Album summary and update

A lot of my friends have been asking me when the album will be finished, or when they can go get some tracks, so I figured I'd give anyone who is curious a bit of insight into the process and my best guess at an answer.

First some background: there are 11 songs.  I was asked to participate in this project by S., a college friend of mine.  He is a songwriter/guitarist who has recorded two self-financed (no record label/deal) albums already.  This time around he wrote music for a rock album, and decided that he wanted it to be more of a group effort.  He got his longtime friend P. to drum, recruited a professional singing friend to sing, and yet another old friend (T.) to play rhythm guitar.  All of them had collaborated on S' second album.

He asked me to play bass on the album late last year, well after he had recruited everyone else and decided he wanted to get a different bass player from they guy he played with in the past.  Along the way, I also ended up doing backing vocals.   

Recording this album has presented a number of challenges.  Number one, it is self-financed again; the band members are splitting the cost of studio time, as opposed to borrowing all the production costs from a record label.  We don't have a record deal (...yet?).  

Two, we are recording in Detroit because three of the band members (including the songwriter) live in Michigan.  However, I obviously live in D.C. and the lead singer lives in the Chicago area.  That means that we have to get together on whatever weekends we call have free in order to record and mix.  In between the group sessions, S. and the other two Michigan band members go into the studio and record bits and pieces of different tracks, sending changes/additions to everyone for feedback.  Clearly this isn't the most speedy and efficient system in the world, but thanks to distance we don't really have a choice.  None of us is ready to quit our day jobs -- especially when our day jobs are financing the album and process.

But the end is in sight.  The album is almost finished, and we have actually mixed two songs that are just about ready to be released.  We will get them mastered and probably put them out on a website in about a month or so. Once that happens, we will be shopping the songs to labels and any other relevant contacts we have.  My best guess as to when the album will be completely done is April. We are hoping to hold a couple of CD release parties and perform, perhaps even in the D.C. area if we can swing it. 

We are also looking for a director/filmmaker to shoot or create at least one music video.  If you're interested or you know someone who might be, give me a shout.

In the meantime, I am willing to play tracks if you're interested in hearing them -- but only in person.  I won't be distributing anything to anyone until we have 'officially' released them as a band.  I am very excited by what we've accomplished so far, and all the feedback from those who have heard our stuff has been overwhelmingly positive.  We can't wait to get this out there, but we are going to take the time to make sure we put out the best product we can.  Hopefully this clarifies things.

We recorded some vocal stuff and mixed a couple of tracks (finishing those two) this past weekend.  It went well.

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