Happy Spring And Apparent Annual Blog!

Hello friends! It has been one year to the day since my last blog. Let me just admit right now i’m the worst at keeping my blog up-to-date, but here I am writing to you, whoever/wherever you are.

So what’s been going on with me personally/musically? The biggest news personally is my wife and I had a baby in late May, which has been the single most joyful experience of my life. Parenting is as exhaustive as everyone warned me, but it is such a small inconvenience compared to the love I experience everyday. It seems to compound exponentially every day. I love it! That being said, he is one of the reasons I really fell off the blog front lol!

Musically, the first thing I’m excited about is I have renovated a room in my house into a new studio. I did some more recordings down in the boathouse this past summer and when the weather was too cold/wet, I made the move up here. I filled it with some AMAZING gear including a couple Distressors, UAD 6176, UAD LA610, Eventide H3000B, Neuman U87, some new keyboards, and a bunch of other stuff I’ll be listing in the gear portion of my site. The room has been acoustically treated and sounds fantastic! Lots of good music is coming outta here for sure…keep an ear peeled!

The Keyna Hall EP was put on hold after the pandemic really hit. Likewise with some other projects, which is understandable. Some things to look forward to are Joshua Eden’s full length album, which I mixed, Modern Clarion full length and the Joel Thetford LP, both of which I played bass on, Mike Schools full length which I played on, produced, mixed, and will mostly likely do a mastering job on, Dan Boyden’s Mix Tape, which I will be mastering, and some other secrets I have yet to reveal because they are so dope I have to wait for the ok from the management…:)

I put my creative work off to the side for a minute while I navigate/manage being a new dad and getting my studio in a working place. That being said I am excited and eager to explore my own material now that I have this studio and things with kiddo are settling into a more manageable place. I’ll be playing out A TON this summer. My calendar is nearly full already and that excites me to no end. I think people are really hungry for live performances as well. I played a fair amount last summer at outside venues, which was super fun, but exhaustive because I would end up wearing my mask like 8-10 hours a day in the summer. Sweat-face…eew. Hopefully everyone will be vaccinated this summer and we can do away with the masks.

Well that about sums up a year. I could go further in to the details, but I’ll save you from that. Thanks so much for checking in to see what i’m up to. Super stoked and positive on this end. Contact me if you have questions, concerns, would like lessons, or would just like to say hi. Stay safe, healthy and smart out there!

Fall Back Into It

I’ll keep this short and sweet. I am happy to report the 45 for ‘City Of My Mind’ and the dub version are off to the presses! It’s been a hugely educational process releasing this; I haven’t released my own vinyl anything before and I learned a ton. The next one will take much less time.

I took the summer to reflect on my life in music, which was a beautiful and revealing time. I listened to tons of new music, revisited all of my favorites, wrote a little bit, played some, and everything I did, I did with positivity. I also worked four jobs to fund my 45 release and the traveling I have planned later this fall and winter time. If anyone reading this is ever feeling in a slump, I highly recommend taking some time to reflect on what’s working/not working. There’s no shame in taking a step back to reapproach whatever is obstructing your forward momentum.

There are many fun shows and recording projects on the horizon that I am excited to share with you, so keep posted and we’ll see ya out there sometime! As always, don’t hesitate to hit me up with questions or to extend a friendly hello. Keep it chill!

Maytime

This is a short but sweet one. I had the pleasure of heading out to the west coast (Spokane, WA) to play a show with my friend Maurice Brown. It was a heavy travel weekend, but the show was an absolute blast and I enjoyed the change of scenery for a couple days. I flew into Seattle, rented a car, and drove to Spokane. I had a leisurely drive back to Seattle the next day after the gig and stopped at some beautiful spots along the way, which included the overlook of the Columbia river in Vantage, and enjoyed a picnic lunch and meditation at a small park in Snoqualmie Pass on the Keechelus Lake. I made my way into Seattle where I found a beach, read a book, and watched a stunning west coast sunset. What a nice way to spend a couple days!

Upon my return I had my friend Tristan up and we did some editing and prepped all his songs to be mixed for The Tristones album. Following a couple days of editing Tristan’s stuff, I tracked a new artist, Lauren Crosby, who is an absolute gem of a human. We had a blast in the studio and her songs are great. I’ll be editing and mixing those in the upcoming weeks for her EP to be released later this summer.

The Gainers EP is OUT! You can hear it on any of your regular streaming services (I recommend pretty much anything except Spotify…I use Tidal). I wish those fellas all the best on their musical journey and look forward to working with them again in the future.

I’ve been chugging along on making my own music, which I hope to release in the early fall. For me, it’s a very revealing process about my inner workings and when to say ‘enough is enough’ on a piece because I find myself experiencing reversed-productivity due to my perfectionist nature. I hope people enjoy the music when its released, but I feel strongly that I have to like it too! I’ve heard the old adage ‘you are your own worst critic’, but for me, I am over-critical to the point of trashing pieces I like ok in order to get to the stuff I love.

As always, I’m grateful to anyone who reads these posts. Often times it’s just catching up on what I’m doing and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to catch up. Be safe out there and keep your ears open!