St.J. - Prophesy
St.J. Prophesy's recipe for making excellent Rock:
1. Take a virtuoso South African (living in Saudi Arabia) guitarist with a vision: Mid 2008 -: St.J. - Prophesy is the banner under which Frans JC Martins (St.J.) is pursuing his solo career. The music is a mixture of Progressive Rock, Blues and Jazz/ Rock fusion.
2. Add a super tight South African rhythm section to keep the beat and fill in the bottom end: Mid 2008 - Rici Martins (drums/ synths) and Damian Meyer (bass) (both courtesy of Nova Rise, formerly CHB) form this formidable team.
3. Stir and taste the mix: The verdict - It rocks, but not as well as it could and should: Their first album entitled Beginnings was released on the 18th of April 2009 at Tanz Cafe in Johannesburg, South Africa. The album was recorded, mastered and produced at St.J.'s studio Alternate Minds Studios with St.J performing lead, rhythm and bass guitars and Rici Martins the drums and keyboards. Rici was also co-writer and co producer on the tracks.
4. Find a South African rhythm guitarist and taste again. Hmm, not bad, the mix is not perfect yet, let it simmer for a while: 2011 somewhere - One of the challenges was to find a very capable second guitarist. Having searched and found, they are delighted to welcome on board Bruce Klein, (courtesy of Nova Rise, formerly CHB), capable and rocking, whom so generously offered his services!
5. Search the earth high and low and find a Polish female vocalist with incredible vocal and song writing skills: Mid 2012 - After having to do much convincing they are over the moon to welcome Anna Coates to the mix. Careful, something crazy is about to happen!
6. Stir the mix extremely gently, it might explode! November 2012 - The second album (the first to feature vocals) is released, Desert Rain is going to get you all wet!
7. Pour sound emitting from the mix into a loud audio source: Get a hold of both albums and play it loud!
8. Sit back and enjoy, they have concocted a truly International Rock expericence! Please share the St.J. Prophesy sound with your friends and let them experience the ultimate Rock explosion!
The current line-up is:
Guitar/ Vocals: Frans JC Martins (St.J.)
Vocals/ Guitar: Anna Coates
Drums/ Synths: Rici Martins (courtesy of Nova Rise - formerly Christian Heath Band)
Bass Guitar: Damian Meyer (courtesy of Nova Rise - formerly Christian Heath Band)
Guitarist: Bruce Klein (courtesy of Nova Rise - formerly Christian Heath Band)
St.J. also performs solo live in Saudi Arabia using back tracks.
Frans (St.J.)
Virtuoso guitarist Frans JC Martins, affectionately known as St.J. by friend and foe, started playing music early in his childhood. He diversified on instruments playing piano, drums, guitar and clarinet. Guitar having always been the favourite instrument, it was only natural that this became his main instrument. Self taught and frustrated with his playing he ended up with Jimmy Gillmer and spent around two years studying jazz and a further 6 years of classical training with Jimmy during the late 80’s/ early 90’s.
Transferring the skills he acquired from Jimmy he taught classic and electric guitar and is extremely proud that one of his friends and dedicated pupil, Renier Rabie found international fame. An accomplished guitarist, Renier under the stage name Triserial is the current bassist for Abgott (endorsed by Cort/ Jackson).
The 80’s 90’s was also the period during which he was seen on stage with Top40/ Cover bands like Panama (SA), China White, Rapscallion and an 11 year stint with Shaft. After spending so much time playing the club circuit and covers he decided to take a chance at the original music market and around 2001/2 got involved with Simplicity, which after a split up became Glaze (a hard rock original band). During the same period he met Chris “Manik” Moon and Clifford “DarkLord” Swindells and with them completed the line-up of Atmosphere Control Unit (ACU), an electronic based trio in the Cyber Punk genre.
Just when things started to look good for both bands Glaze broke up and Clifford was tragically lost due to leukaemia. Devastated, St.J then took a sabbatical of a couple of months after which he got involved in some projects which never really quite got off the ground.
One dream of his has always been to do an instrumental project, solely his own. During March 2008 St.J. started a non-music working career in Saudi Arabia with ample time to compose and record music. This, together with the recording studio, Alternate Minds Studios, which was built in 2002 by St.J. and his son Rici Martins (a talented drummer and pianist) provided the means to finally record St.J’s first solo album during 2008/ 2009. The album is a mixture of Progressive Rock, Blues and Jazz/ Rock fusion with St.J. performing all the rhythm, lead and bass guitar parts and Rici, whom amongst others have played for Enism, The Awakening, Subrosa and Nova Rise (formerly Christian Heath Band), the synthesizers and drums.
The album entitled “Beginnings” was released on 18 April 2009 and has had rave reviews and airplay both in South Africa and abroad. Alternate Minds Studios, having been extended to Saudi Arabia is the home where much of the second album "Desert Rain" was recorded.
Rici
Rici Martins, son of Frans (St.J.) is an extremely talented musician. His main instruments, which he also teaches are drums and piano, but he also dabbles at guitar and bass guitar and is currently teaching himself to play the saxophone. He did drums as a matric subject and spent a few years studying drumming under the watchful eye of Neil Ettidge.
In his short but busy music career Rici has in the past played drums for Enism and currently drums for The Awakening, Subrosa and Nova Rise (formerly Christian Heath Band). He is co-writer, drummer and keyboardist on his Dad's material for St.J. - Prophesy Project. He also plays keyboards for Freddie Wessels and has his own solo project in the form of BlueHM.
Rici had successful tours of the USA with The Awakening during 2007 and 2008.
Rici is also a sound engineer and as such runs and manages Alternate Minds Studios South Africa(a joint venture between himself and his Dad) where many a band including Subrosa and Nova Rise (formerly Christian Heath Band) has recorded. The album St.J. - Prophesy Project: Beginnings was recorded and mastered in that studio.
Rici is just back from the USA where his band Nova Rise recorded a few tracks by invitation from Jeff Blue during October 2012. I hope this is the start of huge things for them!
Anna
We are extremely proud an honoured and excited to welcome Anna Coates on board!
Anna is a vocalist and a song writer and was born in communist Poland. A classically trained guitarist bereaved of western music influence until her teens, she thrived as a rhythm guitarist and a lead vocalist in many amateur bands in Gdansk and has always written lyrics and music based on her own emotional experiences.
During her university years she earned her living performing live in local venues, presenting her own work, which resulted in performances in local radio stations and many friendships. To subdue the madness of creation she has travelled the world; lived in Italy, the UK and KSA before returning to Poland in 2012.
Anna is the light of the project. Her amazing songwriting skills and lyric ability brings a new dimension to the band. We look forward to many tunes together!
Damian
Courtesy of Nova Rise
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Bruce
Courtesy of Nova Rise
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