ABOUT SYNE WAVE
Syne Wave is a progressive, all original, rock band from the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
They are a band of seasoned songwriters and musicians with a rich history of experience amongst them.
They have been working together since May of 2019 when they invited Darren to take on the role of singer. The band at the time was called Audio ARK and Alex and Ken were founding members, working together for over a year at the time. They played their first gig at the Castro Valley Fall Festival in September of 2019 to an approving crowd.
After the pandemic hit, they were forced to work together remotely, but managed to write five new songs and get them recorded. Their drummer chose another path during this untimely interruption that affected the world over, so Ken, Alex and Darren decided to rebrand and put out an album. And thus, Syne Wave was born in September of 2020.
Working through the summer of 2020, they finished the new material and put out their first six Live Action Lyric videos to support their upcoming album.
In January of 2021, they opened up their social media sites and released their fourteen track debut album, Function Over Form. With the first nine songs from the original catalog, and the five new ones since adding Darren, they had solidified their exciting and uniquely fresh sound.
Darren Lee
Richardson
Vocals - Writer
Darren Lee Richardson has been in several East Bay bands during his time as a rock and roll musician, songwriter and performer before he started singing and collaborating with Syne Wave. Seducer, Mankind, Aces Wild, Rush Hour and Rockhenge are a handful of gigging bands he once helped front prior to his current position with Syne Wave. Over the years, he also spent some time helping out other projects, writing with fellow musicians and recording solo albums in his home studio.
With Syne Wave, he has been able to focus more on singing than in any other band, allowing him to find and hone his voice and style as a front-man more than ever before.
Being a multi-instrumentalist allows him more creative avenues to roll down when writing and working new material with Ken and Alex. He has found this writing team to be the strongest, most collaborative and chill group he has ever worked with. He is very excited about the material and direction they are going in as friends and a collaborative unit.
His favorite parts of the songwriting process is lyrics and dynamics., always looking for ways to add strength to a song and bringing its own energy to the forefront.
Alex Muhanoff started playing in bands in high school.
In the 80s and 90s he was in local bay area club bands Jaded Lace, 4 Play and Lovestain. He later went on to play in Voices and Echo before settling into his current role in Syne Wave.
He started his musical journey on the piano as early as eight years old and picked up the guitar by the time he was twelve.
His influences are many, but include Alex Lifeson, Jimmy Page and David Gilmore, which helped guide him to his own textural, arpeggieated style of guitar playing.
His musical journey of experience and influence is clearly shown in his unique guitar contributions and songwriting on the Syne Wave debut album, Function Over Form.
Alex
Muhanoff
Guitar - Writer
Ken
Peterson
Bass - Keys - Writer
Ken Peterson started his early musical career in the 80's the power trio, Alloy. As the bassist he also played keys, backed up the vocals and was a contributing songwriter.
In the mid 90's he continued honing those skills while in Blind Nurse. At this point in his career he started doing digital multitrack recording on his PC, long before most people were.
In the 2000's, he spent thirteen years with MPG, contuing to sharpen his already polished skills in bass, keys, backing vocals, audio production and live sound production.
Ken's influences range from The Beatles, The Who and Rolling Stones to Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Rush, Porcupine Tree and Marillion.
Today he puts all that experience, skill and knowledge into Syne Wave and is a key factor in putting Function Over Form together and keeping the band rehearsing on a regular basis during a difficult two years of unplanned band hiatus.