I grew up in the 70s listening to my parents’ music: Elton John, Olivia Newton-John, Jim Croce, the 5th Dimension. Then I started listening to my brother’s music: ELO, ELP and Yes. Then I started listening to my music: Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult and Aerosmith. In the 8Os I got more into the hard rock/heavy scene and more bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, the Scorpions, Def Leppard, plus New England and the Kinks.
In the early ‘8Os, my mother and I had started attending a Christian church and after a year or so, in ’81, I answered an altar call and became a Christian. The church we attended had a rule: no secular music. So once I got saved, I got rid of my 70 or so vinyl LPs. I started buying Christian albums, like Amy Grant, Phil Keaggy and some Christian rock like Resurrection Band and Servant. I started going to Christian concerts. I saw all of the aforementioned artists/bands, plus more. Sadly, in the summer of ’82, I walked away from God and my faith. Why? It was the music. Heavy metal and Rock music had a very strong pull on me. I started re-buying all of my old LPs and new ones. I probably amassed about 300 or so LPs in the 8Os. Somewhere along the line, I wanted to become a rock star. In Dec, ‘82/Jan. ’83, I asked my older brother to lend me some money so I could buy a guitar. We went to Sam Ash Music in NYC and we ordered an Red Ibanez flying V guitar and a Peavy amp. We had it shipped to my house, and I was on my way. (Not quite sure where I was going.) My best friend in the 8Os, Scott, also had gotten a guitar and was taking lessons. He was way ahead of me, so he gave me some tips, By ’84, I was practicing at least an hour a day. During this time, I spent all of my money buying albums of our favorite bands and going to see their concerts. (By the early 90s, I had seen over 100 major concerts, and add in another probably 100 bar band shows.) Scott and I, being close friends, both wanted to be in a band, so we tried being in a band together, but as mentioned before, he was in a different class than me musically. He had some serious talent, me, not so much. In fall of ’85, I posted a note on the bulletin board in a local music store, Prosound Music. My ad said something like this, “Young guitarist looking for other musicians to learn and grow with.” One day I got a call from Jerry. He was a drummer, but when he told me he was 13, I hesitated. I was 20. But we got together and started jamming. Scott helped arranged my ideas. Scott also wrote the lyrics for and sang the original demos of our first 4 songs. At some point, we had Steve, Scott’s younger brother, join the band. Steve, about 14 at the time, got a bass and sang. A couple of guys I knew, Ken and Mike, had a band and they were putting on a show in June. I asked them if my band could open for them. They said yes. So in June, ’86, Red Lightning played their one and only show. There was another show over the summer we could have played, but for some reason I turned it down. Looking back, I have no idea why. In our idleness, Steve started jamming with his friends. This annoyed me, so I asked Steve to leave Red Lightning. During this time, I was also going through a personal situation that I am not going to go into here. But by Sept/Oct, I had cut off my hair and told Jerry I was done. I actually put my guitar in the closet and stopped playing. I did re-connect with Jerry in ’95. I dreamed of a Red Lightning reunion but never mentioned it to him, and we lost touch again. Fast forward a bunch of years. After a 25-year roller-coaster journey, in regards to my Christian faith and how it played out in my life, finally, in 2003, I went through another very personal situation that really got my attention. So after wavering and being wishy-washy, I finally got serious with my faith and my life as a Christian. Not that I have been perfect, but I have been walking with the Lord for the past 20 years now. In the late 90s, I came across a Christian band called Apologetix. By 2003, I was really into them and, to this day, am a huge fan of them. They are a Christian parody band. Now usually when you think of parody, you think of being silly, ala Weird Al. And at times they do have their silly and fun moments. But they are serious musicians and they parody secular hits from the past. They have recorded and released 50 plus albums--over 700 songs. Why am I talking about Apologetix? Well, because somewhere along the line, my desire was to re-do the Red Lighting songs, and re-write the lyrics. I was a back-slidden Christian during the Red Lightning days. My desire is to redeem those tunes, to write lyrics for them to make them meaningful songs. I have five children and I guess I had mentioned this to some of them along the way. Well, in the summer of ’21 our oldest, Christopher, had just graduated college and was getting ready to leave for a summer camp job. I mentioned this to him again, and he said that he could introduce me to someone that he thought could help me record the old tunes. Now In my 50s, I figured, it’s now or never. I said yes. He put me in touch with “Andrew”. Andrew and I exchanged a number of emails. He took his time to answer all of my questions, and after that, it was time to move forward. I sent him the first song I wanted to work on, an old Red Lightning tune called “I Love the Night”. Andrew’s response was delayed. In the interim, while waiting for Andrew to respond, I had a couple of ideas lying around. I had tried in the past to put two of them together, but it never seemed to work. All of a sudden, in the summer of ‘21, they seemed to go together. So I had a song writing session with my family. I had them all sit in the living room, turning the chairs around so they wouldn’t see each other or be distracted. I started playing the tune. After a while, Ruth had a line. Okay, let’s keep going. Later Heather got two more lines. Ruth thought they didn’t make any sense together. But later Heather got to more lines, and now these 5 lines made sense. They are now the chorus of “Trust”. A week or so later, we had another song writing sessions, and whole family chipped in on writing the verses. (Later I would have Tyler White re-work the verses.) A month or so later, still waiting to hear back from Andrew, we had another song writing session. This time no one had anything, except Ruth. She said, this is exciting. And she kept saying play it again. After a while, I was tired of playing it, so I recorded it on some recording software and had her go into the ‘studio’ and she kept writing. Ruth ended up writing all the lyrics to “Lamb of God”. Andrew never responded. He was gone. It became obvious that he didn’t want to work with me, or at least on those songs. But now I had two new songs that I am even more excited about. Now it’s not about re-doing the old Red Lightning songs but recording the new songs. I don’t play the guitar much these days. I peaked in ’86. I have played on and off through the years, but mainly I would just re-hash the old tunes. I almost never came up with anything new. The exception is the chorus for Stand Tall; I probably got that around 2005. Spring of ’22. I really desired to have a new tune. And one day God answered my desire. This time, I recorded the new idea on the music software and asked Ruth to go into the studio and see if she is inspired. She was in there for more than a half an hour and I was hopeful. But she finally came out and said that she got nothing. Then it was Heather’s turn. She was in there for a while. Over an hour. Finally I had to go in. I had been pacing around the house. She had something, so I left to give her more time, Then I had her record the vocals. Another song, “Take Heart”, was born. The thing is last summer (’21), my wife suggested that each of our children write a poem. My wife felt that these poems would be the lyrics to future songs. Heather was the only one who wrote a poem last summer upon request. Well, that poem became the lyrics to “Take Heart.” It had been very frustrating not hearing back from Andrew. I had talked with my oldest son, Christopher, a few times. He had mentioned that he had a couple more potential producers. Finally, I said, give me the contact for someone. So he gave me Nick’s email. I emailed Nick and we also exchanged a number of emails. It was time to move forward. Again, my focus has changed from re-doing the old Red Lightning tunes to recording these three new songs. I sent Nick the three demos. He was quiet for a few days, then when I asked him, he said he didn’t feel like these songs where ready. I was very disappointed. A couple of days later, he emailed again, saying he had been praying about it and would take on the project. So I hired Nick to record and produce these three new songs. Along the way, it didn’t seem like we were on the same page in regards to the ‘sound’. Once again, Nick offered to refund the money and walk away. At this point, I was not real comfortable committing to three songs, if I wasn’t sure I would love them. But I didn’t want to give up. I told Nick I wanted him to choose one song, and just do it. He chose Lamb of God. A couple of weeks later, he sent me a brief clip of what he had so far. This rough demo was one minute and five seconds, but I absolutely loved it. Most artists have names for their bands. So what to call this project? Red Lightning? That was a possibility, and was the original thought, but along the way, I thought against it. And also, I discovered that in 2021 a new Red Lightning appeared on Spotify. ‘One Way’ was the next idea. We had owned and operated a small Christian Bookstore in Los Angeles, One Way, from 2006-2009. That was a very special time in my life and the name always held a special place in my heart. But there are three One Ways on Spotify. So that was out. Back in the 8Os, I didn’t like people who would name their band their own name. Usually, when one member of a band would go solo, they would use their name as the band name. But I always preferred the band thing. But currently I am not in a band. Originally, my desire was to play the guitar on these newly recorded songs, but when I sent the demo to Nick, he could hear some deficiencies in my playing. And I have come to realize that these songs would probably be better if a professional musician played them. One time, when I was talking to Ruth about “Lamb of God”, and she said, “It’s your project.” At first, it kind of hurt, but it may have been one catalyst to calling this the Stuart Patti Project. I have a guitar idea, I present it to my family, who writes the lyrics, then I turn it over to Nick to record and produce. So there is no band, at this time, and it really is a project. Ultimately it is God’s project, but He has many different projects going on, so I thought it would be presumptuous for me to call this ‘God’s Project.’ My desire is that any songs that come out of this project, first and foremost would be honoring to our God, YHWH, and His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In addition, I hope that these songs would be a blessing to Christians and hopefully be an inspiration to anyone who has yet to put their faith and trust in Jesus, to do so.
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