| John DeMena is an award-nominated rock singer and guitarist from Los Angeles who has worked with producers and musicians of Alice Cooper, Jane’s Addiction, and Jimmy Kimmel among others.
One of the benefits of today’s musical landscape is the breadth with which artists can record and produce their compositions, from famous acts to talented emerging artists.
That’s certainly the case with John DeMena, who wrote and produced his upcoming debut album ‘Dreams and Lies’ entirely by himself. As he points out, “after moving to Los Angeles and not being able to find anyone artistically aligned with me, I had to take a DIY approach and do everything myself. It was the only way forward.”
For a couple of years, DeMena wrote nonstop, picked other instruments, penned all lyrics, and used software to program drums and other instruments in pre-production before seeking out session players for this debut. He then recruited musicians Glen Sobel, Pete Griffin, and Matt Rohde to record the drum, bass, and keyboard parts respectively, and took on the guitar and vocal duties himself. Lastly, he invited axeman John Ziegler, who plays in Volto! alongside Tool’s Danny Carey for one guest solo on “Angel City”.
John DeMena self-released an early mix of this debut in 2019 that got the attention of several record labels and iconic brands such as PRS Guitars, which handpicked him as one of their new artists.
The mix also earned him a nomination for a 2020 Hollywood Music in Media Award under the best rock song category for his song “Eternal Eyes” (previous winners of this award include artists such as Trent Reznor and Amy Lee of Evanescence) and a deal with Vere Music (Warner ADA) for the release of his debut album in early 2023.
DeMena’s journey wasn’t exactly easy though. After emigrating from Spain to the United States in 2008, he found himself jobless, contactless, and without even a driver’s license or sufficient work experience. |
