Finally getting around to this first entry for 2011.  Things have been busy trying to get a good start and keep things rolling.  "The Chameleon" is getting some podplay, first on Electrical Language and just this past weekend on Radio Orphans.  Thanks to the podcasters for that!

Got a bit sidetracked with Union Of Resonance stuff after getting some inspiration from nature? from within? Who knows, but a couple of new instrumental pieces are nearly finished and will be showing up there soon.

And I have been busy with other new music too and created some sketches of songs that have been added to the mass of raw material I will work with this year.  Once a few of them are done I will start thinking about releases, organizing principles, E.P. or L.P.?...

I am going to do another "Story Behind The Song" series for The Chameleon.  First entry coming later this week!

All for now!

Well, yet another year has basically come and gone and it has been an interesting one here.  The second E.P. was released last week which was a great way to end a busy year and although it has been very productive, it was a pretty bumpy one too...

Looking back it is difficult not to focus on some of the negative; delayed first release, several re-schedulings of the release show, a major hard drive crash (luckily the data was saved but at a pretty steep price) and quite a few other small problems that were really only nuisances but still put a damper on things at times.  But it's a much better idea to focus on the positive and I think there was enough of that to overshadow the negative...

First and foremost, this thing came to life and two E.P.s were released - kind of like an album in two installments.  And I actually got out and performed live at least a few times.  There is also enough new material in production for at least two more E.P.s or one album, I'll decide that later.  And of course, I have fallen into a fairly regular hosting spot on Pluto Radio that will continue on in 2011.  So all in all it has been a pretty productive year considering that I managed to start a new side project Union Of Resonance during all of this.

But now it's time for a short break over the holidays to catch my breath, regroup a bit and get ready for next year.  There'll be more music, hopefully more live shows and maybe a few other surprises as well.

Happy Holidays and all the best in 2011!

Despite some setbacks the next E.P. will be released in 2010 after all.  The six song E.P. entitled "The Chameleon" comes out on Dec.16, 2010 and will be available as a free download until the end of the year.  Think of it as a little holiday gift from Paul E. Phonics.

Compared to "Shock & Awe" I took my time a bit more with this one which has hopefully resulted in improved sound quality and tighter arrangements.  I am still very happy with the first E.P. but I have to admit that some aspects of it were a bit rushed and I can imagine doing a remix and maybe a bit of re-working of it some time in the future.  But that's what this is all about, these pieces are organic and can change, as indicated by the live versions which have been quite a bit different than the recordings.  It will probably be a goal in 2011 to get some of these live versions recorded as "alternate versions" to be given away to anyone who is interested.  We'll see how things go...

But back to the point.  The next E.P. has a similar dynamic as the first in that it starts out with the "heaviest" song, i.e. the title track "The Chameleon", and then mixes things up a bit to finish off with a very fragile little piano ballad.  There is even a bit of an experiment with spoken word instead of singing on one track.  Basically I can say that if you enjoyed the first E.P. then you will definitely like this one.

Considering that the release date is really just around the corner I am not going to start with any "preview tracks" but you can check out the cover art below to get a taste of what to expect...

Been a bit down the past week considering that studio work and some other things came to grinding halt while I tried to get over a pretty nasty stomach flu.  Hopefully this won't have any effect on the next E.P. being released this year but some crucial time was lost and the mixing is behind schedule.  Some other things I have going have lost a bit of momentum as well - generally a frustrating time but trying hard to be optimistic.

One thing that helped cheer me up a bit was an email from a fan who has made a video for "Where Earth & Sky Unite".  Micky Tose (a.k.a. Pondworld on Youtube) and some of her friends got together and put a lot of effort into this one.  Check it out, comment, like, and support a budding film maker!  Thanks Micky!

Finally getting things rolling again after a long break.  The trip to Canada was great, catching up with family and friends and a nice getaway to a cabin in the north of the province for some real solitude and beautiful sunrises over misty lakes and rivers.  Definitely puts things in perspective after getting far too caught up in the stress and bustle of city life for far too long.

But I am also glad to be back in crazy old Berlin, kind of this love/hate thing I have going on with this city, always wanting to get away from it and then aching to get back after a few weeks.  After ten years I still can't clearly explain what the draw of this place is, it is simply some kind of energy and mood that appeals to an important part of me.

So for now it's great to be back and I have already started to get things moving again here.  Managed to find someone who took some pics at the release show, thanks Bettina! 

And here they are...

And now for the final entry in the "story behind the song" series, this time of course the final track "Where Earth & Sky Unite".

The inspiration for this one came from a frustrating experience I had on New Year's Eve last year that left me driving like mad through Brandenburg at dusk looking for a gas station to pick up some last minute supplies before everything closed for the holidays - not an easy thing to do.  I was literally in the middle of nowhere with no GPS or other way of orienting myself or getting some directions and not a soul was around.  I passed through tiny village after tiny village, all like ghost towns.  The sunlight was fading fast and at the point just before complete darkness I looked out over a field and managed to find some solace in a beautiful scene of flat land silhouetted against an icy blue sky and that crisp point that created the horizon instantly registered in my mind as the place "where earth & sky unite".

This idea kept running through my mind for weeks into the new year and I considered writing something about the actual experience that had inspired it but somehow I didn't want to dwell on the idea of driving around lost.  Instead I let the idea take its own direction and eventually found myself thinking about the beauty of nature in general and some of the most important places in nature that I have been lucky enough to see and that instilled a bit of hope in me at critical moments.  But while I was thinking about these places it occured to me that some of them don't even exist anymore - one example being the forest near my childhood home where I spent endless hours playing and exploring.  It is now gone and a subdivision has taken its place.  Sad.  And not the only place where this is happening.

I started to wonder where it would all end, how long it would be before almost all of nature was either destroyed or manipulated to the point of no return, whether the only thing left would be the memories I have of those places.  It also made me realize that I am not sure how much longer I am willing to live in a big city.  The lure of nature and calm and quiet is getting stronger for me, a fairly normal thing I guess for a small town boy who grew up next to a real forest and wetlands.

The only question is, when I am ready to get out of here, will there be anywhere left to go?