Randy Coven Witch Way Tracks: 1. Island Dream 2. Ryders on the Storm 3. Love Kitchen 4. Poem 5. Funk You 6. Tree II 7. Darklight 8. Therapy Line up: Randy Coven - Bass Leslie West - Guitar Al Pitrelli - Guitar Jim Hickey - Guitar John Macaluso - Drums Jeff Shapiro - Piano, Keyboards Paul Morris - Keyboards Delmar Brown - Keyboards Joe Chirco - Drums Scott McGille - Keyboards Record Label / Year of Release: Lion Music Finland 2002 Notes: Randy Coven is from the same Long Island breeding ground as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. In fact, Jeff Berlin was a neighbor of his who offered some guidance and inspiration for Randy's Life Long Love of Music and The Bass Guitar. After High School and various Hendrix and Zeppelin cover bands Randy went to Berklee College of Music. It was there where Randy got to meet and play with other musicians from all over the world. Ironically, one of them would be from his own backyard Steve Vai. A mutual friend saw both Randy and Steve play and thought they would play great together so they were formally introduced and formed a band called Morning Thunder. Morning Thunder also featured boards David Rosenthal (Billy Joel, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, Cindy Lauper) and Eddie Rogers on drums. This was a band where any member could bring in a piece of music, learn it and play it no matter how complicated. In fact, the songs on Randy's first solo CD "Funk Me Tender" and the songs from Steve's first solo CD "Flexibal" were originally performed by Morning Thunder. Randy left Morning Thunder to join the Canadian fusion band Orpheus. "The Randy Coven Band" with Todd Turkisher on drums and Jim Hickey on guitar recorded "Funk Me Tender" Randy's debut solo album. This album also features a guest appearance by Steve Vai on the title track. During this time with Guitar Recordings Randy recorded two more solo CDs "Sammy Says Ouch" and "C.P.R" (Coven-Pitrelli-Reilly) which featured an up coming guitarist named Al Pitrelli, who has now played with the likes of Alice Cooper and Megadeth. Leslie West was looking to record another solo record and reform the group Mountain, yes you know. Mississippi Queen. Randy recorded the record "Dodging the Dirt" in San Francisco and formed a friendship with Leslie then on August 21, 1997. The mighty reunion of Mountain took place (at a sold out show) at the Ritz in New York City featuring: Leslie West, Corky Laing, and Randy Coven on Bass. After the Ritz they went on to headline Show's throughout the USA and Europe and play festival's with likes of Deep Purple, Johnny Winter, Motorhead, etc. After a couple of years as a sideman, Randy needed to return to his roots and started recording his fourth CD "Witch Way". During this time he got a call from Yngwie Malmsteen. Yngwie said he needed a Bass player right away for a world tour to support his Alchemy CD. Most recently, Randy completed his bass tracks for keyboard virtuoso, Vitalij Kuprijs solo album, entitled Revenge. Bassist extraordinaire Randy Coven states, "Today, during all this chaos, I have found myself returning to my fusion roots on my latest CD Witch Way. This CD represents all the years of pent up musical energy I needed to release, or Iwill explode CD! " The album features guest guitarists such as Leslie West, Al Pitrelli and Jim Hickey, as well as drummer John Macaluso and keyboardists Delmar Brown and Jeff Shapiro. Included is a fusiony instrumental cover of the Doors' "Ryders On The Storm" as well as an updated version of Coven's own "Tree", entitled (of course) "Tree II". Pitrelli also chips in with songrwiting credits on "Island Dream" and "Darklite". Instrumental Guitar (Electric/Fusion). Re-issues on Rock Empire (2003) and Just For Kicks (2006)