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Jane Mangini collaborates with TSO drummerJeff Plate on Alta Reign’s new album UPON THE HORIZON from Rat Pak Records

Alta Reign, the band featuring Trans-Siberian Orchestra drummer Jeff Plate and keyboardist Jane Mangini released their sophomore effort, Upon the Horizon, via Rat Pak Records on November 24, 2023. Coming off the heels of their successful 2021 release, Mother’s Day, the band’s latest prog-rock opus features 10 new studio tracks, including the bonus track “Beneath the Rose,” which is a tribute to the late Paul O’Neill and sees fellow TSO bandmates Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli on guitars. 

Regarding Upon the Horizon, Jeff Plate states, “With the positive reception of our debut album Mother’s Day and a sense of pride in our accomplishment, we realized that our second offering needed to be on the same level, so we took it upon ourselves to improve every aspect of what we had previously done, and we feel that Upon the Horizon has done exactly that.”  

Jane Mangini adds, “This is a very talented group of musicians.  Each adds their own unique sound and personality. The band’s idea and vision is very different and heavier than anything I have worked on before and I think people will really enjoy it!” 

From the album’s opening riffs, to the mindful closer “Beneath the Rose,” Alta Reign has once again creatively combined melodic, progressive and hard rock music to create a unique landscape for the listener. Influenced by many, yet following no one, Alta Reign has pushed their boundaries to create another unique and powerful album!

BUY IT HERE

Read the Sonic Perspectives review by Jonathan Smith.

Live performance of “Defy” by Alta Reign on their new album Upon the Horizon from Rat Pak Records.

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Jane Mangini is featured artist in Heavyocity interview January 2022

Heavyocity interview with Jane

HEAVYOCITY, January 2022 — Jane Mangini is an accomplished artist, performer, composer, producer, and sound designer, and has been for decades. Her illustrious career includes collaborations with Rick Berlin, the band Alta Reign, and a 20+-year-run as the keyboardist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She sat down with us to talk about her love/hate relationship with performing, her creative process, and her tips for fending off writer’s block (which we completely cosign on). Check out the full interview.

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JANE MANGINI & RICK BERLIN — longstanding friends, bandmates and laughing fools — have collaborated!

Introducing The Cha Cha Club!

The Cha Cha Club — 10 new songs by Jane & Rick!

Here’s the story of The Cha Cha Club according to Rick:

I had to have a tooth pulled in New Jersey, not far from the Poconos where Jane and Travis live. Time to visit. We wine and dine and float on a pontoon around their gorgeous lake. Then Jane and I head down a path to her Moose Lodge Studio to hear her self-created “calliope” tracks for a Nickel & Dime song (CARNIVAL) — at an explosive volume. (Both our ears are shot.)

 A lightbulb flash.

 “Jane. We should learn a bunch of my tunes and play out at least once as a duo.”

 “As long as I can pick the songs.” (Lakeland drawl.)

 “You pick, I’ll sing.”

We left it at that til I got home and realized we should make a record. For the Nickel & Dime band, Jane would come up with her parts and fly them to TJ to blend into the band’s tracks. No need to contaminate ourselves in a live studio environment. For THE CHA CHA CLUB Jane did the same, but this time, ALL the tracks and sent ‘em to me to sing over. TA DA! An ancient drag queen smashed a bottle of nasty Brut on The Great Ship Cha Cha (actually a row boat) and we set sail.

I sent her 29 demos to choose from — songs the Nickel & Dime band would never learn. (The Cha Cha Club being the only one I nudged her on and the first she recorded).

Here’s the thing — JANE PLAYS EVERYTHING! I mean it. A one-woman musical decathlon. Drums, percussion, bass, guitar, trumpet, tuba, trombone, sax, organ, stand-up bass, harmonica… You name it, she plays it. Samples that don’t sound sampled. A vocal here ‘n there. Incredible varied tracks built up for the 10 songs she chose. I wrote ‘em, but in the same way Nickel & Dime rehearses my songs, Jane translated them into her own masterful musical planetarium. (I’d use the ‘G’ word here but she’d be embarrassed.) She has faultless musical taste. Each song treated genre specific and vibe appropriate. I sang ‘em here at home via GarageBand. Jane wove what I did into the mix (although I spent some time at Bitch Kitty with TJ re-EQ-ing a bit to make them, well, less GarageBandy).

Finally, I edited 8 of the 10 songs as music videos for our YouTube Channel THE CHA CHA CLUB NOIR

Back cover of The Cha Cha Club by Jane & Rick

Buy The Cha Cha Club