The Band
So, saying band might be a little misleading. Right now it’s just one guy. Jason Burns is currently the guitarist, bass player, keyboardist, vocalist, programmer, engineer, mixer, masterer, marketing, label owner, um, custodian, carpenter….. well, you get the picture.
Project K2R4 will eventually be a band in some incarnation. Whether it’s something I put together to play my own music, or a group of guys that scuttle all of this music and start something new, it’s probably going to be a musical identity of mine for awhile.
Currently I would describe the Project K2R4 sound as a blend of heavy, melodic, progressive metal. Deriving from influences like Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Steve Vai, Megadeth and sprinkling in some angular additions like Pink Floyd, Joe Bonamassa, Foo Fighters and Dimmu Borgir, you’ll likely never know quite what to expect.
Jason Bio
Birthdate : December 11, 1974
Place of origin : Hickory, NC
Place of residence : Seattle, WA
Instrument played : Guitar, drums, bass, keys, vocals
Jason picked up the guitar when he was about 13 years old. Along with a middle and high school expirement with drums, he was introduced to music by sneaking into his older sister’s room and playing with her bass guitar when she wasn’t home. Although he really wanted a Peavey electric guitar, he got an acoustic guitar first. After keeping at it, his parents worked out a swap with a friend of theirs to get a telecaster copy and he’s been kind of known as a “guitar guy” since.
Of course high school came with the various bands and fights, and Jason was truly introduced to being a multi-instrumentalist when a high school friend introduced him to MIDI and computer sequencing. Given a natural affinity to computers, combined with the fact that computer drummers always showed up and didn’t argue back, Jason the solo artist was born.
There’s been a huge gap since then where he kept growing as a guitarist and songwriter, but never made an effort to expose anyone else to his music. With loads of encouragement from his wife and friends, the last several years have been a real growing period and the result is truly epic. After the initial shock of people when he let them hear his voice for the first time, Jason is ready to unleash his music to the world.
Band Influences: Devin Townsend, Dream Theater, Kings X, Linkin Park, Mastodon, Megadeth, Meshuggah, Pink Floyd, Tool
Guitar Influences: David Gilmour, Joe Bonamassa, John Petrucci, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Steve Vai
From Jason
This has been a long time coming and I could not be more proud and excited to let everyone hear it. I sincerely hope you enjoy the new album and I look forward to getting a band together and playing it live as soon as possible
What does Project K2R4 Mean?
I get this question a lot and while I can tell you where the name came from, you’ll be sad to know that it has no personal connection for me, I just happened to be watching a documentary on it and thought it sounded really cool. :)
Khmelnitsky-2 and Rivne-4 are two controversial nuclear reactors in the Ukraine that were unfinished when the Soviet Union collapsed. Following the wake of Chernobyl, there was a great deal of political turmoil regarding the future of these two nuclear reactors. On December 14th, 1998, protests took place all over Europe to show the widespread resistance to using taxpayers money from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance another “Chernobyl in the making.”
The Ukrainian government made closing the remaining Chernobyl reactors dependent on the West agreeing to finance nearly $2 billion dollars for the construction of K2/R4. These two reactors were connected to the grid in 2004, bringing their long delayed construction to and end and replacing the energy capabilities lost by closing the un-compromized reactors in Chernobyl. There was significant controversy over the funding and the Ukrainian government made it’s frustration public over the failure of the West to follow through with the promised funds to finish them.
Hopefully this explains the nuclear themes I use in imagery and logos. It is important to mention that these reactors are stable and providing energy, it’s just more fun for me to tie them to images of bombs and destruction than an A/C socket.