Description:
The Voters use music to deliver their conservative message of political humor, satire, and patriotism, 4 minutes at a time. By combining well researched information with interesting musical compositions, these accomplished musician/songwriters manage to capture your attention and lift you up in no time.
Music Style:
With Rock as a common thread, The Voters' songs effectively blend influences from The Beatles, 70's Progressive Rock, Southern Rock and even a bit of Country.
The Songs:
The Voters debut album, entitled Electile Dysfunction, contains nine original compositions. They are "America's Coming Back", "Blame It On Bush", "Leading From Behind", "Distractions", "Pelosi's Jet", "America, What Have We Done", "Shining City Upon A Hill", "Nobody Told Me", and "Wife Of A Soldier". If you think these titles are provocative, their lyrics are guaranteed to wind you up.
The Message:
The Voters are grounded and united by a love of Country, a love of music, and a passionate interest in politics. Although their message is conservative, their true objective is to motivate all people to get well informed before making a political choice. At a time when Americans are confronted by biased media, an unhealthy attraction to "celebrity", multimillion dollar campaigns of disinformation, and the bitter taste of angry politics, The Voters hope to bring some truth and fact into the equation, exercising their 1st
amendment rights through music.
About
LEE LEVIN - Production, Songwriting & Drums
Billboard Magazine's focus on the South Florida Recording scene referred to Lee Levin as "the city's most in demand drummer". Since graduating the University of Miami in 1989, Lee has played on more than 1000 recordings for a variety of artists throughout the world including Barbra Streisand, Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Nelly Furtado, Clay Aiken, Christina Aquilera, Michael Bolton, Sarah Silverman, Meat Loaf, Ricardo Arjona, Alejandro Sanz, Juan Luis Guerra, Enrique Iglesias, Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Eros Ramazzotti, Shakira and many others. He has toured/performed with many artists throughout the world including Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias, Bee Gees, and Jon Secada. As a writer, Lee has written and/or recorded commercials for Pantene, Bellsouth, Florida Lottery, McDonalds, and Domino's Pizza. His compositions have been heard on NBC's Friends, Saturday Night Live, Dateline, America's Next Top Model and TMZ. Lee has worked on many educational books, videos and CD's for Alfred Publications including one he wrote for the Ultimate Beginner Tech Start Series entitled “Drum Programming Basics”. A natural transition toward production has landed Levin with 5 Grammy awards. His nominations as either a producer or engineer, include 3 for 2010-Record of the Year (Alejandro Sanz), Album of the Year (Alejandro Sanz), and Best Engineering (Diego Torres). Past nominations include 2009 Record of the Year (Luis Fonsi), 2007-Best Engineering (Juan Fernando Velazco), and 2006 Record of the Year (Ricardo Arjona). Lee has many interests beside music. In his spare time, he studied for, and received an Advanced Sommelier certificate passing his exams in Napa, California. He also enjoys politics and history which has led him to his latest project, The Voters, where he can combine his passions for music and the conservative political message.
The Story:
During the fall of 2011in Miami FL, five time Grammy winner and renowned drummer/producer Lee Levin got together with Cris Zalles, an accomplished songwriter/vocalist/producer with multiple hits around the world, to explore the idea of writing politically charged songs for politically charged times. Lee and Cris had worked on numerous projects together and knew that aside of music, they also shared a strong interest in politics and had similar political views. With research and facts as a backbone for the idea, their first song "America Is Coming Back"was born. "Leading From Behind" and "Blame It On Bush" followed soon afterwards, and it became very clear that the potential for expanding the idea into a full blown album was a real possibility. They managed to work through the awkward nature of the topic and found that all three songs shared the same direct, satirical, "pull no punches" approach to describing undeniable facts about Barack Obama and his administration. When thinking about enlisting other members, Lee immediately suggested Derek Cintron, an extremely talented multi instrumentalist musician from Miami, who not only shared Lee's and Cris's interests, but was equally passionate and well informed about the political issues of our time. Soon after, Alex García became the obvious choice as the guitar player for the project. An accomplished musician with hundreds of credits to his name, Alex's style solidified the strengths of the band. They then enlisted the help of their 3 time Grammy winning recording Engineer Iker Gastaminza, who helped define the sound of The Voters. More songs came in and other talented close friends helped out as guest musicians, but in the end, after 6 months of writing and recording the Album Electile Dysfunction was born.
DEREK CINTRON-Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Not too many musicians can say they've landed and performed on the flight deck of one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world - but Derek Cintron can! He's toured the world with internationally-charting artists, including an armed forces entertainment tour in 2008 ("The Voice of Creed" Tour) to U.S. military bases all over the middle east, Africa, and Europe. That same tour landed him on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan (and launched him off of it as well!).
Being a multi-instrumentalist with songwriting and vocal ability has earned him numerous recording credits in recent years, including three platinum number one albums, a world-wide number one single for Enrique Iglesias, and an international number two single for British sensation Mika.
Hailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, from a family with military background (father served in the Army, brother was a fighter pilot in the Air Force), Derek is a proud American idealist. His grandfather on his mother's side was an Italian immigrant who arrived in America knowing no English, only to work his way up to being a prominent terrazzo layer. His father's family was instrumental in abolishing slavery in Puerto Rico in the late 19th century. With this kind of background and upbringing, it's no wonder Derek found the ultimate appreciation for American values at a very early age.
He has several personal music albums to his credit, including his own band DC-3.
CRIS ZALLES - Production, Songwriting, Lead Vocals & Keyboards
With over 20 years in the music business, Cris has earned professional credits as a Songwriter, Producer, Artist, Vocalist, Arranger and Sound Engineer. He has been a Warner/Chappell Music Publishing staff writer since 1996 with over 70 songs released around the world by artists including Ricky Martin, Chayanne, David Bisbal, Luis Fonsi, Ednita Nazario, Olga Tañón, Alejandra Guzmán, Nito Mestre, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Nieves, Christian Castro, Marcos Llunas, Angel Lopez, Malú, Florent Pagni, and Disney. Some of Cris’ successes in music include winning the ASCAP Latin Song of the year award in 2005 (pop/latin ballad) for “Cuidarte El Alma”, recoded by Puerto Rican mega star Chayanne and 2004 Winner of the "Writer of the Year" category for the Latin People’s Choice Award (Premio la Gente). He also produced, wrote and co-wrote the main songs for the hit latin musical movie, “Rojo La Película”. Another area that he has specialized in is in the writing of Spanish Adaptations for major labels and important artists like Rihanna, David Bisbal, Adrienne Bailon (Cheetah Girls), REM, INXS, Plain White T's and Marcos Llunas among others. Aside from being a member of The Voters, Cris runs his own recording studio in Miami where he writes, produces, teaches and works as an editing engineer. He served 3 terms as Governor of the Florida Chapter Board of the Recording Academy (Grammys) and has been a voting member since 2001.
On a more personal note, Cris was born in Sanitago Chile and still remembers as a 7 year old seeing his country elect a Communist president. For 3 years, he saw the country fall apart. and clearly recalls the food lines, personal property being confiscated, and other rights being violated. He also remembers some of the messages and strategies used by the Communists, like demonizing the rich in order to divide the classes and capture power. With Obama's re-election campaign upon us, some of those memories have been coming back and have motivated Cris to get involved
ALEX GARCIA - Guitars
Alex has been a professional recording/touring musician since moving to the US in 1995. During that time he has worked with most renowned Latin artists including Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Ednita Nazario, Chayanne, Franco De Vita, Ricardo Montaner, Luis Fonsi, Fonseca, Fanny Lu, and Paulina Rubio.
He is a real student of the art of guitar sound and of many masters of the instrument, which allows him the ability to adapt to all kinds of musical styles and genres. He has converted part of his house in to a professional recording studio where he does most of his session work.
Alex also has a passion for Culinary Arts and wine, which has made him a popular member within the band, especially during breaks.
The Bios:
Exercising Our First Amendment Rights Through Music