Kevin Zingale was about nine when his parents took him to see Peter Frampton in concert. By the time he got home, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.

“I want to play guitar. I want to do what he’s doing.”

His dad pulled an ’80s Japanese Fender Strat from the back of a closet, a guitar Kevin didn’t even know he owned. Kevin still has it today.

Years later, a job at Guitar Center pulled Kevin deeper into the Temecula music scene. It’s where he met his wife, Elanna, and David “Scoop” Brockenborough, his brother-in-law, close friend and bandmate.

That commitment took shape with Endeavor. Kevin remembers rehearsing at drummer Jimmy Marshall’s house every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. They were tightening the instrumentation and building multi-part vocal harmonies. The band rehearsed for nearly a year before its first full gig.

That same attention to detail carries into Echoes of Cadence, a band Kevin calls his “pride and joy.” They take on music by Yes, Rush, Queen, Styx and other artists most local bands avoid.

“If you do those songs, you have to do them with authenticity.”

For Kevin, that means digging into the sounds, tones and effects in a song and figuring out how to recreate them. He programs tracks down to individual cues and built a live rig that automatically changes his guitar patches.

But Kevin describes his approach more simply:

“I just know what I want to hear.”

That same creativity carries into Axis Nova, the progressive-metal project Kevin shares with Scoop. Their love of video games and progressive metal became Press Start, imagined as the soundtrack to a game that doesn’t exist, complete with menus, cinematic sequences, battle themes and arcade-inspired sounds.

We also get into Kevin’s guitars, modelers, mixers, in-ear monitoring and live-show technology. From all-night rehearsals to the smallest details in a song, Kevin refuses to settle for close enough.

In This Episode

• The Peter Frampton concert that inspired Kevin to play guitar
• The ’80s Japanese Fender Strat his dad pulled from a closet
• Meeting Elanna and Scoop through Guitar Center
• Endeavor’s all-night rehearsals and vocal harmonies
• Why Echoes of Cadence tackles songs other local bands avoid
• Recreating tones, effects, cues and automatic guitar patch changes
• Kevin and Scoop’s shared love of video games and Axis Nova
• Creating Press Start as the soundtrack to a game that doesn’t exist
• Kevin’s guitars, modelers, mixers, in-ear setup and approach to live sound

Connect With Kevin Zingale

Website: https://zingalemusic.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zingalemusic/

Echoes of Cadence: https://www.instagram.com/eocofficialmusic/

Endeavor: https://www.instagram.com/endeavorofficialmusic/

Sponsor Thanks to Tsunami Cables for sponsoring The SoCal Setlist. Built by musicians in Southern California, Tsunami Cables deliver clean signal transfer, low noise and reliable tone, and every cable is backed by a lifetime warranty.

Visit https://tsunamicables.com/ and use code SOCALSETLIST for 10% off through May 29, 2027.

“It’s about the show. You’ve got to have energy. What’s the story the next day that people are going to be talking about?”

That question guides the way Andy Doty books bands, reads a room and thinks about the experience people have at The Vibe.

Andy never planned to own a venue. After losing the career he had spent decades building, he was sitting inside a packed 900-square-foot club when the owner said he needed to sell.

“I said, ‘Really? How much?’ He told me the price, and I said, ‘Sold.’ I really didn’t have a plan.”

At the time, Old Town had become what Andy remembers as a ghost town. The streets were so empty that you could stand in the middle of one for nearly 10 minutes without seeing a car. Looking at the club’s new patio, Andy made a decision: “Screw this. Let’s just do it outside. Let’s do a Beatles rooftop thing.”

Big Truth set up on the patio and spread the word through social media. Within roughly 45 minutes, four to five hundred people had gathered around the corner of Front and Fourth. During one of the club’s most uncertain periods, live music brought Old Town back to life. Andy still describes it as a magical night. Owning the club also brought Andy back to the guitar after nearly 30 years away. Today, he plays rhythm guitar with Love You Live and the Temecula Wilburys.

We talk about recognizing opportunity, supporting original music, what musicians need to understand about putting on a show and the legacy Andy hopes to leave in Old Town Temecula.

“It’s about the music, that one universal thing that connects us all.”

Follow The Vibe on Instagram and find upcoming shows at TheVibeForLiveMusic.com.

Thanks to Tsunami Cables for sponsoring The SoCal Setlist. Use code SOCALSETLIST for 10% off at TsunamiCables.com through May 29, 2027.

David Mills begins every production with a deceptively simple question: What’s the goal?

That question shapes everything that follows. Does the artist want an honest recording of the song exactly as they wrote it, or are they trying to create something that can compete on radio? How much input do they want? Are they willing to change a melody, rewrite a lyric or remove a part that isn’t serving the song?

David developed that perspective through years of playing live, touring and working as a session musician. The Lake Elsinore guitarist formed his first band at 11 or 12 and stayed with it for roughly 14 years. After learning pedal steel, he went from one long-term band to becoming an in-demand hired gun, eventually touring Southern California and Canada with Daring Greatly.

His session work includes pedal steel on Jelly Roll’s “She.” The part that made the record was only three notes - an example of one of the most important lessons David has learned: great musicianship isn’t about filling every available space. It’s about hearing what the song needs and having the restraint to stop there.

Today, David brings that same ear to Mills Production Studios, where he works as a producer, recording engineer and musician. We talk about the difference between producing and simply recording a band, building enough trust to challenge an artist, finding the right pocket, playing for listeners instead of other musicians and why the ultimate test is whether people can feel the music.

In This Episode

• How David started playing guitar and formed his first band in Lake Elsinore
• Why learning pedal steel transformed his career
• How a local recording session led to playing on Jelly Roll’s “She”
• Touring Southern California and Canada with Daring Greatly
• The difference between a recording engineer and a producer
• Why David begins every project by asking, “What’s the goal?”
• How producers earn enough trust to challenge an artist’s song
• The difference between being a great live musician and a great session player
• Why playing less can make a recording more powerful
• How Kings of Karma’s “Again and Again” found its missing hook
• Why feel, pocket and restraint matter more than technical complexity
• What David listens for when studying other producers and recordings

Connect With David Mills

Mills Production Studios: https://millsrecords.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_david.mills_/

Image Credit: https://www.facebook.com/KennethRaySeals/

Sponsor

Thanks to Tsunami Cables for sponsoring The SoCal Setlist. Built by musicians here in Southern California, Tsunami Cables deliver clean signal transfer, low noise and reliable tone, and every cable is backed by a lifetime warranty.

Visit https://tsunamicables.com/ and use code SOCALSETLIST for 10% off through May 29, 2027.

Follow The SoCal Setlist for more conversations with the artists, musicians, producers and venue owners shaping music across Southern California.