Art Damage
Wow! That's all I can say after last night's launch party for my new album, "Art Damage." To say I was overwhelmed with the love and support I got is an understatement! It's hard to believe that after all I've been through, and the crazy path my life has been on in the years since I've moved to LA, that so many truly amazing people would come celebrate the release of my new album. People I have so much love and admiration for, and who are so talented - it was such an honor.
The album officially comes out on Friday and I don't think I have ever put this much effort (time, or money) into a project as I have this one. I pulled out all the stops and did everything I could do make this the best thing I've ever done. I hope people respond to it.
After I released my first solo album in 2011, "It's Never The Way You Imagine It," I started working on what would have been "Art Damage" and I remember driving around listening to an early demo version of the album thinking, "some of this is pretty good." Then things changed, I decided to record a whole album with my band, and that ultimately became "Mixed Signals," which we released in 2016 and included a few of the songs that I had written for "Art Damage," as well as a bunch of new songs that I wrote specifically for the Traitors.
In truth, producing an album with a full live band was a little outside of my skill set, and I didn't work hard enough on it to really make it what I wanted it to be - frankly, I didn't have the time or money needed. So after "Mixed Signals" came out, I went back to the drawing board and wanted to stick with my strengths. At a camp for "gifted" kids that I went to in middle school, I received the "one man band" award, and I do think that one of my strengths is being able to envision and hear all parts of a song, from the words to the beat to every other layer of sound involved. I wanted to take that as far as I could, and really make an edgy, electronic pop album that could serve as my calling card.
I also wanted it to be weird!
My brother, Brandon, had gotten a Novation Circuit and actually ended up with two of them, so he let me use the second one, and I ended up programming the entire album in a rudimentary form on that. From there, I imported all the songs into Logic on my laptop and built them up from there, sometimes adding things over top of the Novation tracks, and other times completely re-recording them, leaving little of the original track. There are only a few spots on the album where you can still hear some of those original tracks.
I worked with so many great, talented artists on this album, and they elevated my songs to a level I've never achieved before. With brilliant photography by Luther Orrick and artwork by Mr. Gabriel Marques, every aspect of this release turned out just the way I wanted it.
So without further ado, here is my track-by-track preview of "Art Damage"!
1. End of an Era - as I explained at the launch party last night, this song was actually intended to be called "End of an Error" when I first wrote it, inspired by a bumper sticker celebrating the end of the George W Bush era. For eight years following that, things seemed to be going so well, the world seemed to be moving in the right direction. I had a sense of peace and faith in the future that I had never really known in my adult life. Of course that all came crashing down in 2016 as I was writing this album, so it shifted and became "End of an Era," and it was intended to be the last song on the record. Once Rayssa added her vocals to the song, it took on a new life, and at Christopher Freeman's urging, I decided to open the album with it. It also recalls one of my favorite songs that I used to sing in Sunday School.
2. Meathooks - This was one of the songs on that original demo for Art Damage back in 2011 that did survive and made it to the actual final album. It was a little different back then, but basically the same idea. I realized some of the notes were too high for me, so I brought in Rayssa again to sing on the chorus with me. She is so talented and such a quick learner that we just had her go through the song a couple of times in the studio and she nailed it! I really hope I get to make a music video for this one. Lyrically, it's one of the darkest songs I've written, but the chorus is so epic and poppy!
3. Anyone Can Break Somebody's Heart - I knew I wanted one mainstream dance track on the album and I wanted to feature a female vocalist. I came up with the title at LA Pride a couple of years ago but struggled for awhile to write the rest of the lyrics. Eventually they came to me, and then I had run into my friend Wendy Ho, who is an amazing vocalist and hilarious comedienne. My band Shitting Glitter had gotten to open for her once and I've always admired how hard she works, putting on drag shows, making music videos, and doing her podcast. I first heard of her when she was #1 on Logo's video countdown, so I was so honored that she agreed to work with me on this song, and it couldn't have turned out any better. The remix by Scott Anderson and the video by Jasten King elevated it to a whole new level and I have gotten more compliments on this song than anything I've ever done.
4. By My Side - I took Dylan to Temecula for his birthday weekend a couple of years ago and we got to stay in a tiny house. I'm obsessed with tiny houses! It rained most of the weekend and we were so cozy in there, and I wrote this song about our relationship. One of my favorite songs of all time is "Be Near Me" by ABC so I wanted to write something like that with a simple, sweet title. And, to throw people off the trail, I stuck some a-Ha references in the lyrics! My friend Niki Svara, who is an author and motivator, was kind enough to lend her vocals on the song, and she came up with the little rap verse. Then I was honored to work with Danial Smith and Kendra Taylor Ruczak of Ravensview Films who produced an beautiful music video for the song.
5. Hotel Terminus - This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It had also been bumping around for quite some time, but just finally came together for this album. I started writing this around the same time as "Now I Know What I Want" off the Traitors album. I was walking around Dusseldorf when the idea came to me, but it took years to really finish it. Huge thanks to Jordan von Haslow for singing with me on this song to give it a little something extra, and Little Pioneer did a great job on the mix.
6. Dear Christine - Inspired by the true story of Christine Chubbuck, this song was originally entitled "Raccoon Eyes" as seen in the illustration up above of the early idea artwork for the album. It was originally intended as part of a three-piece suite of songs with dark topics: Meathooks, Raccoon Eyes, and The Wrong Skin. Two of those survived and made it to this album! I was so honored to have Christopher Freeman play bass on this (he also played bass on "By My Side") and he took the song to a whole new level. Then, he also helped me mix the song, which was really above and beyond but he got the song sounding so much better than I could have. I'm very proud of this one.
7. Jason - This was one of the first songs finished for the album, and of course I ended up changing it significantly in the final moments. I added that whole cool analog-style bass line that starts the song off, and then started just removing lots of stuff from the beginning and letting it build up slowly. The subject matter concerns a night that happened a very long time ago. Sometimes things just bubble up in your memories when you're songwriting.
8. Glisten - Way back in the Shitting Glitter days, we used to go to the Palms for beer bust and write in our notebooks about all the crazy ideas we had for the band. One of my silly ideas was that we would have an album someday called Happy Fun Dragon Panda Explosion (or something close to that) and it would be a double album. I had the idea for the song Glisten then, and the little chorus bit never really left my brain. This was another one of the earliest songs completed for the album but I added lots of stuff later and Hoagie really helped finish the mix.
9. Infrared - This was the first song from the album I really finished, and performed live over a year ago. It was inspired by the Kansas City Skywalk Collapse Disaster and dedicated to a gay couple, one of whom was severely injured in the disaster while his partner was killed in it. My original plan was to have this be the opening track, and the first single from the album. It didn't completely turn out the way I had envisioned it, although I still love it, I now think it's a great closer for the album.
I'd love to hear what you think about it!!!
The album officially comes out on Friday and I don't think I have ever put this much effort (time, or money) into a project as I have this one. I pulled out all the stops and did everything I could do make this the best thing I've ever done. I hope people respond to it.
After I released my first solo album in 2011, "It's Never The Way You Imagine It," I started working on what would have been "Art Damage" and I remember driving around listening to an early demo version of the album thinking, "some of this is pretty good." Then things changed, I decided to record a whole album with my band, and that ultimately became "Mixed Signals," which we released in 2016 and included a few of the songs that I had written for "Art Damage," as well as a bunch of new songs that I wrote specifically for the Traitors.
Idea for original Art Damage album.
In truth, producing an album with a full live band was a little outside of my skill set, and I didn't work hard enough on it to really make it what I wanted it to be - frankly, I didn't have the time or money needed. So after "Mixed Signals" came out, I went back to the drawing board and wanted to stick with my strengths. At a camp for "gifted" kids that I went to in middle school, I received the "one man band" award, and I do think that one of my strengths is being able to envision and hear all parts of a song, from the words to the beat to every other layer of sound involved. I wanted to take that as far as I could, and really make an edgy, electronic pop album that could serve as my calling card.
I also wanted it to be weird!
My brother, Brandon, had gotten a Novation Circuit and actually ended up with two of them, so he let me use the second one, and I ended up programming the entire album in a rudimentary form on that. From there, I imported all the songs into Logic on my laptop and built them up from there, sometimes adding things over top of the Novation tracks, and other times completely re-recording them, leaving little of the original track. There are only a few spots on the album where you can still hear some of those original tracks.
I worked with so many great, talented artists on this album, and they elevated my songs to a level I've never achieved before. With brilliant photography by Luther Orrick and artwork by Mr. Gabriel Marques, every aspect of this release turned out just the way I wanted it.
Photo by Luther Orrick and artwork by Gabriel Marques.
So without further ado, here is my track-by-track preview of "Art Damage"!
1. End of an Era - as I explained at the launch party last night, this song was actually intended to be called "End of an Error" when I first wrote it, inspired by a bumper sticker celebrating the end of the George W Bush era. For eight years following that, things seemed to be going so well, the world seemed to be moving in the right direction. I had a sense of peace and faith in the future that I had never really known in my adult life. Of course that all came crashing down in 2016 as I was writing this album, so it shifted and became "End of an Era," and it was intended to be the last song on the record. Once Rayssa added her vocals to the song, it took on a new life, and at Christopher Freeman's urging, I decided to open the album with it. It also recalls one of my favorite songs that I used to sing in Sunday School.
2. Meathooks - This was one of the songs on that original demo for Art Damage back in 2011 that did survive and made it to the actual final album. It was a little different back then, but basically the same idea. I realized some of the notes were too high for me, so I brought in Rayssa again to sing on the chorus with me. She is so talented and such a quick learner that we just had her go through the song a couple of times in the studio and she nailed it! I really hope I get to make a music video for this one. Lyrically, it's one of the darkest songs I've written, but the chorus is so epic and poppy!
3. Anyone Can Break Somebody's Heart - I knew I wanted one mainstream dance track on the album and I wanted to feature a female vocalist. I came up with the title at LA Pride a couple of years ago but struggled for awhile to write the rest of the lyrics. Eventually they came to me, and then I had run into my friend Wendy Ho, who is an amazing vocalist and hilarious comedienne. My band Shitting Glitter had gotten to open for her once and I've always admired how hard she works, putting on drag shows, making music videos, and doing her podcast. I first heard of her when she was #1 on Logo's video countdown, so I was so honored that she agreed to work with me on this song, and it couldn't have turned out any better. The remix by Scott Anderson and the video by Jasten King elevated it to a whole new level and I have gotten more compliments on this song than anything I've ever done.
4. By My Side - I took Dylan to Temecula for his birthday weekend a couple of years ago and we got to stay in a tiny house. I'm obsessed with tiny houses! It rained most of the weekend and we were so cozy in there, and I wrote this song about our relationship. One of my favorite songs of all time is "Be Near Me" by ABC so I wanted to write something like that with a simple, sweet title. And, to throw people off the trail, I stuck some a-Ha references in the lyrics! My friend Niki Svara, who is an author and motivator, was kind enough to lend her vocals on the song, and she came up with the little rap verse. Then I was honored to work with Danial Smith and Kendra Taylor Ruczak of Ravensview Films who produced an beautiful music video for the song.
5. Hotel Terminus - This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It had also been bumping around for quite some time, but just finally came together for this album. I started writing this around the same time as "Now I Know What I Want" off the Traitors album. I was walking around Dusseldorf when the idea came to me, but it took years to really finish it. Huge thanks to Jordan von Haslow for singing with me on this song to give it a little something extra, and Little Pioneer did a great job on the mix.
6. Dear Christine - Inspired by the true story of Christine Chubbuck, this song was originally entitled "Raccoon Eyes" as seen in the illustration up above of the early idea artwork for the album. It was originally intended as part of a three-piece suite of songs with dark topics: Meathooks, Raccoon Eyes, and The Wrong Skin. Two of those survived and made it to this album! I was so honored to have Christopher Freeman play bass on this (he also played bass on "By My Side") and he took the song to a whole new level. Then, he also helped me mix the song, which was really above and beyond but he got the song sounding so much better than I could have. I'm very proud of this one.
7. Jason - This was one of the first songs finished for the album, and of course I ended up changing it significantly in the final moments. I added that whole cool analog-style bass line that starts the song off, and then started just removing lots of stuff from the beginning and letting it build up slowly. The subject matter concerns a night that happened a very long time ago. Sometimes things just bubble up in your memories when you're songwriting.
8. Glisten - Way back in the Shitting Glitter days, we used to go to the Palms for beer bust and write in our notebooks about all the crazy ideas we had for the band. One of my silly ideas was that we would have an album someday called Happy Fun Dragon Panda Explosion (or something close to that) and it would be a double album. I had the idea for the song Glisten then, and the little chorus bit never really left my brain. This was another one of the earliest songs completed for the album but I added lots of stuff later and Hoagie really helped finish the mix.
9. Infrared - This was the first song from the album I really finished, and performed live over a year ago. It was inspired by the Kansas City Skywalk Collapse Disaster and dedicated to a gay couple, one of whom was severely injured in the disaster while his partner was killed in it. My original plan was to have this be the opening track, and the first single from the album. It didn't completely turn out the way I had envisioned it, although I still love it, I now think it's a great closer for the album.
I'd love to hear what you think about it!!!
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