http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2012/11/eavan_returning_to_cleveland_a.htmlSean Beavan returning to Cleveland area to play at Phantasy Nite Club with new band, 8mm It's been 24 years and what seems like three lifetimes since Sean Beavan last played the Phantasy Nite Club in Lakewood.
And not just because he'll be playing guitar instead of bass when he returns to his old stamping grounds at 10 p.m. Friday. Or that he will playing with a different band, 8mm.
(Also on the bill are Gentlemen Hall. Tickets are $8. Call 216-288-6300.)
Everything about Beavan's life is different from when he kicked around the local music scene in bands such as Cool Down Daddy.
He plays in the trip-hop outfit with his wife, Juliette, whom he met after leaving Cleveland. These days he lives in Los Angeles, where the former local-band dude is a world-renowned producer.
You see, Beavan has recorded everyone from Guns N' Roses and Marilyn Manson to Slayer, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, System of a Down and Depeche Mode.
His ascent to studio stardom began here in 1988.
That's when he hooked up with Trent Reznor of NIN, while working as a recording engineer at the Right Track, an old studio located on Payne Avenue and East 22nd Street.
Beavan worked with Reznor until '96, even relocating with him to New Orleans, where he met his future wife and band mate. He left for Los Angeles to work on Marilyn Manson's "Antichrist Superstar" album.
"I fell in love with L.A.," said Beavan, via telephone from his home in the Hollywood Hills. "Everywhere you go, it feels alive. Here, even when people fail, they fail going for it."
When he worked with Guns N' Roses, "going for it" resulted in staring at a clock for two years.
"Between '98 and 2000, I worked on 'Chinese Democracy,' " says Beavan, referring to the GNR disc that took 10 years and $13 million to complete. "It was fun, but also crazy, with totally insane hours."
"Axl [Rose] is a very nice guy, but he has a nebulous awareness of time," he adds. "I'd be there super late at night, just waiting to see if he's going to come in at 2 a.m. or maybe 4 a.m."It was a very different experience with Marilyn Manson. Despite his image as a scary freak, the Canton native is a poster boy for hard work.
"He's really focused when it comes to music," says Beavan. "We really bond on music more than the whole Ohio thing -- his experience in Canton was pretty different than mine playing in bands in Cleveland."
Beavan remains nostalgic for that experience, which is why he chose to bring 8mm to the Phantasy.
"I hung around there so much that it's like home to me," says Beavan. "And I love the ethnic nature of the city, which makes it a lot more grounded than L.A."
He tries to stay grounded when it comes to recording with 8mm, which he formed with Juliette in 2005.
"I try to avoid getting overwrought with it," he says. "I'll limit myself to two guitars, one drum kit and a synth and avoid the indulgence you often find in studios."
"Mixing records is my day job," adds Beavan. "Here, it's more Juliette and I coming up with songs that appeal on an emotional and personal level."
He can't think of performing them anywhere more emotionally and personally than here.
"The only reason I left Cleveland was because opportunity took me elsewhere," says Beavan. "I still miss it, and playing the Phantasy is really like going back for me."
Even if he's in a different place now.
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