Christian Leibfried:

01.    The Beatles    1967-1970
My best friend Tony across the street was much more musically adventurous than me.  I listened to big band music, classical, musicals and my mom played some country sometimes at home.   Tony convinced my to listen to a Barry Manilow record.  I think it was Greatest Hits from 1978.  I checked it out and listened and recognized some of the songs, but it sounded like show tunes to me.  It didn’t seem like something for me.  So I returned it thinking rock wasn’t my bag.  Tony then said if I didn’t like that to check out the Beatles.  I knew of the early Beatles and things like I want to hold your hand, etc.  I thought that is not going to be like that, but I took it anyway knowing I was going to return it that day.   I put it on my parents stereo in the living room put on the record, side 1 and the mellotron drifted into the room and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was music like I hadn’t heard before, unconventional and creative.  It really opened my eyes and I didn’t give that record back for a month until he asked for it.

02.    Led Zeppelin    IV
One afternoon I heard Stairway to Heaven on the radio and I was intrigued by the journey it took me on listening to it, the disc jockey rattled off the name of the band and I knew I had to hear that again.   I hadn’t heard an epic rock song like that before.  So I went out and found that song on a record in the local record store, debated on spending my money on it for just one song, and thought I thought I was blowing my money I bought it.  I just knew I wanted to check that song out again, and at that time you either waited to hear it again on radio or you went and got the record and brought it home, so that’s what I did.  I put on side one, sat on my bed and I can still remember hearing the guitar scratch like like a mysterious key unlocking an invisible closed door followed by the vocals pushing it open calling me to look through and then the band whipped in like a strong gale blowing the door wide open and taking me on a journey that never stopped.  The energy of the band was giant and the guitars were captivating and I knew Rock n' Roll was something I wanted to learn how to do.  I bought an acoustic guitar soon after.

03.    Rush    Moving Pictures
I discovered this record when I trying to form my first band.  The music and lyric’s were inspiring to me because they had a different, I suppose intellectual, sophistication and a significance which communicated and challenged me.  This record, along with other Rush records, pushed me to reach for more in lyrical and musical writing and influenced my guitar playing towards more musical phrasing rather than just speed. 

04.    U2    Joshua Tree    
I was deep into metal and metal/thrash/punk crossover when I discovered this album and the atmosphere and feel of this album just hit me and I listened to it over and over in the CoOp I lived in at the time. I suppose this was just a record that fit my emotional state at the time.  U2 was a band I hadn’t been interested in listening to prior and I heard this on the radio.  The guitar playing opened up experimentation with guitar effects, which I have yet to master and implement, but musically atmosphere became part of my musical and guitar playing goals.

05.    Poison 13    Poison 13    &    Black Flag    Slip It In
These two records had the same influence on me, the guitars on these records are gritty and loose and the underground vibe of these records changed my goals on guitar from being a metal shredder (which wasn’t in my finger DNA) to a guitar player who went for vibe over technique.  These records gave me license to play guitar the way I could play guitar and put feel into the notes instead of speed.  I love these records because they are raw, uncompromising and unapologetic for being what they are.

Bryan Tulao:

01.    The Jackson 5    Greatest Hits
As a little kid, from as early as I can remember, my favorite 'group' was the Jackson 5. I had all the Motown 45's in a carry box, and besides the Jackson 5 Christmas Record, I mostly listened to their Greatest Hits record. I had started singing in a church choir around 8 or 9 years old, and I was Always singing. I used to sing at the top of my lungs along to that Jackson 5 records. It was a HUGE influence on me. I loved soul music ( and in my family home, my parents mostly listened to Soul, funk, and jazz music ). This record, and songs like "Never can say goodbye", "Who's lovin you", "ABC" we're my favorite , and made me dream of being a singer.

02.    Led Zeppelin    III
This was the first "Rock" record that I went out and got myself ( I actually ran in and stole it from the bin at the Sherman Oaks 'Music Plus' store ). I must've been 10 or 11 years old I had only heard Zeppelin on the radio, but I didn't know which albums the songs I liked were on ( "Black Dog", "Dazed & Confused ", "Whole lotta love" ). I had also just started playing guitar ( the beginning of a life long Jimmy Page obsession) , and I wanted to see if I could figure out some songs by listening to the record in my bedroom ( this was literally THE record I had my first of many experiences teaching myself songs/ music by ear). I thought the Zeppelin 3 album artwork looked cool, so I grabbed that one. When I got home and listened to it, it was way different than what I expected (especially side 2 which was mostly accoustic songs). But that record taught me ( as a guitar player) about dynamics , heavy and textural sounds, open tunings, use of effects. This was the record that opened up my mind and ears to playing guitar. And opened up my ear to listen to music not just for 'the song', but what each instrument, sound, groove and feel were doing within the song.

03.    Van Halen    1
I was 11 years old when VH debut record came out, and I still clearly remember the first time I heard it. My friend was mowing his front lawn a couple houses down from mine, and whenever we'd do yard work we'd drag our family stereo system and speakers out on the front porch and crank whatever records we had. From half a block away I could hear these crazy dive bomb sounds mixed with some crazy electric Beethoven scales blaring over the my friends very loud lawn mower. I ran over to him and yelled " what are you playing"!!! He replied "this is Van Halen! This song is called "Eruption"!!! I made him turn the lawn mover off and play that song again. I had no idea it was even a "guitar" making that sound cause I'd never heard anything like that before. I was floored. I was also newly learning, and obsessed with playing the guitar, so hearing Eddie Van Halen for the first time literally blew my mind apart. By the time the record player needle hit the song " I'm the one" I was crushed. Crushed that I would never be able to play guitar as amazing as EVH, Crushed that I was only a mere mortal, crushed that I didn't have my own copy of VH 1. That record opened an entire universe of possibilities with guitar, tones, effects , energy. It was the record that made me dream of, and want to be in a rock band and to be a "rock" guitarist ( only to be cemented when I saw them play at the Los Angeles forum, my very first rock concert experience).

04.    Siouxsie and the Banshees    JuJu
In high school I was mostly listening to punk rock, post punk, Death Rock music. My friend had made me a "mix tape" that had a couple of Banshee songs on it ("Arabian Knights", & "Nightshift"). I was already a Siouxsie fan, and loved her voice, lyrics and vibe. But on the JuJu record , it was John McGeoch's guitar playing, sounds & tones that really pulled me in.  I'd listen to this record on repeat trying to figure out the chords and effects John Mcgeoch was using in these songs ( and frustratingly, had extreme difficulty figuring it out on guitar on my own). I actually ran out and bought an MXR Flanger when I read in a magazine that that was his main effect throughout the record. JuJu has been a huge impact on me, and in my approach to guitar tones, and phrasing. HUGE.

05.    Janes Addiction    Triple X EP
Around 1986 I had first seen Janes addiction play a backyard party in LA. I hated them. A year later I saw them play some weird little club about 40minutes south of LA, and watching them set up to play I realized  that the band I thought I saw play at the party was only just The drummer & guitarist playing some cover songs with some buddies. When they opened their set with the first Bass notes and tom hits of "Whores", then launched in with "GodAAAAm"!!!!! It was like being hit by a sonic tsunami. I bought their EP that night and listened to it continuously. It was like Zeppelin if they had listened to a lot of Bauhaus and Banshees. It was dark, beautiful, ominous, and intimate. It reminded me of Zeppelin 3, with side A being heavy rock, and side B being mostly accoustic and intimate. This record made me absolutely sure I wanted to be in a band. And a band with diversity, depth, dark & light. I hear any song from this record and I'm immediately transported to a very exciting and favorite time in my life and living in Los Angeles.