When Rod Shepard was living in North Jersey he wanted to have his own recording studio. He was a session player for several bands and eventually formed his own.After several odd jobs in the early ’90s he teamed up with Iris Mareina and they rounded up enough scratch to open a recording studio.
Ten years ago Xanthi Music debuted in the mile-square city. This fall Shepard and Mareina, now married, celebrate a decade in the town Frank Sinatra made famous. A private party is in the works, and on Dec. 12 their band Mistic Rein will perform at SUNY Stony Brook’s The Café. College kids love Mareina’s Portishead-esque tunes with original music and production by Shepard. A wizard in the studio and a seasoned producer, Shepard is the glue behind Xanthi (blond in Greek). His talents have transcended the studio and strumming lead guitar for friends and Rein. Shepard is the musical director at North Bergen’s High Tech High School. His recent arrangements for the school’s musical Oz earned him statewide recognition and propelled the scholastic show to Off-Broadway of five weeks last summer. Even the Times wrote about it.
Yet, Shepard enjoys keeping a low profile, while Mareina, Rein’s lead singer/songwriter, stands front and center on their self-created spotlight.
"Rod likes to be behind the scenes. He didn’t even want to tell people about our 10th anniversary," Mareina said.
Despite a turbulent career complete with several band lineup changes and the financial risks involved in running a studio, the duo managed to find a way to prevail.
"There’s no limit to what you can create in music. We continue to evolve," Mareina said.
The studio
Xanthi Music Studio on Newark Street offers recording and production services. It is equipped with live 24-track recording, artist album production, demo production, song arranging, track and MIDI production, digital editing graphic design, and CD duplication. The live room is 20 feet by 20 feet, with a baby grand piano, a five piece drum kit, seven kinds of mics, fender amps, a state-of-the-art control room and recording equipment, a variety of compressors for processing, and a range of synthesizers and digital software to accommodate almost any band’s sound. Xanthi’s standard recording rate is $35 an hour.
"We create original compositions for film, video, and commercials," Shepard said.
Mistic Rein
In 1997, Shepard fronted the band Shepard’s Pie, which eventually led to the creation of Mistic Rein.
"Primarily as a songwriter, it started as my own kind of therapy, along the way evolved into an ongoing expressive outlet," Mareina said. "Songs started coming to me faster, even in my sleep." Musical influences include Fleetwood Mac, Sade, Joan Osborne, Peter Gabriel, Esthero, Portishead and No Doubt.
The best part about band is that there are "no limitations on what can be conceived and created," she said.
After several changes, Rein includes John Taylor on drums, Javier Valenzuela on keyboards, M.J. on electric sitar, and Jay Rivera on bass. The new effort, masterminded by Mareina, is called "Deja Voodoo." With five solid tracks, including a title song, Mistic Rein captures an atmosphere sound reminiscent of most ’70s progue garage groups, but with a modern rock edge that is quickly becoming endangered.
As chief songwriter, Mareina creates a quasi-autobiographical account in the new recordings. Songs "She’s a Libra," and "The Mistic Rein" address personal themes for Xanthi and Mareina. Like a cold breeze of fresh air, the album revitalizes the duo’s sound with the help of veteran musicians who are quickly finding their place in the Xanthi world.
"I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. It’s been one long strange trip," Mareina said. q
Mistic Rein performs at The Café at SUNY Stony Brook on Dec. 12 at 10:30 p.m. The new album will be released early next year. Xanthi Music Inc. is located at 321 Newark St. in Hoboken. For information on Xanthi music visit www.xanthimusic.com or call (201) 659-3339.