I love R.E.M. One of my favorite songs by them ends the Automatic for the People album. 'Find the River'. Yeah I like pretty songs. I always wanted to have a closer like that. The perfect kind of ending to all the songs that came before it. Now when I wrote this I wasn't thinking of that song and this sounds nothing like that. It never occurred to me to compare. Then when I was getting the artwork done for the record my buddy Todd Moreland told me that he really really loved this song. I always give him…
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Track 9: Painting the Silence
Painting the Silence. Title track.
I've only done this once before. I think it's kinda boring to name your album after a song that's on it. Most of the time. It's just a thing I have.
Anyway. This album title came from a quote "A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."
I loved that. So that was the title of the record long before it was even formed. This song however had no title and no words until this autumn. And I LOVE THIS SONG.
I mean I like all my…
Read moreTrack 8: Dream of You
Ah so. This is probably one of the only 'direct' lyrics I've ever written. I usually write more in 'scenes' or incomplete thoughts that make a whole picture. But this one just kinda had to be this way.
Everyone wants love. Right? And we hear all the time about love at first sight. Looking at someone and just knowing.
There ya go. That's it. Ha.
Brian Kaplan again played lead guitar and I love what he did here. Floaty. Soaring. He really nailed the feeling of finding the love of your life.
Oh and just…
Read moreTrack 7: I Know You Know
This is one of the oldest songs that made the album. I had just moved and it was a warm day in March. I took my guitar out onto my deck and started messing around. Came up with a cool melody so I recorded into my phone. This is one of those lucky moments when it just--clicked. If I played you the phone recording you'd see that nearly all the lyrics came out at once.
When this happens I'm always baffled. I didn't sit down to write a song. I had no idea in my head. It just came out. Maybe I'm just a…
Read moreWelcome to side 2. Track 6: Winter Song
So yeah, Side 2!!
I LOVE records. I've always had a bunch and the last few years I've gotten back into collecting them. Not just old stuff either. I have almost all the Radiohead albums on Vinyl....it's pretty cool. You should try it! For this album I'm selling real honest to goodness records. Mainly cause I wanted one for me haha. Seriously! How fucking cool is it going to be to hold a 12x12 album of MY music in my own little hands? Or yours! You should get one. Cause like I said they're waaaaayyy cool.
…Read moreTrack 5: Eyes to the Sky
Funny how time changes your point of view. "Time can heal all wounds", or something like that is the saying right?
My last 3 records were not exactly depressing. Not at all. There were many joyous happy uplifting moments with the sad. Looking back all 3 were me dealing with my mothers death. Could've been a lot darker I guess. Lyrically they were me working shit out. Music has always been that for me. That's why I love it. It can transport you into another world. Make you remember moments. Make you feel…
Read moreTrack Three: Running Away
Tom Petty just passed away. I was so sad. I remember having his album 'Full Moon Fever' on near constant play one summer. And what musician wouldn't KILL for a 'Freefallin'? I don't know any. I would.
Tom Petty and John Mellencamp are two of my favorites. There's just something so honest and accessible in their music. Later the first Counting Crows album hit me the same way although a little more down in the mouth there was still 'Mr. Jones' and 'Rain King'. My band used to…
Read moreTrack Two: Fallen
Fallen is a great song to see where the album could have gone. Who knows I might have a bunch like this hee hee.
This is one of the oldest pieces of music on the album. Actually just the acoustic guitar part. I came up with that little riff--man--probably during the 'Myself Again' record. I always thought it was cool. I never got it to go anywhere so I mainly used to play it just sitting around as a cool picking exercise. Even then most of the time I would trip myself up with the turnaround. I started…
Read moreTrack one: Find it Out
I'm all the way done. So over the next few weeks leading up to the official release of the full album I will be posting the songs, in order, so you'll be able to hear them.
Tomorrow you'll be able to pre-order the album. There will be a few different options. One for everybody!
I remember the day I came up with this. It was winter time and I was in my studio which was in my basement at the time. I have big windows looking out into the yard and it was one of those days where it snowed like…
Read moreRecording Stuff and things. And stuff
What goes on after all the parts are recorded?
Well- funny you should ask.
LOTS
First there're all the mixes. This is where you 'balance' all the sounds against eachother. Not to make sure they're all the same volume, but to make sure they sit in the song where they should be. You don't want an electric guitar that is way louder than every other sound. You want it to sound like an electric guitar playing with all the other instruments.
Now some things are nearly always a bit louder. Vocals, snare drum…
Read moreHome Stretch-Finding what is supposed to be
Life is funny.
We struggle. Try. Fail. Get up. Try again. Move forward. Sometimes things turn out exactly as we planned. Sometimes we get to where we wanted to go but the road there is very different than we envisioned. Sometimes we end up somewhere completely different and that is the perfect place for us to end up.
This album has felt like that. All of that.
When I first started working towards a new record my plan was to make a stripped down acoustic quiet pretty album. I had just finished 'Ria'…
Read moreFinishing Touches. Decisions. Hair Pulling.
So yeah it's been 7 years since I put out an album. What the hell? How did it go so fast?
Busy:
Not that nothing got done. Between studio recording, half finished tracks an iphone 'idea' recordings I have well over 200 song ideas. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this since it's easy to blame 'writers block' or something like that when I get down about not being done. A lot of the songs that will be on Vol 1 were nearly finished in 2011-2012. Right after 'February Sessions'. 'Find it Out', 'Fallen'…
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