The First Conception - Music - thefirstconception

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The Project

The First Conception are Thomas Conway (acoustic guitar, composition) and Rogerio Ferreira (drums, percussion, glockenspiel, composition, arrangements) who play free style instrumental music mostly but also Early Music, European Folk, Easy Listening, and World Music. They play originals as well as making arrangements to one or two covers every now and again.

Jaki Alden (flute, mandolin, clarinet, violin, cello and woodwind) has recorded two albums with the project and joins in from time to time for gigs. Other musicians are invited when necessary.

The project's instrumental soundscapes try to create a symbiotic relationship of dreamy labyrinthine sounds and a sparse rendering of musical arrangements, which are aimed at taking their listeners on imaginary musical trips.

The First Conception came to life in March 2008 in the form of an acoustic set as a duo live act at The Steam Packet, Norwich, after a few months spent on rehearsals.

The two founding members met in April 2007 at a TEFL course for teachers in the UK. A year later, they recorded one of their rehearsals. That session was later mastered and self-released as an album entitled We Are Born. Three months later, their first official session was recorded and became their second album, Inscape, undergoing a second mix in 2009.

Jaki joined in for the recording of some tracks on two of the albums (Inscape and Riddle of Existence) and tagged along for some gigs. As a trio, The First Conception performed an acoustic set for the first time at the Cider Shed, Norwich, in May 2009.

The First Conception have developed a unique style comprising a blend of their influences. "We try to create a certain atmosphere within each piece of music we play." - Rogerio. "We also believe in keeping it sparse." - Tom. "There's a mystical journey one goes on when listening to your music. It sounds very spiritual and mysterious." - Judy, a fan. "Have you ever contacted the BBC? Your music's good for television documentaries." - Mark, a friend.

Zacron (1943-2012)

Some of the album covers were designed by Zacron (link) – an artist best known for designing the iconic Led Zeppelin III album cover for his friend Jimmy Page in 1973. This is part of a vast and varied body of work by Zacron spanning five decades. He did the same thing for his friend Rogerio Ferreira regarding Inscape's CD cover.

Other album covers are digital paintings by Pedro Albuquerque (link) – AlbuQ – who is a self-taught Portuguese artist considered one of Europe's foremost specialists in parchments and illumination. His current phase denotes new elements and figurative schemes, which recall another form of expression. This is his gestural and digital abstraction period.

Pedro Albuquerque - AlbuQ - 1953

Rogerio Ferreira

Rogerio is a session drummer and co-founder of The First Conception with Thomas Conway in 2007 having produced all TFC albums in the UK (except Betterment) and music for other artists. He also composes and makes musical arrangements as well as managing this music project. He's been and still is involved in other musical projects.

His style was forged in the late seventies when he first had a go at playing a Ludwig drum kit while sitting in for his favourite local band's drummer during a rehearsal. That 8 piece band of Filipinos were the house band - with a horn section of 3 - at Macau's main Casino.

A melting pot of rhythms developed as a result of regularly attending the band's rehearsals at the casino where he sometimes had a go at playing one or two hits from bands like Earth Wind & Fire, Average White Band, Deep Purple, and The Eagles, among many other great bands from that era.

He spent his time between studies, the local radio station and playing the drums. After that, he went to the UK to further his studies and also played in bands there, already influenced by bands like Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Osibisa, among others, and musicians like Mike Oldfield and Jeff Beck, as their records were part of his vinyl collection which included many jazz albums.

In the eighties, he spent a few years in Macau working at the local radio and television broadcasting station where he expanded his music influences a great deal having access to music from all over the world, including Japanese musicians like Tatsuro Yamashita, Mari Nakamoto and Sadao Watanabe.

Influences (picked up in his travels):

Ry Cooder, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, Brand X, Dollar Brand, Flora Purim, Tania Maria, Deodato, Eliane Elias, Steps Ahead, Weather Report, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Scott & The L.A. Express, Billy Cobham, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Ginger Baker, Stewart Copeland, Modern Jazz Quartet, Milt Jackson, James Taylor Quartet, Jimmy Smith, Lalo Schifrin, Ian Paice, Bill Bruford, Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Doobie Brothers, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, JJ Cale, Doors, Deep Purple, Yes, The Nice, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Jeff Beck, Caravan, Mobi, Mike Oldfield, Osibisa, Earth Wind & Fire, ... , African, Indian and Middle Eastern rhythms as well as Early Music and Traditional Irish Folk.

Thomas Conway

Tom has developed a unique style rendering acoustic free style instrumental music and comprising a mixture of folk, blues, world, classic, and early music mostly based on his influences which lend this project a symbiotic relationship of dreamy labyrinthine sounds and sparse musical rendering which take the listener on imaginary musical trips. He's been and still is involved in other musical projects.

...

Sexual Revolutionary! Political Provocateur! He once had a love affair with the Berlin wall, causing it to fall down.

John Lennon once told him he has the best voice of any young man ever; so, to spite the world, he has not sung since, preferring to sing through his guitar. He has written over 1000 instrumentals and busked his way around the world in over 1000 days. He was described by J.G. Ballard as the greatest musician of his generation. For the past 20 years he has been a hermetic recluse in the Rural East, nurturing majestic instrumentals into being in an attempt to raise the pitied soul of Nick Drake. He wrenched his 1947 Martin 00-17 from the hands of a dying bluesman - a tremendous chap who had survived the whole of World War 2 intact, only to be struck down with a galloping dose of the Clap at the end of it. He has 25 illegitimate children, 2 failed marriages, and can recite the name of every English monarch of the past millennium.

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