New Writer Alert: Emeri Devante has been thrown “Into The Pit”

Let’s be real..

If anyone know’s Annie like I do, when her mind is made up, good luck trying to convince that chick of anything otherwise. When she created “Into The Pit with Annie”, it was very clear to me that this was going to be a thing no matter what. My journey with the site started with a post on Annie’s personal page. She was asking for any writer with a taste for going to punk and rock shows to contact her. I figured I’d reach out to join the team instead of sitting back and watching greatness built in front of my eyes.

My initial reaction to what she was putting together was nothing short of inspiring. It seems she had found a void in the deliverance of news, drama, and the happenings of the Las Vegas rock scene. I had to admit it myself. With all the nonsense going on in Vegas between big name acts or cheesy strip shows, the local music scene is being overshadowed. Prior to joining “Into The Pit with Annie”, I had my own experiences and difficulties with bringing awareness to the local music scene. Quite tragic if you ask me. How could a city with so much life and culture be lacking such a crucial platform for the acts of tomorrow.

Annie’s determination to fix the disconnect between fans and local artist birthed this site. Along with creating this site, it inspired me to come along for the ride.

A little about me.. 

Along with Annie, I’m a Chicago native. Outside of my former employer where Annie and I met, the love of our hometown more than likely sealed the connection between us. I’m currently a month away from being 25 and my ties with music run deep.

My main musical forte is the instrument I can take everywhere with me, my voice. With about 2 decades of vocal experience, I’ve participated in over 5 different choirs, a slew of garage-bands, as well as my own budding solo career. I make it very clear that being a vocalist resides as my main musical passion. To dive deeper, I’ve learned instruments from cello, alto and baritone saxophone, keys, percussion, and tuned percussion. We would need to blow the dust off a few of these instruments, but at the end of the day, my mind and my hands know how to create.

In high school I took up production on digital workstations. I started working through Logic Pro,  a software series created by Apple. It’s more widely known as the big brother of Garageband. That continues to be my preferred DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to date, especially when producing music.

Post high school, I had absolutely zero urge to slave away for 4+ years in classrooms stressing over finals. My goal was to make music and live well doing it. The best route I saw to accomplish that goal was to learn to work in recording studios.

After graduating, I refused to take a full summer off. I immediately enrolled in an audio recording school called, “The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences.” Sounds fancy doesn’t it? The gear and the classrooms were fancy, the instructors however were cut from a different cloth. These guys spent decades grinding in recording studios. They experienced actually working in the music business. They endured the grueling process of making records with often egotistical artist. They were as real as it could get.

One instructor persisted on using the rock sign whenever showcasing a feature on the mixing board we were learning about that day. He was he most metal instructor there.

My favorite recording instructor was a decorated Grammy winner. His award was for engineering the Smashing Pumpkins, also out of Chicago. I’ve been told that any legitimate fan of rock music would know who they are. He taught us proper mic placement for guitar/bass amps, drum kits, re-amping techniques, as well how to properly mix a rock group of any sub-genre. I came out of that school certified in the recording arts and certified in Pro Tools, the industry standard recording DAW. The completion of schooling fueled my interest in rock and it’s sub genres. Today, that interest provides me the courage to take on this new position as a writer and content creator for “Into The Pit with Annie”.

Nowadays you can catch me in and out of recording studios working on what ever genre of music comes my way.

What you can expect..

For those reading this, if you’re out in the local music scene here in Vegas, you’ll more than likely catch me there covering it solo, or with Annie herself! I’ll be the near 6 ft tall stoner with a caramel complexion, blond tipped dreadlocks, and a big grin from ear to ear. The grin is from me absolutely loving what I do.

My role with this site will be to write great content, create new playlist, provide genre comparisons, and maybe a funny meme here and there. In a recent brainstorming session at the Starbucks next to my place, Annie and I took the time to list creative new ways to engage with our audience. If I were you, I’d stay subscribed and plugged into the page to make sure you catch every piece of this collective awesomeness.

Until then, thank you for reading.

Mom! I’ve officially been thrown, “Into The Pit”.

See what I did there!

• Written By: Emeri Devante