Say hello to my new eclectic collection of tunes, 2021's THIS MEANS EVERYTHING, available for download on Feb. 5th.
The latest album began to take shape back in 2016 and chronicles my cynical fears and my crazy hopes for reason and sanity during a distressful time in the world and my seemingly never ending journey into adulthood, for lack of a better term.
Though very many songs were written during this time, these particular tunes adapted quickly to the live show and getting to retain my rhythm section of Ashley Galbraith and Joey Interrante for the album made it quick work getting the bones down at the Hideaway Recording Studio with the talented John Kelly at the helm.
After that, I polished and poked at the recordings at home in Mystic Orb in order to finish them up and enlisted the aid of some local luminaries who had shared the stage with us at some point, all who had made singular contributions to the songs.
Guitar wizard LaRue Nickelson shared guitar leads with me on "How Black Is the Night" including a little back and forth guitar "dueling" as we had played it live many times. Matt Walker lent his unique guitar style to the track "Animal" and he and his mates from Someday Honey, chanteuse Kaleigh Baker and keyboard conjurer Mark Cunningham, added some fantastic circus atmosphere to "Time For The Show".
Finally, I was lucky to get the fantastic George Harris of Creative World Studios to master the tracks and stellar songwriter and artist Ed Woltil to create some excellent cover art.
Here's some thoughts on the tunes collected for this album:
Weather Vane
I had read that hearing a rooster crow at midnight was an omen of bad luck. Seemed like there were a lot of roosters crowing a few years back. Uncertainty and a desire for control make for anxious bedfellows, and a rollicking A minor rocker.
How Black Is The Night
Writing this tune, I felt I was fringing on JJ Cale / Mark Knopfler territory. However, think I might have wandered into a forgotten back alley. A song about troubling thoughts and the night life I spend so much time dwelling in.
This Means Everything
When I got to the chorus of this number I thought to myself "what is this song about, what does it mean?" I realized it was an outpouring of everything I was feeling at the time. Various emotions deriving from various losses and realizations that don't need to be specified here. At the time, this song was about: Everything.
Nothing To See Here
I read about a town in Pennsylvania which had been suffering from an underground coal fire since 1962. It got me started on these lyrics which read like a fever dream of the everyday apocalypses that seem to be going on around us but never really addressed. Move along, nothing to see here.
Time For The Show
Written to be a show starter and an attempt at mesmerizing the audience into my mind-set, this tune is another chronicle of the wee hours and the journey down the rabbit hole that I so love about night life. As Roy Scheider said as Bob Fosse in All That Jazz, "It's showtime!"
Room Where May Cried
This one is a relic of the past. I pulled this rabbit out of my top hat one evening and really enjoyed what happened with it. A bossa nova ghost story, with a few layers to it.
Dead End Sign
A straight ahead rocker about knowing when you're bad news. We all feel that way sometimes, no? Just me? I felt like it came from my love for Lou Reed but some Robert Fripp-ish arpeggios make the scene and still, it's hard to hide my tenor.
Animal
A light-hearted tune that sort of wrote itself. We all are animals of course, but I hope the message comes across. Love and loss.
Two And A Half Minutes To Midnight
I think it was in 2016 I ran across the story that the atomic Doomsday Clock had moved up to 2 1/2 minutes to midnight, midnight being the moment of nuclear holocaust. Got me writing in my book. The rhythm of the words presented a funky groove and a spooky melody sprang from the 13th chord. I think it epitomizes the feeling of what seems to be the mass of society's disassociation, if not flat disinterest, in the calamities that seem to be right around the corner. Definitely a cousin of Nothing To See Here.
OKAY, well I hope you'll have a listen and enjoyed this synopsis.
"I want to feel black wings around me
I want to vanish down a hole
And emerge in loving sunlight
Have the wicked riddles scattered from my soul."
from This Means Everything
Click here to download from Bandcamp.com from Feb. 5th