New York musician Derek Gregor is on a mission to give Broadway a youthful revitalisation.
Gregor, one third of rock band M-Lab, has also written the musical ‘Unlock’d’ that is destined for the Broadway stages.The sound of M-Lab merges the vocal styles of Neil Diamond with the musical feel of Jim Steinman with a bit of U2 tweaking thrown in for good measure.
Gregor wrote ‘Unlock’d’ with bookwriter and lyrist Sam Carner. He has used the experience from the rock band to bring to the musical to life while at the same time reverses the energies to give the band an operatic feel.
‘Unlock’d’ is based on ‘The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope. It tells the story of Bellinda, the most beautiful woman in the land, whose majestic golden locks are guarded by the jealous but powerful fairies.
‘Unlock’d’ has already received a Richard Rodgers Award and has so far been performed in full by the students of the Collaborative Arts at NYU.
It is not surprising that the musical and the band have such a depth of sounds. Derek cites Mozart and Back, Sondheim and U2 as musical influences.
Within M-Lab, Derek works with Drew Brody and Mike White. They have so far recorded a 4 song EP with Grammy winning producer and engineer Chris Trevett.
Sam Carner and Derek Gregor MySpace
Visit the M-Lab official web site
