Shows, Thoughts & Things

So it's the leap day. Hmmmmmmm. Going to keep this short, then blog more later. Things are moving around around here. Various happening, etc.

Lots of shows in California & in Austin, TX for South By Southwest Music Craziness (SXSW). Read all about it: http://www.thehereafterishere.com/shows.

The Family Records re-released the song "Shimmering Shining" (from American in Love) as part of their singles club. Look here! .79 cents is not as many cents as iTunes charges.

Teddy Tedholm (a great dancer, choreographer and artist) and an incredibly talented group of other dancers and artists created a dance for the song "The Ballad of Wallace Green & His Dog" (from this album). Watch it here. Or here:

Wow. How beautiful is that? So there you have it. More to come, more to come.

Over A Year Video

Directed by Dustin Young.

Autumnal Tour of The Union (aka "New England")

Autumn 2011 Tour of The Union with Jack Wilson

Backyards Physical Manifestations...

COMING SOON.

Two FREE Tracks from "Backyards" available now!

Since Tuesday, June 14th, "The American West" & "Over A Year" from the new album have been available for FREE on the website = http://www.thehereafterishere.com. Please go get them and tell others to go get them and share! I hope you like what you hear.

For the record, we started with Apple Lossless files for sound quality, but some people have had trouble with them and they're big, so we just switched to mp3s. Much smaller and easier for everyone. But just so you know: an mp3 is a compressed format and, really, it just doesn't sound as good. It's sad that has become the accepted standard for fidelity in the digital age, but it's mellow. It also means more people can hear music in many different places and situations and that's cool.

So turn 'em up loud and boost the low end to give it that vinyl vibe. Those two songs are available until next Tuesday, when they will be replaced with the next two tracks. This will continue for six weeks until the whole album has been "released," two tracks at a time, in a non-sequential, Tarantino-esque, serial kind of way.

The Making of "Backyards"

"BACKYARDS" (NEW ALBUM): TUESDAY, JUNE 14th!!!

I. HELLO

II. LAST SEPTEMBER TO NOW (& download a cover song)

III. NEW ALBUM! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

IV. "BACKYARDS" STARTS COMING OUT TUESDAY, JUNE 14th

V. FINALLY

I. HELLO

Hello?! Are you still there? I hope so. I hope you're well and healthy and not watching too much You Tube. I find that when I'm watching a lot of You Tube I might not be feeling all that well or healthy. I call it a You Tube Hole: someone links me to something and four hours later I'm dehydrated and watching "5 Best John Elway Touchdown Passes."

It's been awhile since I weblogged. It's a delicate balance: how often to weblog. There's so much weblogging happening. I want to be choosy, but I also don't want to be so choosy that I disappear. I've been told by more than a few people that a strong "internet presence" is important. Really, though, I wonder how important?

II. LAST SEPTEMBER TO NOW (& download a cover song)

So here I am, present once more on the internet. A lot has happened since we last met. I tweeted about some of it. Also sent some Facebook messages. Didn't blast any Hereafter Herald e-mails, though.

I'll tell you what happened below. If you want to know how it felt, I just recorded a cover of the song "Clay Pigeons" by the late, great Blaze Foley (with the current, mighty Ian Parks) and you can download it here for the next seven days.

PAST:

September. Band tour of the Pacific Northwest. Had really great shows and a really great time travelling with Mike, Mike and Colin (The Hereafter). Jack Wilson played these shows with us and he was great too. Seattle and The Applegate (outside Ashland, OR) were particularly memorable. I felt a little bad when I insinuated that everyone in Portland was a socialist at the Doug Fir. Then I felt okay about it because I think maybe pretty much everyone in Portland IS a socialist and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

October - November. Solo shows out east. Boston, New York, Portland (Maine... fewer socialists, not necessarily a good thing) and various in betweens.

Thanksgiving: WON the Open Mic Shootout at Eddie's Attic in Atlanta, GA. This is a tournament style songwriting competition -- all the "winners" from 6 months of Open Mics compete in a bracket. There were a slew of fabulous prizes, but the best part was the inspiration gathered from so many incredible artists in one night. Thanks Eddie, that was a good one. Incidentally, Eddie's Attic is where superstar teen sensation John Mayer got his start.

December. Honored to play the part of Hades (a part originally performed by Greg Brown) in Anais Mitchell's Hadestown. Shows in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara & San Francisco for the "California Sings Hadestown" tour with Thao Nugeon, Sean Hayes and a ridiculous assortment of the nicest and most talented musicians I've ever worked with. There is a You Tube video here (but BE CAREFUL to not fall into a You Tube Hole and WATCH OUT because I might be doing a little bit of "acting").

January. You Tube, mostly.

February. Went down to Austin then to Memphis in a school bus named Zippy with 12 others for the International Folk Festival. Played lots of songs.

March. Back to Austin (thanks to Zippy) for songwriting and singing, South by Southwest shows, a canoe trip and various fun times. Also, Ms. Pac Man at the Annie Street Arts Collective. They had a real arcade machine there and I played it a lot. I held the house record for several weeks and then PJ's friend came back from Thailand and crushed it in a day.

April. To New York City to record demos with Raina Rose and Anthony da Costa for Family Records, an awesome indie label based in Brooklyn. This was for a pending collaborative trio EP release (or two) and more. No details yet.

May. Now. Just played at The Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles for the first time, that was fun. Also did a recording session with the mighty Ian Parks in Frogtown (Blaze Foley's "Clay Pigeons") and more. Ian and I are going to keep working here and there on a bunch of folkly acoustic songs and see what we end up with after awhile. I'd like to get a new album of my songs out of it and a collection of cover songs. We'll see.

III. NEW ALBUM! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Some tweets:

Curtyyyyy

@thehereafter when is "Backyards" going to be released. It seems like its been forever!

jadeharrysheen

@thehereafter When is your new album out?

jameshoyles

@thehereafter how is backyards going? Uk tour please, please????

And Matt on Facebook (a popular social networking website) asks: "Can't wait for the new album. Any news on when it's going to be released?"

Also, much love and thanks to Allison who came up to me after a show in Los Angeles and told me she really wanted to hear it. And thank you Tweeters and Facebookers and people at shows and elsewhere who have been asking about it (increasingly so in recent months).

Short and long = the album is done. It's mixed. It is not yet mastered nor is it replicated onto thousands of compact discs. Why? In short: money.

In long: I am an independent (ie: unsigned) artist. I've managed to release six albums a certain way (the independent way) and that's been wonderful, but I've been sitting on this one because I want to try something different. I've spent a lot of time (and a lot of money) releasing albums the other way.

Last year, a wonderful, supportive, trusting group of people donated money to fund the making of this album via PayPal. They are all members of the Socialist Record Collective I call Garland Lane (ie: my label). Their money paid for recording the album (studio time, equipment and musicians) and part of the mixing (by the great Aaron Glas and John Holmes). Making an album is expensive and their faith and generosity got the project that far. I can't thank them enough for that. I really can't.

For Garland Lane to "release" this record the old fashioned way there is still much to do (and much more money to spend). It's gotta be mastered, then the artwork needs to happen, then it needs to be replicated, then there's publicity and radio promo and all that. That's how I've done it before and I'm proud of the results artistically: six albums since 2004 that I still love and want everyone to hear. I am simultaneously disappointed by the results financially. I think a lot of people who have been doing "business" in the "music business" in the last few years can sympathize.

IV. "BACKYARDS" STARTS COMING OUT TUESDAY, JUNE 14th

I don't want to wait anymore. I want to release this album now and I want to release it my way. Here's how it's going to work:

Starting on Tuesday, June 14th (and every Tuesday thereafter for 11 weeks) a new track is going to be available for download on the website: http://www.thehereafterishere.com. I'm giving the album to you, digitally, one song at a time. This will happen for 11 weeks in June, July and August. Each track will only be available for a week -- then it's on to the next one. At the end of the 11 weeks, the free-for-all is over and the whole thing will be available on iTunes for purchase (and you'll already have it on your digital device if you've been keeping up).

Dickens used to do this with his novels in the 19th century (except each piece of the book would arrive on a ship and people would rush to Boston Harbor to buy a copy). Stephen King released "The Green Mile" in 1996 in segments too. I remember getting each new one the day it came out and reading the whole thing. Then I'd have to wait a month to continue the story. It was FUN.

The album as a cohesive work of art, as a story that is told song-by-song, has been sadly muddled in the age of iTunes. The current renaissance of vinyl is kind of bringing it back, but only to a very specific audience (those who listen to records). It's an iPod jungle out there and that's how it's gonna be. I think this is a new and interesting way to put out an album in that environment. It's also somehow a perfect way to tell this particular story of "Backyards" -- it just feels right.

That's the plan. Pre-warning: I will be very present on the internet this summer. There will be plenty of tweets and Facebook messages about this as it goes on so you may want to follow me and/or friend me and "like" me. Will you like me? I'd like that (one person "likes" that). I'll send e-mails too, but not too many.

So mark your calendar: Tuesday, June 14th. The story of "Backyards," one song at a time, all summer long. I'm excited to finally get to tell it in a way that is exciting to me and I hope you're excited to hear it.

V. FINALLY

Finally, thanks for sticking with me and this music. There are a lot of new people here since the last one, but there are also some who have been hearing from me about my music since 2005 (and a select few since the waning days of the pre-9/11 world). I appreciate and am grateful for the opportunity to make music and have it heard. I'll keep making it as long as I have something to sing about and I hope you keep wanting to hear it.

Sincerely, John

It's a Brand New Year

And so it is. The days are getting longer and lighter again. Hope you made it through December and the holiday times to the other side okay and safe and well.

So here we are: 2011.

What I know is that I'll be releasing a lot of new music this year. The what, when & how is still being sorted out. I can't wait to get it all out and about.

In the meantime, please watch this video. I had nothing to do with it other than the song ("The Score" from "American in Love"). The choreography is by Erica Michelle Sobol and the soloist is Teddy Tedholm and I think it's completely beautiful.

The State of Jefferson. The Applegate, OR - 9.22

September 22. The Applegate. Applegate, OR. Wednesday.

On the drive to the Applegate, Jack and I were talking about the idea of “making it” as a musician. I revealed that when I was 8 years old I wanted to be just like Bon Jovi. I admitted that, while I am currently “making it,” I am not much like Bon Jovi.

Then we drove over a beautiful green bridge into the Applegate River Lodge. We were shown to our rooms (which had enough beds for all of us and a few friends), set up our gear, and were good to go by 1:00pm. A little while later, we were all sitting on the balcony looking at the river and I thought: maybe we are like Bon Jovi.

At least, it felt that way.

Richard built the lodge awhile back. There is a magnetic electricity to the place. Some call it a vortex. Good vibes. Positive energy. Whatever you want to call it, an apple pie appeared on the porch in the afternoon and, after midnight, 20 people ate it (with ice cream).

Southern Oregon. Northern California. Richard says they were going to leave the Union awhile back and become the State of Jefferson. What a nation that would be.

But the flags and the borders and the senates… it’s all kind of silly, really. The citizens of the State of Jefferson don’t need all that. Or the signed certificate from whoever is president of the USA to tell them they are free to go. They’re fine just as they are. It’s a state of mind anyway.

So I thank them for welcoming a group of five foreigners from Los Angeles & Seattle (via Austin) to their river valley and making us feel at home. I, for one, am at home in the State of Jefferson. Have been since I first came here over 4 years ago. I hope to have a place somewhere here on the soon side so I can call it home for real.

It was a beautiful way to kick off the tour. Thanks Michelle for inviting me here in the first place. Thanks Richard, Duke (holy shit on the sax), Joanna, and Melissa for having us. Thanks Mikey for the horn and the truth. And thanks to Nickels for being Nickels. He was the first guy to welcome me home here.

7 shows in 7 days. Oregon and Washington. One wonderful day and night down. Cottage Grove is next. Here’s what we played last night:

TAKE IT EASY (YEAH YEAH YEAH)

LINCOLN & DOUGLAS DEBATES

DOWN IN MEXICO

GIVE ME WHAT I WANT

THE AMERICAN WEST

EVERYONE LOOKS DIFFERENT

TOO MANY GHOSTS

CASSIUS CLAY

WALLACE GREEN

EULOGY

FEET TO THE FIRE

SHE SHOOTS TO KILL

"Patriot Day"

Paste Magazine!

A break from the recording-related weblogging to thank Amber Rubarth and Alex Wong (aka The Paper Raincoat) for putting "The Score" on their PASTE MAGAZINE MIXTAPE. It is available as a free download all this week at pastemagazine.come.

Their album is really beautiful and you should really listen to it HERE or HERE. That is a picture of them over there.

As for the mixing... it continues. Still stuff to do. Soon, though. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the creation of this album. Your donations have paid for incredible musicians from Seattle to Austin to Los Angeles & TWO amazing mixing engineers (that's 4 ears): John Holmes & Aaron Glas.

MASTERING is the final stage of the record-making process. Once the album is mastered, we can stream it on the world wide web and e-mail it anywhere in seconds. This is because of the magic of the internet. We need to raise an additional $1,700.00. This would allow us to use John Vestman, who mastered "The Hereafter" (2006) and made it sound beautiful. He is also a beautiful person with a small business in Southern California who let me sleep on his couch while he did the last one.

So: if you haven't donated yet, please consider helping us finish this album. We're going to make the goal to raise $1,700 in August. So: $1,700 by August 31st at midnight! All the donation information is right here. Fabulous prizes await you, along with the knowledge that you are supporting independent music and becoming a member of the socialist collective record label, Garland Lane. :)

More mixing in Hot-Lanta

Enter John Holmes: Mixing Engineer and more at Good Wood Studios in Atlanta, GA. John = relief pitcher, highly recommended by Rebecca Loebe, insatiable appetite for caffeine, awesome car, sharp ears, good listener and patient.

I liked him immediately and I liked him even more after I heard what he did to the 7 songs I gave him. After one more round of notes, he is going to take us over the mixing finish line.

I can't wait to share this album with you. Looks like it'll be good to go for an October release, but no promises.

Still Mixing...

I remember thinking while we were tracking this album: when is it going to get hard?

It has become hard. The mixes are tough. There's a lot going on in some of the songs and I don't want to clear anything else out to make room. Aaron did a great job of focusing things and bringing out moments and pieces that were lost. He's going to send his most recent passes from Switzerland or Japan or wherever he is touring with Flogging Molly.

I just had a couple days of down time in Austin to listen through and make some adjustments. I'm calling these the "almost final" mixes, but after hearing them in Glen I don't think that's right. I have a long drive today for another focused listen.

And so it goes. There is no deadline. We're going to take our time and get it right. It's still fun, but this is the work part.

Finishing Tracking; Middle of Mixing

It has been awhile since I weblogged. I've been so busy recording and mixing and recording some more and transferring files and mixing some more and getting ready for a summer of touring that I haven't found the time.

Progress continues daily and the album is sounding beautiful. I love it more every day (especially now that I have figured out how to include a snippet of Kevin Costner in "Open Range" and feel good about it). Please consider helping us make this album a reality.

Here are three videos. I'll let them fill you in on a little bit of what's been going on. Hoping to finish the mixes by the end of next week or so (no deadlines).

Happy spring into summer!

MIKE MAGIC ON "I THINK I FOUND A NEW FRIEND":

BECKY LAYING DOWN SOME SERIOUS HORN:

MIXING:

The Great Nation of Texas

I'm sitting in Amy Sue's backyard in San Marcos, winding down from a whirlwind trip to Austin. I came to try to get some the beauty that breathes down here recorded on this album. This is a magical place. Things work out. People look you in the eye. You're likely to find yourself drinking whiskey before noon without thinking much of it until you happen to look at a clock.

My friends here are family and they have cared for me and supported me in too many ways to mention since I slept on my first couch in February 2007. On this trip alone: Dan and Robert shared their mic stands, PJ shared his home and chicken, Manny and Ann shared their car, Elizabeth and Leann shared their food and guest house, Tyler and Jen shared their healing powers, Silas shared his food and home, Amy Sue shared her whiskey and compound, and a bunch of dogs shared their dog love.

And the MUSIC. I set up my laptop and MBox and microphones in PJ's front room and a parade of musicians and friends came by for three days and lent their time and talent to this album for some booze and because it's good to play music. David Moss played cello on "Losing Streak," "The American West," "Empty in the Heartland" & "So This Is When It Comes." Trevor Smith played banjo on "Good Times," "I Think I Found a New Friend" and "Empty in the Heartland." Jason Weems, Jack Wilson & Bill Davis sang on "Cassius Clay" and Grace Rowland sang on "I Think I Found a New Friend" and "Empty in the Heartland." When I wasn't too lost in it (like when Jack and Jason were singing), I remembered to take videos and some of them are below.

Now it's back to Los Angeles to finish up and begin mixing with Aaron Glas. Thank you, Texas. You are beautiful.

THE SET-UP:

DAVID MOSS:

TREVOR SMITH:

BILL DAVIS:

GRACE ROWLAND:

AMY SUE'S BACKYARD:

Andy Day

Andy Featherston came over at 10:30 am on Sunday and we worked about 2 hours. Spices, flavorings and beautiful sounds. Instruments played: singing bowl, finger cymbals, bells, school bell, spring drum, triangle, tin drum, budha box, waterphone, toy trumpet, toy accordian, shells, vibraslap & ca xi xi. Very fun, very good.

Heading to Austin on Wednesday to record DeeMo (cello), Trevor (banjo) & Cory Branan, Grace Rowland and Bill Davis singing. Plus probably a bunch of other stuff that just happens down there. Can't wait!

WATERPHONE:

TOY TRUMPET:

SPRING DRUM:

JINGLE BELLS:

RACHET:

SCHOOL BELL:

FINGER CYMBALS:

Woodwinds

Just had a great two hours with Ryan Zwahlen and Jennifer Stevenson recording woodwinds! I was too wrapped up in it to remember to record much video or take pictures, but I have one of Ryan playing the oboe below. Tracked oboe, flute, english horn, clarinet and bass clarinet on a bunch of stuff. I love sitting down at the piano and writing music for "classical" musicians. Thanks to Rebecca Wyffels and the Wayzata High School AP Music Theory program for that skill. Minnesota public schools.

Bass Wrap Up & More Guitar

Everyone was at the studio Tuesday night. Another Barone's pizza. They really are the best. It's worth dining in because you could be anywhere in the world. Really, you're at Oxnard and Woodman in the San Fernando Valley.

Colin finished the bass, tracking "Radio Lite" and doing a couple more passes at "I Think I Found a New Friend." We got Mike set up and were gain cursed by a terrible buzz in the amp. This has been a recurring problem, probably just a "grounding issue" (which seems to be the cause for every buzz and impossible to fix). We tried going direct out of his pedal board and it sounded... BEAUTIFUL. We were doing the pretty parts and they sounded clear and clean and wonderful. The buzz is cool on the loud songs.

On and on and on.

COLBONE IN THE GROOVE:

Mr. Wendal's Guitar

By the time I got to the studio (with a delicious pizza from Barone's) it was almost 8pm on Thursday and Mike had already set up and tracked some huge guitars on "Over a Year." We ate, then knocked out guitar takes for "Cassius Clay," "Losing Streak," "The American West," "So This Is When It Comes" & "Daylight Saving." It's going to be hard to choose from so many beautiful things. Mike is so good and efficient and easy in the studio. Why is this album so fun and joyous to make?

The next morning I did some harmony vocals for "Out in the Branches" and a scratch to "Radio Lite" at my house. This is the beginning of a slow and mellow transition from Cubase (which we're using to track at the studio) to Pro Tools (which we're going to mix in and I love).

Another electric guitar session with Mike coming up next Tuesday. Also getting the many ducks in a row for various overdubs of beautiful instruments: cello, french horn, bassoon, viola, flute, english horn, oboe, harp, violin, tin whistle, saxophone...

OVER A YEAR:

THE AMERICAN WEST:

THE SET-UP: