Type
Group/Band

Genre(s)
Rock
Alternative
Folk Rock
Jazz
Fusion
Blues
Soul
R&B
Hip Hop
Reggae

Instruments(s)
Keyboard/Piano
Bass
Electric/Synthesizer
Drums/Percussion
Guitar

Homebase
St. Louis,MO

Performs in public
no

Interested in meeting new playing partners
no

E-mail
Contact Artist

My Other Artist Pages
Hunter Joseph Sprenger
Danny Liston

Description
BLACK SAND HAND - formed from the core of one of St. Louis top bands in the late 80's and early 90's, 'The Unconscious', Black Sand Hand is Michael Apirion: lead vocals; Darren Leeden: guitar, vocals; John Taylor: bass, vocals; John Chalden: drums with guest guitarist Tom Fulton and Tom and Justin Stewart on backing vocals. All songs written by BSH, copyright 1995, 2008. RIVER OF SOUL - Progressive Blues-Rock out of St. Louis, MO featuring John Beckett: guitar, lead vocals; Jesse Morgan: drums, vocals; Hunter Joseph Sprenger: bass, vocals. All songs written by ROS as noted on each individual song pop-up, copyright 1995, 2008. TRANE YO DAWG (TYD) was founded by Jesse Morgan after his work with St. Louis mainstays 'Big Fun' and features Stan Coleman: lead vocals, sax; Randy Hetlage: guitar; Jesse Morgan: drums, lead vocals; Tony Morgan and David Smith on keyboards; and Hunter J Sprenger: bass. All songs written and arranged by TYD as noted on each individual song pop-up, copyright 1995, 2008. The first 5 songs are from the original TYD EP release from 91'. The last 8 were recorded after the band broke up and were only mixed as demos, Out-takes from the original project are designated *. The TYD Dawgbone Complete release will be available free for a limited time here at Sweetwater Records. All albums produced by Hunter J Sprenger, Justin Stewart and the respective bands / members.

Recording and equipment
Amandla Music / Amandla Records grew out of the studio collaboration of Hunter, Justin and George Spentzos. After first meeting and partnering at Control Studios in the Ambassador Building in downtown St. Louis, the Amandla Group designed and rennovated a studio space in Richmond Heights which quickly grew into a successful and regionally recognized 4000 sq. foot studio complex. After receiving several local awards, feature articles and favorable reviews, the group began to focus on the dream of releasing a few select original projects on their own label using the Stax and Motown studio-label business model as a blueprint. The three albums presented here and a sampler CD were to be the initial releases. They were recorded from 1992-5 on a Tascam MSR16 1/2" 16 track (BSH on 16 track ADAT) by Hunter and Justin and mixed by Justin (Hunter on the TYD project) to DAT for Amandla Music. Despite finishing up the masters and quite a bit of legwork to get the business up and running, the label concept fell through as funding never materialized. The studio partnership was eventually dissolved and the studio was bought out by Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep fame. He and Hunter went on to form The Upper Room Studios out of Amandla, which went on to produce another catalog of well-received projects by Ken, Javier Mendoza, and Gravity Kills to name a few. The Amandla Records tracks, however, were not lost or forgotten. After leaving the Upper Room Studios in 1998, Hunter subsequently remastered and archived them in 1999 at KPS Studios using Pro Tools and Bias Peak. There was some talk and speculation about partnering with other artists such as The Finns and Mama's Pride / Danny Liston (see separate artist page) when launching the Amandla roster as well as including the previously mentioned label sampler. Presented here for the first time though, is the unreleased original core catalog as conceived and produced by Hunter, Justin, George and the respective band members for the first time in digital download format exclusively on Sweetwater Records.

Upcoming Shows
River Of Soul, Black Sand Hand, and TYD have disbanded but many of the members still perform in the St. Louis area including Mike Apirion, Justin Stewart (Groovethang), Randy Hetlage, Stan Coleman, Obeid Khan and Dave Smith. Other members have relocated but are currently active including Jesse Morgan (Nighttrain) and Tony Morgan in Hawaii, John Beckett in the Cincinatti area, Tom Fulton in San Francisco, John Chalden (The Beggars Guild) in the Atlanta area, George Spentzos in Chicago, and Hunter who works at Sweetwater in Indiana.