After over a year of recording and rehearsing, writing and ranting, working and waiting, in February of 2009 I released my first-ever solo album, “The Exited Door.” I’m really happy with how it came together – if you’ve enjoyed my blog or liked reading about the album, please pick up a copy! It was an entirely homemade, self-funded project (look ma, no financial backers or label!), so your support really matters and is very appreciated. It’s available on iTunes and CDBaby.
Blog Series on the Album’s Creation:
I had a really good time writing a 7-part blog series about the creation of the album, and have organized the posts below:
- Part one covered the album’s initial conception; this is the “why” behind the disc.
- Part two discussed the initial writing process; this was probably the most exciting time in the album’s creation, when it felt like anything was possible.
- Part three detailed writing the lyrics and creating the initial demos of the record. This was also a fun part of the process, and was a really exciting time (April/May of 2008).
- Part four got all technical and stuff about the recording process; getting the rhythm section, strings, and horns recorded was a big logistical challenge that was fun to tackle.
- Part five went into detail about the final recording sessions – woodwinds, vocals, guitars, percussion – and the initial organization and mixing of the record.
- Part six covers the mixing and mastering process; in other words, how we wrangled the audio from raw to finished.
- Part seven discussed the album artwork and design, and the process of organizing the wonderful artists who contributed original artwork to the project.
This pretty much sums it up, if you're pressed for time. (Click to enlarge.)
Live Performance:
I’ve begun to do live shows around San Francisco in support of the record – it’s been a total blast bringing the music to life onstage. I’ve been lucky enough to put together an absolutely slamming live band – here’s what we do, and how we do it:
Ways to Buy the Record:
1) The best way is to order the disc online from CDBaby. I love CDBaby, and they love me – the disc is a steal at $11.95, and the physical item is the way to go, not only because it includes all the lyrics, but because it contains all of the wonderful artwork that accompanies the record.
2) Download it from iTunes. The easiest way to go. Though you won’t get a copy of the artwork if you do this, you can download it for free as a PDF from my website.
3) Download it from DigStation. Another good way to go – I get 100% of the income, and you get a downloadable PDF of all of the album art and lyrics, so it’s really the next-best thing to buying a CD.
Contributing Musicians/Artists:
A lot of amazing musicians played on The Exited Door. Below, I’ve posted links to their various websites and projects.
Lindsay Garfield sings with the alt-folk group Or, The Whale – they are great, see them live!
Dan Apczynski writes for Acoustic Guitar Magazine and is the lead singer of The Cut Loose.
Dan Nervo leads The Cut Loose along with Dan A. – they rule.
Kenji Shinagawa played mandolin, and is an amazing guitarist who lives in NYC.
Brian Fox is a writer for Bass Player Magazine and also plays bass with The Estate. His amazing ex-band Pseudopod just might do some shows soon, too!
Scott Foster teaches with me at Urban and plays all over the Bay Area.
Brian Switzer plays trumpet with Native Elements, among other groups.
Alex Kelly is an amazing cellist, and has done some pretty rad things things. He plays all over the place.
Joel Behrman played trombone; he is an amazing trumpet player, as well.
Daniel Fabricant played upright bass; his group The Nice Guy Trio is really good stuff.
Khamara Pettus is a fabulous actor and performs regularly around the SF Bay Area.
Fil Lorenz contributed wonderful Bari sax playing, and leads two groups – his Soul-Tet and his larger Jazz Orchestra.
Samantha Fisher did the album design and layout, and is truly amazing.
Michael Romanowski mastered the record, and I can’t recommend his services enough. He works at Coast Recorders, and is one of the heads of the audiophile record label The Tape Project.
