Frederick Serafim

Primary site for Frederick's rock fusion incorporating many diverse stylistic influences, with lyrics based upon personal experience, informed spiritually agnostic humanitarianism, and political independence.

"Hi Frederick, I liked the lyrical concept, the musical arrangements, musicianship and vocals... ....you are on the right track with your songwriting. Wishing you success with your music, Mike" (Moody Blues co-founder Mike Pinder, 2018 R&R Hall of Famers)

F. J. Serafim - Vocals, Electric/Acoustic/Synth Guitars, Synthesizers, Pianos, Bass & Production

Song order is based upon technical considerations such as recency of track upload and not any intended sonic or creative merit. Playlists and albums are the more efficient method of exploring this site.

Licensing only upon direct contact with artist.

I first started doing paid performances at the age of 16. My last string of performances was from 2005 to 2008 with Cryterion. However, these days it would take an unrealistically attractive opportunity to get me out of my comfortable, hassle-free, retirement lifestyle, especially when considering my worsening arthritis. Though I still engage in a modicum of promotion, I've generally never been much interested in marketing, though I do respond to feedback, and sometimes network with other artists. The music is here if people happen to be so inclined. It has been created primarily for the sake of my own psycho-spiritual well-being, and it is representative of the successful culmination of my creative and ideological, self-developmental efforts.

My family came to Canada in 1908 after emigrating from a town in the Venetian hinterland, where the most celebrated member, Santo Serafino (also known as Sanctus Seraphinus, Latinized), was a graduate of the same artisanal college as Stradivarius, and in the mid 1700's produced Seraphinus violins, the best of which today sell for hundreds of thousands. (Online, I use the more common international spelling of my name.)

Yes, starting when I was young in the late 60's and 70's. It paid fairly well and the audiences were often large and enthusiastic. However, over time, live performance became increasingly unattractive for rock musicians. While rap, hip hop, electronic and synth-pop audiences were encouraging new original artists to perform using cost-effective prerecorded back up tracks, rock audiences were still busy demanding that local full ensemble bands play only cover tunes and work for peanuts. This lack of grassroots financial and creative incentive led to the demise of rock. Also, people started getting tired of having their ears blown off by rock bands with limited ability to attenuate their volume in smaller venues. None of this is to say that rock bands don't use prerecorded backing tracks, they do, especially some bigger names, but they do it deceptively. Earlier, the Big Band era died out under very similar circumstances, by where their financial overhead became unattenable.

I've always appreciated a wide spectrum of music beyond my own personal styles, and some of my early musical favourites, back when high economy of scale production costs necessitated label support, ranged through multiple styles and genres. However, my top musical as well as lyrical favourite, was always the Moody Blues, and in particular, the principal (I would say) original co-founder and mellotron proponent, Mike Pinder (1941-2024), though Thomas and Edge contributed much as well. Therefore, when we exchanged emails when he first appeared on the net, I was very pleased. He was a very singular artist and a wonderful man. At a time when synths were only capable of bleeps and squawks, he and the Moodys were fusing rock with symphonic elements using the analog tape based orchestral mellotron, - an instrument he helped develop while working as a quality control inspector at the Streetly Electronics plant; and then later introduced it to the Beatles on songs like "Strawberry Fields". Great voice and philosophy based lyrics too; and for a Hall of Fame rock star, quite genuinely modest and wise, especially in the choice of hiring Hayward and Lodge as the front men of the band's 2nd 1966 incarnation.

I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of "superstar" status. It's a form of false idol worship, and though I generally don't blame the artists themselves, it's an unhealthy product of an overblown capitalist system and intrinsically flawed human nature, prone to cattle mentality behaviour. Some top stars have themselves scoffed at this phenomenon, especially regarding astronomical ticket prices. Even when I was young, much as I liked the Beatles, I viewed Beatlemania with clinical suspicion; and now for me, the near "gladiatorial" spectacle of superstardom has become a worn out cliche, symptomatic of a species on the road towards glorious extinction.

My main guitar is an electric/acoustic/synth access Godin LGX-SA. I use Roland keyboard-synth workstations, plus various microphones, processors and software applications, my favorite being Adobe Audition 3.0. Although I occasionally perform and jam with other musicians, my chief interest and source of enjoyment has always been in embracing the entire recording process as a solo artist, from the initial creative spark, through arranging and performing the tracks, to engineering the final sonic masters. After decades of recording analog demos, I started throwing down digital tracks in the mid 90's on a Roland VS880 hard drive recorder, knowing that everything could be continually remastered at my leisure. My rationale at the time was similar to that of Dylan and The Band recording the Basement Tapes, but with the digital advantage, though without the commercial reach. Though I do use digital editing, I shun automatic arrangers, arpeggiators, vocal auto-tuners, and AI (except on one parody tune), and specifically compose or spontaneously improvise every note of my music, and generally record my vocals in 1 or 2 takes. I try to combine appealing melodies with more complex chordal progressions and arrangements, and strive to achieve the greatest stylistic variability I can attain within a rock blend framework, but not to the degree where it impinges upon quality, or the enjoyment I derive from the creative process.

To read "Commentaries of the Libran Sense" go to: https://www.cryterion.com

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