This album is dedicated to my good friend, collaborator and drummer for 17 years, Paul Trygar.

Breaking the Code is the story of a musical spirit that started in college back in New Mexico in 1971. It came to fruition when my old college roommate Randy Hanson, and his family moved to San Diego in 1993. Randy and I started up where we’d left off in college. We were trying to create a sound that wasn’t bluegrass but incorporated Acoustic Guitar and Mandolin. We called that band “Sunday Drive” because of the mellow nature of the music and the groove we tried to create. Of course, like any band, we were always looking for Chemistry and “Sunday Drive” though having great musicianship really didn’t click on all levels and we were looking to replace our drummer. At the same time Paul and I were in another band called “Chaste by the Blues”, which we had formed with some co-workers at the Laser Optics Company we were working at. We loved the blues, but we were tired of playing the same 12 bar progressions. I wanted Paul in the band and it worked out. From that moment on we were Breaking the Code.

Breaking the Code had two lives, the acoustic era and the electric era. We had our first gig at the Metaphor Coffeehouse in Escondido, California. When Paul passed away I pulled out the promo video we made of that show and I will always remember the feeling we had of doing something new, something exciting and different…on the cutting edge. We were doing all this while our kids were growing up, our professional lives were moving forward. We kept going and playing because we knew we would never be “on the road” and this was the next best thing. We didn’t want life to pass us by, we wanted to participate, and so we called our first cassette EP “The Art of Making Culture”. We started to gig at local San Diego clubs with the highlight being our opening for Lee Rocker (from the Stray Cats) and England Dan Seals (the brother of Jim Seals, of “Seals and Croft”) at the San Diego Coach house. Ultimately we recorded another EP, called the “Right Brain” sessions named after the studio where we laid down the tracks. One of the songs “Oasis” featured Paul and Randy at their best, soloing through songs that typified our style of “jazz-grass-fusion blues”!! We went on like that for a couple of years, always taking the holidays off to spend time with our families and then we’d start back up in January.

By ’97, Randy had an old Luthier friend of ours (Bill Giebitz) build a “Flying V” electric mandolin for him and we were starting a new phase of the band. That was the year we had our first Spinal Tap moment. We were playing a showcase at Brick by Brick (the old “Spirit Club”), when our bass player decided half way through the gig that he didn’t want to perform anymore and literally turned his back on the crowd………funny how it worked out in the end. By September we were gigging all over town with substitute bass players until we got my wife’s young cousin Jason Lazo (fresh out of Berklee) to join the band. We recorded our first live album “Breaking the Code very live at the Belly up Tavern”. One of the songs ”Cyber Love” got some Internet radio airplay and we signed with a local label-Angelic Music- based on what they had heard on our live CD. We also started recording at Blitz Studios and produced our first “real” studio song of the new electric era called Keep the Faith.

At that point in time we knew that Jason was going to move to LA and really pursue his music career and fortunately we met, through family life, Tom Borg, “T” who we’ve playing with ever since. We finally had a lineup that we could count on at all times. Four professionals during the day who wanted to play and perform at night. We called it our night job. Our first gig was at “Dream Street” in Ocean Beach and looking at the videotape now of that gig I’m amazed that we were that “tight” at our first gig. Paulie and “T” were the solid bottom of the group while Randy and I got to experiment with the new sound we’d developed. We played all over San Diego, The Brick, Blind Melons, The Casbah; we were working on our chops and getting plenty of exposure. One of the funniest things that happened was the e-mail we got after we blew away the headliners, a young band from San Francisco, at Blind Melons. It went like this…”you old guys need to retire and let us young players take over the stage. We laughed about that for months, and as the true musicians we were, we said. Hey we got the gig not you…keep trying!! We had been roadies for the Ventures and they were in there sixties and they still wanted to play, and so did we!! By the middle of 2000 we were on a roll, we opened for John Mayall and NRBQ at the Coach House, we were gigging in LA and San Diego on our “Sleep when you’re Dead tour” our reference to 40 something’s at home in bed by nine while we were up until midnight or 1 am playing. We had another management company looking to sign us and book us nationally. But it’s tough when you are in your 40’s to think about any career change. We’d just had our son Landon and I told everybody I needed a break from gigging. Then 9/11 happened and the world changed.

At the height of our gigging in 1999-2000 we went in the studio and cut 7 songs that are the Live Unsigned Sessions. That session caught the pulse of our high-energy shows and is really captured in the live version of “Keep the Faith” and “Let me in”, the latter still being one of my favorite songs in our show. “The Code” was about having fun. Come early, stay late and party hard!!…GK, Carlsbad, California, February 20, 2007

THE SONGS

The Band Geza Keller-Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Vocals Randy Hanson-Mandolin, Vocals Joe Rosignolo-Bass, Electric Guitar, Vocals Paul Trygar, Drums, Percussion, Vocals Produced by Geza Keller, Joe Rosignolo, Sound Engineer, Martin Johnson Live at the Belly-Up- Tavern-Recorded by The Memphis Brothers Studios at the Belly Up Tavern–Solana Beach, California, September 5th, 1997

Produced by Geza Keller and Jason Lazo, Sound Engineer-Dave Romero, Mixed at Memphis Brothers Studios by Jason Lazo

The Band Geza Keller-Lead Guitar and Vocals Randy Hanson-Electric Mandolin and Vocals Jason Lazo-Bass and Vocals Corey Anctil- Rhythm Guitar Paul Trygar-Drums and Vocals Produced by Geza Keller, Joe Rosignolo, Sound Engineer, Martin Johnson Keep the Faith-Recorded at Blitz Brothers Studios, San Diego, California, October 10th, 1999 Produced by Geza Keller, Jason Lazo and Richard Livoni, Mixed at Blitz Brothers Studios by Richard Livoni

The Band Geza Keller-Electric Guitar and Vocals Randy Hanson-Electric Mandolin and Vocals Jason Lazo-Bass and Vocals Richard Livoni- Hot Licks Paul Trygar-Drums and Vocals Produced by Geza Keller, Joe Rosignolo, Sound Engineer, Martin Johnson Live Unsigned-Recorded at Live Unsigned, Los Angeles, California, December 9th, 2000 Produced by Geza Keller and Richard Livoni, Mixed at Blitz Studios by Richard Livoni

The Band Geza Keller-Electric Guitar and Vocals Randy Hanson-Electric Mandolin and Vocals Tom Borg-Bass and Vocals Paul Trygar-Drums and Vocals