December 30, 2011:
Well,
It’s pretty safe to say that we’ve all survived 2011 at this point, so it seems like a good time to do a “year in review/here’s what I’ve got planned for next year” type of update. For me, 2011 was a half productive/half sort-of productive year. Let me start with where things are at this point of the year...you know, the end of it...
SWAMP DRIVE:
This was an up and down year for Swamp Drive. We played a lot of shows at the beginning of the year, and then things kind of slowed down a bit by the middle of summer going into the fall. Right now, the band is still technically “on hiatus,” but I really don’t know when (hate to say it, IF) things will get back up and running. Dave and I had started re-doing the “Rebelution” songs, and we have a few of them up at our Reverbnation profile, and I think I’ll put a new one up this weekend. We still have a lot of songs to finish up, and it’s just a matter of getting the time to finish them up. At this point though, I’m not sure when that will happen. I hope to have some news to pass along in this department soon...
MIKE/RICH PROJECT:
In this department, the songwriting process is coming along nicely still, and we’re all happy with where things are heading in this department. There is still no set timeline for anything yet, so we’re literally letting things happen at their own pace. I’m having a blast with these songs from a lyrical focus, as I’m trying to have them all be thematically/conceptually linked, and it’s going into some really interesting places. I can’t wait to see where this project ends up!
TRAIN OF THOUGHT...YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT...
It is official...Fred, Mike F. and myself are reuniting! We have decided though, that we’re not going to use the name Train Of Thought. We had discussions about this at a rehearsal we did a few weeks ago, and decided that we wanted to come into this with somewhat of a clean slate, so to speak...plus, there are a few other bands that already use that name. We will be making our new name known sometime this weekend or early next week. We are using our old setlists as a starting point, and we’re already planning on what other covers we are going to try out, as well as getting some original songs into the mix. We had several originals in various stages of development when we disbanded a few years ago, and I’ve been going through them seeing what was still sounding good, and what could be re-tooled. Hopefully, by the time we have our first (comeback) gig, we’ll have a few of them already in the new show.
SOLO STUFF:
I completed a solo project this summer, and the songs can be heard on my Reverbnation profile. 10 acoustic based songs, and I have to say I’m happy with most of them. I was listening to them yesterday, and most of them still sounded good to me. One, I’m not sure of, but I guess they all can’t be killer... ;) I have another album-type project that has been in the works for a few years now, and I have decided that finishing up those songs will be my New Year’s Resolution, or at least one of them! For whatever reason, this group of songs has been sitting on a back burner for a while now. Every time I’ve tried to finish them up, another album project has sprung out of the workings. In fact, my last 2 albums have sprung out of me working on these songs! It’s time to get this albatross off my neck! IF I can get this one done in a reasonable amount of time, I already know what my next project is going to be....
I have returned to making regular appearances at the open mic night at Little Hoolies in the last year, and it has gotten me thinking about trying to set up some solo acoustic shows again. Between doing the acoustic album this year, and playing opcn mics again, I have remembered how much fun it is to do those kind of shows. I’m going to try to see if I can get a few shows like that going this year, probably in the summer when I have less on my plate. Not going to guarantee anything, but I’m at least going to try...
COMPOSITION STUFF:
This year was all about getting the “Cityscapes” project filmed and completed, and I can safely say that it’s mostly finished. I have to make a couple short video-type things for a couple of them, and then I’ll have them up for viewing here and some other places as well. I also got a couple of pieces for the “day job” band as usual, and had one of them premiered, and the other one had to come off the show at the last minute when one of my drummers LOST HIS ONLY COPY OF THE MUSIC ON THE DAY OF THE SHOW AND DIDN’T TELL ME HE LOST IT TILL WE WERE ONSTAGE...his ashes were spread out over the Atlantic... ;) I’m already starting work on songs for this year’s band, and I have a couple other ideas swirling around my head, and I will be getting them down on paper sooner rather than later.
OTHER STUFF:
Other than a couple things with Deb Desilets via email, there really wasn’t a lot going on in that department. She has been busy with her “day job” as well, so that didn’t help. Hopefully we’ll be working on some new music this year. My best friend Tom and I have talked about doing another Conspiracy Inc. project, but other than a few talks about a concept and a couple pre-pre-pre production demos, we haven’t made a lot of progress at this point. He has had some health issues, so that is kind of on hold at this point. I’ll be talking to him this weekend, so maybe I’ll have a better idea of what will be happening with that project soon.
LOOKING FORWARD:
While I did get a lot accomplished this year, looking back, I didn’t get as much as I would have liked. I need to be more focused on what I want to do, and do my best to make sure that I make time not only for all the real world things I have to take care of (family, work, etc.), but my creative work as well. I have a lot that I want to accomplish this year, and I’m going to do my hardest to make sure that 2012 is an even better year musically for me than 2011...
Seeing that this is probably my last post before the new year, I hope
THAT IS ALL...TB
Well,
It’s pretty safe to say that we’ve all survived 2011 at this point, so it seems like a good time to do a “year in review/here’s what I’ve got planned for next year” type of update. For me, 2011 was a half productive/half sort-of productive year. Let me start with where things are at this point of the year...you know, the end of it...
SWAMP DRIVE:
This was an up and down year for Swamp Drive. We played a lot of shows at the beginning of the year, and then things kind of slowed down a bit by the middle of summer going into the fall. Right now, the band is still technically “on hiatus,” but I really don’t know when (hate to say it, IF) things will get back up and running. Dave and I had started re-doing the “Rebelution” songs, and we have a few of them up at our Reverbnation profile, and I think I’ll put a new one up this weekend. We still have a lot of songs to finish up, and it’s just a matter of getting the time to finish them up. At this point though, I’m not sure when that will happen. I hope to have some news to pass along in this department soon...
MIKE/RICH PROJECT:
In this department, the songwriting process is coming along nicely still, and we’re all happy with where things are heading in this department. There is still no set timeline for anything yet, so we’re literally letting things happen at their own pace. I’m having a blast with these songs from a lyrical focus, as I’m trying to have them all be thematically/conceptually linked, and it’s going into some really interesting places. I can’t wait to see where this project ends up!
TRAIN OF THOUGHT...YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT...
It is official...Fred, Mike F. and myself are reuniting! We have decided though, that we’re not going to use the name Train Of Thought. We had discussions about this at a rehearsal we did a few weeks ago, and decided that we wanted to come into this with somewhat of a clean slate, so to speak...plus, there are a few other bands that already use that name. We will be making our new name known sometime this weekend or early next week. We are using our old setlists as a starting point, and we’re already planning on what other covers we are going to try out, as well as getting some original songs into the mix. We had several originals in various stages of development when we disbanded a few years ago, and I’ve been going through them seeing what was still sounding good, and what could be re-tooled. Hopefully, by the time we have our first (comeback) gig, we’ll have a few of them already in the new show.
SOLO STUFF:
I completed a solo project this summer, and the songs can be heard on my Reverbnation profile. 10 acoustic based songs, and I have to say I’m happy with most of them. I was listening to them yesterday, and most of them still sounded good to me. One, I’m not sure of, but I guess they all can’t be killer... ;) I have another album-type project that has been in the works for a few years now, and I have decided that finishing up those songs will be my New Year’s Resolution, or at least one of them! For whatever reason, this group of songs has been sitting on a back burner for a while now. Every time I’ve tried to finish them up, another album project has sprung out of the workings. In fact, my last 2 albums have sprung out of me working on these songs! It’s time to get this albatross off my neck! IF I can get this one done in a reasonable amount of time, I already know what my next project is going to be....
I have returned to making regular appearances at the open mic night at Little Hoolies in the last year, and it has gotten me thinking about trying to set up some solo acoustic shows again. Between doing the acoustic album this year, and playing opcn mics again, I have remembered how much fun it is to do those kind of shows. I’m going to try to see if I can get a few shows like that going this year, probably in the summer when I have less on my plate. Not going to guarantee anything, but I’m at least going to try...
COMPOSITION STUFF:
This year was all about getting the “Cityscapes” project filmed and completed, and I can safely say that it’s mostly finished. I have to make a couple short video-type things for a couple of them, and then I’ll have them up for viewing here and some other places as well. I also got a couple of pieces for the “day job” band as usual, and had one of them premiered, and the other one had to come off the show at the last minute when one of my drummers LOST HIS ONLY COPY OF THE MUSIC ON THE DAY OF THE SHOW AND DIDN’T TELL ME HE LOST IT TILL WE WERE ONSTAGE...his ashes were spread out over the Atlantic... ;) I’m already starting work on songs for this year’s band, and I have a couple other ideas swirling around my head, and I will be getting them down on paper sooner rather than later.
OTHER STUFF:
Other than a couple things with Deb Desilets via email, there really wasn’t a lot going on in that department. She has been busy with her “day job” as well, so that didn’t help. Hopefully we’ll be working on some new music this year. My best friend Tom and I have talked about doing another Conspiracy Inc. project, but other than a few talks about a concept and a couple pre-pre-pre production demos, we haven’t made a lot of progress at this point. He has had some health issues, so that is kind of on hold at this point. I’ll be talking to him this weekend, so maybe I’ll have a better idea of what will be happening with that project soon.
LOOKING FORWARD:
While I did get a lot accomplished this year, looking back, I didn’t get as much as I would have liked. I need to be more focused on what I want to do, and do my best to make sure that I make time not only for all the real world things I have to take care of (family, work, etc.), but my creative work as well. I have a lot that I want to accomplish this year, and I’m going to do my hardest to make sure that 2012 is an even better year musically for me than 2011...
Seeing that this is probably my last post before the new year, I hope
THAT IS ALL...TB