Since quarantine began, I’ve been sharing a lot of my unreleased music on streaming services. It feels amazing to get all this material out there. I’m cleansing my palate. Shooting my history into space, and making room for my future to emerge. So! Amidst releases like my 1995 cassette “Letters Never Sent” (on June 19th) and a collection of 19 other tunes from the vault called “Kiss To History” (July 17th), you might be wondering- as was I… When the hell am I going to make something new???
Here’s the scoop: I’m working on a 6-song EP called “ATYPICAL” that is a hybrid of old and new. The leadoff track is a song called “I Love You Whatever” which I’ve been trying to finish for literally decades. I had most of the song done in 1996 or 1997, but was never able to pull off a vocal I liked. I found a high-quality version of the basic tracks, lacking only guitars and vocals, which I now get to add in 2020-style. I’m very excited about these songs because they offer a rawness and energy that has fallen largely by the wayside for many years.
Also, the other day I was tooling around Facebook and saw this video of my pal Dylan Ryan laying down drum tracks for a Judas Priest song he was recording for his Ether Feather project. I’m not sure how the video was recorded (phone? actual camera?) but the audio was pretty decent (and in stereo!), so, I sampled it and brought it into Ableton Live where I chopped it up and re-assemble the drums into a new arrangement. With Dylan’s blessing, I am creating a new single from the ground up based on this energetic rhythm foundation. I was up very late Tuesday night (think: 4am) so I took to my kitchen table to scratch out lyrics for the tune, with the help of my songwriting partner, Henry.
This track is also going to be heavier than my usual fare. Also thrilled to finally be working with Dylan (albeit tangentially). The song is called “Hot Rod Stigmata” and encourages everybody to embrace whatever Messiah Complex they might have to the most positive ends possible. Stay tuned, friends! Stay tuned.
