We’re creeping up on the end of another year, and I’ve gotta admit that I’m entirely ready to stick a fork in 2017 and see if we can’t pop the cork on a brighter 2018. I’m not usually one to publicly bellyache, but damn, there’s gotta be a better one around the corner, right? I sure hope so. In the meantime, do yourself(and all of us) a favor, and spread a little good cheer as we get ready to enter the season that’s supposedly all about that business, ‘cause I do believe we’re in dire need of some.
OK then, I’ll zip that up, and get back to a more specific, and less world-weary slate of matters that are in need of mention, should you follow the goings-on in our camp.
To start with, the new record has a title, AND a track listing….and what appears to be a slightly better-than-rough draft of its cover artwork. It looks nothing like what I’m guessing anyone might expect from us, but I kinda dig it, even if it wasn’t my first choice. (I lost out on the last one too, for the record…twice actually, but deservedly so) Such is the democratic process, and I’m rolling with vote, even if the other guys were clearly misguided in overriding my call, and will surely regret that decision at a later date. Just FYI, I wanted to run with this one…
We’re well past halfway in the recording process. Right now, we’re still tweaking the tracks we have completed…adding little things here & there, a bit of spit-shine and polish on the occasional audio blemish that doesn’t qualify as a “vibe thing”, and just a touch of your standard grade obsessing-over-the-finer-points-that-really-nobody-else-but-us-are-likely-to-ever-notice-anyway, as we do with every release.
We’ve got sessions booked for October, to cut the last four tunes, and should be neck-deep in mixing the whole thing by mid-November, giving us the Winter months to get all the packaging together and ready for an early(hopefully) 2018 release. We’ve already road-tested at least half of these songs at various venues over the last 6 months, and they seem to be holding their own against our existing catalog. If you’ve caught any of the live previews, or heard one of the early mixes we’ve posted (briefly) on our Reverberation page, then you’ve probably noticed a little more emphasis on the loud. The whole album, save for one lonely ballad with more tickled ivory than amplified six-string, is thick with big drums, and fat guitars. This was no accident. We set out to make a great Rock record, and I think we’ve got the goods to deliver just that, so stay tuned, I’m sure we’ll be posting more peeks into the process as the mixes begin to take shape, and you can decide for yourself.
On the live front, it’s been a pretty light workload as we concentrate on the studio stuff, but we played a couple of shows in Southern Illinois this past weekend that were a blast, with friends coming in from several hours both north & south to hang with us, and help celebrate the 10th anniversary of our home away from home, John Brown’s On The Square in Marion. Congrats, John & Missy!
We’ve got just one more September date to knock out this Friday, at Eighth & Rail in Opelika, AL, and then only a handful of TN, KY, & IL dates before we close up shop for the year. Here are the specs on what we’ve got left on the books for 2017.
Friday, September 29th Eighth & Rail Opelika, AL 9PM
Friday, October 20th The Country Nashville, TN 9PM
(w/Lights Of Marfa, and Joshua Ketchmark)
Saturday, October 21st The Crowded House Madisonville, KY 8PM
(acoustic show)
Friday, November 3rd Mickey Finn’s Libertyville, IL 9PM
Keep checking in here, and at our various social media profiles for more album previews, and I’m sure there will be some last-minute shows that’ll pop up too, so please watch our calendar for those. Otherwise, we’ll see you when we see you.
Peace,
Denny
The Great Affairs