January is always such a wild time of year. It's great to reflect on what has passed and start gearing up for what the new year will bring. A few particular areas have been blossoming over these last few months. Death by Overkill (DBO) has set forth on tracking a full-length album called, "Come At Me, Bro." That project has been refreshing and helped anchor me this past year. It's been about a year since I put The Adarna's live show on hold. (It'll come back, I'm sure but other things need focusing on right now.) DBO is such a great calibration with such down-to-earth and funny people that it is a constant reminder that music is supposed to be fuuuuun! Not just work, work, work 🙂
Which has taken us down an interesting sonic road. My bandmate, Jake, built an amazing drum studio at his house which has allowed us to capture some amazing drum tones. That's the great divider with recording. Almost anything you can do digitally or with a direct-in but when you get into the big bucks of sound-treated rooms, great mics, DI's, amps, compressors, and a cacophony of gear talk....you can hear a noticeable difference! The balancing of modern recording methods has changed the shape of playing music live and recording even in my time. It's always really wild to get to mix the two. I've been doing more producing and recording lately and it was a great learning experience to come back to the roots of playing through great gear.
Nowadays nobody wants to lug around heavy amps, pedal boards, and drum sets so finding lighter options has been a significant part of this past few years. Enough gear talk though!
Well, maybe a little more... I've been taking on more sound gigs for the Highsteppers (my wife's band) and Concerts Under the Stars. Lots of fun styles that it's been great to get to work with. Really broadens one's palate!
Tinsel Town Mafia had a little debut performance over the winter break. It was glorious indeedy I must say! Here's some footage from the performance. Energies there, just need to get everybody to get their homework down. Looking forward to that ramping up! Which has also added to the number of instruments I've decided to partake in for that group. What originally set out as just a project I would sing in has led to something I'll be on synth & guitar for. It'll be a fun challenge, I haven't done that before, and will let me put those new piano skills to work!
I've got plenty of goals for 2024 and there's an endless amount of skills to learn so I'm stoked about what's on the horizon and I'll be sharing again soon 🙂
