User:EricSirotkin/sandbox

Sasha Sirota
Sasha Sirota
Background information
Born	Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
Genres	Alternative, Pop and Rock
Occupation(s)	Singer/Songwriter, Musician, Producer, Engineer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keys

Sasha Sirota

Sasha Sirota (born on March 15, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, producer and engineer. Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. Starting at six years old Sasha taught himself to play guitar and drums then later bass and keys. In Sirota’s teens he entered the world of recording, engineering and producing music. At 17 he left High School to attend the Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood, California, then moved to Las Vegas where he began creating with The Audibles and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd.

Life and Career

'87-2009'

Sirota was born inside his parents’ adobe home down the road from the Rio Grande river in Albuquerque, New Mexico to father Eric Sirotkin and mother Demetra Isbell. Sasha’s father, originally from Detroit, is of Russian and Jewish descent. Sirota’s mother, of Scottish/Welsh descent, relocated to Detroit from the small farming community of Eaton Rapids, Michigan (pop 5100).

Though neither of his parents were musically inclined, being avid music fans they took Sasha and his brother to concerts before they could crawl - his first concert was the Grateful Dead when he was just 3 months old. Sasha taught himself to play guitar at age 6 and drums at age 7. He and his brother Klizo formed a rock band that played together for 13 years. Sasha played drums and Klizo guitar. Playing and organizing shows weekly, they helped transform the Albuquerque underground music community with a fresh outlook on the future of music.

Always broadening his musical repertoire, Sasha found himself studying more than conventional instrumentalism. At 14 he studied Tabla percussion with Aloke Dutta, an esteemed instructor of East Indian music and culture. While still in High School at age 15 he studied advanced Flamenco Guitar at the University of New Mexico with Pedro Cuadra. Recording was a natural next step.

LA/Hollywood

In Los Angeles at the Musicians Institute (MI) Sirota majored in Percussion. A year and a half later he was teaching the Metal Live-Performance-Workshop class at MI and recording for a MTV pilot show where the finale included a performance with Zach Wylde at the Whiskey a Go Go. At that time he was performing at clubs along the Sunset Strip, including The Viper Room, Kress, El Rey and The Key Club.

Mexico

Packing their guitars and home studio into a Chevy Blazer in 2008, Sasha and his brother drove a thousand miles into Mexico where for four months they wrote and recorded, completely isolated in a hillside home in the jungles of Nayarit.

'09-2012'

Moving to Las Vegas Sirota teamed up with his current writing partners Jimmy Giannos of Grammy Nominated producers The Audibles and 4x Grammy Award winning writer/producer Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd and together wrote his soon to be released album "The New Mexican" Sasha worked as an Engineer in Vegas where he recorded with music's biggest artists: Drake, Justin Bieber, Tyga, 2 chainz, Slim of 112, YelaWolf, Future, Bun B, Sean Kingston, Lil Twist, Faith Evans, and Scott Storch just name a few. He recorded the Grammy nominated platinum selling single The Motto featuring Lil’ Wayne from Drake’s recent Grammy winning Album of the Year 'Take Care'. Most recently he co-produced the Justin Bieber / R. Kelly collaboration PYD and performed on several of Bieber’s recent releases, including the guitar behind Bieber’s hits Bad Day, Alone and Recovery.

2013-Present

Sirota’s pre-release Strength in Numbers will be released in early 2014, with his full recently completed album The New Mexican set for release later in the year. “The Music,” Sirota says “ draws you in with a sense of familiarity, but still blazes a trail of it's own" With hints of the classics like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, to newer pop fusion like Bruno Mars and Maroon 5, Sirota is bringing something to the table that it always needs, authenticity through talent. Sasha and his live band, "The Bad Ass Band" are deep in rehearsal preparing for shows throughout 2014.

Influences

Even though Sirota spent the majority of his youth performing and listening to Rock/Metal music he was still heavily influenced by cultural music from around the world. Surely his studies in Indian, Spanish, Afro-Cuban, Latin and other regional musics have influenced and will influence his taste in music and writing habits, Sasha often incorporates the Flamenco styling that he learned on guitar and the rhythms into his writing/performing.