2020 Amid the COVID-19 SIP

During the Shelter in Place, I decided to start making music again with the intent to finish each idea instead of having a bunch of recorded riffs just laying around. ‘Pick a Line’ is the first song to be completed and can be streamed here.

Renaissance

Keeping something going can be quite the task, especially if that something didn’t go as planned. 15 years ago, ideas were in place and optimism was alive. The band I was in split up. I was continuing to write music and play coffee shop gigs and open mic nights. Basically, whatever I could find to get some exposure. I made a low quality album and EP in my bedroom and I thought it was time to make something decent. I asked some good friends of mine if they would contribute to the project. Matt Kadi was my first choice for drums as he and I always seemed to click when it came to music. I chose Dorsey Thompson on bass because of his maneuvers along the fretboard were amazeballs (Yes, it is a word. Go ahead, look it up). It was recorded and mixed in a couple days at Pus Cavern Studios in Sacramento, CA, with another day laid out for mastering. Also on the EP were Kristin on violin and Paul on trumpet. The EP was produced and released. I played shows to promote it from Sacramento to SF in mainly coffee shops. There were a few venues and one competition that we played in. After about a year, I started to lose interest, mainly because I was focusing on promoting myself and looking for venues to play at more than doing what I enjoyed most, writing and performing.

I stopped playing shows for the most part and continued to write and record ideas, some with more production quality than others. Then, family came, responsibilities came. Shortly after in 2011, some friends asked me to join their group, Build us Airplanes. Matt Kadi, Dorsey Thompson, and Richard Russell. The trifecta. To this day, we are on again, off again. These guys are great musicians and even better human beings. With them, we recorded an album and promoted it, going to Southern California and playing locally.

Anyway, although I’ve been away from the scene for awhile, I’m still pushing out ideas, recording them, building upon them while breaking up sibling battles in the process. I don’t know if this will turn out to be a revival or ‘renaissance’ of some sort, but I hope I have fun making some hot tunes.