Aria News
Kevin McCormick and his new Aria:
Kevin McCormick, the bassist for such legendary musicians as Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills and Nash, recently visited Dana B. Goods to pick up his new Aria AC-75CB/4. This special instrument is a 4-string contrabass guitar that Aria first announced to the public at this year's Winter NAMM Show. Kevin was drawn to this instrument's deep tone and amazing resonance.
Dealer Profile - Willits Musician Supply:
We are very proud to introduce you to Willits Musician Supply! Located in beautiful Willits, California, WMS is owned and operated by Heather and Kevin Moynahan. Heather and Kevin have a great inventory of instruments and also offer lessons and repairs.
Willits Musician Supply are strong supporters of Aria and keep a great number of Aria guitars and basses on the wall at all time. Just check out their website to see how much they love Aria: www.willitsmusic.com/
You can also check out this article to learn more about this great store!
Be sure to stop by Willits Musicians Supply and say "hi" to Heather and Kevin the next time you are in the area!
Guitar World spotlights the DM-380:
Guitar World magazine recently shot a video spotlight of the DM-380 guitar in the new sea foam green finish. You can watch the video by going to www.guitarworld.com/article/gear_spotlight_aria_dm380 . All of the guitar playing you hear in the background of the video is Paul Riario jamming on the DM-380. Great playing, Paul!
Guitar World will be arranging a giveaway of that very guitar so be sure to visit www.guitarworld.com to learn all of the details.
The Lurvey Sisters play Aria:
Eliza and Raya Lurvey, daughters of Mark Lurvey (the guitarist for Jamie Lee Thurston) are an incredible duo. Following in the sizeable footsteps of their father, they write their own songs and have vocal harmonies that are the envy of the industry. Recently they held an impromptu jam at a vacation house with their family and friends.
Their guitars of choice? Aria of course!
Chuck Rainey plays the SWB-04:
The titles "Living Legend" and "Musical Genius" get thrown around pretty easily these days, but Chuck Rainey has earned both monikers many times over. His resume reads like a Who's Who of music icons and his grooves are the Holy Grail for every bassist who wants to create timeless basslines.
Recently, Chuck Rainey met with Aria's Toshi Matsumura to talk about one of his favorite basses, the Aria SWB-04! The two gentlemen talked at length about the SWB-04's tone and playability.
Mr. Rainey was in Japan, performing shows with Marlena Shaw and Harvey Mason. Be sure to check out Chuck when he plays near you!
Aria rocks the Summer NAMM Show:
This year's Summer NAMM show in Nashville, TN was a huge success for Aria! Even though the tough economic times might have reduced the overall attendance for the show, you would have never guessed by the traffic in the Aria and D'Aquisto booth that U.S. distributor Dana B. Goods hosted. For a major portion of all three days countless players and music store employees stopped by to play the guitars and basses and to share their favorite Aria memories.
One of the displays that received the most attention featured the Diamond Series instruments. The DM-380 and DMB-380 are some of this year's top-selling Aria axes, and Dana B. Goods introduced three new finishes, the white with black pickguard, black with white pickguard and stunning sea foam green finish. Player after player comment how great the Diamond Series sound and play, impressed by the modern take on a vintage instrument.
It was also great to have so many famous players visit the booth! Classic rock icon Nokie Edwards (pictured at left with Aria's Toshi Matsumura) stopped by and spent time with everyone in the booth, telling great stories and proving once again that he is one of the nicest guys in the industry. Rick Derringer also stopped by and checked out some of the D'Aquisto guitars. What a great player!
Bassist David Roe (Johnny Cash, Nashville session giant) was able to take time from his busy schedule to hang out at the booth. He was very excited to see the SB-1000RI! As it turns out, he used to play one in the 70's. He told us that he thinks the SB-1000RI is "the best funk bass ever made!" After checking out the new version of this classic bass David asked if he could try it on a gig, which we quickly agreed to. That night David played the SB-1000RI with the Don Kelley
Band at "Robert's", the legendary Nashville bar. (Pictured on the left)
All in all, we had a great time in Nashville and sincerely thank everyone who visited us!
Guitarist wins a PE-Exo:
We recently sent a PE-Exo to Guitar World so they could review it and shoot a video of it. (You can see the video by going to the Aria MySpace site) After Guitar World finished review this killer axe we asked them to give it away to one of their readers. The drawing was held and the winner is Joshua Zirkle! Joshua recently sent us this great email:
"I am the humbled owner of the Aria PE-Exo that I won from Guitar World. To put how I feel into words is hard.....but here goes: I have seen and heard of Aria over my 20+ years of guitar playing adventure. I havent had the honor and never took the time to try them out.....until now. Upon winning this model I have a new appreciation and love of Aria and its equipment. I am a Gibson owner and they are not even in the same league! Considering you would pay three times as much for a guitar that plays this well with not even close to these features and tone is unreal. This thing easily proves how domestic guitars builders are no longer in charge of the market. I am proud to be an owner of this beautiful masterpiece. Oh, yes, everyone that sees it "ohhhhs" and "ahhhhs" over it and when I start playing jaws hit the floor! It's killer! Thanks and keep up the good work!"
Enjoy the new PE-Exo, Joshua!
Aria shines at the Musikmesse:
Last month Aria exhibited at the MusikMesse, which is annual musical instrument showcase that is held in Frankfurt, Germany, and the response from the attendees was phenomenal! With a great deal of planning and a ton of hard work, Aria was able to display their entire line
of instruments and accessories, including the new PE-RX80, SB-RI, and SWB-03SHX.
"Thank you all for coming to Aria party on the second night." comments Terry Kurimoto, Aria's Director of International Sales. "It is such pleasure to see all the Aria supporters from all over the world. We strive to make it better every year!"
Wailin' Toshi plays the Nagoya Dome:
On March 14th of this year Aria's own Toshi Matsumura, the Manager of International Sales, was proud to perform at the "Flower Dome Festival" at the legendary Nagoya Dome in Japan.
Toshi (known as Wailin' Toshi to his friends!) played his Aria TA-70 to support Japan's premier Taisho-Goto
group "Shikinokai". Taisho-Goto is a traditional string instrument from Taisho-Era
and all six members are established instructors with many students.
The group has played at the Tokyo Dome, Carnegie Hall, and other big cultural events around the country.
Wailin' Toshi was very pleased with his rather unusual debut at the Dragons' home stadium!
Dealer Profile - BRG Music of Perry:
In Perry, Iowa there is an amazing music store that is stacked to the rafters with killer guitars, basses and other such temptations for us weak musicians to drool over. The store is called BRG Music of Perry and they are an authorized Aria dealer. More than that, owner Steve Parnell (pictured with a PE-1000 RI) and his sales staff are all huge Aria fans and supporters.
"As a dealer, I really like the Aria line, and am very pleased that we can get the best selling models thru Dana B. Goods!" says Steve. "Classic body shapes with modern refinements at great price points … guitars I can be proud to put in my customers’ hands. As a player I like Aria guitars because every one I’ve picked up feels solid, sounds great, and is just fun to play!"
Thanks, Steve! If you want to check out BRG Music you can go to www.brgmusic.net/, or better yet, give them a call at 877-465-7710. You will find that Steve and his crew are friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about Aria instruments!
The A-Team is Shaping Up:
One of the primary goals that we sought to achieve with the AriaUSA website was to create an online club for all Aria fanatics to gather in. Dubbed the "A-Team", this club has been designed to be OF the Aria people, FOR the Aria people and BY the Aria people.
Although the A-Team pages are not fully realized, you can go there now and find an in-depth review of the Aria PE-Exo guitar and an interview with David Henninger, the guitarist/vocalist for NY metal band Spater, and the founder of the Finger Lakes Metal Fest.
Still to come will be an A-Team Member Gallery, where Aria players can share their Aria stories and pics with other A-Team members. If you have an Aria guitar or bass and you would like to share your story and pics with us, simply email them to DaleT@danabgoods.com.
Also, plans are in the works for an Aria forum where all A-Team members can contribute their thoughts and ask their questions!
You can check out the A-Team by clicking this link.
Winter NAMM Report:
This was a very special Winter NAMM Show for Aria! Not only was it the public announcement of Aria's relationship with Dana B. Goods, their new exclusive US distributor, but it was a grand reintroduction of Aria's products to American music stores.
Aria had over seventy guitars and basses on display, an impressive array of everything from their historic line of electric guitars to their legendary classical instruments. The throngs of NAMM show attendees enjoyed beaing able to play such a wide variety of instruments all in one booth.
"We could not be happier with how the Show is going," comments Dale Titus, Dana B. Goods' Marketing Communications Manager. "I cannot tell you how many times I have watched someone walking by our booth, only to stop and say 'I used to have an Aria!'. People really seem to be excited about Aria!"
Having such an impressive display at the Winter NAMM Show was the perfect way to kick of 2009. This will be a landmark year in the history of Aria!
Calling All Aria Players:
Aria has been building guitars and basses for over 50 years, so it is not surprising that so many musicians have played or are still playing Aria. It is for that reason that we want to hear from you! Do you have a picture, either old or new, of you with your Aria instrument? We want to see it? Do you have a great story about you and your Aria guitar or bass? Road story? Studio victory? We want to read it!
Very soon there will be a section of this website dedicated to Aria players and fanatics. We call it the A-Team. The A-Team will be a meeting place for players to share stories, share photos and share there music. Aria collectors can showcase their instruments for all other players to drool over. If you used an Aria instrument on a new recording you can promote it to all of the other A-Team members.
While the creation of the actual page is still in development, we still need your help. Please send your pics and stories to Dale Titus at DaleT@danabgoods.com. He will make sure they get included at the launch of the A-Team page. Thanks!
Dana B. Goods is new US Aria Distributor:
Aria is very proud to announce that Dana B. Goods has been chosen as the exclusive US Distributor for all Aria products. Based in beautiful Ventura, California, Dana B. Goods is an industry-leading distributor of fine musical products, with an great reputation for excellent customer service.
Dana B. Goods operates out of a facility that is just over 20,000 square feet in size, with 1,600 of that being office space. Housed within that building is an excellent service department, an impressive warehouse, and an office complex that utilizes leading-edge technologies. The Dana B. Goods staff is made up entirely of musicians, giving them a unique perspective and appreciation for the work they do. That is why the music stores of America enjoy doing business with Dana B. Goods.
Please join us in welcoming Dana B. Goods into the Aria family!