Kickstarter

Dear Friends,

It's been a while since I updated, no?  SO--after what seemed like a long, hard process to figure out how to get the packaging produced, including realizing that I wanted to spend neither the time nor the non-existent money to get everything I could possibly dream up--all the audio and art files got submitted, reviewed, approved, and produced...

voila! 995 copies of What Is This by John Whoever & Who Are They arrived here two days ago.  Tomorrow night we perform at our village's somewhat famous club, The Turning Point, to celebrate its release.  Within a week or so, the music will also be up and for sale on CDBaby.com (I recommend this site), johnwhoever.bandcamp.com, Amazon, iTunes etc.  But you will all have the disc (along with any bonus rewards) coming to you in the mail if not hand-delivered.  Either through the Kickstarter survey or by direct email to me at johnwhoever56@gmail.com, please make sure I have the address to send you your autographed copy.  

This project has been absolutely amazing.  At times, I felt like it took every ounce of strength I could muster.  It's left me drained, but at the same time so excited I can hardly sleep.  I believe I can say I have given it my best.

I very much hope it is true, as Kickstarter promises, that for you the greatest reward for your participation will be the satisfaction of helping to make this music happen.  I myself feel--I'm surprised how much--a strong sense that you, each and all, helped me to do what I could not have done alone.  Along with my mates Ray, John, and Brett,  guest musicians Erik, Marianne, Erika, and Chip, Scott at the console, my dozens of spiritual friends in church and in recovery, and yes, God, you made this happen.  I hope you like What Is This.  Peace, love, thanks, blessings.

SO: ready or not, we are moving on.  Another mobile recording session is done, which included more guest solos by Erik Lawrence on sax and flute.  Meanwhile blues guitarist Chip Larison (who played with us at the festival on Labor Day) mailed in his guest solo for the song Pig Man. I added some tracks too.

I think the main things still missing are a guitar solo for one track, and a few vocal retakes--yes, yes, only so much can be expected of this humble larynx--and then it's time to mix.  Next week.

Working on ideas for packaging.  If you'd like to see one visit my facebook music page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Whoever/283191661712466.  

I've been taking long walks and listening to the music with earbuds, and feel hopeful that there is really something here to offer pleasure.  Pressing on to wrap this project up!

...while you are busy making other plans."  Dear friends, you are probably aware that the area I live in was heavily impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  The resulting power outages, etc. derailed the recording session planned for November 2nd.  In light of the losses and hardship suffered by others in the region, this does not qualify as a "problem" at all, and I am sure you will agree.

What it does mean for this project is that the timing for everything is pushed back.  If the CD arrives in January, I hope it will brighten your midwinter days.  Thank you for your patience.

I was pretty busy even before Sandy arrived, so I need to get back to work at my day job now!  Just wanted to touch base with you, and I hope to add another update soon!

We spent another long day in the studio on September 24, and this morning we received the first rough mixes from Scott.  As usual, I needed two hearings just to get over the feeling most of us have hearing our voice on tape ("I sound like THAT?"), from there to comfort ("Not half bad"), to the early stages of pleasure ("Hey, that part rocks") and some feelings of excitement about the next stages, overdubbing harmony vocals, synths and keys, etc.  And recording guest soloists.

It may interest you to know that we took a different tack with songs 7-12.  On the first five I used an acoustic guitar for the basic rhythm parts.  John Dyer added additonal parts on electric guitar (and in the final versions I add even more electric or acoustic).  But the acoustic parts are prominent.  On numbers 7-12 I played my initial part on electric guitar, JD on electric also. Partly, some of the songs really demanded it, but the main reason was just to mix up the overall sound some more.  It led to a couple unusual approaches, like playing the Latin-flavored song "Apple in My Pocket" on electric with a rather jazzy, soft-toned pickup setting, something I'd never done with that song before.  The other new avenue that opened up was the idea of overdubbing guitar parts from JD on a classical, nylon-stringed guitar.  Putting the acoustic on top of the electric is more or less opposite the usual approach.   But I'm really excited about how well it works.  That particular style of guitar brings out JD's best playing, and I'm really glad this approach we took let that happen.

Song number 6 was recorded here at Piermont Reformed Church, just me on guitars and percussion, and  two great guest musicians on cello and oboe.  Now I need to decide whether to add one more, number 13 (I don't believe in luck, actually, good or bad), which would be another quiet little surprise.

Briefly: since the last update, two milestones.  First, I spent last Wednesday in the studio "mixing" the first six songs with our engineer, Scott.  While I am not 100% sure that they are now in the absolute final version, they certainly are sounding good, and over the weekend I burned about twenty discs for sale at upcoming gigs--and yes, they do represent the level of rewards for the first level of backers....doesn't seem entirely fair, but this "smallest" reward will have the positive aspect of being the first to be delivered.  

All the work we did to prepare these songs for recording, also made them the backbone of our set at a music festival here in Piermont this afternoon!  I can't be certain how many were present as we opened the festival--folks were trickling in all along--but it was a pretty big crowd, and the performance went very well, by all accounts.  So we were heard for the first time by many people, and for others it was the first time to hear my songs with a full band.  A photo of us is viewable in the online photo gallery of our local newspaper at www.lohud.com (not sure what kind of pay-walls are in place).  I will look to see if it appears in print in the Journal News tomorrow.

Anyway, we seized this opportunity to play with a great sound system, on a cool stage, for a big crowd.  Now that it is out of the way, our rehearsal time in the coming weeks will be intensely focused on preparing 5 or 6 more songs to do the basic recording for at the month's end.  Then after our engineer returns from his honeymoon (Yay, Scott and Jessie!!!) we'll go through the steps to refine and polish them.  The goal will be to send in the recordings and accompanying artwork to be "mastered", pressed, reproduced and be finished by early December at the latest.  Stay tuned!