It has been a great summer here - at least most of June and July were scorching hot - but it is obvious that things are winding down and the weather here has been a good indication of that.  Some days are still ok but it's getting noticeably cooler and rainy and you can almost feel autumn in the air.  But for me that's a good thing - even though I enjoy the summer, the autumn has always had a special meaning for me, very sentimental and pensive and heavy - kind of like the way I prefer my art to be.  It is also a time that means no more fooling around, get to work and get ready for a long hard winter and that is just what's been going on here over the past couple of weeks.
It was important for me to get a lot of studio work done, especially recording for the next E.P. and I am relieved to say that all the instruments are in the can which means I can take a short break before doing the vocals, mixing etc.  This short break will take the form of a trip to the homeland for a few weeks of visiting friends and family and enjoying a bit of nature hopefully.
But before that I want to finish off this summer with a bit of an event and the CD Release Show will be that occasion.  Yes, it looks like it is finally happening after all the setbacks of the past few months!  Sept. 4 at Heisse Scheiben Record Store in Berlin.  You can check out the shows page for all the info.
I've also tried to get a few other things a bit more up to date which resulted in a spontaneous photo shoot yesterday.  A bit too spontaneous perhaps as not much came of it but one pic seems alright to me so I think I'll add it to the portfolio.
All for now...time to get some rehearsing in for the release show and see this summer out with a bang!

So after a bit of a delay the big day is finally here and the debut release "Shock & Awe" is offical and a free download will be available until the release show on June 26.  Yes, the entire EP will be FREE for a limited time which seems to be the way everyone is going these days so why swim against the current?  And how do I really feel about this free music future?  I have to admit that I have very mixed feelings but I have also decided not to waste too much time and energy worrying about the financial aspects of what I am doing.  I'm having a lot of fun making this stuff and there appear to be some people out there who are digging it so why complicate things?  The last gig was also really fun even though there was only a small crowd.  The sound was fantastic and the staff at Madame Claude were great so what more can you ask for...

Anyway, on to the point.  The EP is done and released and I am quite pleased with how it turned out, at least for a first attempt with this new production strategy.  I chose the title based on the track I thought had the catchiest name, "Shock & Awe" and I will explain what the song is about in the next post.  After that I will write a post about each of the 6 songs every few days to give a bit more background and hopefully make some sense of it all.

Speaking of album titles, I probably could have called this EP "Delayed" not only because the release date was delayed but now the release show date has been re-scheduled for a week later as well!  No big deal, a few unexpected things came up this week and in the end it was decided that June 26 would be better and a live big-screen broadcast of the World Cup will be part of the festivities.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!!!