Rewiring Genesis

Mark Hornsby has a deep background in audio technology and the music business. As a studio owner, Mark co-owned Ridenour Studios, one of the largest recording and rehearsal studios in South Florida, who's clients included New Found Glory, Foreigner, Ricky Martin, Joey Kramer, Steve Winwood, and Johnny Depp, just to name a few. As a sound designer, he has developed and consulted on plug-in development for a variety of high-profile audio technology companies including IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality and writes a regular column for Recording Magazine on music production. As an engineer, he won two awards for engineering in the a cappella field, and has worked with a number of highly-successful artists in the rock and contemporary christian genres. Mark currently resides in Nashville, where he is based out of Java Jive studio.

Nick D'Virgilio is an American drummer and singer, also known as "NDV". Perhaps best known as a member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard, D'Virgilio took over lead vocals in 2002 and has since recorded three studio CDs: "Feel Euphoria", "Octane", and the self titled "Spock's Beard". In addition, they have released the live CD "Gluttons For Punishment" and the newly released live DVD “Spock’s Beard Live”. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Collins in Genesis on the "Calling All Stations" album. While living outside of LA, he continues to do sessions and tours with many artists including Tears for Fears, Kevin Gilbert, Jonatha Brooke, Eric Burdon, Mike Keneally, and Fates Warning.

A Nashville-based recording engineer/producer and a Los Angeles-based performer have teamed up to create a unique twist on a classic Genesis album. This fall, Nick D'Virgilio of Spock's Beard fame and engineer/producer Mark Hornsby are re-recording the Genesis classic: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, in it's entirety. Produced at Java Jive Studio in Nashville, the album features some of Music City’s best musicians, taking the songs in a whole new direction.

"We wanted to see what would happen if we exposed the songs to a different climate of musicians," says D'Virgilio, "The early Genesis recordings are so musical and very bluesy when you get right down to it. They really lend themselves to some different interpretations."

Although all of the original elements of the songs are still included such as drums, bass, guitar and piano, the recordings now take on a more "theatrical" vibe. This, coupled with orchestra, rock guitars, and some fantastic horn arrangements, the songs now enter an entirely different place.

"We had talked about doing something like this for awhile," says Hornsby, "With the recent attention our version of The Colony of Slippermen received, and the re-release of the original album in 5.1, the time seemed right to see what we could come up with."