When my first album Resurrection Of Black was released, it became the perfect album of awareness. I wrote it in the style of music I grew up with....classic rock with a progressive edge. It was interesting to see how the prog rock community embraced this album even though the music was more short form songs as opposed to long epics common in progressive rock, but I'm good with that. Happy that it was accepted and it has been doing well, especially in Europe.
I like to experiment with various musical genres and when it was time to create my 2nd album 11:11, I wanted to approach it from a more acoustic based style. As it evolved, the songs for 11:11 were a retrospective of someone's life journey, looking back on the highs and lows that are common with most people. The album was categorized as more of a folk rock/singer songwriter album, which didn't fair well with the prog rock community. That's ok. One of the rules of being a musician/artist is not to stray too far from your genre as you don't want to alienate your audience. So, the folk rock community was open to embracing 11:11 but my prog rock fans felt a little dissed. I get it. The change from the first to the second album was a bit extreme, though song-wise, I did keep to my core style.
And now we come to album #3.....E.R. (Emotional Release). This is an album that has been on the back of my mind for at least three years...maybe longer. I'm the type of person that holds in hurt and anger and frustration. You can add stress and all the other "good" things that go with it. Anyway, pent up emotion like this takes both a mental and physical toll and it was always hard to release it or let it out. There were times I wanted to but the timing wasn't right. I know many of you can relate. I started writing down ideas for songs since music is such a great universal communication tool, especially on an emotional level.
Honestly, I don't really want to go back and revisit these dark places but I look at it as therapeutic. Needless to say, this album will be more intense than the previous two albums. I'm actually looking forward to get the aggression out. I think this album will be a real ass-kicker! Hopefully in the process someone will listen to it and it will be therapeutic to them as well...maybe you.
The album artwork is by Mark Hall, a disabled digital manipulation artist. I went to a gallery showing in LA while back which featured works by disabled artists. Mark Hall's piece immediately grabbed me...I had to have it so I bought it. It is such a perfect piece to represent E.R.
Final thoughts...as I am still writing songs for this album, your input on topics and things you'd love to hear about are welcome. Feel free to share your comments below. If something you offer grabs me and I use that idea for a song, I'll give you song credit and of course, give you a free album when it is released. This is going to be one hell of a project, but I'm so looking forward to it!