It’s been a busy year. I’ve been involved in a few new musical projects, as well as still playing with The VeLMAs. Here’s what’s new.
First off, I’m playing in a new band called Above The Flood. ATF is a 4-piece hard rock band that’s me (lead guitar/vocals), Matt Shufelt (lead vox/guitar) and Rick Little (drums) from Split 2nd Alibi, as well as Steve Rajter (bass) from Hygeer. I’ve always enjoyed S2A; Matt’s got a killer voice and I’m psyched to be singing harmonies with him in this band. We’re currently working on a bunch of really great originals as well as some fun covers to fill out the live shows. We played our first show this past Saturday and we’re booking more for the winter and spring now. We’re working on getting a website up, but for now, our Facebook page is the place to go for info.
I’m also pretty psyched about this little collaboration project I’m involved with here. Trebor Lloyd, from City Canyons Records, asked me a while back if I’d be interested in contributing some guitar tracks to a song called “Crowded Desert” written by Annie Husick for a project called “The Painted Caravan”. Peter Ulrich (from Dead Can Dance) will be providing the percussion tracks from “across the pond,” as they say. There are some really cool Indian instruments being added to this – Carnatic Indian violin, Carnatic cello and an oboe/Indian flute combo. We like to think George Harrison would have dug this. I really don’t know exactly where this will wind up when it’s all said and done, but I do know that it will be awesome based on what I’ve heard so far! It’s really exciting to hear the song come together as various musicians from around the world are adding pieces to it.
Of course, I’m also still working on releasing Blue Skies Black, my latest solo album. It’s actually been completely mixed since early July(!), but little things like having a baby and starting a new band will cause delays. I’m currently finding a mastering house to give it the final polish it needs for the release and working with the super-talented Vince DePorter (he did the amazing artwork for The VeLMAs album “Station”) on the album artwork. I’m also trying to plan a music video to promote the lead single, the title track “Blue Skies Black”.
Stay tuned!
