Fall back!

Whatup!  It's been awhile since I've posted, but here is what I've been up to.  I recently bought a house with my wife and we are trying to front load all the work it needs, so I've been super busy with both working on the house and coming up with the dough to do so.  In addition to my regular music life, I took up a job picking apples and another farming job.  It was an incredible experience being in the quiet solitude of the apple orchard every morning.  The air was crisp, there was a sheen of dew on everything, and the apples were at their freshest and sweetest.  I really embraced these zen moments.  Truly inspiring.  

My friend Jake Freeman came to Maine from Idaho to record his upcoming EP.  His style is very derivative of western country, but there're some tinges of Junior Kimbrough and 60's Californian psychadelia in there too.  It was such a blast producing this session!  We had the pleasure of Andrew Bailie's guitar work, Jackson Cromwell's drumming/percussion, and the ace-engineer Jon Roods at the console.  I look forward to getting this out to you all so you can enjoy the sounds!

I have been writing a ton of instrumental music when I'm not grinding on the house.  I am writing 30 ideas in various stages of development (currently at 19), pairing it down to 15, then showing some people to collaborate with and we'll choose the best 10 to fully realize.  I've been using the simplicity of Logic X to record these demos.  When it is time to get the band rehearsed, we'll be cutting live to ProTools 12.  If I had the budget, I'd record to tape, but alas the money is not there...yet.  

Last week I traveled to New York to play with Swerling, a band fronted by my friend Bryan Swerling and MD'd by Scott Chasolen.  The band is great and the tunes are super fun to play.  Bryan is starting his music career a little later than some, but the potency, drive, motivation, and eagerness are not often found in younger players.  Bryan is a badass.

I absolutely love being in the studio with Maurice "Mobetta" Brown.  He has become a great friend of mine over the years and we work really well together.  We took a day to write last week and came up with some SUPER FIRE material.  Guitarist Jeff Andy helped us fill out the sounds.  We will present it to some different artists in hopes to use on someone's album...fingers crossed someone likes it and wants to collaborate with us!  

That just about wraps it up for these last few months.  I'll be posting more shows and music soon, once I figure out how to navigate this crazy thing.  If you're interested, here are some books I've read/am currently reading...You're a Badass by Jen Sincero, Moby Dick by Herman Melville (I need to finish this, it's been slow going, but an incredible read!), Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  

Looking forward to seeing you at a show, hearing from you via internet, or hanging out in real life!  Cheers!