Artist description In his world, Neil Zarcona was once called a has-been wanna-be on the comeback trail. Dark, troubled and unpredictable, Neil is a fictional character from the fictional land of Phaux World Entertainment. Phaux World Entertainment and its characters are a creation of TaoManna Media Productions.

Music Style Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Crossover Country

Musical Influences Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Willie Nelson, Everly Brothers, CCR, Rolling Stones

Artist History [Phil Phaux (owner of Phaux World Entertainment) comments] Neil and RoughCut are an interesting mixture of talents - two middle-aged men and four young guys in late teens and early twenties. That wasn't the original plan, I assure you. Most of my acts are around Neil's age. I was looking to expand our fan base into a younger demographic so I decided to create a boy band. I know it's been just about done to death lately; but I though there was probably room for one more boy band out there. I wanted a five-person group, all who had good voices and could sing harmony. Dylan Guthrie Paine (the first act I signed to Phaux World Entertainment) had two teenage sons, Jeremy and Chad. They were twins. They spent a lot of time around the studio with their dad and had worked a few of his gigs. Great voices. Ryan Cynosura (another one of our acts) also had a young son. His name was Bryan. He became the third member of our unnamed boy band. The trio practiced on cover songs for several weeks while I tried to locate two more young singers. I didn't have much luck. My songwriting staff wasn't having much luck coming up with songs that fit the style we needed either. Then I found Neil. He certainly didn't fit the requirements for being in a boy band; but he had talent and presence, so I brought him on board. Initially, I didn't plan to put him in the group; I just wanted him to practice with the guys so they could get a feel of what it would be like to have a fourth member. Danny (Daniel Turner Brown) became the unofficial fifth member a few days later, but just to temporarily fill out the five-man roster. Danny and Neil really hit it off. Danny doesn't care for performing; his only interest is in songwriting. He had only performed his songs in front of family and friends. Neil is a performer who wants to hone his writing skills. I decided to let the two of them work on some songs together. At that time I was thinking along the lines of Neil as a solo act; but I couldn't get comfortable with that idea. Neil is a pretty troubled guy and I wasn't sure I wanted him out on the road by himself. Danny and Neil wrote a song called "He Leads A Life." We have a practice room at our studios; all the guys in our makeshift boy band play instruments, so Danny had them work on "He Leads A Life." That song had lots of harmonies so I didn't object. A week or so later Danny scheduled some studio time and cut a demo. Danny came into my office late one night with a CD with their work on it. He was very nervous and fidgety. I had seen him like that when a lot of people were around; but it was just me and him, so I wondered what was up. "I think I've got something here." He was really excited. "What you got there, Daniel?" "It's the new song I wrote with Neil. It's just a rough cut, a demo. But I want you to hear it if you have time." He looked like he was going to explode. "Let's hear it." "Ok, just remember it's only a rough cut, now." I didn't think he was ever going to get it into the CD player, his hands were shaking so hard. Well, it might have been just a demo, but I was totally blown away. Those harmonies and Neil's powerful voice sounded pretty great. The phrase "rough cut" stuck in my mind. I had a total flip-flop on my intentions with the "boy band." My new idea would give the young guys some needed exposure, it would give Danny a chance to hear some crowd responses to his songs, and it would give Neil the company he needed on the road. They would all become my new group, "RoughCut." Several days later I got a phone call that surprised me and shocked the heck out of Neil. Neil had a son! Neil had a grown son that he didn't know anything about. There isn't room here to give Jason's story justice. A book of interviews with Neil and the members of RoughCut will be out in late 2001. That book will probably have a couple of perspectives (Neil's and Jason's) on what transpired in the weeks following the surprise phone call. I'll just say here it was tragic and sad and enlightening and profound for both father and son. The final result was we had one more member for RoughCut. Jason was also a musician. He played keyboards and bass guitar. RoughCut was overloaded with keyboard players but no one played base. Jason to the rescue. (Editors note: Jason also sings a great harmony. His voice is featured with Neil in two-part harmony on several of the songs on the new CD.) RoughCut hit the road about four months after Jason came along. They did a hodge-podge of cover songs and a dozen of so original songs written by Danny, Neil and other staff songwriters. The boy band stuff wasn't working for the audiences but they loved everything Neil sang lead on. Neil was disappointed that he didn't get top billing and often threatened to quit. Then Neil wrote "Her Name Was SummerSky." It was a true story and the crowds loved it. He always told the story behind the song before they performed it. I guess a lot of people identify with on-line romance today. We changed the billing to "Neil Zarcona and RoughCut."

Group Members Neil Zarcona, lead singer, songwriter, plays acoustic guitar. RoughCut Members Daniel Turner Brown, songwriter, rhythm guitar (electric and acoustic), backup vocals Jeremy Paine, lead guitar, keyboards, backup vocals Chad Paine, Drums, backup vocals Jason Zarcona, bass guitar, keyboards, harmony vocals Bryan Cynosura, keyboards, backup vocals

Albums A World Of Hurt

Location Mauldin, SC - USA

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