origins of a hundred aces

a hundred aces has long been the name of the musical project I have had for several years. The name is a term in the card game pinochle. When a player is dealt a set of aces (one in each suit), this anomaly is known as a hundred aces. With a hundred aces, a player is likely to win the round. I thought it would be a cool name for a band since I come from a pinochle-playing family. To me, it means that the collection of songs I've written are winners and would likely do well given radio airplay and/or other exposure.

bio

Music has always been a part of my life. Since I was a young lad, music came at me from every direction, whether it was in glee club and band in grade school, piano lessons at a young age, my dad playing the harmonica on road trips and family vacations, or listening to whatever classical records my sixth grade teacher played for us in class. Music was a part of the curriculum of the school I attended from K-12. In my senior year of high school I took private vocal lessons where I gained a wealth of knowledge about how to properly use my voice and sing well.

I became interested in popular, modern and rock music when I was a pre-teen. I got more into what is now classic rock when I was in high school and developed a liking for a lot of new wave music after I was out of high school. I started writing poetry my senior year in high school and that led to writing song lyrics.

I continued my music instruction in college taking voice and piano classes. With that background, I became a solid singer and was able to take command of the songs I sang. By the time I was writing my own music, singing had become second nature and the challenge became the music.

experience

Although I had piano lessons as a child and played brass instruments in the school band, I didn't really know how to play guitar and was only a novice at the keyboard. So in the mid-80s I went into Guitar Center and bought a bottom-of-the-line Yamaha FS-310 acoustic guitar. Then in the spring of 1987 I walked into Norwalk Music Store and let someone sell me a Casio CZ-5000 synthesizer keyboard along with a Casio RZ-1 drum machine.

Once I learned how all that 80s state-of-the-art technology worked I started writing synthpop songs. After writing about 10 synthpop tunes I decided to expand my musical horizons and crossed over to guitar. From there I started writing mostly on guitar. Music has been a lifelong experience for me and being able to write, play and perform has been to this day a source of joy for me.

who?

tom folden, singer/songwriter/musician

what?

a hundred aces, the musical project that spans at least a few decades

where?

based in LA/OC/IE area in CA

when?

then, now and probably forever

why?

because music is in my blood

how?

with guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, vocals, background vocals, recording software and hardware and other musical machinery