By Keith Walsh
King Roostah and Wise Owl have reason to crow with the release of their new reggae cover of Berlin’s classic “Take My Breath Away.”

“Take My Breath Away” is a song that some members of Berlin despised in the past. After all, producer Giorgio Moroder reportedly put all the tracks together without the rest of the band (while adding Terri Nunn’s vocals) making “Take My Breath Away” the most un-Berlin track in their repertoire. The situation was complicated by the internal pressures that led to the band’s original lineup falling apart (only to be reunited 30 years later). Where some might say the original pales in comparison to the raw energy of Berlin’s earlier work, King Roostah’s version is bristling with soul and reggae spirit.

I chatted with producer Brandon Niznik, aka Wise Owl, KIng Roostah’s long-time colleague who produced the tune in his Los Angeles studio, playing all the instruments as well (King Roostah is the stage name of Rian Basilio). Niznik played bass as a founding member of Basilio’s band, Rian Basilio And The Roosters, producing their second album Birds of Paradise.

About the choice to cover the classic Berlin tune from the 1985 film Top Gun, Niznik says the film is a favorite of Basilio’s. Niznik tells me: “King Roostah chose the song since it’s always been important to him. He asked me, and I said ‘yes’ simply because I wanted an excuse to work with my friend again.”

King Roostah’s voice is so pure, and the groove so serene, one might think that this is the form the song should have taken from the start. I asked Niznik if there were any challenges in adapting the song to its new style. “There actually weren’t that many challenges!” he says. “I must say that this was actually one of the most natural fits for reggae of any song that I’ve done … most notably the bassline. The bassline is one of the most important parts of a reggae song, and normally you have to change the original bass part quite a bit in order to have it fit the “reggae rules”, or even create an entirely new bass part. So I was worried at first about this song, since the most iconic thing about ‘Take My Breath Away’ is the bassline — you can’t change it, it’s THE song! But I started playing it over a rocksteady drum beat, and behold — it fits perfectly as it is, without any change to the iconic bassline. It was just good luck, and the whole thing fell into place after that.”

Niznik knows reggae through and through. In addition to live work, he’s a studio whiz in his own right and partner of Nate Bridges for the project Black Market Dub, which repurposes classic tunes in dub style. Indeed, Black Market has a remix of this new recording.

The reunion of Basilio and Niznik looks promising. Niznik pointed me to the Instagram post by Basilio that explains how they came to record “Take My Breath Away” after several years of distance between them.

On Instagram, Basilio writes: “Top Gun” was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I’ve watched it countless times and it was the catalyst that sparked my interest in movies and acting….To this day, the song still hits and gives me all the feels. I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to cover it but the right moment never came. Until now! In very serendipitous fashion, after 5 years of not making any music together, the man who recorded and played bass on my last “Rian Basilio and The Roosters” album, sat back down in the studio with me to create the first release from my new reggae project “King Roostah”.
Basilio continues: “Brandon Niznik a.k.a “@wiseowlsound” is an extremely talented, multi instrumentalist, producer and engineer that I consider a brother. We spent the better part of 6 years writing, recording and touring together. We’ve shared lots of stories, highs and lows in family, relationships and life and a bond that I will carry forever. ….when we finally got back into the studio, it was like no time had passed at all. I threw out this idea of doing a reggae cover of “‘Take My Breath Away’ and he was instantly on board. When I say he is a multi-instrumentalist, I’m not exaggerating. The man played every single instrument and recorded all the music on this track. Which allowed me to focus on delivering the vocal performance I’ve heard for so many years in my head. For that, I was able to I was able to lean on my team to really help create something amazing and uniquely me. So massive credit to my vocal production team @sylmac and @jshermmusic and to my voice teacher @stefanisikoraolsson. “

King Roostah On Instagram
Wise Owl On Instagram
Black Market Dub On Instagram
Berlin Official Instagram
Wise Owl Bandcamp
Rian Basilio Bandcamp
Black Market On Bandcamp
Rian Basilio dot com

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