New Release by Stereo Creeps: Big Wet Hard Body Party Yeah!

Three years in the making, and this epic party album is finally public!

Just before we went into quarantine, the pandemic was heating up but it wasn’t clear if it was contained or going to spread. Preproduction on the album was done, and we had studio dates booked at Earwig Studio. Sad Trombone! Everything was canceled, and the album was put on ice.

As things opened up again, years later, we knew we had to go in and record the tracks asap. We started rehearsing furiously, and then of course some amazing things happened. You can’t stop the creativity. Robert had a crazy idea about adding horns. Sean discovered some ghost infested old tape recordings he had inherited, which we had to include somewhere. And then we had to add strings to back up those ghosts. And then we had an epic rehearsal sitting around a korg where we wrote all the keyboard parts in one session in a frenzy of manic collaboration. The breadth of places we were to travel had vastly expanded.

Finally, Earwig made special arrangements for us to get in. We all tested negative and wore masks, but the background pandemic context didn’t phase us. We created an epic party album anyway. What better way to release all that pent up energy after years of anticipation. You can find it as of today on bandcamp, and soon it will be released everwhere. We also have some very special limited edition merch just for this album. Come and say hi at our next show!

New Stereo Creeps just dropped – “Goat Sounds”

My band Stereo Creeps just dropped another track as part of a split video release with Suitcase. These were both recorded by Don Farwell at Earwig, and the double video was done by Lance Hofstad at Don’s house.

Part 1 is Goat Sounds: a medley of Dumb Prayer (composed by myself), Faded (featuring yours truly on theremin), and closing with the psych-punk Talking to Brian. Yeah, we were going through a Brian Wilson phase.

Part 2 is Brothers of the Deep, by Suitcase. This is probably the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard from these song writing geniuses.

The video is now live over at Second & Montana. Check it out!

Trading cards

This is weird, but Sean Moe from Stereo Creeps put together a deck of trading cards including myself plus the rest of the band, plus all the bands and friends in our scene. I never expected to be a trading card. They were very careful to get a really bad photo of me where I’m scowling, just to kind of make the situation perfect. The cards come with gum. And a download code for a compilation of music from all the bands. And then all 150 of them sold out in a week. So, I guess I’m just documenting this here because the whole situation is unexpected and surreal and I needed to share.

You can go and download the compilation without the deck. It’s actually a really good set of music, and the song order was carefully curated like a mixtape, so enjoyable to play all the way through.

Check it out!

Upcoming 2019 album releases

Lots of good things are afoot this year, including two album releases already!

First, we got my rock band Love and Fury. This project started as a glimmer of an idea in mind of Gary King (of House of Leisure). Gretta Harley collaborated with him, writing some powerful protest lyrics and singing them just as powerfully. At that point, I got on board to record drum tracks, not knowing where this would go. Just psychedelic ideas from Gary mixed with Gretta’s inspiring lyrical concepts, but not knowing where the experiment would take us. Fast forward, and we’re a full blown band with the addition of Jane Mabry-Smith on bass with an incredible feel, Bob Watanabe on guitar as the soundmeister, and Rob Knop on keys creating some insane soundscapes. We’ve been playing shows, and are pretty stoked for growing momentum for the album release February 23, 2019 at Royal Room. I’m not sure how I found myself playing with these powerhouse musicians, so it’s kind of a big honor to be doing this. It’s a good album. Kind of psychedelic.

Next up is the Stereo Creeps record release and mega-show on April 12th, 2019 at the Substation. I’ve been in this band a little over a year, but I think I learned all the songs in about a month–which is probably some kind of record. Everything feels natural in this band. It’s metal, it’s rock, influences are across a multidimensional spectrum of styles and decades. We have discussions about what to simplify, about the feel, about the lyrics–it’s this group effort about the music. We all have the same influences and ideas about what makes good music. Robert Dollison is a riff and a tone master on guitar. Sean Moe belts out the vocals, but almost in a vulnerable way. Mark Wardell is the secret weapon on bass. This album has a dark side and a high energy side. People are calling it our Pet Sounds, probably the best compliment ever. You should come and check out this show featuring everybody in the scene. The perfect kind of show for releasing some new vinyl.