Alright then, enough of this runaround. Since we keep promising new music, I suppose it’s time we deliver the goods. Well, some of the goods…

Of course, if you’ve been paying attention lately, we did let an early mix of “When Love Os The Drug” out of the bag. If you missed that, you can still feast your ears(and eyes, to a lesser degree) on it right HERE.

We’ve even added a new “When Love Is The Drug” t-shirt design, over at our StoreFrontier shop, if you’d care to adorn yourself in such signature finery. You can access that option HERE.

Now though, it’s time for a proper, international release…an actual, honest-to-goodness single…but wait, we’ve decided to sweeten the pot, and make an EP of it, with 3 remixes from the last album, plus a radio edit for those of you partial to brevity, or possibly just averse to superfluous guitar noodling. This is like the Ginsu Knife offer of the 21st century.

So, on Friday, July 8th, the ’StrangeLuv’ EP will arrive, via your streaming platform of choice, preceded by a lyric video that we’ll drop on Wednesday, July 6th, the two events bookending our show at The Mockingbird Theater in Franklin, TN on Thursday, July 7th. That show is all ages, and we’re opening the whole thing up, kicking off at 7PM, followed by these fellas from Texas known as Black Heart Saints, and some Kentucky boys calling themselves Native Sons. It’s only Rock N’ Roll, front to back, as nature intended. You should make plans to be there.

Speaking of shows, we have a pretty light schedule so far this summer, as we work around recording sessions, and gigs some of the guys have as hired guns for other acts. A private event this weekend in Southern Illinois, and the aforementioned July 7th date are all we have on the books between now and July 30th, when we return to Terre Haute, IN to support Skid Row & Warrant at The Mill.

Otherwise, it’s woodshedding on the new material, getting it ready to either record or perform live, maybe writing a few more last-minute entries for the final track listing of the ever-forthcoming LP, and attempting to chart a course for said LP once it is eventually birthed, kicking and screaming like Kenny when the Heineken runs out.

OK then, I think that about covers everything but the constantly evolving “thank you, (insert program/station name here)” list, dedicated to all the folks who have jumped on the new tune at radio already. Please forgive me, anyone I may miss here in this first round:

GlamRat - Hard Rock Hell Radio
Gerry Casey at Turn It Up
Basement Tapes with Nick & Bootsy on Front Range Radio
Steve-O’s Music Madness
Thorn Of Rock
Eye On Jamz
Radio Indie Alliance
The Attic Show
Super Cool Radio
Philly Rock Network
Anne’s Rock Show
Sharpy’s Rock N’ Roll Train
Back To The Arena
C.O.A.R. Radio
Hot Wax Radio
Squatch In The Pit Show
Museboat
Samantha Knight - Z97.5 Clarksville
Belter Radio
Hot From The Forge Radio
Allen Tate -  A2Z Radio

Oh yeah, and Rizzo did another cool interview with the  A-Sides Podcast. This time, he and his buddy Freddy Herrera (Everclear/The Exies) discuss the band King’s X with host (and prominent lunchbox creator) Andy Halleen. Just click on the image above to check that out.

 Be good to each other,
    Denny
    The Great Affairs

 

(My trusty canine Juno guards the doorway to Pastry Park Audio Confectionery)

In the interest of getting right to the meat & potatoes, I shall endeavor (for once) to keep this short & sweet.

Our “man behind the curtain”, Mr. Michael Saint-Leon scored his second Grammy recently, for his work on Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s latest. Here’s to Street-Lion, for another job well done. Just look at that cheese-eatin’ grin. He knows he’s the shizz.

 

 

 

When we can’t secure his knob-twiddling skills, we occasionally have to go DIY on this stuff, so Corey & I captured a bit of that on video, and you can check us out in action HERE & HERE, should you aspire to the self-engineering, home studio lifestyle.

 

 

 

Eventually though, all of this stuff lands back in his capable hands, and ends up sounding like actual professionals were in on the whole thing. Case in point, this preview, which is scheduled to self destruct at midnight on Saturday, May 7th, giving you until Mother’s Day Eve to spin to your heart’s content…or not. Whatever you decide, we’ll be calling this one “When Love Is The Drug”, and it is slated to be part of the new record we’ve been toiling over these past few weeks and months. We’re about 5 or 6 songs deep at this juncture, and you can probably count on this, and at least one or two more getting proper “single” releases ahead of the full LP’s arrival. For now, HERE’s a taste…

 

 

In other news, both Rizzo & Matt made appearances on the A-Sides Podcast since our last transmission, one to discuss the Grunge Era, and the other to…well, I don’t know….Matt’s was kinda free-form, a bit like some of that Jazz he professes admiration for. You can hear for yourself by clicking HERE or HERE.

We did a couple of shows, and got a good clip of “Lies” from Marion, IL that you can feast your eyes and ears on HERE, along with some footage and assorted pics by our buddy Rick Miller from the Libertyville, IL date that you can peruse HERE.

 

 

We’ve got a private event coming up in June, in the midst of all this recording business, and a local show on Thursday, July 7th, with Black Heart Saints(TX), and Native Sons(KY) at The Mockingbird Theater in Franklin, TN. It’s all ages, with us kicking off the night, and you can get your tickets for just $10 in advance HERE, or take your chances at the door(they’ll be $15 day of show, just FYI). This is gonna be a good one, so we hope a bunch of you Nashville folks can make it.

 

 

Finally, ladies, we regret to inform you that our bassist Matt Andersen will be stepping down from his duties as our most eligible bachelor, and tying the knot at the end of the month. We’re currently establishing a grief counseling hotline number, so please check back here for further details as they become available. We intend to do our best to help you cope, and see you through this difficult time. Stay strong. There’s someone out there for you, we just know it.

I kinda failed at the brevity thing….again.

Sorry.

 Be good to each other,
   D.

Yeah, I know, it’s been a solid month & a half since our last proper update, but in the interest of waiting until we had some newsworthy bits to discuss, we inadvertently racked up a whole mess of stuff to cover, so you might wanna pack some extra snacks and a water bottle for this trek.

 

 

 

Kenny’s 10 yr. anniversary of going from “the sub” to “the guy” behind the kit came and went last month. Matt got him a card and some chocolates that appeared to be post-Valentines Day discount offerings. Also, the package wasn’t sealed, and all the nougat-filled pieces were missing. It was weird. The card was nice though, if a tad romantic.

 

 

I taped another appearance on the A-Sides Podcast. with my buddy Andy Halleen, this time around engaging in a long-form discussion on the subject of Dokken. We go deep on wardrobe choices, cheesy videos, Don’s possible involvement in the martial arts, questionable hairstyles, and so much more. You can give that a listen HERE.

 

 

We dropped some more new merch over at our StoreFrontier page, including Hoodies and Koozies with our new “Est. 2009” seal design. You can check those out(and place your orders) HERE.

Rare slow-motion footage of us working out some of our patented choreography surfaced recently. Check THIS out, but don’t try it at home, kids. We’re trained professionals.

 

 

Speaking of kids, here’s Logan, our newest Swag Model Of The Month, sporting a now-vintage ‘Dream In Stereo’ design. Logan enjoys parasailing, gardening, MMA, and betting on college sports. He can also currently deadlift 240 lbs., and recently competed in his first triathlon. Sorry, ladies, he’s taken.

 

 

We recently hit the road for a pair of Mississippi dates, and while the shows were good, our trusty Jean-Claude Damme Van’s tailpipe fell off just as we were about to roll through Memphis, en route to Clarksdale…and again IN Memphis, then once more, the next day, as we made our way to Tupelo, and finally, later that night, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, while we limped our trusty steed home. Various implements were utilized to hastily refasten our exhaust system, but HERE, see for yourself. (Note: JCDV is purring now, and has a shiny new muffler n’ such, but I’m sorry to say our bank balance is significantly smaller than it was when we took off for the Delta.)

 

 

I played on a record recently, for some friends of our called Ghosts Of Sunset. Their new LP ‘No Saints In The City’ is out now, on Golden Robot Records, and if you check out their current single, “The Queen Of Used To Be”, you’ll hear me taking a rare turn at lead guitar. Other guests on the album include current and former members of L.A. Guns, Little Caesar, The Verve Pipe, LSD, Enuff Z’Nuff, and more. It’s good stuff. I highly recommend you check it out, if you dig 80’s Glam Rock and/or Power Pop.

 

 

Finally, for the real news, CLICK HERE .

 

 

That’s right, we have officially started work on Album #8.

Round One of tracking focused on getting our rhythm section’s parts for 8 tunes, and now Rizzo & I will be moving on to guitars, while we continue to do some writing and haggle over what songs we wanna lay down in Round Two.

 

 

Fever Breaks, When Love Is The Drug, Sleepwalker, Way Past Sundown, Over The Moon, StrangeLuv, Gettin’ Outta Sight, and Embers are in motion, but we still need another gem or two before we can declare this deal done. We might have them already, it’s always hard to say, but since there’s no rush, we’re gonna take our time weeding through the remaining contenders, and attempting to pluck any new goodness from the ether that comes within reach.

What can I tell you about the new stuff? Well, I don’t generally tend to get too excited about these things, until I notice other folks getting amped-up over the material, but this time around, about midway through the writing and demoing process, I started to get the feeling we’d stumbled into something special with the most recent batch. It was like we truly needed to knock a little of the proverbial rust off, before we could really get down to business, and once we had, some tunes materialized that were a clear cut above. As Kenny and Matt were replacing the stand-in Bass & Drums on those tracks over the weekend, it was obvious we had an especially strong grip of hooks, and I’m now officially stoked to see what we can do with them.

You’ll be able to judge for yourself though, because I’m gonna guess that sometime in the not-so-distant future, you might see a new single/video appear…a little peek at what we’ve been up to these past few months.

In the meantime, HERE’s quick clip of Kenny laying down some drums on something we call “StrangeLuv”.

 

 

I think that hit just about everything that needed hitting, so all that’s left to mention are this pair of shows in Illinois that we have coming up. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been able to do our thing in Libertyville, so we’re really looking forward to that one, and we’d play John Brown’s joint once a week if they’d have us, but John can only handle us in small, somewhat infrequent doses. Maybe if Matt got him an uncompromised box of chocolates…

  Be good to each other,
 D.

What’s Neil Young been up to lately? You never hear that guy’s name being thrown around anymore.

We boycotted Spotify once, and it cost us tens of listeners.

The result of our insolence? ‘Dream In Stereo’ is still absent from the service, and every single time I’ve tried to restore it, my efforts fail. Apparently the amount of damage WE did to their bottom line left them just disenchanted enough with us to maintain some sort of blockade.

Luckily, they’ve seen fit to include our subsequent releases, and in 2021, we were all finally able to chip-in on a 2-pack of Gillette Clear Gel “Power Rush” Antiperspirant/Deodorant, WITH Scent XTend Technology no less. It was a banner year for us. If you’ve noticed and appreciated that we’re a bit more fragrant these days, please know that you have Spotify to thank.

In addition to improved personal hygiene, we got a local date under our belts last month, logging what may have been our final appearance at the soon-to-be defunct Mercy Lounge. You can check out a clip from our set HERE.

The first show I ever played in Nashville, as a freshly-transplanted pup, was in that building, downstairs at the OG Cannery, with my band Seventeen Days. Our one & only live engagement before we imploded, no document remains, as trusted “roadie”(and occasional videographer) Woody Jester neglected to remove the lens cap from our camcorder at the soundboard. April 1st, 1995(?)..I think…maybe ’94. Either way, the details are fuzzy, but I do recall Benny, the deaf guy who operated the cardboard baler at the warehouse where I worked actually purchased a ticket to the show, and stood directly in front of the P.A. subs, occasionally leaning his head down to “feel” the low frequencies.  I wonder where old Benny is these days?

 

But enough reminiscing, we’ve got some shows coming up, and the possibility of a new album to discuss.

March 4th & 5th, we’re headed down to The Crossroads, like Lightnin’ Boy and Willie Brown, and then cutting over to the birthplace of The King, for back-to-back nights in two of Mississippi’s most sacred locales. Friday we’ll be at Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, and Saturday at Blue Canoe in Tupelo.

As for this new record idea we’ve been kicking around, it’s looking like we’re about 3/4s of the way there in terms of having the tunes, so I’d say it’s a just matter of time before we start making plans to capture this stuff with our trusty Engineer/Producer Michael Saint-Leon. We even have a tentative album title. Personally, I’m feeling pretty stoked about the batch we all seem to be agreeing on..loads of hooks, big guitars, plenty of interesting little bells & whistles…my kinda jams. Hopefully you’ll concur. Stay tuned for more on that.

If you wanna get some sense of what the current lineup sounds like in the studio, HERE’s a remix of “High On Rose” from the last record, this version featuring Mr. Corey “Rizzo” Rozzoni on lead guitar. It was his birthday yesterday, by the way, so raise your glasses!

While Rizzo’s sipping cocktails somewhere, Kenny & I are gonna be working on some more new tunes over the weekend, getting another demo or two in the can, and seeing if we can’t bring the final pieces of the puzzle together for album #8.

Now, I hate to end one of these transmissions on a somber note, but the band lost a friend recently. Our buddy, and diehard Rock N’ Roll road dog Sean Pruitt unexpectedly passed last month. Sean was one of a kind, a true fan, a guy who championed the bands he was into, going out of his way to spread the gospel wherever and whenever he had a platform to do so. A longtime over-the-road trucker, we were proud to spot our logo, along with a slew of other bands he flew the flag for, displayed on the cab of his rig when we pulled up to a fest in Illinois some years back, and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of what he did to promote us on his travels.

You’ll be missed, brother. RIP.

Remember, folks, be good to each other.

 Peace,
   D.

 

Hopefully you all gave thanks, made out under mistletoe, and committed yourself to some serious resolutions since we last convened. It’s a full-on snow day here in Nashville, so I figured I’d take this opportunity to give a relatively brief update on our recent activities, and a look ahead at what we’ve got planned for the first quarter of 2022, for anyone who may be wondering.

We wrapped up our year with a return to John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL, where our buddy Miki gently coerced us into covering The Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, featuring his alter ego, the luchador “Cerveza Spades” on lead vocals. As it turned out, folks loved that sh#t, and Cerveza brought the house down. As the saying goes, “Never work with children, animals, or crooning Mexican wrestlers.”.

We’ve spent a good bit of time working up the first of several new tracks that might just become part of the next record. Two of them, “StrangeLuv” and “Fever Breaks” should be finding their way into the live set shortly(very shortly), as we continue to cut demos and populate the vault with potential candidates. Personally, I think we’ve got a pretty solid grip of tunes already, but since we’re not in any hurry, we’ll keep grinding away a while longer yet, until we’ve got an undeniable batch on our hands.

Speaking of the live show, we’ve got one right around the corner, next Friday, January 14th, in Nashville, TN, at Mercy Lounge. We’ll be supporting our soul brothers from alternate mothers The East Side Gamblers. It’s 18 & up, $10 at the door, which opens at 8PM, and we’ll be hitting the stage at 9 sharp.

This is going to be a serious throwdown, but don’t take my word for it. CLICK HERE and let Andy Halleen of The A-Sides Podcast school you on just what you’ll be missing if you opt to sit this one out.

OK then, I’ve gotta skedaddle, but CLICK HERE to check out an interview I did recently with Hair Metal Mixtape, and stay tuned, because we’ll be resuming our regular monthly transmissions, as well as working on a few surprises in the coming months, while we get back to business and try to put this whole “Twelve Monkeys” bullsh#t behind us.

As always, thanks to all the shows & stations who continue to keep our tunes spinning. I promise you we’ll have something new for you before too long.

Be good to each other,
 Denny
 ….and those other fellas.

p.s. Rizzo’s doing pedalboard builds now, for any of you guitar players that like your toys to live in a space that resembles NASA’s Mission Control, AND work together the way they’re all supposed to. He’s an ace with that stuff, so hit him up if your board looks and functions like Ray Charles on a bender assembled it, like mine does.

 

 It’s hard to believe we’re about to close the books on another year, but here it is, a mere 2 days until our last show of 2021. We’ll be doing our level best to take the roof off of John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL Friday, the night after we celebrate our ancestors chowing down with the natives in Plymouth back in 1621. We used to mark the holiday by gifting rival bands smallpox-infected blankets, but it turns out that disease was eradicated decades ago, and we’ve just been wasting perfectly good linens, so we’re gonna play a little rock show on the day after instead, and hopefully figure out some way to come by success honestly.

 But enough about Pilgrims & Indians…

 We’ve been looking ahead to 2022 already, building a new set list, booking some shows to keep us busy post-hibernation, and working on a few new tunes that might just be the beginnings of another record.

 You can check out a riff or three I’ve been kicking around HERE, HERE, and HERE.

 Speaking of new albums, I went back and gussied-up the covers for couple of our early records, giving them either entirely new artwork, or a slightly-updated treatment, for no better reason than I was bored, and the originals always bugged me. Maybe when we do the 20th Anniversary Remaster series, we’ll slap these on the revamped releases, but chances are they were just a self-indulgent lark, devoid of practical application, like most of the stuff I do in PhotoShop. But, just in case, we have them on deck and ready to go.

 But wait just a minute…there is actually SOME art getting assembled that IS being put to good use. We’ve got another fresh T-shirt design available from our friends at StoreFrontier. You can now grab the new “At The Movies” design in a Tee, Koozie, or Raglan 3/4 sleeve HERE. Of course, temperatures have been dropping fast, so it’s probably time to consider one of the new “All Alright” hoodies too, while you’re poking around the wares on our page there. Just sayin’.

 Rizzo taped another great episode of the A-Sides Podcast with host Andy Halleen, taking his turn at telling a few concert stories. You can check that out on SPOTIFY, APPLEPODCASTS, or pretty much wherever you prefer to consume these things.

 Also on the Media tip, my interview with Gerry Casey at Making A Scene made the cover of the print edition, and we need to salute a slew of stations and programs who’ve been spinning stuff from ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt’, still going strong more than a year after its release. Thanks to the following, among others: Outlaw Renegade Radio, ERB Radio/The Lucky Dip, SpiderWebRadio, EyeYas ToyBox, The Philly Rock Network, ViriAOR, and Radio Free Brooklyn/Hair Metal Mixtape.

 I think that about brings us up to speed, so….

 If we don’t reconvene here next month, stay tuned for a sizable “What’s Up For ’22” update in early January, with the first of our dates for next year, and a few other things we can talk more about once we’ve got some of the finer details hammered out.

  Happy Thanksgiving, etc….and be good to each other…’Tis the season, ya know?,
     Denny
     

p.s. If you’re looking for new stuff to wrap your ears around while you’re decorating the tree or whatnot, and you don’t mind jumping around a bit on the genre-scope, here are a few records I’ve been digging on of late:

 Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes ‘Sticky’
 Sam Fender  ‘Seventeen Going Under’
 The Wild Feathers  ‘Alvarado’
 Dave Hause  ‘Blood Harmony’
 The War On Drugs  ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’
 Big Wreck  ‘7.1’ EP
 Lindsey Buckingham ’S/T’
 …and the new Stereophonics track “Do Ya Feel My Love?” is fantastic.

Yeah, I know, I’m not exactly sticking the landing, as far as getting these things up by the 1st of each month, but the truth is, I was merely waiting until we’d all actually assembled in the same room again before firing off a half-baked skinny.

Assemble we did, just this past evening, for a lightning round of “Who Remembers This One?” that proved; shockingly, somewhat less than embarrassing. In fact, we sounded pretty damn good, once we sorted out a few technical difficulties. We’ve got few weeks to go before we return to John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL, for a post-Turkey throwdown, and I’m confident we’ll be in top form for that.

 During our hiatus, I got to witness the aftermath of two Chippendale-style street performers (Those shirtless guys on The Vegas Strip that offer to take a picture with your girl, and then want you to pony up a few bills for the privilege?) slapping the piss out of each other. One left in cuffs, the other via ambulance. I have video, but what happens in Vegas…well, you know. Anyhow, while I was watching street “performers” tussle, Corey was in Germany, alternately spying discarded sex toys on the sidewalk, and gawking at castles. Culture, it’s everywhere.

 While we were off, our 2020 release ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt.’ celebrated its first birthday, and one of our guests on the album saw fit to commemorate the occasion by nailing a “Blind Audition” on NBC’s The Voice, landing herself a spot on Team Blake. I remember watching Kenny and our engineer Michael Saint-Leon sort through the parts she sent us for “Three-Leaf Clover”, all of us shaking our heads at the caliber of her pipes. We now remove the hats from those heads, tipping them to the marvelous Wendy Moten, and wish her luck in the rounds ahead.

 

You can get an earful of her co-crooning with Kenny HERE.

 Another track from the record managed to reach the #3 spot on SpiderWebRadio, and remains in the Top 5, after several weeks on their chart. "High On Rose" probably deserved a video, but that would have required us to plan ahead, doing things in a manner that might encourage long-term success of some kind, and that’s simply not our style. Kenny's lyrics on the track DID get a very kind mention from the gents over at the Narcissistic Music Disorder podcast that you can stream HERE though, so there's that at least.

 We unveiled a couple of new (well, ONE new, the other a throwback) merch designs, again available exclusively from our StoreFrontier page HERE. The “GAZAM” design is available in a Unisex Tee, Koozie, and Ladies Tee, while the retro “Annie O.” Tee is just for the ladies.

 I used some of the downtime to really dig in on a round of new demo tracks, and I’m about a dozen deep at this writing, so the gears are getting some much-needed grease as we look ahead to a possible followup for ‘EMNGH’. Hopefully we’ll occupy our Winter hiatus with throwing a few things around in rehearsal, and seeing what we have to work with.

 A couple of recent podcast appearances are available now. You can listen to my appearance on Let’s Discuss With Lance Hall HERE, and/or a lengthy discussion I had with Making A Scene’s Gerry Casey HERE. We cover all kinds of stuff on each, but Lance definitely got me with some curveballs at the end. (Rowdy Roddy Piper, definitely. I stand by that….or Thunderlips, The Ultimate Male…does he count?)

 Before I sign off, I wanna take a moment to express our condolences to the friends and family of Justin Murr. Justin was a promoter we’d done a slew of shows with over the past several years, including the now-infamous Corey Feldman debacle. He was always good to us, and threw so many great opportunities our way, many of which found us being direct support for artists that were heroes of ours growing up.            We're gonna miss you, man. RIP.

So please remember....be good to each other,
 Denny
 (and those other cats)

Well, before we take a brief hiatus, so Corey can drink warm beer on the other side of the world, Kenny sets to tracking down those last few issues of Alpha Flight he’s been missing all these years, Matt goes for level 9828 on Candy Crush, and I finally get to take my rescheduled trip to Las Vegas from April of 2019, I guess maybe we need to drop a quick update as to what’s been going on, and what might be happening next, once we’ve reconvened in October.

We just got back from a 3-day stint at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. We played in the shadow of the giant Gemini roller coaster, but that shadow wasn’t quite long enough to keep us from practically cooking in our skins up there. Yeah, it was hot. In fact, our 6 daily 25-minute sets were frequently cut to 15 minutes each by the park, so as to reduce the likelihood one of us might die during an entirely too spirited pass at AC/DC’s “Live Wire”- our daily closer.

Rest assured, we all lived to load out, but the hashtag “milkytrousers” has officially been coined, and I shall shortly launch a side project using that handle for my new alter ego; a Bluesman, operating in the same manner as my Country nom de plume Corduroy Slaxticy, whenever I have some downtime from the band. Milky Trousers’ debut release “Deez Nuts Can Swim” is due out in the first quarter of 2022.

Clearly I’m still delirious from the sun. I apologize.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, so we’re gonna be off for a month or two, with just one date scheduled for the remainder of 2021 at this point. That’s going down in Marion, IL on the night after Thanksgiving, when we pop into John Brown’s On The Square to see if we still remember how to do this Rock N’ Roll thing after casing-up our instruments for so long.

I’m confident we’ll be capable of pulling ourselves together for the occasion, and I’m fairly certain we’ll have some new tricks up our sleeve to boot, so maybe we’ll see some of you there.

What’s in the rearview, you ask?

Kenny did an interview with Outlaw Renegade radio that you can listen to HERE. His segment kicks off around the 58-minute mark, and he & I joined Viking Stew of the Hammer Away Podcast for a pretty loaded chat that you can watch below(or click HERE to jump to that, if you’re not viewing this in a cooperative browser).

All the continued radio spins for “High On Rose”, and love for the “Worn Out Souls” video has certainly been appreciated. Thanks to everyone keeping that stuff in circulation!

I also stumbled upon a review for our latest record that must’ve slipped by me, this time from Strutter Zine. Here’s that:

THE GREAT AFFAIRS 'EVERYBODY MOVES, NOBODY GETS HURT' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of a suburb of Nashville, USA comes the Classic Melodic Rockband THE GREAT AFFAIRS, and Everybody moves, nobody gets hurt is their 5th album so far. The band is formed around vocalist/guitarist DENNY SMITH, vocalist/drummer KENNY WRIGHT, guitarist PATRICK MILLER and bassist MATT ANDERSEN. Their music is quite sensational actually, just doing the classic American melodic rocksound basically, but in a very good way, really resembling that old spirit of the early to mid 80s. Opener I'm alright is classic early 80s American uptempo Melodic Hardrock with a catchy chorus and reminding me of bands like KNOW ILLUSION, MONEY (First investment), STRANGER and such. Following Believe in ghosts is midtempo and more modern orientated, with even a slight country/heartland rock/americana touch. The catchy uptempo Lyvia is loaded with hooks and is basically a superb melodic poprocker in the classic 80s spirit of RICK SPRINGFIELD circa Working class dog. The melodic rock choruses and hooks continue on the rest of the album, with as other highlights Worn out souls, the southern rock influenced Three-leaf clover, the classic 80s melodic rocker The ride and the uptempo melodic pop rocker Satellite.
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)

Finally, before signing off and losing myself in the process of finally starting to demo some new material for whatever might be coming next (besides the Milky Trousers release, of course), I just wanna give a special tip of our collective hat to all the diehards who came out to see us headline the Mockingbird Theater in Franklin, TN a few weeks ago.

You folks really did our hearts some good, especially considering all the craziness going on in the world right now, and the fact that we’d been away for so long. You have no idea how much that response meant to us, and I hope we all get to commune like that again soon. For now though, we’re gonna scatter for a bit, and handle our individual business.

Until we see you again, please be good to each other, no matter how hard the current state of affairs may endeavor to make that seemingly impossible.

Peace,
  Denny(and Kenny, and Matt, and that Rizzo guy)

p.s. You should really follow Rizzo’s Instagram profile, if you wanna see a play-by-play of us slowly melting over this past weekend. Some good stuff over there…or HERE, rather.

p.s.s. Looks like that whole Kenny/Dave Grohl thing was just a ruse, so he could steal Taylor Hawkins’ gig.(Thanks for the heads-up, Billy Baker).

OK, OK, OK, I know it’s been a few weeks (or nearly 2 months) since we dropped a proper update, but I’m here to remedy that, with a highly informative, content-laden blast of goings-on that could probably keep you occupied for over 2 hours, should you opt to fully partake of every morsel included herein.

So, where to begin?

Our new video for “Worn Out Souls” seems like a good place to kick things off. It premiered last night, and you can watch it right HERE....or below, if you don't wanna make a jump.

Directed by the esteemed Scott Moore, we shot this at Howie’s Music, and Pastry Park Audio Confectionery.

While you’re there, checking it out, please do us a favor and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We’ve got more stuff on the way, and would sure hate for you to miss out on a single thing.

On the live front, we’re mere days away from our first local show in well over a year, as we headline The Mockingbird Theater in Franklin, TN on Saturday, August 7th, with support from our buddy Jonathan Stoye, who some of you may know as one of the guitarists in Framing Hanley. He’s got a solo album coming out on Friday, so he’s aiming to beguile you with a few of his patented sad, yet remarkably hooky numbers.  Doors at 6, Jonathan kicks off around 7, and you can get your tickets HERE. It’s all ages too, so feel free to bring the whole family.

 

We’ve made a few Podcast appearances lately, including a full-band chat with Jason Tramm of Music Matters, that you can watch right HERE(or above), as well as my turn at sharing a few memorable concert experiences with my buddy Andy at  A-Sides. We go all the way back to 1987, and reminisce about camping out for a place in line to secure tickets for Ratt’s Peoria, IL stop on the ‘Dancing Undercover’ tour….my first arena show. Click HERE, to eavesdrop on our conversation, via the podcast platform of your choice.

We also did a quick group Q&A with The Spoonman, that you can check out HERE, and we’ve seen a couple of reviews appear from Europe(you made need to utilize Google Translate for these). HERE’s one from from StreetClip, and HERE’s another from Confined Rock.

I’d like to take a quick moment to say thank you to everyone who pitched in to “Save Jean Claude Damme Van” last month. You guys really bailed us out, and I’m happy to report JCDV is running like an aged top, so we can make our scheduled 3-night stint at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH August 27-29th.

We have managed to play a couple of shows since we spoke last, returning to Marion, IL  for a spectacular private event we’ve been doing annually for the last few years, along with an overdue return to Evansville, IN.

The new mix of “High On Rose” has been seeing a lot of action these last few weeks, and seems to have plenty of life left in it. Cheers to the following stations and shows for spinning this thing:

Radio Bypass
GlamRat on Hard Rock Hell Radio
SpiderWebRadio
Gerry Casey on Home Of Rock
It’s Only Rock N’ Roll
Dunsy on Scotland Rocks Radio
RockTrax KL85
Valley 89.5FM
Hot Wax Radio
The Lucky Dip
Asahartz Rock Revelation on ERB Radio
Let There Be Rock Radio Show
Sweet Sunday Sounds
Sharpy Rock Radio UK
C.O.A.R. Radio Show
FryDay Night With Fry
Midnight Madness
Radio Indie Alliance
97.3 Blasts That Last
Eagles Nest Radio
Rag House Media
Black On Track - Radio Show
Hometown Underground on Brews Radio
Steve Vincent’s Mystery City
Rock Around The Region with Samantha Knight
The Philly Rock Network
The Early Bird Breakfast Show with Tina C.
The Independence Rox Show
EGH Rocks
Birds Of A Feather
…and more.

While “I’m Alright” and “High On Rose” continue to do their thing at radio, and “Worn Out Souls” gets in line to hopefully see the same good fortune, I think we’re just about ready to hunker down and start writing for a possible follow-up…pending one more small trick that we’ve been hiding up our sleeve.

We’ll talk about that later.

Finally, on a less-cordial note, Kenny’s ongoing spat with Dave Grohl has made some serious headlines, and shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Be sure to follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER to stay abreast of the most recent developments. Here’s where things stand as of this writing…

 

If you’re still with us, thanks for reading all the way through to the end. I hope this entry gives your brain something to chew on for a while.

Be good to each other,
 Denny
 The Great Affairs

We’ve still got it. I mean, yeah, we might’ve shanked a few here & there, but we certainly don’t need training wheels or anything. We’re three shows into our post-shutdown comeback, and the gears are feeling greasier by the day. Having survived those (No thanks to Mother Nature and the steep grade on Monteagle making our descent into Chattanooga a white-knuckle affair, complete with fishtailing tractor-trailers, and nearly zero visibility.), we’ve got a pair in Illinois & Indiana this weekend to get under our belts, before taking a little time to shoot another video, and get some other behind-the-scenes business taken care of.

Here are a few pics from the Marion, IL & Anderson, SC shows.

The new single, “High On Rose” has just gone to radio. This one’s another remix, and now features the current lineup, including Mr. Corey Rozzoni taking over the lead guitar duties. While not a radical departure from the album version, it IS a significantly grittier, and crunchier take on the riff. We plan to do this with a few more tracks, as time permits, for a special project we’re working on, but we’ll get into the details of that later.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should head over to our StoreFrontier page, where we’ve added a bunch of new merch, not just for The Great Affairs, but Kenny & I’s side-band The Die Youngs, the recently released The Larimores project, as well as solo swag from yours truly…Tees, Hoodies, Koozies. All kinds of cool stuff. Here’s retired supermodel Andy Halleen, making one of the new designs look good, and a cold Heineken meeting potential suitors.

In the interest of keeping this brief for you, I’m gonna sign off, just as soon as I thank all the fantastic stations, podcasts, and specialty shows who’ve been giving our tunes so much love lately.

We sincerely appreciate you guys keeping this thing spinning.

The honor roll for May/June:

Brews Radio/Hometown Underground
Rag House Media
Dunsy’s Cupboard Of Rock & Metal/Hard Rock Hell Radio & Scotland Rocks Radio
Steve Vincent’s Mystery City
End Of The Week Show
CBJ Radio
MMH-The Home Of Rock Radio
97.3 FM: Blasts That Last
RockTrax
GlamRat
ERB Radio
Radio Bypass
Valley FM 89.5
Rock Attack Radio
C.O.A.R. Radio
SpiderWebRadio
The Generation Clash
Back To The Arena/The Shark
Gerry Casey/Turn It Up

Cheers!

OK then, we’re off to Bokeh Lounge in Evansville, IN on Friday, and a private event Saturday, but we’ll check back in a few weeks, when I’m sure we’ll have some interesting developments to fill you in on.

Be good to each other,
 Denny

 

Greetings and salutations! Pack a lunch, you might be here a minute. 

It’s official, we’re back, and we have the scars to prove it. Gig #1 with the reconstituted lineup of The Great Affairs is officially in the books- a quick one-off, in & out of Opelika, AL, just to see if the four of us were collectively qualified for this. 36 songs, and 706 miles later, it would appear we are sufficiently capable of doing these tunes the justice they deserve, and thus we shall continue to put miles on Jean Claude Damme Van a while longer.(You can see clips from this show…just a song or two, over on our FACEBOOK page, FYI.) 

Up next, a return to our favorite Southern Illinois haunt, John Brown’s on the Square on Friday, May 14th, followed by some dates in IN, SC, and GA in June. As the world continues to open up, we’ll of course be expanding accordingly, so hopefully you’ve missed us. 

 

In the run-up to our return, we’ve been getting various other ducks in their respective rows. We shot a slew of new pics with Joshua Ketchmark, that have made their way onto some new merch, including Tees, Hoodies, and Koozies that can be ordered exclusively(for now, that is…we’ll eventually have some of this stuff on the road with us) from our StoreFrontier page HERE. Just click the drop-down menu next to the new design to see other items featuring the new art. 

You can also check out a time-lapse video of the shoot, set to the track “Lyvia” HERE. 

Speaking of “Lyvia”, that tune, and our latest single/video “I’m Alright” have continued to get adds on various stations, and a few of these programs, that we’d like to salute. Cheers, guys, and thanks for the spins… 

Scotland Rocks Radio 
Rag House Media 
Steve Vincent’s Mystery City 
Hometown Underground 
Rock 108 (Noise From The Garage) 
Amherst Island Radio(We even managed to hit #1 on their airplay chart!) 
Spiderweb Radio 
Hard Rock Hell Radio 
Z97.5(Rock Around The Region with Samantha Knight) 
Brews Radio 
Radio Music Vault 
Asylum Radio Network 

We’re still snagging some great reviews too. Check out THIS one from Asbury Park Vibes. 

Oh yeah, and never fear, our gift for gab remains intact, with both Kenny & Rizzo appearing on the A-Sides Podcast, Corey discussing his personal philosophy for operating in a band via an episode entitled “BAND LAWS”, and Kenneth sharing a few of his “CONCERT STORIES” with host Andy Halleen.(just click those titles to access the links) 

While none of us actually appear on the show, the gents at the Narcissistic Music Disorder gave us a fair amount of praise at the top of their latest episode “CURRENT GUITARIST OBSESSION”, and even sent me a cool shirt to boot, so check that out if you get a chance. They’ve got a cool show going over there, and cover all kinds of off-the-wall topics, with a distinct 80’s Rock undercurrent, but plenty of stuff from ensuing decades in the mix as well. 

Finally, I’d like to proudly introduce the debut release from the side-project I’ve been working on for the past couple of years with Joshua Ketchmark, called The Larimores. Click HERE to head over to our new Facebook page, where you can find our first review from REAL GONE, as well as a joint interview with Jimi from THE RECORD MACHINE SHOW podcast.(p.s. If it’s yellow, it’s a link, in case you hadn’t picked up on that yet.) 

There’s no physical release planned for the EP at the moment, but you can stream it anywhere such digital tomfoolery is the norm, like APPLE MUSIC or SPOTIFY for example. 

We’re both really stoked to finally release these songs, so I hope you’ll check it out, and maybe we’ll make another one down the line a piece. 

Alright then, I think that about covers the last month or so. I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing prior to this interruption. Me, I’m gonna go finish the final season of HBO’s “Treme”, and wait out the rain, so I can walk my dog, who really just wants to go for a ride in my truck.

Be good to each other,

 Denny

I know it’s been a minute since our last transmission, and I apologize, but as we’ve now entered the home stretch of preparations for a return to the lighted stage, a few things got lost in the shuffle….like the regular monthly update.

As such, I’m gonna double down with this one, and hope I don’t leave anything out, so here goes.

We dropped a music video for “I’m Alright”, featuring our new guitarist Corey Rozzoni. The version of the track in the clip is actually a fresh remix featuring his playing, in case you notice some alternate noodling going on. We shot this with Scott & Nate Moore, and the plan is to do a few more from the album with them, based on a some really clever concepts Scott has cooked up. You can see it HERE.

We’ve continued to hit the podcast circuit pretty hard, with appearances on the following over the past few months:(click on any of them to listen/watch)
A-Sides
LaughingMonkeyMusic
Non-Stop Rock Talk With Tyson Briden

I also wanna give a shout-out to all the stations, podcasts, DJs, and specialty shows who’ve been spinning our stuff. We appreciate you guys helping us keep the ball rolling on this thing. Hopefully we can meet a few of you in person once we’re back in the van and swingin’ again.

The Honor Roll for March/April:
Hot Wax
Brett Anthony Rock Show
Greater Manchester Rock Radio
Total Rock(Diamond Dave)
The Rock Train at Siren FM 107.3FM
Noise In The Attic
The Muay Thai Metal Show
The Philly Rock Network
UnRestricted Radio
The Difference w/Mike Isenberg
Mojo Rocks with Mojo Moomey
Dunsy’s Cupboard of Rock and Metal 0n Hard Rock Hell Radio
Ayrshire Online Radio
Squatch In The Pit on Rock Rage Radio
Rock Around The Region with Samantha Knight on Z97.5
Motor City Glam Slam
Hair Metal Mixtape
Asahartz Rock Revelation with Chris Bolus
The Asylum Radio Network
Steve Vincent’s Mystery City(you can check out the latest killer episode of Steve’s show right HERE)

A few more great reviews have trickled in for ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt.’(just click each one to check out the links)
MyAmpMusic
Viri AOR
....and here’s a shot of one from the print edition of Fireworks Magazine(UK)

It seems we also landed on Absolute Powerpop’s Top 100 of 2020 list. You can find that HERE.

The first of (hopefully) many shows have been announced, including stops at familiar haunts like John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL, and Eighth & Rail in Opelika, AL, along with a few more that are just surfacing like the Bike Night event we’re playing for Timm’s Harley-Davidson in Anderson, SC, and a local show we’ll be sharing the details on sometime in the next few weeks.

Finally, I’ve been doing a little moonlighting, off and on, for the past couple of years, and working on a bunch of songs with my buddy Joshua Ketchmark. We’ve dubbed ourselves The Larimores, and are dropping a digital-only(for now at least) 4-song collection on Friday, April 30th, entitled ‘The Hail Mary EP’. It’s something of a departure from The Great Affairs, or even my solo output, but I hope you guys will give it a shake, because it’s a solid batch of tunes, and we corralled some great guest players to help us out with it. You can hear a few snippets in this TEASER TRAILER.

OK then, what have I overlooked? I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine today, so my brain could be rejecting its new microchip. Hopefully I’m assimilating according to plan, and have included all the subliminal Communist propaganda the overlords are now guiding me to subvert Western society with.

I kid. I was sneaking that stuff in way before I got chipped. Dennis Rodman told me to.

Seriously though, I’m gonna sign off here, before the expected headaches and sore muscle bit kicks in…maybe watch the new Tina Turner documentary Kenny said was so excellent.

Be good to each other, and hopefully we’ll see you all soon.

    -Denny-

I know, it’s been a little over a month since our last “monthly” update, but things have been busy around here, and I was waiting on a couple of loose ends to be tied up before I dropped another entry, so I hope you’ll please accept my apology for keeping you all on what must surely have been the very edge of your seats.

I’ll now dispense with the sarcasm for the remainder of today’s missive.

The truth is, we’ve mostly been sequestered in the rehearsal room, working up something like three dozen songs, and keeping a close eye on Rizzo, to be sure his synapses don’t overload from cramming all this information into his skull in such a short amount of time. Thus far, his central nervous system seems pretty sturdy, so we’re moving along at a healthy clip.

We took a couple of days last week to (finally) shoot the video for “I’m Alright”, with Scott & Nate Moore, and the footage I’ve had a chance to check out looks great. To properly introduce the new guy, we decided to have him cut his own tracks for the tune, and sent them over to The Switchyard, where Michael Saint-Leon did a proper remix that’s already found its way onto a few stations’ playlists, and even made a podcast appearance or two.  

Speaking of podcast, I’ve been making the rounds, talking up ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt’ to anyone who’ll let me on their show. You can check out my Zoom conversation with “The Scott Talks Podcast” HERE, and another quick chat with Randy Helms from “Ouch, You’re On My Hair.” podcast HERE. (Note: You can actually get your first listen to the “I’m Alright” remix on this episode.) We’ve got a few more appearances on deck, so check the main page periodically, and I’ll try to add them to the site as the archived  versions become available.

The album continues to get great reviews from around the world, including these three recent write-ups:
VINYL LOLLIPOPS
WILDSIDE MUSIC UK
BALLROOM BLITZ MAN AT THE BACK

We managed to nab a spot on XStream Noise Radio’s Top 30 Hard Rock LPs of 2020. You can check that out HERE.

We’re very grateful for all of this activity surrounding the record, and would like to say thanks to all of the above, along with the following programs, zines, and radio stations, for helping us see this thing up the flagpole, at a time when a lot of folks were telling us to lay low and wait it out:

The Breaking Rock Show(Forest 92.3 FM UK)
CJAI 92.1 (Stella, ON)
The Friday Freakout w/Andy John Bradford (UK)
Mojo Rocks w/Mojo Moomey
Mike Isenberg’s The Difference(iROCK109)
The Brett Anthony Rock Show
Noize In The Attic
Asylum Radio Network
The Maloik-Rock Blog

….and anyone else that may have gotten onboard in the past month or so. Cheers!

OK, well, I think that about covers it…I’m headed to rehearsal in a few, so I’m gonna sign off, and we can talk again in 3 to 4 weeks…or maybe sooner, pending a game-changer caliber announcement, like a new video being released. Stay tuned.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…I updated out YouTube channel.You can find that HERE.

Stay warm, stay friendly, stay up,
 Denny
 The Great Affairs

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December 2020 TGA Update: Ain’t No Trick

Well, if you’re reading this, we’re in the final laps of 2020. A year like no other, hopefully.

This should be our last update for a very strange, and unrelenting 365. With any luck, we can collectively turn this mess around in the coming months, and get back to something that feels a little less like living out some Dystopian Sci-Fi novel from the YA section at Books-A-Million.

In the meantime though, we have one more kick in the teeth to deliver….

(deep breath)

Folks, it’s been a long time since we’ve had to announce a lineup change within The Great Affairs, but it seems as though that “lucky streak” has ended. Patrick J. Miller is exiting the band, and moving on to other endeavors. Patrick founded the band with Matt & I, and we’ve been privileged to employ his “very particular set of skills” for the better part of a decade, and want to wish him well in whatever comes next.

I’ve been playing with Patrick, off and on, since we were both teenagers, so I’ll miss the inside jokes that can only come with nearly 30 years of shared personal and musical history, the highly educational, if slightly buzzed late-night monologues generally centered around one era or another of the James Bond franchise, and monitoring “The Process” that is Patrick J. Miller getting ready for the stage. We’ve been coast to coast together. That’s a lot of miles, and just as many laughs.

You’re one of a kind, man. Stay ‘Tricky.

Ok. That was even harder than I thought it would be. Damn.

Now, obviously, this is a 2-guitar band, and we’re not about to start showing up to gunfights with only our sharpest cutlery in hand, so…..well, suffice it to say there’s gonna be a new guy. While we’re not quite ready to reveal this individual’s identity just yet, we may drop a few breadcrumbs here & there on social media, as we get this fella properly broken in. You keen-eyed, in-the-know types will surely put it together in no time.

Before I sign off, and get back to work on the next phase of our evolution, there are a few quick things I need to mention, since it might be a minute before we all reconvene here.

Nashville folks, if you’re feeling like getting out and enjoying a little live music, on Saturday, December 12th I’ll be doing an acoustic set at Betty’s on 49th(see flyer for details). 5 acts, starting at 7PM, with me dead center, going on just after 8. I’ll be doing stuff from my solo records, and maybe a new tune or two. Please observe all posted protocols, and just be cool…it’s so much easier if everyone is cool. It’s really not a tall order. No cover, so there, it’s like I bought you a beer already. Cheers.

A few days later, on Tuesday, December 15th, a couple of us will be doing a live interview with Mary Holt from the Momma Mary’s Music Mayhem Podcast at 4PM CST, should you choose to tune in on one of the various platforms broadcasting that, or watch a replay later on their YouTube channel.

Another round of thanks goes out to all the various radio programmers, and playlisters who’ve been featuring tunes from the new album. You know who you are, but for everyone else, here’s a list of some of the folks who’ve recently joined the party: Cowboy Joe Radio, Wolfman Radio, Sweet Sunday Sounds/Valley FM 89.5, Saturday Night Barnburner/Amherst Island Radio 92.1 FM, Phoenix Rock Show, The Friday Freakout with AJ Bradford, The Lucky Dip/ERB Radio, The Mojo Rocks Show, Back To The Arena, Birds Of A Feather, and more. Thank you, guys!

A couple of great reviews have popped up lately too. Check these out:

MAXIMUM VOLUME MUSIC

VEGLAM

Our van got fan mail…2 cassettes: Dokken’s ‘Tooth & Nail’, and Def Leppard’s ‘High & Dry’..I guess Jean Claude has decent taste.

Don’t forget, our STORE FRONTIER page has new hoodies, and other exclusive designs that you wouldn’t find on our merch table, even if we WERE out on the road having a merch table. You might even be able to get some swag in time for stocking-stuffing. Just sayin’.

…and then there’s our HEARNOW page, with most of the places you can find the new album, either for streaming, download, or in the antiquated physical format of Compact Disc.

So, if we don’t see you between now and then: Merry Christmas & Happy New Years…and please be good to each other, stay safe, stay healthy, and of course stay frosty.
    
     -Denny
      The Great Affairs

The Great Affairs November 2020 Update: Electile Dysfunction

Well, it’s been nearly a month since the release of our latest LP ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt’, and not a single copy has been returned with hate mail attached, so we’re calling this one a “win”, based on these early, somewhat informal polling results.

Sorry, my brain has been so inundated with politics lately that I can barely speak on any other subject without utilizing campaign jargon. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to vote, if you haven’t already.

OK, that’s the last of that. Again, I apologize. Back to the business at hand…

The “Deluxe Edition” managed to sell-out in a flash, feedback has been nothing short of glowing(Thank you, and please picture us taking a group bow. We sincerely appreciate all the comments, shares, DMs, etc. Truly.), and we’ve somehow managed to land a couple of songs on a variety of both terrestrial and internet radio stations around the world, with more being added every day. A few who’ve latched onto either “I’m Alright” or “Lyvia”(in a handful of cases, the pair are spinning together) include Spider Web Radio, Ange’s Rock Show on Duggystone Radio, South Devon Sound, Outlaw Renegade Radio, The Eagles Nest Radio, Hard Rock Nights, Rock Bottom, and ROXX100. Much obliged to the programmers who’ve seen fit to include our stuff alongside some serious heavy hitters.

We did dust off Jean Claude Damme Van for a single show in Indiana last month. We were more than a bit rusty, but we were able to give a handful of the new songs their first public airing, and see a few folks we’d been missing since this global sh#tshow started. Y’all looked marvelous.

Unfortunately, we shortly thereafter made the decision to suspend any further live band activity through the end of the year, so our previously-scheduled Terre Haute, IN date in November is not happening. We just figured the smart thing to do while this thing rages on a while longer, would be to do some woodshedding, continue revamping our live show, and getting ready for what will hopefully a lot less topsy-turvy 2021, eventually at least. (Fingers crossed)

If all goes to plan, the layoff will also give us time to shoot a video or two. We’ve sketched out a treatment for “I’m Alright”, that we plan to shoot with Nate & Scott Moore, just as soon as Nate’s wrapped up work on his latest short film, for which I will be providing my first-ever attempt at a musical score. It’s a Horror flick, so I’ve been getting in touch with my inner John Carpenter, and trying to channel his iconic Escape From NY soundtrack for this project. It’s given me a chance to set aside work on our standard fare, and allowed me the unusual opportunity to learn a bunch of this new software from my recent studio upgrade by simply tinkering around with synths and ambient sounds. I’ve gotta admit, while I’m more or less flying blind, it’s a lot less stressful(and quieter) than tracking Rock tunes, and my ears are probably thankful for the respite.

Now that’s not to say no noise is being made. On the contrary, whether we’re able to resume our regular roadwork any time soon, we’ve got stuff in the pipeline for next year, shows or no shows. Kenny’s still cranking away at his solo release, and Joshua Ketchmark & I should have our The Hail Marys EP out sometime in 2021 as well, once he gets a couple of his other projects mixed and to market. I’m pretty stoked about all of these things, as I think The Hail Marys’ material is some of the best stuff Mr. Ketchmark & I have ever collaborated on, and having heard(and contributed to) much of Kenny’s record, I know folks who especially dig his tunes on the TGA records are gonna eat this stuff up.

Also, I might sneak in a solo acoustic performance or two between now and New Years, so it’s not like we’re hibernating or anything….just waiting for a little more smoke to clear, and trying to make good use of bad luck.

OK then, I think that about covers the current 411. If you still need me to steer you towards the new album, click HERE to access a one-stop HearNow link that will take you to several of the main streaming/downloading options, along with a “Buy from Artist”(That’s us!) tab redirecting you to our web store, where you can get the full 12-song CD version straight from the source.

As always, please, please be good to each other. Don’t let this crazy election be one more thing keeping us from that.

-Denny-

We have arrived, ladies and gentlemen. The day is upon us. The 2nd of October, 2020.

That’s right, the new Bon Jovi album is out now!

Also, our new LP ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt.’ is officially released, and available for streaming, downloading, and good old-fashioned CD spinning.

Instead of cramming this update full of a dozen or more links, I’m going to keep the redirection to a minimum, and instead suggest that if you’re receiving this information via our semi-regular email blast, you might wanna head over to TheGreatAffairs.com, and start scrolling through our home page(Those of you who are reading this on the site itself are already ahead of the game, and need to merely make your way down the page you’re on.), for a myriad of recent interviews, podcasts, new merchandise updates, CD order links(the Deluxe Edition might be sold out by the time you’re reading this, but we have plenty of the Standard, which still includes the 2 CD-only bonus tracks), and a clip that features our group acting debut.

Included in all that business are a cool pair of interviews Kenny & I did with the Ages Of Rock Podcast, and The Record Machine show, my chat with Pete Fry for his radio show Fryday Night With Fry, and what might be my favorite conversation ever (on record) regarding songwriting, with Dustin Wikoff for his Drunken Lullabies presents My Personal Mixtape podcast, where I was asked to choose my Top 10 favorite songs I’ve written to date, and discuss the process of birthing said creations, among a great many other things at least peripherally related to songcraft.

Now, as for the digital release of the new album, here’s a link to a (hopefully somewhat) complete one-stop HearNow page that should(or will shortly, with more being added as they “go live”) feature links to all the streaming/DL biggies like Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc., where you can consume this release at your leisure henceforth.

I’d like to take a minute to say thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts, to everyone who pre-ordered the physical editions of ‘Everybody Moves…’! For the record, we far exceeded our expectations and blew past our projected sales inside of 2 weeks, giving us the best advance numbers we’ve ever seen on a release to date. In light of everything going on right now, we are truly humbled by this response, so cheers! You guys are the best!

One additional, quick tip of the hat to our collaborators on this album: Michael Saint-Leon and Joshua Ketchmark for toiling behind the curtain to make us sound like the semi-pros we aspire to someday be, Michael Webb for bringing the Michael Webb-ness, Dave Webb for inadvertently standing-in on bass for a track that needed his magic touch, and Wendy Moten for taking “Three-Leaf Clover” into the stratosphere with those crazy pipes. We love you guys!

We’ll be celebrating the album drop tomorrow(10/3) in Evansville, IN at Bokeh Lounge, doing an “Evening With”-style show, playing all night, with sets featuring stuff from every record in our catalog, along with a few covers we fancy, so wear sensible shoes if you plan on attending, because we’re going long.

Now, if you’re interested in diving a little deeper into the making of this opus, and some insight from the folks who put it all together, namely myself, my cohorts Kenny Wright, Patrick J. Miller, Matt Andersen, and our co-producers Michael Saint-Leon & Joshua Ketchmark, some “making of” musings are compiled below.

Be good to each other(and don’t forget to vote),
 Denny

“I’m Alright”
Kenny: Denny conjured this one up while we were in between records. While he played it off as not about anything specific, I thought the wordplay was brilliant, even if I didn’t know what it was about. When all was said and done, I thought it was the best mix we’d ever gotten from a fidelity standpoint. Michael Saint-Leon really shaped this mix;  not only as an engineer, but as a sounding board for what to leave in and what to leave out.

Denny: This is me venting my frustration with some business we’d become entangled in, by our own design. When you get your hopes up, the only direction left for them to travel is down, and we were feeling a little bamboozled at the time, so I decided to document my thoughts on this particular shuck n’ jive with a few riffs, and a musical middle finger in the air. Sonically, there’s a lot of “ear candy” in this mix, courtesy of Michael Saint-Leon, but the sentiment behind the song itself certainly isn’t sweet.

Matt: You gotta have a straight ahead rocker and this is it.  Our shot at a Hellacopters-esque vibe.  Denny even got to tickle (or bang on) some ivories in the process.  A nice solo section featuring both Patrick and Denny that really “tied the room together”.

 

“Believe In Ghosts”
Kenny: Denny brought this to the band probably a year before we even started 10 And 2, but I guess it didn’t really fit the narrative of that record. It was an obvious frontrunner for the next album, and we felt it really needed to start with a really tight drum track. I have a very vivid recollection of laying it down at Switchyard without having to get bogged down with a bunch of superfluous takes. I’m pretty sure that what you hear on the finished product was, essentially, a first pass. From a songwriting perspective, this is Denny doing one of the many things he does best.

Denny: I just kept holding this one back, sure it wasn’t right for the band. The thing is, I wasn’t using it for my solo records either, so it was just lost in the ether, relegated to eternal “unreleased demo” status. I thought it had too many moving parts for us to tackle, and then have to possibly recreate live…and I was right…but we nonetheless cranked out a pretty fine studio version, and Kenny’s bass part(intended as a “scratch” pass for Matt to poach ideas from), was so damn cool, we just dolled it up and left it on there.

Matt: I could never have imagined how great this turned out.  While I was initially going to cut the bass, Kenny laid down a track that was too good to be recut.  I went with the mantra “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  i always prefer to do what is best for the song, and in this case I think we made the right move.

Joshua Ketchmark(Engineer/Co-Producer): The Great Affairs are not only a great band, they’re family! So glad I got to be a part of this new record. Move with it if ya need to! It helps me.

 

“Lyvia”
Kenny: I think this is the tightest mix on any song we’ve ever released as a band. To me, if we’d have been a making records in 1982 and dropped this track, I know we’d have at least been a one-hit-wonder group. Another Street-Lion masterpiece.

Denny: Almost as soon as we’d wrapped up work on the last record, I started planning; on paper, this project called The Fieldsteen Anthems. It was going to be an outlet for all of these more Power Pop ideas I’d accumulated, that I felt weren’t exactly suited to our band configuration, or the direction the guys were wanting to go. In essence, what I really wanted to do was make my own version of a Rick Springfield record. Instead, I made the far more somber, and un-bombastic ‘From The Dark’, while those songs gathered dust in my vault. This is one of them, and I’m still going to make that record….soon.

Joshua Ketchmark(Engineer/Co-Producer): Dig the tunes, Dig the guys, Dig the band. It was great to help them pour all of their influences into this record.

Matt: Ah, Rick Springfield…you sure taught Denny how to write a pop song.  I really pushed hard to cut this tune.  I initially played my 12-string Waterstone bass, but to my chagrin, it just didn’t sound right.  Sometimes simplicity is best.  I definitely think this is the strongest mix on the record.  Everything just ‘fits”.

 

“High On Rose”
Patrick: I came up with the all of the music for this in about 10 minutes or so, as I was getting ready to leave my house one day.  Kenny gravitated towards it immediately and had the melody and lyrics rolled out in no time.  Originally the feel was a more acoustic based, airy 1970s FM radio vibe.  Once the band got into it, it adopted more of a straight forward rock and roll approach that works well.  Everyone contributed some nice parts, nice feel, and some nice playing.

Kenny: Patrick sent me this music about 75% complete. He was hearing a Frampton’s Camel vibe, and I was hearing a Doobie Brother’s “China Grove” feel. We really didn’t get either one, as this ended up sounding more like Dressed To Kill era KISS, if you ask me. I really wanted to get a thick vocal stack on it, but I didn’t want to hear my own voice in the harmonies, so Denny went in and stacked three parts over my lead vocal. I literally jumped out of my chair when I heard them all in the mix! The tracking went through a lot of iterations before we ended up with the finished product, as the guitars ended up being deceptively complicated. Who knew that a simple love letter to my wife would end up being such a pain in the ass to finish?

Denny: A Patrick/Kenny co-write that I hear was supposed to be a little closer to The Rolling Stones than the KISS Lite rendering we delivered. I love it, regardless of any unintended detour we may have taken it on. Michael Webb really brings the goods on the old B3 too. I wish we could afford have him around full-time.

Joshua Ketchmark(Engineer/Co-Producer): Patrick never shies away from creating the perfect guitar track, never satisfied until he has it just how he wants it.

 

“In The Wreckage”
Kenny: This was, as I understand it, supposed to be on Denny’s first solo album. Due to some random circumstance, it didn’t make the cut. Long story short, I rode him about adding it to the digital EP we were working on, and I guess I won the argument. MSL played some beautiful slide and baritone guitar parts, which I initially thought were unnecessary, but now couldn’t imagine listening to the song without their inclusion. I sheepishly contributed percussion.

Denny: Another ‘Ten & 2’ sessions leftover. This was never intended to be a TGA tune, but Kenny claimed it before it could land on ‘From The Dark’. I was doing acoustic guitars for a couple of other tracks at The Switchyard one afternoon, and asked our engineer if he’d mind me cutting a quick pass of this new tune I’d been kicking around for a few days. The guitars in the finished track are from that pass. Over the next year or so, I got around to refining the lyric some, and cut a finished vocal to go with them, then convinced that same engineer, Micheal Saint-Leon, to do some of the tasty slide work he does in his own band Thunderbunny over it. When Kenny needed a cymbal to complete his percussion overdubs, and none had been packed for the session, we pulled a cracked Sabian, signed by my former fORMER cohort Billy Baker, down from the trophy wall, and utilized its services one more time.

 

“Worn Out Souls”
Kenny: I sat down with a bottle of Scotch and wrote this one in about a half hour. Gnashing my teeth at my failure as an artist from a commercial standpoint, this just bled out onto the page within a few minutes. The music immediately followed, and I used a snippet of a memo demo that Patrick had sent me, entitled “BadCo-ish”, to bridge the first chorus with the second verse. Denny and I spent all day doing a rough demo, and I thought we might really have a decent track in the making. He soon sent me a pass with a very hollow, eerie western guitar part he had crafted, and I KNEW we at least had something. Michael Webb easily heard what we were going for (as he always does) and delivered an iconic piano performance. This one is a favorite of mine.

Patrick: This was a tune Kenny and I originally had in mind for something outside of TGA.  From start to finish, the song didn’t stray far from its original vision.  There was a definite idea and mood intended that I believe we were successful in capturing.  

Denny: Kenny really nailed the lyric on this one. When we got into cutting the finished version, I tried to recreate the guitar part I did on the original demo without really going back and listening to it closely. I figured it would be better for the tune if I laid in something sympathetic to the current, much more refined vocal, and Patrick’s recently-added parts. As it turns out, Kenny wanted me to play EXACTLY what I’d played(when I was just winging it to get something down as a placeholder, BTW) on the demo, so I went back and re-learned it note for note, before taking another swing at it. You’re welcome, Kenneth.

“Light Years”
Kenny: This one had been knocking around for years, and never really settled into any of our releases. Denny and I had settled on using it as a double A side single for our side project, The DieYoungs. Drums and bass were tracked, but we ended up re-purposing it for TGA at the behest of Matt. A bit ironic, as we ended up using Dave Webb’s original bass track for the finished version.

Denny: I’m so relieved to finally have a version of this properly captured. Kenny & I have gone around and around about this tune for years now, after trying it with the band, and deciding it just wasn’t “happening”. Patrick does some cool counterpoint chord stuff on here, and a couple of those “snake charmer” licks he specializes in, and Dave Webb’s guest spot on bass is monstrous…plus I finally got to play Electric Sitar on a track.

Matt: This was originally cut for Denny’s second solo record with the incredible David Webb on bass.  I, however, kept pushing to use it in TGA and Denny finally relented.  The irony is that we ended up using David’s initial track.  Remember that thing I was saying about doing what’s best for the song?  Example #2

 

“Three-Leaf Clover”
Patrick: I would have to say the most memorable thing about this song for me would be Kenny coming over to my place to finish writing it, and then, 10 minutes after he left, a tornado hit my house.  I had just listened to the memo demo of it again and was turning off the lights in my music room, about to head upstairs.  Then my ears popped and my house started to shake.  Kenny, once again, really seemed to latch on to the music for this and went through a couple lyrical ideas in the process.  We got together that night and added the finishing touches and it took shape.  Once we recorded it and added the other components it really came alive.  Great contributions came from all involved and the final product came out very well.

Kenny: Patrick came to me with most of the music for this tune close to finished. I had originally written lyrics called “Spaceman”, but they really weren’t what I wanted to say. We fooled with it, and it became what it is now. We finished off the arrangement at a late-night writing session at Patrick’s house on an evening where storms ripped through the greater Nashville area. Two minutes after I left, his house was severely damaged by a tornado, and a tree was felled across the driveway where my car had been parked only moments earlier. What started out as a more up-tempo idea eventually coalesced into a sort of Black Crowes meets Staples Singers, southern gospel tinged outing. I knew it needed a soulful female voice as a counter, and Michael turned me on to Wendy Moten. After I heard her voice, I couldn’t imagine doing the song without her participation. It is what it is because of her. As somber as the lyric is, she’s a true bright spot. Denny’s arpeggiated acoustic line is the other highlight for me.

Joshua Ketchmark(Engineer/Co-Producer): Matt is always on board to lay down the groove, always a great collaborator in the studio.

Matt: This was the last addition to the album.  Patrick and Kenny had been working on this one for a few and described it to me as a Black Crowes/Gov’t Mule kind of vibe.  I loved the initial mix of the tune, but once I heard the addition of Michael Webb on keys and Wendy Moten on vocals, my mind was blown.

Denny: Man, what a track. Vocally, this is Kenny at his best. This song was late to the party, and I wasn’t 100% convinced the album needed another tune, but once it started coming together in the studio, I began to see the light. As soon as Ms. Moten, and her amazing vocal arrangement were added to the mix, the deal was sealed. Gorgeous.

 

“Satellite”
Kenny: To me, this one takes us back to the original vision Denny and Patrick had for The Great Affairs, long before I joined the group. I came up on country, folk and Americana music, and this one has all of those elements, in my opinion. I wanted to do a real Don Henley, "Eagles first record" type drum track on it, and I think I got pretty close. Every time I hear the vocal movement on the line “None of us are born into the light”, I remember why I still play music. Words, music and melody. What else is there?

Denny: 2 Things: 1) I hate wearing a harmonica rack. 2) When we play this live, I have to wear a harmonica rack.
 I think I still like the song.

Matt: Satellite was one of the first tracks we cut for the record.  This one harkens back to the early days of TGA with a more Americana/roots vibe.  We haven’t had many chances to play this live, but I hope that changes as I love the tune.  We just need to hire someone to hold Denny’s harmonica during the solo section so he doesn’t have to wear the oh-so-uncomfortable harmonica rack.

Patrick: A tune from the first batch of songs recorded that ultimately led to this album as a whole. It was fun to build some sparse melodic slide parts around the other melodies.  I think all of the bits and melodies compliment each other very well.

 

“The Ride”
Kenny: About eight years ago I was doing some stuff for Denny at his house and he was working on this one in his studio. I heard it like a thousand times that day, and it really stuck with me. Flash forward to a year ago, and I inquired about it. Despite his trepidations about it not being right  for TGA, I leaned on him (as I so often do), and here we are. There was much discussion about how it should be treated, and we did the drums in several parts to maintain the mechanical feel of the song, yet have everything be played organically. I used my Dragon Drums for the big “around the horns” drum fill going into the guitar solo, and we tracked Matt’s bass at Back Gold Speakeasy, splitting both a dirty and clean channel with his Dark Glass pre-amp. I don’t really know what this song is about lyrically,  but it really captured my imagination all those years ago, and I’m glad we ended up tracking it. I think we did it justice.

Denny: I tried giving this to another artist several years ago, but it was one of the songs from that project that didn’t make the cut for his album, due to the drum track not being quite up to snuff. We utilized some studio trickery for our take on it that alleviated any concerns of that nature. We aimed for synthetic, but created it with real instrumentation, chopped up and manipulated to SOUND robotic. I think this is Matt’s best bass-playing on the record, and maybe tone as well. I’ve always dug weaving layers of odd sonics into a tune, and tucking them into the mix in such a way that they make you lean into the speakers to determine whether or not you’re actually hearing other stuff swirling around in there. We did that a few times with this record, most notably on this track, and “Believe In Ghosts”. Making it work without mucking up the obvious, featured instruments and voices can be a real trick. Kudos to Michael Saint-Leon for facilitating that magic act.

Matt: Denny had kept this song on the back burner for quite a few years and finally decided to cut it after a lot of prodding from Kenny.  It’s definitely unlike anything we’ve done as a band.  While I doubt this is one that can be pulled off as a four piece live due to the production, I absolutely believe that the ends justified the means when I finally heard the finished product. This was probably my favorite song to track on the album.  It was also my first time working with our buddy Joshua Ketchmark at Black Gold Speakeasy which was a blast.  I was able to use my newly acquired Darkglass Alpha/Omega amp running both a dirty and clean signal and I was blown away by the tone.  (Them Finnish folks sho’ make a nice bass amp).  Add in a myriad of synths, loops and other assorted bells and whistles and this is what you get.  Dig it!

 

“Head Light Live…In One Take”
Kenny: When I was prepping for my first gig with TGA as a lowly sub, I really gravitated to “Head Light”. It was fun to listen to and to play, but it wasn’t until we did it live together for the first time that I realized how effective it could be as an opening salvo. I’ve been in a million bands, but I’ve never had an opening tune that I felt was more of a mission statement than this one. It’s our “Detroit Rock City”, in my opinion. I really wanted to capture that urgency on a recording, and I think we did. Glad the “Hello and welcome” intro tape made the cut!

Matt: A surefire winner.  I also got to finally put my limited vocal abilities on a record.  Yay me!!

Denny: Cut “live”, on the quick, with minimal trickery. This one never fails us, and I never get tired of playing it either. “We can still get down tonight.” Damn skippy we can.

“Takin’ A Swing”
Kenny: Originally, we cut this for 10 And 2, but it didn’t really settle into the vibe of that record. We got a solid drum take on it during those sessions and decided to run it back up the flagpole during the EMNGH proceedings. I remember Denny sending me a demo of it just after he’d written it. I was driving south on 65 just outside Nashville, and I pulled over to give him feedback. I really like the way the story unfolds lyrically, and I really wanted to do a percussion treatment on it like Mellencamp’s “Key West Intermezzo”. I sent Joshua Ketchmark the drum loop intro from Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass”, and he put it in time with the track and dropped it in. When Patrick cut his solos, Michael and I had a Rolling Stones geek out moment when we simultaneously realized he was paying inadvertent homage to Wayne Perkins’ lead break in “Hand Of Fate”! You had to be there.

Denny: If you’ve ever had your ass kicked(and I have), you know that the come-from-behind Karate Kid moment seldom materializes, but the Balboa/Creed, post-whupping friendship commonly does. This is that kinda story. I thought it might make a cool “hidden track” on ‘Ten & 2’, since it’s more of a  tongue-in-cheek sorta number, but we didn’t finish it up in time, so it just languished on a hard drive until now. I really dig Patrick’s slide bits on the back end, and the sparkly Nashville High Strung acoustic part that our buddy Joshua Ketchmark added. I’m not sure how “hidden” it is, seeing as we’re talking about it here, but this tune didn’t seem to sit right in the actual album sequencing, so we tucked it away at the end of the CD version, to surely be discovered by only the most dedicated of listeners.

Patrick: A bit of fun.

Joshua Ketchmark(Engineer/Co-Producer): Kenny always knows what he wants when he walks in, guns blazing! So many great memories being apart of the making of this record. A rock and roll throwback set to a modern soundtrack.

———

The man behind the board, Mr. Michael “Street-Lion” Saint-Leon, offered up some words on the subject as well, and since his submission incorporated a very gracious foreword, we figured we’d let this humble genius have his own standalone entry, regardless of the concerns he voiced about his contributions being too loquacious.

Michael Saint-Leon:

I had the good fortune to have hitched a ride on the Great Affairs train at the very beginning of their creative odyssey and to have played a small but important part in it’s direction. A new Great Affairs record is always an opportunity for toil, not too much trouble, and wanton artistic expression. This latest record is no exception. First come the songs, ever catchy, engrossing, sometimes fun, sometimes serious, always expertly written. Eventually the arrangements take shape during intensive rehearsals (or so I’ve heard) with all the guys throwing in their two cents, or five dollar’s worth. Following soon is the recording, a mutual affair, often beginning at Denny’s Pastry Park, moving on to The Switchyard, stopping off at the wonderfully talented and patient Josh Ketchmark’s place until all the parts are down. Then we mix. The guys give me more leeway than I deserve and I take full advantage of it. My goal is to deliver a mix that requires no tweaks! I’ve yet to manage that but I’ll keep going for it. A few specifics….

I’m Alright…. the detail that gets me in this one is the piano part, those low single notes that sustain past the guitar stabs.  And, the particularly bad ass guitar solos

I Don’t Believe In Ghosts… right out of the box, that guitar lick Denny plays kicks the groove into a high gear. I dig when Patrick’s slide guitar bounces off of Denny’s solo.

Lyvia… undeniable pop majesty. A deceptively intricate arrangement, full of ear candy but never cluttered. The shimmering synths flowing  just beneath the pre-chorus, Kenny’s woodblocks in the second verse, the glorious harmony “Lyvia” in the chorus and more pop guitar nirvana when Patrick’s ascending harmony guitars finally crown the whole thing

High On Rose… Kenny’s vocal and Patrick’s guitar ride are the key ingredients for me on this one.

In The Wreckage… the slide guitar on this one, what can I say…I mean, Whew, what about that slide guitar,  jeeez! Oh, way cool song too.

Worn Out Souls…Kenny! Man! He’s dialed in that drum sound over the course of these albums. Two different kits were used during the making of this one. One of them features a freaky, bifurcated bass drum  made by Staccato that gives us a killer thump with no need for mixy trickery. The other is a stunning mosaic mirror finished kit made by by Billy Baker. They both kick ass! Of course, some of that has to do with guy on the throne. I don’t remember which one was played on this tune, but I know I love it.

Light Years… I dig how this swells and crashes and takes me to arena rock world. I’m particularly happy about that “chukka chukka” guitar that sets up the last chorus. And of course…sitar!

Three Leaf Clover… Josh and Patrick got the grooviest rhythm guitar sound for this one. Then you’ve got the über cool Mike Webb, a long time secret weapon for the band, rolling in his sumptuous Hammond organ. Add awesomeness with Wendy Moten weaving into Kenny’s vocal and…you’re at a loss for words.

Satellite… this one makes me think of incipient era Great Affairs, when their music had a more folky sound. Denny’s harmonica sends me. Speaking of Denny, it’s hard to oversell his drive, his abilities, his talent. He’s a die-hard rocker, guitar-slinger, true born songwriter who never fails to deliver. He’s an excellent conversationalist too.

The Ride… We had some fun with the sounds on this, monkeying with the synths and trying to make some of the guitar parts sound freaky… I guess. I’m hazy on this one.

Headlight… as you can hear in this recording, The Great Affairs generate such a frenzied reaction in their fans that you just have to be there to believe it.

Takin’ A Swing… I like the echo on Denny’s voice during the bridge. Patrick’s guitar ride is groovy too.

While the world attempts to get back on its feet, in a series of awkward fits & starts, intermittent presses of the “Pause” button, and a whole mess of dung-slingin’ over certain precautionary measures, we’ve simply been doing our best to stay productive, so that when this storm finally passes we won’t be an atrophied lump with 8 arms, 8 legs, and a bunch of gear we’ve forgotten what to do with.

Hell, I even went out and did a solo gig in support of ‘From The Dark’ finally, some 6 months after its release. I trekked down to Tupelo, MS, and knocked through a 90-minute set at The Blue Canoe, with a hearty bunch on hand, clearly just happy to be out and about, in an environment that felt a little less like we were living in the prologue to Mad Max.

While I’ve at long last gotten around to doing a show on my own, we’ve been collectively grinding away on the new album. Kenny was just in The Switchyard on Monday, singing his final lead, and as of this writing, we are but one guest vocal away from completion, meaning our tentatively projected release date of 10/02/20 is in fact on track.

So, in case you missed it, we’ve re-posted this teaser track of a tune called “Lyvia”, and I suppose you might see more tunes popping up as we close in on October. For now, if you want some idea of where we might be taking the USS TGA on this voyage, you can check out ‘The 2019 Sessions, Vol. 1’(those 3 will be included on the LP) on your streaming platform of choice, and then fire this one up to hear what we’ve been cooking in the meantime.

or click HERE to stream "Lyvia".

To help us fund these sessions, with most of our previously scheduled roadwork up in smoke, and revenue virtually nil, we’ve added couple more new items to our StoreFrontier page, including a double-sided Tee & Hoodie that feature live shot on the front, and our new logo on the back, along with a second version of the face covering/mask design we sold so many of over the past couple of months (Thank you, BTW.). You can find these, and a bunch more exclusive designs HERE.

FRONT

BACK

 

In other news, a couple of our crew have made recent appearances on the A-Sides Podcast. You can hear Kenny’s interview HERE, and our engineer/co-producer Michael Saint-Leon’s HERE. These are Spotify links, but A-Sides is also available via the Apple Podcast App., and Podbean, if you prefer to avoid lining those pockets.

In addition to TGA and solo stuff, I finally made it over to Black Gold Speakeasy to finish up tracking on a 4-song EP with my brother Joshua Ketchmark, for our Hail Marys project. He’s doing his thing with the stuff now, so hopefully we’ll have news on a release down the line just a bit. It’s the goods..covers a lot of bases in 15 minutes or so. Some of you may have caught me doing “Over The Moon” at an acoustic show. If that hit your sweet spot, I suspect you’ll dig the rest.

OK then, I need to sign off and attend to other matters, so here’s what the calendar looks like at the moment. With all that’s going on in the headlines, this could likely change, so please stay tuned.

Friday, July 31st  "An Evening with The Great Affairs" in Tupelo, MS at Blue Canoe  9PM

Give the new song a listen, and we hope to see you all soon.

Be good to each other,
  Denny
  The Great Affairs

 

Thursday, May 21st, 2020

On the surface, I suppose April was pretty uneventful on the live music front, save for transmissions via the interweb of occasionally suspect audio and video fidelity. I myself managed to contribute some 50 tunes; just me and an acoustic guitar, many of which I hadn’t even thought of, much less played in a decade or more. Let me tell ya, it can be a weird feeling to revisit your own compositions when that much time has elapsed. It’s almost like learning a cover tune, except they tend to come to you a little easier once your brain starts connecting a few of the dots it initially seamed together when you were writing it, and your natural creative instincts lead you back down once-familiar paths. It’s a trip how quickly these things can coalesce, from somebody mentioning a title you can barely recall, to playing & singing through a song; top to bottom, like it was yesterday you performed it last, when in fact it was 12 years ago. The human mind is truly something else. I can never remember my siblings’ birthdays, but if it rhymes and is set to a melody, it’s locked away for eternity, ready to go whenever I need it. Sorry, fam.

If you wanna see/hear any of these, they’re scattered all over my Facebook Music page HERE.

Speaking of birthdays, I celebrated one yesterday by spending an afternoon in the studio with my TGA bandmate Kenny Wright, and our Producer/Engineer/Mixer/Occasional Slide Guitarist/Voice Of Reason Michael Saint-Leon, putting what would’ve been deemed the “finishing touches” on our latest LP, had we not also been cutting acoustic tracks for a last-minute edition to the record that we hope to finish tracking over the next few weeks. If not for this straggler, we’d probably be listening to a final master shortly, but this tune was too cool to leave behind, and let’s face it, we have time. With the world essentially stuck in park, we might as well get an oil change and check the tire pressure while we wait.

Besides, we’re ahead of the curve on everything else. Artwork is more or less ready, with every song getting it’s own “sleeve”, new merchandise on deck, and shows….well, we have some stuff on the books for July through November, but it’s still too soon to say how much; if any, action old Jean-Claude Damme Van is actually gonna get in 2020. We’re optimistic, but wish in one hand and…..yeah, you know the rest. However things shake out regarding live dates, I think we’re going to shoot for an early October(10/02/20 perhaps?) album release, giving us time to properly line up the proverbial ducks, and deliver this thing in the spectacular fashion we believe it deserves, but I suspect some “singles” might be appearing well ahead of that projected street-date.

Between now and then, here are some links to recent interviews I did for a couple of cool Podcasts:

THE RECORD MACHINE SHOW : I talk about my solo record, where I came from and how I got here musically, and what might be on the horizon for The Great Affairs

A-SIDES : I talk about my record shop, Co-Op Records of Pekin, Illinois, and spending nearly half my life keeping that dream alive.

Speaking of the shop, we’re scheduled to re-open next week, so I’m gonna have to sign off here, and get to work on facilitating that from 475 miles away, so please be good to each other, and I’ll check in with another update as soon as we have some worthy scuttlebutt….like maybe a new song to share. Keep your eyes peeled, and stay safe.

 Cheers,
   Denny
   The Great Affairs

p.s. If you have a shot of yourself wearing one of our masks from STORE FRONTIER, or any merch really, please send ‘em our way. We love seeing that stuff out in the wild.

Thursday, April 23rd, 2020.
WTF kinda SyFy Network, starring Debbie Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas, crazier than Soylent Green’s ending, batsh#t flick did I wake up in this morning?!?!?

Since I last popped in with an update, our guitarist’s house was hit by a tornado, and a plague has enveloped the planet, just as we were about to take it over, hot on the heels of a pair of successful, post-surgery comeback shows.

While the world watches and waits, hanging on every almost-sure-to-be-later-retracted word from the higher-ups, we’ve been toiling away(as much as these “social distancing” guidelines will allow at least) on the last few tracks we’ll need to sew up the new TGA LP. In fact, of the 11 songs slated to appear, 8 of them are mixed and making the inter-band rounds, so we can all haggle over whether or not they’re actually the “finals”. Once we’re allowed to reconvene, and Mr. Miller is done managing various contractors at his weather-ravaged estate, we’ll get the last of his guitar contributions on the remaining tunes, and be off to the races.

Now, when exactly is this thing gonna come out? That’s a good question. I’m guessing it might be prudent to wait out the ‘Rona.

Still, we’ve already got new merch on hand..stickers, guitar picks, a new double-sided T-shirt design ready to roll…Hell, we even went ahead and commissioned Store Frontier to make some print-to-order face masks, since the new logo seemed so perfect for that particular application, and the good ones are in such short supply everywhere.

Available HERE

Of course, we do have some slightly more upbeat apparel options, like my “From The Dark 2020” solo design, which may end up being something of a collector’s item, seeing as I may not get to actually support that record with a proper show in this calendar year. Still, if you wanna help a brother out, you can get that design in a T-Shirt, Hoodie(these are really cool), or various other styles, like Girls Tees and Kids sizes.

Those are available HERE

And finally, the sunniest bit of fresh swag we have on offer…our fabulous “Blue Duster” design is now available HERE in 3 different colors of Tie-Dye.

But enough about our exquisite apparel options….

With regard to shows, John Brown’s was a blast. I’m both proud and quite happy to report that my pipes were able to endure a long night of loud Rock N’ Roll, and that blasting through 20+ songs without flagging appears to once again be a possibility for me. I am taking a few extra precautions to protect my instrument, so if you don’t see me around much before showtime, I’m probably holed-up somewhere, in an attempt to preserve both my singing voice, and what’s left of my hearing. I’m not being antisocial, just trying to make sure I can give the job everything I have when it’s time.

Unfortunately we had to either cancel or postpone a handful of dates, just as I was cleared for full-time action, and our Summer calendar was starting to come together. With any luck, once this COVID-19 business is sorted out(fingers crossed), we’ll be able to get some of these back on the books. For now, we have a few things we’ve yet to announce for June, July, August, and beyond, but the crystal ball is currently a bit hazy to forecast the true likelihood of these engagements actually happening, so please check our site and socials periodically, and I’ll try my best to keep the calendars updated.

In the meantime, since so many of us are stuck at home, I’ve started doing one-a-day acoustic performances…nothing fancy, just an iPhone capturing me somewhere with my guitar…usually my kitchen, living room, or studio space…and doing my damnedest to get through some requests, several of which have required a deep dive into my personal archives, because they were either songs I’d tracked and forgotten, or stuff we’d simply never played live.

There have been some pretty cool surprises, digging these things out. I might actually keep a few of them around for future shows…you know, in the “new normal”? For now though, you can find these on my Facebook artist page HERE

So far(as of April 23rd), here’s what I’ve gotten to:

TGA: In The Wreckage, The Next Three Minutes, Dance Alone, I Can’t Sleep Alone, Gone, Eyes In Every Room, She Likes, Dodge

fORMER: Damned, In The Gray, Please, Needles & Pins, Make It Out…(Be sure to track down my buddy Henry Go’s “bass/vocal response" to a few of these…fantastic!)

Solo: I Will, She’s Got Your Eyes(unreleased), Hold On To Me(from the Thomas ‘Absolution’ record), Trying To Break Your Heart, Glass Slipper, One Mississippi

The Die Youngs: Let Me Go

Best Of Seven: Underwhelmed, Anything, Sleepin’ With The Radio On

FOXX: King Of Fools

Covers: September Gurls(Big Star), (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, & Understanding(Elvis Costello & The Attractions), (I Just) Died In Your Arms (Cutting Crew), Raspberry Beret (Prince & The Revolution)

Amy Moby, who works for a great No-Kill animal shelter in Pekin, IL called TAPS, caught one of these and asked me if I’d do a FaceBook Live fundraiser for their organization, so I’ll be dipping my toe in the FaceBook Live waters for the first time ever on Tuesday, April 28th, from 6-7:00PM CST, and again, I’ll be streaming from my FaceBook Artist page.

The event page, with all the info, is right HERE.

I think that just about gets us up to speed, so I’ll leave you with that, AND point you in the direction of this podcast that I taped an interview with recently. It should air next week at some point, and as soon as I have the link, I’ll post it in all the appropriate places. The host, James Michael Hollenstein and I talked all kinds of nonsense. I was 4 cups of coffee into my day at the time, so I hope you’ll excuse whatever rambling they’re unable to edit out.

The Record Machine Show Podcast OFFICIAL SITE
The Record Machine Show Podcast FACEBOOK

Alrighty then, you know the drill...

Be good to each other, but not so good that you have to come within the recommended six foot radius.

 Peace,
  Denny
   The Great Affairs

 

 

 

We did it. We plugged this stuff back in, stepped onto a stage, and lived to tell. My voice is in fact operational, and we shall now commence a gradual return to active duty, beginning this Friday in Marion, IL, at the world famous John Brown’s On The Square, with a few of our closest friends. We’ll follow that up with a St. Patrick’s Day set at The Cobra in East Nashville, with the road dogs of Stone Senate, Cody Parks & The Dirty South, and Atomic Love from Chicago. From there, we’ll make a quick run down to Birmingham, Alabama on the 21st, for a long-overdue visit to the CBGB’s of the Southeast, The Nick. We’ll be supporting BeItTheMeans, and Pearl Bottom Radio from Atlanta will be on hand as well.

As for our big comeback show, it was a sold out night for the Framing Hanley gents at Exit/In, and we were happy to have an opportunity to test the waters with a quick 25-minutes set in front of an already mostly-full house of folks there to celebrate the release of their new album. It was exactly what we needed, and now we know we’ve at least got approximately a half hour’s-worth of available gas in the tank….so hell, lets go play for 2.5 hours this weekend.What could go wrong?

On the solo tip, I’ve got a couple of acoustic shows on the calendar, with more in the works. I’ve got new shirts that’ll be traveling with me, and yeah, we’ll have them at band shows too. The record has been getting a little attention overseas, with airplay in Switzerland, and some good press in the UK, along with a song or two making Spotify playlists here & there.  I appreciate folks sharing it, and showing it love. Thank you. I wish I had more time to get behind it, but I’ve been tied up with rehabbing my voice, along with trying to complete a new record with The Great Affairs. In fact, I spent a good portion of this afternoon re-cutting some guitars for a track that’s already been mixed, but just wasn’t doing the trick for me. We’re at that point in the process on a lot of this material, putting the finishing touches on some tunes, starting on lead vocals for the last few, and perpetually tweaking things we might’ve thought at one point we’d already put behind us.

The reason for all these fits & starts? It’s pretty simple actually. It’s a fairly eclectic batch this time around. Where ‘Ten & 2’ was more or less a straight Rock record, aside from a lone ballad that Kenny brought to the table, this one is all over the damn place. Some of these songs pre-date my first solo record from 2016, and were even contenders for that LP, but got the bump in favor of the more Singer/Songwriter-type numbers. A handful of them are a little heavier on the production side of things than we’d normally tackle, and will be all but impossible to play live, which is another reason they’ve languished on the bench for a few years. Now that we’ve taken the plunge on them however, I wish we’d given them a shot sooner, because they’re shaping up to be fantastic additions to the canon.

I suspect you’ll be able to judge for yourself in a few short months. For now, you can hear “I’m Alright”, “Satellite” and “In The Wreckage” as part of ‘The 2019 Sessions’ EP that we released last year digitally. Those three will be included with the new full-length, but don’t even begin to illustrate the scope of the whole collection, believe me. It’s the goods.

OK then, I’m gonna sign off now, and watch the new David Crosby documentary, because I find the fact that he’s still alive to be downright amazing. I need to know his secret.

Be good to each other,
 Denny
 The Great Affairs

It’s been 5 weeks and some change since I went under the knife to correct the bit of damage I’d done to my vocal cords, and this morning I headed in for what would hopefully be one last followup scope at Vanderbilt, fingers crossed I might get the go-ahead to start performing live again.

My luck held, and everything seems to be in working order thus far, meaning I’m good to resume crooning in public. In the interest of not subjecting myself to this rigamarole ever again, we’ll be easing back into action with a few shows over the next month or two, and putting the freshly repaired apparatus, and our slightly atrophied chops through the paces gradually, so we can get back up to speed gradually and maybe stay there a while.

Our first order of business will be a quick support slot at Framing Hanley’s album release show on Saturday, February 22nd. That goes down at Exit/In, starting at 7:30 with Sons Of Our Fathers, followed by us, Lonelyouth, and the headliners. I’m pretty sure some tickets are still available at the moment, but I’d imagine this will sell-out, so if you’re looking to attend, it might be best to ante up pronto.

Once we get the “comeback” under our belts, we go straight into studio mode from the 23rd-30th, at various locations, doing guitars, the last needed bass parts, and probably some vocals, as we head into the home stretch of tracking.

As soon as we get that behind the scenes business out of the way, it’s time to stretch our legs a bit, and hit up our favorite haunt John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL, on Friday, March 6th for an evening of anything goes, where we’ll find out whether or not we can still play all these songs we’ve written over the last decade or so. I’m confident our little hiatus will prove beneficial, and I can think of no better place to test my theory.

I’ll have new solo merch on hand, with these ‘From The Dark 2020’ tees. You can get them now via our StoreFrontier (CLICK HERE) page(in hoodies and guys’ & girls’ styles), but I’ll have a limited number of them with me at upcoming TGA & solo dates as well.

As for those solo engagements, I’m still ironing out a few details, but they’re in the works. It’ll be just me & an acoustic guitar…maybe a harmonica or two…doing the songs, as they were originally written, from my records, TGA stuff, some fORMER, and whatever covers I might feel like taking a crack at.

Finally, I’ll leave you with these shots from a recent video shoot, where we basically played slightly more belligerent versions of ourselves, as a rock band hired to realize the vision of the another songwriter. Keep an eye out for Thunderbunny’s “The Ballad Of Wonder Hussy”, and catch an Oscar-worthy performance from our very own Patrick J. Miller.

Be good to each other,
 Denny