ABOUT THE ARTIST

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The Music of John Schaffenberger

John Schaffenberger's soulful music has a down-to-earth spirituality that both entertains and enlightens the listener. He has been called a "modern melding of Rumi, the Sufi poet, with Jim Morrison, the iconoclastic rocker of the 1960s." Certainly, no has else has crafted such a unique style that perfectly blends ancient wisdom with the modern temperament.

His latest album, "Alchemic Soul," is truly alchemical music in an unexpected modern format, as attested to by the fiery cover art, which shows mercury drifting up between the strings of John's guitar. Mercury, of course, represents the ultimate transformative substance, the silvery metal that pours out of the crevices of the sacred mineral cinnabar, when the rock is roasted in an open fire. This album is a perfect example of John's catchy, transformative renditions of lyrics and songs whose deeper messages he makes obvious in his intonations and pacing.

Alchemic Soul - front Alchemic Soul - back

"The Bloody Great Work" is irreverent and bitingly insightful.
"Dark Night of the Soul" is a wonderfully flowing tribute to words of St. John of the Cross.
"Wings of the Phoenix" is a melodic and moving connection with the process of personal transformation.
"What Are You Waiting For?" is a powerful call to transform the planet and ourselves.
"Night Prowlers" is a disturbing look at night creatures and the human animal in darkness.
"Freaky Place" is a unique look at the everyday world from on high - a disturbing perspective.
"When We Were Great" is a lament for the lost paradise we all have within our still have within our reach.
"Shokran Allah" is a penetrating revelation of the passion inherent in Islamic spiritual alchemy.
"Identity" probes the very nature of personal identity and the illusions of ego.
"The Fundamentalist's Song" is irreverent and funny and deeply disturbing - all at the same time - but the fundamentalist here is not of religion but of science.
"On the Road" is a beautifully empowering call to follow the path that leads to the true self.
"There Are After All Two Brains" looks at the conflicting duality of consciousness that is part of the human condition and reveals the promise of the third brain - the reconciling universal mind we can all access.
A concluding instrumental seems to bring it all together in this remarkable transformative album.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born and raised in Hammond, Indiana, John Schaffenberger's quest to become a guitar player began at an early age. Self taught on the guitar, he learned to play chords and started strumming at the age of twelve. His favorite music was the folk songs of the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Some of the singers he was drawn to included the groups Peter, Paul and Mary and The Kingston Trio. Later, he would be influenced by the music of Johnny Cash, Gary Puckett and Harry Chapin.

Some of his earliest memories recall his kindergarten class huddled around a piano singing songs. In eighth grade he played one of the leading roles in the operetta “On The Range”. Singing in his church’s choir was a good way to meet older girls, but it was the beautiful songs which kept him coming back. High School Concert Choir allowed his personality to shine. Normally quiet and well mannered his baritone voice gained attention and confidence in his abilities as a singer. In his four years of vocal music organizations, he was selected numerous times for solo or duet performances.

John was also a record-setting team captain in track and also participated in cross-county, wrestling and football. Even with these activities, he managed to be a rhythm guitar player for a newly formed band. It was a fun, learning experience, but it was very difficult. He was and still is a team player, but he realized the music in his head could only be done alone.

Upon graduation from High School, John got a job in one of the local steel mills. At the time, the Hammond-Gary area was one of the nation’s leading producers of steel products. The work was always dangerous and physically demanding, but John’s father had instilled in him a strong work ethic. John actually thrived on the challenges although it left little time to pursue his music.

After a year at the mills, however, John enlisted into the U.S. Air Force at the end of his four year enlistment, John returned home, married his high school sweetheart, and went back to being a steelworker. He tired attending college, but after five years of working, studying and going to classes, he decided that getting a degree “just wasn’t a big deal for me” most of his dissatisfaction stemmed from professors who did nothing more than teach from a book. What John really wanted to do was compose music, sing and play his guitar. He never imagined he would make the steel mills a career, but the pressures of making a living kept him there. John and his wife eventually bought a house in Griffith, Indiana, where they raised their son, David. John was able to retire from the mills at an early age, and he eventually began a second career with the U.S. Postal Service.

After joining a Vietnam Veterans organization, John met a old school mate, Stephen Babincsak, who also served as a Morse code intercept operator for the Air Force Security Service. “We discovered that we had another thing in common – guitars”. They started to meet for weekend Jam Sessions. Stephen introduced John to multi-track recording and it wasn’t long before John acquired equipment of his own and set up a home studio. He felt that he finally had the proper medium in which to express himself, and that anything and everything was possible. He tried to capture that spirit of growth and transformation in his music, and although he did not realize it at the time, he was trying to capture the Alchemy of his own spirit. Today, in his studio, John challenges himself to find new directions in a variety of genres and mediums from bass to keyboard, slide guitar, harmonica and singing. According to John, he tries to “make my music express the Alchemy of the Soul”. John has a collection of 13 unpublished CD’s. They are a mix which include remakes of previously recorded songs by other artists and original compositions which by nature are very spontaneous.

Alchemic Soul

ALCHEMIC SOUL

Tracks: "The Bloody Great Work," "Dark Night of the Soul," "Wings of the Phoenix," "What Are You Waiting For," "Night Prowlers," "Freaky Place," "When We Were Great," "Shokran Allah," "Identity," "The Fundamentalist's Song," "On the Road," and "There Are After All Two Brains."