Politically, I'm all for democracy. Musically, not so much anymore.I've always been enamored of the notion of the band. The romantic allure of being part of an organically formed and road-tested crew of sweaty lads and ladies, living in a van, sleeping, breathing, and eating our music: that's what drew me to rock n' roll. And though I've loved the bands I've played with in NYC (Heroes of the Alamo, The Domestics), for whatever reason, that all-for-one, one-for-all mindset has never quite materialized. Why? Is it my fault?Yes.With every other band I've been in, I've felt like I was silently compromising my vision of what my music could be in order to maintain friendships.With every other band, I was trying to project a marketable image instead of just making music, concentrating on the art. I was so busy focusing on what some shadowy demographic of nimrod hipsters would think was cool that the art had no chance.Well, on this record, I play everything. Initially, the project was to be entirely in-studio improvisation. When I went into Olive Juice Studios to record for the first time in March of '06, it was deliberately without a plan. Maybe--maybe!--I would have a riff, but I would specifically want to force myself to write and arrange the songs while on the clock so that the creativity would be less studied, more instinctual. After a few songs were recorded this way, my wife and I found out we were pregnant. Not knowing when I would next be getting into the studio, I decided to take a crack at older, finished songs that I used to perform with my past bands or that I always wished I'd recorded. I also threw in a cover of a late-period Archers of Loaf song that I've always loved called "Chumming the Ocean." Now it's just a matter of getting the discs printed and the art finalized.Meanwhile, I've found a passionate group of co-conspirators to breathe fire into these songs onstage. TJ came first, then Eric from my days as a Domestic, and then Mr. EC Powell, later replaced by Brian Elmquist.
