Tapping into the soul

Suzie Harrison

From hip-hop to alternative, acoustic and folk, Costa Mesa musician

Brook Lee has a wide range of experience in the music industry.

“At the Orange County Music Awards I was nominated for ‘Best Male

Performance’ and ‘Best Live Acoustic Male,’” Lee said.

He won “Best Live Acoustic Male,” and is grateful for the results.

It put him on a roll, and he’s been playing more shows.

“One thing to say personally, it helped so much, and it’s only

been three months,” Lee said. “It did a good job getting people

interested, and has helped networking. It was nice to get a nod,

something to put on my bio, and gives me some credibility. The awards

are really a positive thing to have in Orange County.”

Lee has been performing for 12 years, starting when he was 15

years old with the multicultural hip-hop quartet “Psychotic Twist of

Rhythm.” The band played throughout Orange County from 1991 to 1995.

Next he was into rap. While in high school he got a record deal that

ended up falling through.

Traveling to Canada and joining an alternative band as a drummer

from 1996 to 1997, he was in a couple of different folk bands. While

playing in Europe and Dublin, he developed his own style of mixed

folk and his skills on guitar improved, as did his sense of melody,

which fostered his ability to write songs.

Lee returned to Orange County to record his songs, which were

released on his first record “Sorry I’m Late.”

“I’ve been playing solo acoustic the last few years,” Lee said.

“I’ve done the band thing a long time, it’s tough to be on the same

page and know where you want to go. Now I’m self-contained -- I get

back whatever I put into it.”

Lee said he grew up in Orange County, graduating from Costa Mesa

High School. He jokes that the city can’t seem to get rid of him.

He’s getting ready to release a new album called “Losing Esperanza

(F/64).”

“F/64 refers to an aperture on a camera. I’ve been dealing with

where I’m at -- it took a long time to record, a year,” Lee said.

“Ansel Adams started a photography group called F/64, who stayed in

true form of photography.”

That aperture is used to take a picture as natural as possible, in

its simplest form, Lee said.

“That’s what I thought I was doing with folk acoustic, and a

one-man show,” Lee said. “The duality of F/64 is literally an

aperture setting with the longest range of depth of focus -- losing

‘Esperanza’ but keeping your idea on the long-term thing, the long

haul of music -- that’s the idea I was looking for.”

The date of the CD release is uncertain. He was going to his last

recording session on Thursday, May 1. He thinks it will be an early

June release.

Lee said that he likes the creative part of music the best --

coming up with an idea that speaks to him or someone else. He also

likes performing live, the immediacy of having people react.

“Lyrics are big to me, lyrics that say something I always felt,

but could never articulate and think, ‘Wow, this is what I felt and

meant,’” Lee said. “I like finding songs that speak to your heart

that would be great for the soul.”

Lee continually plays in Southern California, sometimes up in

L.A., but mostly in Orange County. To find out his schedule and more

about his music, go online to www.brookleemusic.com.