Rebirth. It’s an easy term to coin, but after 20 years out of the music game, Craig Douglas Miller is back at it. His new track “Vanish” is proof that he was sorely missed. The lead track off an album scheduled for a Fall 2023 release, Miller and company have raised the bar on expectations considerably.
Miller’s voice has an early REM feel to it and thanks to an excellent drum track and nifty, sexy guitar solos throughout, “Vanish” does the opposite. The song never stops being pertinent. It never stops pushing a pace. This is real rock. This is the way rock used to be. It’s an experience. Some may think 5:55 is too long for a song today and they’re absolutely right. This song isn’t about that. It’s an experience. It’s a return. A coming back to where things used to be. Where so many of us want them to be. It’s Boston meets REM meets Collective Soul with an injection of sage that comes from being away from the scene for so long. Simply put, this one is badass.
Behind a wonderful group of musicians the likes of Marty Willson-Piper (The Church, Noctorum, All About Eve), drummers Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson) and Brian Platt (The Cads) and bassist Ryan Kelly (Dayroom), there’s a sound here that’ll instantly connect you to the music of the late ‘90s and early millennium.
It’s rare you get a song with a throwback feel that delivers something new, but that’s exactly what this track does. The Fall can’t come soon enough.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Leave a Reply