CRAIG PARKER ADAMS

The origin of the song Las Lunas circa 2008.

It begins like this, in 2002 my good friend Michael Duarte asked me if I would record his band, Piece and so I said sure and so they came into my Winslow Ct Studio in Hollywood to record. As soon as the drummer (Rich) set up & started playing I knew instantly that he had the Al vibe and that was something far beyond rare because I had been searching for a drummer who authentically had that my whole life. As I was micing up the kit Rich and I began to chat a bit and I mentioned Alex and that opened the flood gates and we began to click on a personal level based around all things old school early days Van Halen. Bootlegs, concerts etc.. That is where it all began.

After we had completed that project I wanted to find a way to jam with Rich but also I didn’t want to be that guy who tries stealing other people’s band members away & especially in this case because Michael (bassist) and his brother Don (lead vocals & guitar) was and is to this day great friends of mine and I’m just not that sort of person so I wondered… how do I make this happen without ruffling feathers. Ah, I got it! How about a Jam night?

So I asked Michael & Rich if they’d like to come over for a jam night, get loose and play some old VH tunes and they agreed. That happened back in November of 2002 and was a very special experience for me. From the first downbeat IT  WAS  ON!!! For me it was like playing with my long lost musical brother that I was searching and longing for my whole life. I’m talking beyond fits like a glove and more like the exact same D.N.A.. Rich & I knew all of the same tunes as well as a heap of live versions or some un released demo versions and played like 20 tunes together as if we’d been playing with each other for our whole lives and this is day 1 right from the go.

The good news from all of this is that I recorded that jam night and listening back the next day I was so invigorated with the vibe & feel of how well we locked in together I was like WHOA, we sound & more importantly we FEEL like the brothers and I had never ever heard or experienced that with anybody else including the tribute acts that were around or even when I had seen Dave & his band in 2000. Michael didn’t know as much regarding the intricacies of all the varying tunes but he kicked in and held on the best he could. That night was a blast and total spiritual success in my book so after hearing it back I immediately recut and played some of the missing gaps on the bass with no offense to Michael & his playing because understandably there was just some parts he didn’t know at that time but I was so pumped on everything recorded that eventually I got an idea to extract some moments from the jam and began to construct a medley of highlights. A few years later I made a tribute video using that medley and shared it on Youtube for a few years until one day I just decided to remove it and take it down. After a decade or so I decided why not post it again and so I re upload it. If you are interested in having the fly on the wall listening experience, here it is.

Around the time of our jam night VH was not really doing a whole lot and I know I was really craving some fresh music ala the early vibe of their music that I got the idea that wouldn’t it be cool to try and write and record some original songs that would feel or sound like unreleased old Van Halen songs, and so I pitched my idea to Rich and he said “ yeah man I dig it, sounds good! ”. This was a side project for him because his main thing was working and playing in Piece and I was busy with clients and building my studio business and so he could do his thing and I could do mine and we’d catch as catch can and so we started sharing ideas.

The untitled idea that would become Las Lunas was written by Rich on keyboards and I think it was our fourth song that we did together. Not only was he the only drummer that I’ve ever heard or met in my life that exuded Alex Van Halen’s feel & essence but he could do the same with Edward Van Halen when he played keyboards which was super cool but also odd for me because most of the keyboard ideas all felt like Sammy era VH and I’m more David Lee VH so it wasn’t always easy for me to pull it back to Daveland and yet not ignore what he was presenting. Our first tune together Evolution is exactly that dilemma for me. At any rate, here is the original actual track that I recorded of Rich playing his idea on my Wurlitzer organ that would become Las Lunas.

I remember having a hard time making the guitar my own and finding parts that fit or worked off of his parts but I eventually did. Rich's main part I played for the bass line and then I jumped off from there and created all the guitar parts and the intro and outro which were not originally there. For the chorus sections I was going for a part that felt like the overdub part from " Hear About It Later " in the main section when the song kicks off after the build up in.

Check it out: