Los Angeles, July 21, 2014- Heaven & Earth, the diverse classic rock band from Los Angeles with a new-school attitude, led by the esteemed British rock-blues guitarist Stuart Smith (Sweet), has just completed their first European Summer Tour. The outstanding, vehement rock album ‘Dig’ from Heaven and Earth (Quarto Valley records), considered among the best rock releases in a long time, captivated rock fans at eleven sold out European shows.
Often compared to iconic bands like Deep Purple and Bad Company, Heaven & Earth’s ‘Dig’ (produced by Dave Jenkins, Metallica) blew European audiences away in every venue they played with their intense and raw live stage performances, fusing the sounds of hard rock, blues, and even classical. UK fans were rocked into a frenzy with explosive songs like ‘Victorious’, ‘Mo Money, No Love’, ‘Man & Machine’ and ‘House Of Blues’.
The band opened in Birmingham, England and traveled by tour bus through Newcastle, Liverpool, and London, to Switzerland for the Montreux Jazz Festival, and on to Munich, and Ingolstadt in Germany and then to the northern tip of Spain before returning to England for gigs in South Hampton and Poole. They wrapped their last inspirited gig in Wales at The Steelhouse Rock Festival.
Led by the master talented lead guitarist Stuart Smith, the exceptionally talented band members include lead singer Joe Retta, who delivers intense vocals while beating the bongo drums and seducing the harmonica, seasoned bass player/vocalist Lynn Sorenson (Bad Company), Australian drummer, Jackie Barnes, son of Australian singing legend Jimmy Barnes, and riveting key boardist Ty Bailie. The album ‘Dig’has special performances from Howard Leese (Heart, Paul Rodgers), David Paich (Toto) and Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi).
Quarto Valley Records president, Bruce Quarto, is the executive producer and driving force behind Heaven and Earth’s incredible successful tour. Quarto Valley Records has been integral in allowing the band to develop and nurture the album without pressure.
“This album is very diverse” said Bruce Quarto “The more you hear it… the better it gets. A lot of critics have said this in
their reviews. I always felt it. That’s why I started my own record company. I didn’t want the band to get a smidgeon of the profits and the record label gets the lion’s share.”
“We are incredibly lucky to have Bruce behind this project,” Stuart Smith says. “He told us from the very beginning that he didn’t care how long it took or how much it cost. If we come out of the studio and feel we could have done better, he wants us to go back in and do it again. We’ve been able to take our time crafting the songs. It’s very rare to have that kind of support and belief in what you’re doing.”
About Bruce Quarto
Bruce S. Quarto, Founder of BSQ Productions, Inc. grew up in Southern California in a small foothill community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, California. He helped start and run a multimillion dollar company named LERETA Corp. In 1986 the company had 16 employees and eventually grew to over 850 by late 2003. At LERETA, he started out as a mainframe systems programmer, specializing in database architecture. Later he became an IT Manager and also sat on the Board of Directors until the company was finally sold to a large billion dollar corporation in early October, 2003.
After a few years of retirement, Mr. Quarto decided he was “too young to grow old” so he decided to use his business and financial success to get back in the game. In 2007-2008 he co-produced a short film called “Intervention” by Aundre Johnson. In 2010 he produced another short film called “The Third Rule”. It stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore and Josh Hutcherson. This film was show cased at Tribeca and also selected as one of the top 5 short films in the International Short Film Festival in Rome called “Corti and Cigarettes”.
In mid 2011 Mr. Quarto teamed up with good friends guitarist Stuart Smith, and Joe Retta, vocalist extraordinaire, to produce the new Heaven & Earth album. This musical project, titled “Dig” has been looked upon as one of the most promising rock albums in more than a decade. David Paich, Howard Leese and Richie Sambora have either added guitar pieces, vocals, and/or string arrangements to a few of the songs. In summer 2012, Mr. Quarto started his own record label called Quarto Valley Records, Inc. to handle the new album. It was later released in April 2013. The band won an award for Best Rock song at the HMMA in late November.
Heaven and Earth Band Members
Joe Retta: Vocals
Stuart Smith: Guitars
Lynn Sorenson: Bass Guitar
Jackie Barnes: Drums
Ty Bailie: Keyboards
Executive Producer: Bruce Quarto
Produced, Engineered & Mixed by Dave Jenkins
‘Dig’ Recorded at Ocean Studios, Burbank, California – Engineer: Brian Dong
The Wine Cellar Studios, Woodland Hills, California using the Clasp Recording System
Mastered by: Brad Vance at Red Mastering
Art Direction & Photography: Glen Wexler
Album Sequencing: Howard Leese & Chuck Wright
Project Managers: Fred Croshal and Danny Ornelas for Croshal Entertainment Group
Publicity: Aaron Feterl for Mitch Schneider Organization
Business Management: R&R Business Management
Tour Management: John Malta
Legal: Ben McLane
Social Media: Embark Music
Wardrobe Stylist: Chandra Dyani
Grooming: Mitzi Spallas
Logo Design: Ian Wexler
For more info on Heaven & Earth, visit their Facebook page.
Leave a Reply