A Storm Hits the Waters of Lethe
Local Artist Creates An Epic
By Mike Ferrari ©2003
In a time where the 3 minute pop song rules the airwaves, a local artist dares to attempt what few commercial artists attempt these days; ­ create an epic song. An artistic creation of both depth and length, and hopefully impact. The artist is Joe Piket and his band the Storm, the epic song is "The Waters of Lethe".

Joe Piket is the son of internationally acclaimed composer Frederick Piket, and Joe is a well-known, respected artist in his own right. He is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and lead singer/keyboard player for JOE PIKET AND THE STORM, a rock act that has been described by this publisher as "the Bruce Springsteen of Long Island" (Aural Fix, April 2003), and by others as "a more edgy Billy Joel". Joe Piket, who is an ASCAP writer and publisher, makes his living in New York as a working musician playing and recording his own songs as well as other people¹s material. Piket¹s own songs have a musical and lyrical integrity worthy of that of a Springsteen or Joel with a real blue collar rock and roll flavor. In the past year, JOE PIKET AND THE STORM has appeared with Jason Bonham, son of legendary Led Zep drummer John, Dee Snyder (of Twisted Sister), and Randy Jackson of Zebra. They have charted on CMJ, and music from their debut CD, TEMPEST, is currently being played on most of the college stations in the tri-state area, as well as nationally. They have previously garnered rave reviews in Newsday, Good Times, Aural Fix, and L.I.E., as well as many on-line publications.

While most of his songs to date (off his solo CD NINE TIMES FRAMED and THE STORM's debut CD, TEMPEST) are straight ahead rockers mixed with a few slower ballads, Piket decided he would like to try a new direction for his muse.

"I had been thinking about doing something different for the next CD, something a bit more sophisticated, and this concept piece, this mini-epic, was it. As for the lyrics, meaningful lyrics have always been really important to me; this time I just wanted to write a longer story."

Being a big fan of bands like Yes, ELP, and Kansas, bands that write extended pieces and play in unusual time signatures, Piket decided it was time to create his epic after being inspired by the story of the River Lethe at a lecture he attended two years ago.

The River Lethe was a mythical river, similar to the River Styx, where the souls of the dead went after their time on Earth had ended. Upon reaching Lethe, these souls were given a chance at eternal life by drinking from its waters. Having drunk from those waters, however, they would immediately lose all memory of their time on Earth...their loved ones, their family, their friends... all of their experiences would be forgotten, lost to them forever. The concept fascinated Piket and prompted him to research the myth. From this research a story began to materialize, originally about twelve pages worth, and eventually boiling down to six pages of lyrics before any music was written.

Is it is worth the price to drink from the Waters of Lethe? This is what Piket's epic tries to answer. I often ask songwriters "do you write the music or the words first?" and in Piket's case the answer was "I've written both ways, but in this case, the story had to be there before I could know what the music would sound like. Some of the music seemed to suggest itself, especially the parts that are in odd time signatures, and some of the music came from ideas that I had been waiting to use".

Piket told us that one wall of his studio is covered with bits and scraps of paper, which he calls his "wall of ideas", where he drew some of the music from. He finished most of the music for "Lethe" about a year ago.

Joe Piket and the Storm started rehearsing "Lethe" in the beginning of 2003. As the band worked on it it evolved, with guitarist Dave Connolly developing ideas for guitar solos and supporting melodies as well as collaborating with Piket on musical passages. Piket also started writing bass lines for Dave Herbert and a couple of months later they began working in the drums. During all this time the band was still playing out almost every week, until the Summer when they felt ready to bring "Lethe" into the studio.

The Lethe recording process was almost as epic as the myth and the writing process, as it was recorded and mastered at several locations: Hollow Body Studios on Long Island, and Four Cats Studios and WorldWide Audio in New York City. The epic also features guest vocalists Jason Perrillo (of Braindoll) and Sue M.

A concern for the band before they began recording was overdubbing. The band did not want to go beyond the point of no return, where they could not recreate the piece live, something that would jeopardize the integrity they had created with their live performance reputation. Finally they decided to just focus on maiking the best CD they could make, and if the song was going to be different live, hopefully the live energy of the performance would compensate. As it turned out, the band found that they could duplicate just about everything they had recorded. "It was like the recording just forced us to work a little harder", Piket said.

The finished product has been compared to the music of King Crimson, Yes, and Queen by those who have already heard it (and we here at AF concur!). Since the full piece is 14-minutes, the band knew they would also need a shorter version for radio play, so they created a four-minute radio-edit version of "Lethe" at WorldWide Audio, NYC. By the time you read this it will have arrived at some 350 college stations. The new CD will have both versions on it, along with some other material, including a cover of a Billy Joel tune recorded at Cove City with Richie Cannata. It should be available shortly after the beginning of the year. In the meantime, you can hear the radio-edit version at their web site, JOEPIKET.COM.