When MikelParis isn’t playing keyboard for the band O.A.R., he’s busy following his passions for exploring historic places and performing original songs in a project he calls TuneTrek. He came through Syracuse for a stop on O.A.R.’s fall 2015 tour at the Skä•noñh Center, Paris recorded a music video in the Sainte Marie Mission chapel, set on a hill above Onondaga Lake on a windy, frigid day.
What is TuneTrek? “TuneTrek was born out of my love for travel and exploration and adventure,” he explains. “The feeling of seeing something new for the first time … I love that, I live for that. Obviously, there’s my love for music. I was looking for a way to combine those two things with history and architecture. I drew inspiration from Les Stroud, Survivorman, and Live from Daryl’s House. I like aspects of both of those shows.” – MikelParis
So far he’s filmed more than 30 TuneTrek videos all across the country. He’s visited castles, haunted inns, museums, scenic vistas, factories, zoos, and more. He selects a tune to record based on the feel of the locale. “I try to think about where I am going and what song seems to support the feel of it lyrically,” he says. “When I get to the space, invariably, sometimes I feel different and something else happens.”
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