Andy Kubicki
Bass, Keyboards, Mixing engineer - Located in Las Vegas, USA.Growing up in Chicago, as a youngster in the early 60s I started out listening to music with a transistor radio. I bought a tube with a speaker inside which added a bit of bass. I even played around with touching the leads of a capacitor across the speaker output which seemed to give it more bass. Later I got a portable 78 rpm record cutter without the cutting head. It had a decent sounding amp, and thus began my addiction to music and how good it can sound. I’m addicted to how good music can sound when recorded well, especially SACDs, DVD-a, well recorded and mastered records done before the loudness wars strangled quality to be louder. Direct to Disc records sound awesome!
As a young lad I started out piano lessons in grammar school, but soon lost interest- a typical young kid. Later, because I always listened to the bass lines of songs, I started to learn bass. I got hooked on prog in the early to mid 70s after I rented a room from a drummer who opened my ears to the likes of early Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, UK, and many others. Jazz fusion, jazz, funk, and classical have also tickled my musical interests. He got me hooked on music in odd time signatures, and we formed a prog band doing originals. We had a gig in a college area bar where we watched people try to dance to one of our tunes in 11/8.
I feel very lucky to have grown up in an era of great music and great equipment on which we could listen to the music.
Tomas Stark
Keyboards, Guitars, Vocals - Located in Luleå, Sweden.I was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1956. I have two sisters, one older and one younger than me. I got my first musical instrument when I was 7 years old. It was an old mandolin that I got from some friends to my parents. When I was 9 I got my first acoustic guitar and played in a "band" with some other guys the same age as me. But alas, it didn't last long since we moved about 900 km north to the town of Luleå at the end of that same year.
I continued playing guitar, learning chords, and making songs all the way through my youth. Sang a lot together with my little sister Lena, often in harmony vocals.
When I was about 17 years old I started recording own music with my brother-in-law Mikael. We turned parts of our basement in the house into a recording studio with equipment that was affordable at the time. A Revox A77, a simple mixer, some mics. Also bought an organ and a Rhodes electric piano. A couple of years later we formed a fusion band named Fido with three other guys that lasted for about two years. Later in the 80's we formed a band at my work, where also my brother-in-law was a member playing drums.
Met my wife in 1978 and we had two daughters in 1987 and 1994. Music was heavily put aside during the 90's and the first half of the 00´s. Then participated in several tribute CD projects for the band Gentle Giant together with Andy Kubicki, John Eyre and Glenn Liljeblad from 2004 to 2013.
Continued making music on my own until we started the band PRoPoRTIoNS in 2016. Since then, it has been a huge musical development for me both in composition, arrangement and playing skills that I'm so grateful for.
Musically, my greatest inspirations have been The Beatles, Cream, Frank Zappa, James Taylor, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes, Supertramp, 10CC, Return To Forever, Bill Bruford, Queen, Gerry Rafferty, Dire Straits, ... the list is long.
I love melodies on top of interesting chord progressions, time signatures and counterpoint.
Denis Boucher
Drums, Percussion - Located in Quebec, Canada.I was born in Shawinigan, Canada in 1955 and moved to Quebec City in 1970. I studied Music (percussion) and Architecture in Laval University, Quebec City.
I have always played drums since my youth. My father bought me my first drum kit at the age of 10. What a feeling I got.
I played in lots of live bands until 2014, after that I got my own home studio. Since this time, I offer my services for recording, mixing and mastering all kinds of good music. PRoPoRTIoNS gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and I thank all great musicians involved in it for their kindness.
My musical interest at this time was great bands like Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad (astonishing power for this era), Black Sabbath (crazy musical simplicity for this time), Gentle Giant (musicians that I carry on a stand) and Weather Report for the jazz part of my education.
Denis runs his own studio: Studio On|Reflexion.
Lennart Ståhle
Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Flute - Located in Onsala, Sweden.I was born in Göteborg, Sweden in 1961. A family of parents with 4 children (I was the youngest). My musical interest began in the late 60's with my older brother who bought vinyls with Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep and several other great bands at the time. My first own favourite band was Emerson, Lake & Palmer when they released the Trilogy album, the first track just blew me away. After that I was hooked on Progmusic.
I got my first electric guitar in '74, and I joined a band at highschool. But as usual there were too many guitarplayers and I volunteered to play bass instead.
During the 80's I played bass in a few bands, but decided to quit playing live after a horrible gig in 1989. I already had my homestudio and was more into making my own music playing and programming the instruments.
I met my wife in 2009, and moved to Onsala, Sweden. My homestudio is now located in a small room with lots of instruments, perfect for my needs. I get most inspiration from the love of my wife, our dog, a cat, a hen and a rooster, and 2 horses. ...and of course past musical heros too many to mention.
More info about Lenny can be found at: Repple.
John Eyre
Vocals, Guitars - Located in Brecon, Wales.I started learning guitar when I was five (my brother, Len, showed me how to play If I Had A Hammer). My first official gig was at Ilkeston Folk Club in 1968 (a three-song set including Puff The Magic Dragon).
I was ignored as a musician at school, so I focussed on science, but in 1976 I saved up enough money for ten classical guitar lessons; I decided to turn to music more, from this point on. I studied at Clarendon College, Nottingham, and then at Hull University.
After graduating, I couldn’t see myself succeeding in music as a career, so I went through several proper jobs. Eventually, I realised that music was the most fulfilling path to take, so I set up as a guitar teacher/musician in South Wales. I’m still there, writing and recording and gigging occasionally.
While here, in the early 2000s, I met up with John Weathers of Gentle Giant, and through him, I started on music projects with various fans of the band, including Dan Bornemark, Adam Levin and Tomas Stark. Tomas and I ended up working on quite a few songs, which led to me being part of the PRoPoRTIoNS band a few years ago. They are a very talented bunch.
Feel free to look up John's Youtube Channel.
Glenn Liljeblad
Guitars - Located in Los Angeles, USA.My adventure started in December 1959 in Stockholm, Sweden.
When I was 10 years old I had bicycle and I would ride down to a little café and play pinball. They had a jukebox and one day they put new records in there and there were new singles from Led Zeppelin’s first album. This changed everything.
I received the electric guitar I had been eyeing at Gemco on my 13th birthday. A year later I was at my first Gentle Giant concert and progressive rock was the sound that inspired me to venture musically.
I was in Portland, Oregon in 2003 and met Andy Kubicki. Ironically, he lived 15 minutes from me in Southern California. We started getting together and exchanging musical ideas and recording. This lead to a friendship and Andy’s great ability to connect with other musicians and engineer their abilities to the fullest degree.
This led me to the connection of Tomas Stark and an invitation to contribute to the great music of PRoPoRTIoNS. The band members are from different parts of the world which contributes to the interesting sound of the band, but we all have a collective shared interest in this corner of the world of music.
Before I was two years old, our family had moved to California. My first taste of interesting music was when the Beatles arrived in New York. I watched them perform on the Ed Sullivan show with my parents and it really got my attention. I think this was the point where I started changing my parents radio station to different frequencies and discovering different sounds.
I am pleased to be able to contribute to these wonderful songwriters visions.
Glenn runs his own business: Shoreline Signs Graphics.
