Peter grew up in the Washington, DC. area, where he was exposed to a large dose of classical training at an early age. After studying violin for many years in grade school, he became infatuated with Jazz in college, and picked up the guitar with conviction. He then became exposed to progressively more RNB, Soul and Rock, playing in various bands in the Washington area, before relocating to Northern California in 1986. He became a successful filmmaker and built a recording facility at Geographica, his film and design studio (www.geographica.com). He has created scores and original compositions in many genres in addition to playing in local funk, rock and jazz groups. A brief two year stint in Seattle playing reggae also greatly influenced his style and musical approach.

Eventually, the lineup shifted around Chang, and the re-EMERGEnce of the band around Peter with a new lineup has led to its anticipated evolution to another level, due in part to the incredible virtuosity of bassist Dave Mendoza and drummer Atma Anur. “I am totally excited about the potential of what we can do. It seems almost limitless where EMERGE can go musically,” says Peter. “Not only that, but we all want to be able to go to all those places that you normally cannot in a more restrictive musical setting. That in itself is a very exciting thing and presents a whole slew of challenges. To me, this will probably be the most artistically fulfilling thing I have done to date.”

Dave, who also played violin when he was young, grew up in the projects in El Paso, Texas after moving to the U.S. from his native Mexico as a child. “My step brother, Ray, got me into music. We lived in a segregated neighborhood ­ Blacks on one side and Latinos and everybody else on the other side. Back in early 60’s, Ray would go over to the black neighborhoods at night and jam with the guys there on bass. I sneaked into a session one night and was immediately captivated by the instrument, especially the pulse and the resonance and standing in front of the speaker cabinet.”

After coming to California, Dave started taking the bass seriously and at 17, played in a Latin group in East San Jose. Back then, Santana had just come out doing the Latin rock thing. Dave soon was in the studio recording his first album in ’79 with a band called Galaxy, a band from the Low Rider scene. He then met some guys from the Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power, and played with them in a band called Gizmo. Many bands and projects later, Dave and Peter happened across each other in a studio they were both recording at. “I heard some beautiful bass lines emanating from another room and I had to find out who it was,” says Peter. “It was Dave.”

The last piece to the puzzle was Atma Anur, drummer extraordinaire. Atma grew up in London, England. After moving to New York and then California, Atma soonf ound himself playing at the highest levels with great rock and fusion artists, including Journey, Tony MacAlpine, David Bowie - the list goes on. Peter and Atma met in Tropic of Cancer, the brilliiant but ill-fated project the rose out of Peter's collaboration with Irish vocalist Ryno MacSweeney and Art Milton, the second coming of Marcus Miller on Bass. "That was a great band. It was too bad it did not stay together," sighs Atma. That was two years ago Peter and Atma played off and on before the reincarnation of EMERGE.

With the final lineup now complete, EMERGE is now set to do just that ­ EMERGE into the forefront of unrestricted musical possibilities…

“This music really allows for great creative freedom,” says Dave. “It’s been a while since I’ve played in a 3 piece group. What I like about 3 pieces is that sometimes you have to overplay or be agressive on some parts and still be able to hold down the groove. There is a lot of room and space to fill if the players are capable. In the case these guys, that is not a problem.”

“There is this great rawness about it,” Atma comments. “What attracts me to Emerge is that all the songs are loose yet arranged at the same time.

Peter naturally agrees. “From song to song there’s so much variation. It’s not the exact same groove in a different tempo, and the fact that there are all these parts within a given song that you have to really create transitions intoforces you to be on your toes to play this music. The songs are also dynamically challenging and playing with Atma and Dave allows us to go to places where we come in and do something big or pull way back.”

These intricacies do not go unnoticed by the audience. “When people listen to this stuff, they can’t wait to come see us perform,” says Peter. “They are just blown away by the musicianship and the songwriting, It is so gratifying to hear that on a continual basis.”

"Hooking up with some good players like you guys. All those factors make this music a blast to play," says Atma, "and just so fun! With all of that said, the music has a truly accessible quality to it. It’s definitely listenable music.”

“It’s music, not like a guitarist that guitarists go to see, or a band that musicians go to see, but it’s music that there is definitely also a lay market for,” says Peter. “People can come in off the street and listen just to the melodies and songwriting. There is an accessibility to it that makes it different. At the end of the day, people in general would like to come out to hear the songs. When the name of the band is up on the marquee, people are definitely going to come out.

“This band can and will definitely have headline level success. With our experience and our product, that’s an attainable, reachable goal,” says Dave. “There is such a great diversity of songs and styles that are part of EMERGE that there is something for everyone in the music. What we do is outside of the structure of traditional jazz or progressive and I like that. It is music that does not necessarily fit into one category, yet it also fits into so many categories at teh same time.”

And this is just the beginning. There is so much more material (literally hundreds of new original songs) that are waiting in the wings to be introduced to new audiences. Emerge NOW!