Scott Ibex began his “Dragonbreath” nation-wide tour at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center last February. This week he returns to share his unique blend of solo-acoustic tapping music that is layered over free-flowing melodies from his new album “Gratitude”.
The solo-act expanded to include Moab musicians Tory Davis and Kevin Tangee at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center on 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 14.
“It was a really magical time the first performance I had there, and now we have even better equipment and great musicians joining me,” Ibex said. “It should be a fantastic show. We’re hoping for a full house. We probably will be doing some filming for a DVD of live performances.”
Moab has been a second home to Ibex for years.
He grew up in Southern California, but found Moab as a 16-year-old kid while doing a summer program.
“Moab is kind of like my adopted home,” Ibex said. He went to Matrimony Springs near the Colorado River, which as local legend holds, if you drink from the water you will always return.
He met Moab percussionist Tory Davis after one of his tours. The two found a rhythm they could share and played together from April to July.
“We got our music in touch with each other,” Ibex said. “We’ll have Tory doing a unique style of finger percussion. We also added a lot of world percussion instruments.”
Davis will also be performing on wooden blocks, a washboard, a gourd, a talking drum and the jaw harp.
“We’re going to do this fantastic tandem drug performance that we put together where we perform on the same drum and do poly rhythms that you have to do with two people. One person couldn’t play it,” Ibex said.
The act will also feature trumpet player Kevin Tangee from Stonefed.
“We’re doing a kind of a jazz/ funk performance,” Ibex said. “We have a lot of really talented Moabites for this performance.”
Ibex is a mostly self-taught musician. He began singing and playing violin at the age of six. At 10, Ibex performed his first classical piano recital, and by 13, he taught himself guitar, bass, and drums. Throughout high school and college Ibex wrote, produced, and arranged original music for many different groups. After college, he played drums for New York based rock band, The Power Apes.
In 2003, Ibex moved to Costa Mesa, California and began his solo career. Upon graduating Whittier Law School in May of 2006, Ibex released his debut album, ‘At Love’s New Dawn’. Shortly after, he released a well-received folk album, ‘1968’.
In the fall of 2006 Ibex performed in over 20 states on “The Homemade Tour.” The overwhelming positive response helped cement his sterling reputation as an artist in demand.
In addition to his national tours, Ibex is also a recently published author. His first book “Low-Budget Rockstar: The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Booking, Surviving, and Making a Profit on Your Own Indie Tour” was released in January of 2012.
“I’m part of the community as much as I can be,” Ibex said of Moab. “My drummer is here. I often come back and like to spend at least a couple of weeks when I have some downtime from the tour.”
Ibex will also perform classic rock covers at 7 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 15 at the Blu Pig.
“It’s our last day in Moab for a few months. We’ll be back next spring,” Ibex said.
