiments and was replaced by Peter Weldon on guitar. Steve Crider (guitar) joined in 1991. The Rudiments broke up the week they were offered a three-album deal from Arista Records. Peter left and joined The Rosemarys in San Francisco.
1990s
editIn 1992, Parrish (vocals/guitar) joined Robbie Dunn (guitar), Steve Chavez (bass) and Chuck Martin (drums) to form January's Little Joke. By the time January's Little Joke wrote and recorded their first self titled album, Parrish had already established his own recording studio, Water Studios, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to providing professional recording space for January's Little Joke, Water Studios had soon become a popular studio for a growing local music scene in Albuquerque.
January's Little Joke signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappel Music in London. They recorded two albums and an EP for UK release only. They toured the United States from Maine to California three times in two years. In 1995, after writing and recording a second album, the band split up. In the following months, Parrish did a project called Typewriter where he recorded all the songs turned down by the January's Little Joke lineup, a total of twenty songs in all, most of which are used in films to this day. During this time, Parrish was hired to do Drowning Sailor's Lullaby, a critically acclaimed project that resulted in two albums' worth of material. It was also at this time that Parrish was hired to run NMX Records in San Francisco.
2000s
editToday, Parrish writes and performs with a band called simple. whose line up is Parrish (vocals/guitar), Joe Anderson (bass), Daniel Prevett (guitar), and Jeff "J-Ro" Romaniuk (drums) [2].
Water Studios
editIn 1990, Parrish founded Water Studios in the basement of a record store he owned and operated in Albuquerque called Her Majesty's Secret Record Shop. The original location of the store/studio was in the old Fogg Jeweler's location in the Sunshine Building at the corner of Central Ave. and Gold in downtown Albuquerque. The store/studio remained there until 1993, when Parrish relocated the store to 315 Gold Street next door to The Dingo Bar. Parrish took up residence at the back of the studio while his business partner, Steve Chavez, lived at the front of the store. By this time, the studio income had far exceeded the record store's income and so retail space in the new location was greatly reduced in order to make room for a bigger backroom studio. It was at the 315 Gold Street location that Parrish produced and recorded albums for Venus Diablo, Eric McFadden, Alien Lovestock, Naomi, Wagogo, Stoic Frame, Jenny Clinkscales Band, and Strawberry Zots among others.
In 1995, Parrish closed Her Majesty's Secret Record Shop and moved Water Studios to a small house in Corrales, New Mexico. It was there that he immersed himself in various facets of recording and engineering such as microphone techniques, the channel path, and ambiance.
In 1998, Shaunna Hall (4 Non Blondes) contacted Parrish to engineer an album for a San Francisco band called The Flying Other Bros. Parrish moved to San Francisco to make that record and is still there. He has also established roots in Los Angeles where he has a studio in North Hollywood that serves as his West Coast home base.
Work as Producer/Engineer
editParrish has recorded all over the world as both a songwriter/musician and an engineer, including several songs at Abbey Road Studio Two. Other studios include Criteria Miami, The Plant Sausalito, and Avatar Studios in New York City.
Parrish met Jack Casady in San Francisco in 2000. Casady was brought in to work on The Flying Other Brothers' album San Francisco Sounds which Parrish was producing. Parrish and Casady hit it off and co-produced an album together. Cassdy then asked Parrish to engineer and mix Casady's first solo album, Dream Factor. Parrish co-wrote a song on that record called 'Daddies Little Girl', which was sung by Ivan Neville. In 2001, Parrish recorded several tracks for another Flying Other Brothers Band record called 52 Week High at Abbey Road Studios in London[3].
In 2004, Parrish met T-Bone Burnett through their mutual friend, Robert McNamee, guitarist and singer for The Flying Other Brothers. Burnett hired Parrish to record his The True False Identity tour. Soon after, Parrish was hired to mix the front of house position for Burnett. In 2004, Parrish was brought in as an engineer for the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss record Raising Sand (recorded in Nashville and LA). The song "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Grammy Awards.
Parrish's other notable recording, mixing and engineering achievements include: Moonalice; The Story by Brandi Carlile; live mixes and recordings for The Coward Brothers with Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett; Neko Case live with T-Bone Burnett; John Cougar Mellencamp; and Doyle Bramhall II.
His feature film credits include: Across the Universe (recording/mixing engineer for The Beatles music); Fred Clause (recorded the Christmas music including the children's choir); and After the Flood (as music supervisor/producer).
His independent film credits include: Rebuilt (score); In Victor's Profession (score, sound design); My First Tooth (score, editor); Someone's Watching (sound design); Checkmate (editor, score, sound design); Overcoming Andrew (sound design, score); and Elotero (score, sound design).
His television and documentary credits include: Dog the Bounty Hunter season 4; Parking Wars season 2; and Music Makes a Better Person (sound recording engineer, music producer/supervisor).
Trivia
editParrish collects vintage microphones. He currently owns three of the Neumann M 49 microphones that were used to score the orchestras at Capitol Records for decades, including the Oscar-winning score for the film, Titanic.