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EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Hear Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger’s Declare “I Do and I Will”

Music has a lot to do with willpower. That first album might roll off your tongue but carving the rest of the path forward, towards being a musician for an

5 years ago

Music has a lot to do with willpower. That first album might roll off your tongue but carving the rest of the path forward, towards being a musician for an extended period of time, that’s harder. To borrow a turn of phrase from writing, it’s the music you make when you’re not inspired that matters. Going back to your old music and retouching it, making it better or fuller than it was, is a very specific and challenging subset of this adage. It’s no longer purely about creation but about often painstaking work, fine, needle-like tunings and polishing. It also forces you to come to terms with who you were as an artist and how you’ve changed, a psychologically challenging proposal.

That’s why, when it’s done well, remasters and re-recordings are such a joy to listen to. Thus, I’m so thrilled to premiere a re-release from Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger, one of metal’s finest guitarists, musicians, and teachers. When I heard through the grapevine that he’s releasing an album consisting of re-workings of earlier material, I was excited; Geldschläger’s craft is second to none and listening to him go back and tweak things around promised to be very instructive. Plus, a chance to get acquainted with some of his lesser known earlier material was an equally exciting notion.

Lo and behold, I was correct on both counts; I’d never listened to Fear is the Enemy before writing up this post and I had a joy doing so now. Then, I listened to this re-work of “I Do and I Will” and I was even more delighted! Every guitar note on this fantastic track sings with glorious detail now and the excellent drums (contributed by one Lille Gruber) are punctuated with incredible clarity. This turns what was already a great track into a truly magnificent one,  awash in prog-fusion goodness, tasty licks, and an overall sense of wonder that’s truly captivating. Head on down below to check it out for yourself!

There’s an undeniable power to this track that only increases when you peer behind the veil and into Geldschläger’s motivations behind re-working it and for releasing an entire album of similar efforts, under the track’s name:

This song was originally released on my first solo album Fear Is The Enemy. I always liked the idea of including one long-form composition on every major album I work on (something that I have kept on doing ever since, with songs like “The Psychic Planetarium”, “A Perfect Union” or “Weltseele”) and with this being the earliest example of that, I always had a special love for the song. It also marks the first time that I worked with Lille Gruber (Defeated Sanity) who delivered a spectacular performance that still makes me grin widely to this day.

However, as with most the songs on FITE, most of the intricate layering of sounds that are so essential to the sonic architecture of this tune got lost in the mix, as I was still in the beginning stages of learning the craft. So I’m very happy to now be able to share the definitive version of the song, remixed & remastered from the ground up, with re-recorded fretless guitar tracks, finally bringing out all those little details that I wanted people to hear for many years.

In December of 2018, I had the opportunity to “clean house” and give my entire back catalogue the same sonic treatment (even adding new string parts to other songs), to then be released as part of my guitar online-course “Augmented Reality – Beyond The Strings“. Soon, these almost 70 minutes of re-worked music will see a stand-alone release, with “I Do and I Will” being the title-track.

The song title is the only time I ever actually quoted the novel The Fountainhead, where it’s the name of an expensive yacht owned by one of the main characters. My fascination with Ayn Rand’s writings may have been short-lived and juvenile, but as a mission statement for continually being uncompromising in my art and decision-making, it has definitely held up over the years.

Love & Light,
Tom.

Love and light, indeed. Make sure to pre-order I Do and I Will right here, ahead of its February 2nd release. You won’t regret it, whether a long time fan of Tom’s work or a newcomer to his wizard’s ways.

Eden Kupermintz

Published 5 years ago