Patrick Dwyer of Fogo Island took a step just a little bit closer to his idol recently. The Music Industry and Performance graduate from College of the North Atlantic (CNA) entered a cover artist contest, performing a stellar version of the Slash hit song
Anastasia.
Slash, the former lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, partnered with
Guitar World magazine in search of the ultimate
Anastasia cover artist. Hundreds of fans sent in videos performing Slash’s new single and Patrick’s version was recognized in the top 20.
Considering he doesn’t remember signing up for the newsletter which advertised the contest, Patrick says it must have been fate that he found out about it.
“When I heard about the contest I was so excited,” Patrick says. “Slash is perhaps my biggest inspiration and I play his style so well that I figured I had a good chance.”
Patrick picked up the guitar at the age of 12, playing songs from artists such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Randy Rhoads and of course, Guns N’ Roses.
“I got addicted to playing Guns N’ Roses music. As soon as I heard Slash you know, I was like ‘that’s it!’ He’s a great guitar player – which is such an understatement. I knew my style was a lot like Slash’s because I was so influenced by his playing, so I felt like I had a good chance of getting somewhere with this contest.”
Patrick says he spent three days practicing the song note-for-note until he felt he had it perfected.
“I recorded the video casually in my kitchen. I knew people would do different takes and piece together different clips so I knew the only way to make my video appear perfectly genuine was to do the whole song from start to finish in one take.”
All of that practicing paid off and he was selected for the top 20. And while he didn’t make it to the top five, Patrick says he was honoured to be recognized out of the hundreds of people who submitted videos.
“I had serious competition for it and I was really excited to make the top 20 considering it was a national competition. I put a lot of work into it but there were so many videos submitted and so many people who did such a great job with the song.”
Patrick even synced the audio to the track after the contest was over and has received numerous positive comments on his YouTube video.
“Great cover dude, enjoyed watching it!” posted Vanquiza. “I presume you already watched my cover, since I'm in the top 5, but I can easily say that your cover also deserved a place there.”
“Best one I’ve seen out of the lot, and the closest,” added leech598.
“It meant a lot to me,” Patrick says of the comments on his video. “To see one of the guys from the top five actually message me and then subscribe to my YouTube channel, I thought it was really cool of him. I was flattered to see the comments and I didn’t get any dislikes to the video so that was awesome.”
Patrick graduated from CNA’s Music Industry and Performance program in 2004 and has been working on his music career ever since. In fact, this isn’t the first contest Patrick has entered. Last summer he put the skills he learned from CNA to good use when he entered, and won, a song writing competition through K-Rock. He took the prize of two VIP tickets to Salmon Fest and the chance to meet Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith.
He has many great things to say of his time spent at CNA.
“Oh my God it was awesome,” he says of the program. “It was a great experience because I got to jam with a lot of different people and that really helped me get better as a musician. I also gained a lot of experience working in a studio environment.”
He also has nothing but positive things to say about instructor Wade Pinhorn.
“Wade helped me out more than any musician that I’ve ever been in contact with. He noticed that I could play guitar well and he made me realize I could push myself even more. I learned a lot of music theory from him which was a push in the right direction,” Patrick continues.
“Those two years I spent over in Stephenville I grew so much musically. I owe most of that to him. He is a great guy, an awesome musician and an awesome teacher. You really learn a lot from the program as a musician and an entrepreneur.”
Patrick continues to put all of those skills to good use. He currently lives in Conception Bay South where he teaches guitar to more than 40 people each week and can regularly be found on George Street jamming with a couple of cover bands. In his spare time he continues to create new music as a hobby.
“Being creative balances me out from the whole cover music scene. When you play other people’s music for so long you feel the desire to create your own music. It’s only a hobby for me. I’m keeping as busy as I can. My job keeps me on my feet. It’s very rewarding to help other people musically.”
To view Patrick’s entry for the
Anastasia cover artist contest visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7X47bsHxMA&noredirect=1.
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Media Contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709.643.6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca