the tally

it's been a busy year. hell, it's been a busy several years. since i recorded "Yourself, Anew...", it's been a fairly unending variety of acts, and it's been a lot of fun, too. some were supposed to be one-offs that quickly grew into something bigger; some still roll, if occasionally. here's a quick list of some of the bands i've played in with the instrument(s) i played in each:

Amber Spyglass - bass
Axemunkee/ Cathy Capozzi - bass
The Gloria Forward - bass
Larry Banilow - keyboards
World's Greatest Sinners - keyboards
[munk] - synths/ loops
FUNF - signal processing, glockenspeil(!), organ, percussion
Gato Malo - signal processing, keyboards, percussion
Voodoo Screw Machine/ Beatles Tribute - keyboards, guitar(!)

now, if you're a session guy like my friend tony savarino, this list may not be particularly impressive but for the array of instruments i've contributed with (i still can't believe i attempted to play rhythm guitar alongside of stony curtis in VSM!). but i consider myself first and foremost a recording artist/ songwriter. while doing all of these shows with my friends, as fun and exciting as it is, it gets very difficult to immerse myself in composition and recording. sure you can do stuff here and there, but it's not quite the same. there's just not time.

not to mention the mental drain of learning all these new songs, keeping them in your head, perfecting the parts, etc. (Gato Malo and FUNF exempted from this, as both are improvisational ensembles requiring little-to-no forethought and preparation) when i'm not practicing or rehearsing or performing, one does need to have actual downtime to recharge.

and writing is not recharging. one needs to soak in things and allow them to gestate and develop. one needs to cajole, wrestle, manipulate and seduce the muse into giving you something new and interesting. one needs to take what the muse gives you and try to shape it into something new and interesting if what you got isn't that already. it's quite a bit of work even before tape starts rolling (as it were, being that we're in the digital age here), and then i'm compelled to make sure that the sounds and arrangements i'm creating aren't just like everything else out there. i won't allow myself to just kinda auto-pilot it through to the end and make a record that doesn't interest me. i just can't.

and so my means of working requires me to cut myself off of other projects for awhile. to immerse myself in the beauty of sound and music. to spend the time away from the studio thinking about the songs i'm writing, not the songs i'm performing this week with that band.

anyway, that's why it's been three years since i've last finished an album, not counting a few long-form unreleased ambient pieces and one-off songs. not that i expect anyone is counting the days and waiting expectantly for the next onlyone album. perhaps there are some that look forward to it, but mostly it's just something i have to do for me.

growing up, i never really went to many shows. my discovery of music was through records, and albums are the art form i most fell in love with. i would sit and listen for hours, trying to figure out how everything was put together. "what is that sound? how do you make that sound?!" reverse-engineering everything at age 11. rigging up multiple tape recorders through a DJ mixer in order to overdub at age 14. learning to program a synthesizer and doing recording experiments on a 4-track at age 17. once i heard "Sgt. Pepper" when i was 16, that was it. i wanted to be the beatles.

but not the relentlessly touring beatles that would bang out a record in a day and then hit the road again. i wanted to be the beatles that disappeared from sight for months on end to work mysteriously on something -- what are they doing in there? the beatles that, upon coming out of the studio, had a record to deliver that sounded so fucking different from everything else out there that your first reaction was stupification. the beatles that made "Revolver." "Sgt. Pepper." freakin' masterpieces of sound and songwriting. virtually unperformable blends of rock music, western classical music, world music and musique concrete.

that stuff is not easy. but it's what i want to do.

all that said, i'm taking a brief break from my studio hibernation, as Larry Banilow was invited by The Steamy Bohemians to take part in their Jerkus Circus christmas spectacular. that's taking place on thursday, december 7th, at the lizard lounge, cambridge, ma. expect much bizarreness and fun out of that night. for serious.

and then it's back to the studio for me.