Artist description The Cerda Project is a group of friends making new music, for the people. The sound is progressive pop with a touch of jam, acoustica, jazz, rock, old wave, and syncopatia. The goal of the Cerda Project is to offer solid songwriting and delivery, intricate but simple rhythms, tasty melody, and a culmination of various style.

Music Style Progressive Pop

Musical Influences Dave Matthews Band, Barenakedladies, Counting Crows, Sting, Vinx, Rush

Similar Artists Counting Crows, Dave Matthews Band

Artist History When I was 5, my mom bought me a portable tape player and Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" tape for Christmas. The others in kindergarten were still peeing on the classroom floor and I was going out of my head with the Dream Police. Star Wars pulled me in with its tractor beam the following year, so my Cheap Trick tape was put aside for a short story version of Star Wars. By the time third grade rolled around, Mrs. Jones played the harp for the class quite often. Grandma Isabel showed me "Chopsticks" and "Do a deer, a female deer…." whatever that song is called. Then I got a hold of someone's Steve Wonder "Hotter than July" record. I played that thing over and over on my grandparent's old school record player. The musical vibe was definitely coming together for me by that time. The next year I went to see the Jackson's at the Forum. It was effectively Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" tour, but he had brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon, and Randy with him. In the fifth grade my uncle had a big party over the house to watch the Rolling Stones live on ON TV. That was today's equivalent of HBO. KLOS was simulcasting the concert as well, so good sounds were in every room of the house. My uncle recorded it on one of the early VCRs, so I began to watch that concert over and over again. That was my first music class, and one I still often refer to… I finally got big into playing music myself when the Ellis' on W. 172nd St in Torrance got a guitar and drum set. Those guys were playing Rush and Zeppelin covers in their garage in the sixth grade. It blew my mind. Whenever one of them wasn't home, I'd grab the other and try and jam on either instrument. What fun. Grandpa Louie took me to get a classical guitar soon thereafter. Paul Ellis showed me Stairway to Heaven, so naturally I played the hell out of that. Then I got spooked with the by the rumors that came out of churches on what Stairway was about, etc. So bad, that I broke the record in half for good. When I realized it was all BS, I bought another copy. Since I went to Catholic school, I played in the church a couple of times. I was beginning to get a feel for the guitar, when Jack Lyons, a family friend, gave me a snare drum and splash symbol. I started to annoy family with the noise, so that didn't last long. I got into my uncle's records to keep digging at cool music. I pulled out The Police "Zenyatta Mondatta" and had a ball with it... Focusing on the guitar again, the days of new wave approached. I used to have the clock radio alarm set to KROQ to get wake up call by Wall of Voodoo, or Missing Persons, whatever Richard Blade was doing at the time… A good buddy named Mike Saffell then turned me on to the serious rock done by U2. Rock had anew, deeper meaning with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bad". My mom and Jack Lyons took me to get a new steel string acoustic for Christmas in Manhattan Beach. I picked out a small Yamaha that sounded brilliant at the time. About a year later we moved to Europe, and I played the same old songs while I was there. I learned Nena's "99 Luftballons" since it was very popular at the time. I wasn't about to learn any of the Wham stuff the kitties in Swiss school liked! One time in school there, some girl named Sandy Smit brought that record to school. She passed out lyrics for everyone to sing along… I'll never forget it. She approached me with hersilver front tooth staring me down, asking me to translate. Oh Jeez. About a year later I moved back to CA to start high school. I didn't get back into music until my junior year in high school. My buddy Erik Boyer or "Cosmo" as we call him, had keyboards, mics, drum machine, amps, and his dad's electric guitar. We got to jamming at his place after school. How I would have loved to have some gear of my own! I went out and spent $129 on an electric guitar made by Bentley. It sounded like a nice brand, but I was fooled by branding psychology. The damn thing would never tune up under pressure. Erik and I formed a modern rock duo called Circadian Rhythm. We had about 3 originals and played some covers from bands like Tears for Fears and Information Society. We played the typical high school assemblies and such, sounding and looking horrible. I have video footage to prove it. I was extremely shy in those days, and always wanting to look right…but doesn't everyone in high school? Well not everyone. There was Mitch Green. He didn't care if he made it in the shower that morning or not. He was rude to the ladies, and very rugged. But they loved him. So we called him Lucky. He sure could play some lead guitar. Erik, myself, Mitch, and his sidekick teamed up for the final assembly of our senior year. As soon as school ended, Erik and I teamed up with John Chacon. John had played in a few bands throughout high school, so we thought we'd give it a whirl. We picked up a drummer and began playing cover tunes ranging from the Psychedelic Furs to the Kinks. This band carried on for a couple of years. We went into the studio and recorded three originals, but we weren't getting any better so we quit all together. A while later John and I went out on our own and played as an acoustic act called Mike and John . This act morphed into the first generation of The Names. In parallel I was playing bass for Mitch Green's band called Rainmaker. It didn't last long, but that was ok. It was covers only anyway. We played any gig that would have us… including the Cal Poly college campus, frat parties, college apartment parties, house parties, bars, etc. In fact, we'd go out on the town and keep our guitars in the car just in case. Good times, good times. My college job was that of serving bird at KFC. There I met John Amador, who became a great friend. He got me out drinking mid week with a fake ID, etc. He was en route to becoming the first drummerfor The Names, but before the first gig he bailed. It was back to the acoustic thing. That year I took a trip back to Europe to see my mom and friends. I was at a buddy's party with many of the classmates from back in the day. Some goon was playing folk songs in the main room of the party. It wasn't long before that guitar ended up in my hands. I went on and did some requests. On the list were Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive", The Cure's "Just Like Heaven", etc. I was just being a cool American. Nothing wrong with that… So back to playing the acoustic gigs with John as The Names... A local bartender named Steve Royal kept coming around and checking us out. He finally brought a drummer buddy of his to see us. Enter JR Cavalli. JR is pronounced Jay Aar, not junior, don't get it wrong. He was a solid human. He brought us into a project he was working on with a guy who dressed up like Rod Stewart. JR, John, and myself moved on quickly to become The Names in full force.We recorded a four song EP called "Ashley" and became one of SLO town's favorites. Vocal harmonies were our strength. There weren't many local acts with good vocals at the time, so we stood out. We focused mostly on original material, but played some U2, Police, and Rem covers. As soon as the good was getting better, John got bored with the whole thing. Yoko came into his life, so he was gone. JR and I picked up this cool guy called Rich Kubek. Rich was raw and had a nice look to him, but we were short lived. I moved on to play solo acoustic stuff, and actually released a solo live record called Michael Cerda "Live at Osos Street". Travis Larson began sitting in with me at my acoustic gigs. Travis is one of those extremely hot lead guitar players. I would play these simple melodies and carry the vocal, and Travis would add this great texture to the whole thing. He really helped breathe life into the tunes. Travis would end up going through versions of his own bands, finally ending up with a progressive rock trio called the Travis Larson Band. It was time for me to grow up, finish college, and leave KFC for brighter horizons. I picked up and moved to the Bay Area. I played solo once and a while, and John eventually came North as well. Before too long, John and I were doing the acoustic thing all over again. We continued to write new material and play patio gigs. A mutual friend (now John's girlfriend) brought Eric Johannesson to one of the patio gigs. Eric became the drummer for the reincarnated version of The Names. We actually played a bunch and made a record called The Names "Give It a Name". Things went well for a good few years, then we decided to add more members to the band. The goal was to thicken the sound a bit and try something new. Eric's suggestion was to start with finding a new drummer. As we ventured down this road, we realized that solid members are hard to find. I came up with an idea to add the members of the Travis Larson Band to The Names since we already knew them so well. Two rehearsals and two gigs later, we morphed into yet another project… Minus John and Eric, we became The Cerda Project. We went in the studio and made the Cerda Project "It's Not Over" together. The players on the record include Travis Larson, Jen Young, and Dale Moon. The live lineup to push the record would take another twist and turn. Since the Travis Larson Band had plans to work on their next intrumental record, I developed a live lineup of players. This lineup includes myself on bass, Eric Launder on guitar and Brian Sears on drums. Eric has a very natural groove style of guitar playing and Brian has a very tasty and intricate feel on drums. Together we're taking that development step I attempted toward the end of the Names. We're also adding other musicians to the project, such as sax and keys. Listen for this project to contain strong melody, sophisticated instrumentation, and a whole lot of body, over and over again.

Group Members Michael Cerda - Vocals, bass, guitarEric Launder - Vocals, guitarBrian Sears - Drums, congasDave Villa - Saxaphone

Instruments Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, upright electric bass, drums, congas, vocals

Albums It's Not Over

Press Reviews "Despite only forming in May, the Cerda Project just finished its first CD, "It's Not Over". It's smooth and well-done, with lots of quality musicianship." -Contra Costa Times, September 1, 2000 --------- "Cerda sites Dave Matthews and Sting as big influences, and it comes across, with vocal-driven melodies and just enough restraint. It's subtle and a bit sophisticated, but certainly doesn't take itself too seriously." -San Ramon Valley Times, September 1, 2000 --------- "In a musical era that seems to be defined by cookie-cutter boy-bands and trendy one-hit wonders that are here today, gone tomorrow, I often find myself searching for meaningful music. Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to encounter a song or a group that goes beyond the confines of the musical norm." -ThisWeek, Volume 3 Issue 34 August 25-31, 2000

Location San Francisco, CA - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).