Kickstarter

Hello and welcome to my Kickstarter page!

So what’s this deal about the first original music from Joe Hart in ten years??

About ten years ago, after years of hoping, my wife got pregnant. And, of course, we were overjoyed. Then a couple of months later, we found out that she would be having twins. And we were doubly overjoyed.

At the time, I was in a couple of bands -- you know playing out here and there -- and I had just started working on my ninth album of original material. Then one morning, my wife told me that something just didn’t feel right. She called her obstetrician and he told her that she should go into the hospital and get checked, just in case. She had just had a checkup and everything was fine, so we weren’t that concerned.

But, it turned out that she was in pre-term labor and was admitted into the hospital. They did everything they could to stop the labor, but after a few days, our son and daughter were born -- three and a half months early.

They were born at what is called the “cusp of viability” -- in other words, any earlier and they would not survive. At 24 weeks gestation, they at least had some, however small, chance of survival. At birth, they were only 11 inches long and about a pound and a half in weight each. They were immediately taken to the Infant Intensive Care Unit and hooked up to all kind of machines -- breathing tubes, IV lines -- all kinds of scary stuff.  It was pretty horrible.

And three days later, it got worse.

They told us that our daughter had severe bleeding in her brain and would not survive. The hospital allowed us to hold her for the first and last time, that afternoon. I sat there helplessly as our daughter, our first-born child, died in my wife’s arms.

As terrible as that was, we had no time to grieve because our son needed us. We spent that summer, three and a half months, visiting him in the hospital every chance we got -- holding him, feeding him, and learning how to care for what they called a “micro preemie” baby. He still has some issues, but I’m thrilled to say that today he is a happy, healthy young man, but during those first few years he needed a lot of time and attention from us.

So, ten years have gone by. We had another daughter -- incident free, I’m happy to say -- and during that time, I stayed active in music. I continued to play guitar and bass with a few different local bands. I’ve played around the country (one highlight was playing in L.A. and hanging out on the Hollywood Strip like a real rock star!). I’ve also had the good fortune to play with people like Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions), Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Joe Stump, Graham Bonnet (Rainbow), Tony Franklin (The Firm), Chris Poland (Megadeth), Johnny Hiland, Warren DiMartini (Ratt), and Michael Angelo Batio. It’s been a great ten years!! But I’ve missed “doing my own thing”!

So, now’s the time!!

The songs that I’ve written are very catchy and hook-laden and the lyrics are (for me) surprisingly emotional. I’m using Rainbow’s “Down to Earth” album as a kind of guide for the music -- it’s catchy and “radio friendly” while still retaining a raw rock element to it. And, of course, lots of killer guitar work in the vein of Michael Schenker, Jimmy Page, and Ritchie Blackmore. I’m using a guitar I built myself that gives me exactly what I need out of a guitar, a homemade amp that has killer tone, and even some pedals that I built to give me all the sounds I hear in my head. I believe this album will be amazing in so many ways! Let’s just say that I’ve learned a whole lot during the past ten years!!!

Here’s a good example of my playing style (the video quality isn’t great, but the performance is pretty indicative of my playing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60MdVYHCVi0. And if you’re interested, you can click on the link above the video to see more clips.

What are the songs shaping up to sound like? There are a couple of 3-4 minute straight ahead rockers (bordering on “pop” rock); a heavy, brooding tune; a long, guitar-indulgent up-tempo song (a la the live “Rock Bottom” version off of “Strangers in the Night” by MSG); a slow, burning blues (think “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin); even a song that’s pretty much a straight up jazz number! It’s quite a diverse collection, but they all go together and contribute to the sound of the album as a whole. I’m quite proud of the songs so far.

I’m big into the concept album type thing -- not a “rock opera” or anything, just creating an album where the songs have some reason that they belong together. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the songs that I have written, for my first project since we started our family, all deal with loss, on some level.

There’s part of a Kurt Vonnegut quote that goes something like, “The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way to make life more bearable.”

I know times are tough, but if you can, you’d be helping to create, what I think, is some pretty cool music that will resonate deeply with many people. I mean, who hasn’t suffered loss in their lives? And at the very least, you know that this album will truly be a labor of love.

Blackie Lawless from the band W.A.S.P. said that “the music business isn’t for those that want to do music; it’s for those that have to do music.” I have to make this album and I’m asking you to please help me.

Although I will be pouring my heart and soul one hundred percent into this album, the reality of it is the larger the budget, the better the finished product will be. So, please help in any way you can and be assured that your contribution will help me create the best album I can make!

Be sure to check out the cool rewards!! There are lots of “special edition” type things exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign, so get on board!!

And if you help me raise over $2,000.00, then I’m throwing a HUGE CD release party!! Everyone who donated $40.00 or more will get two free tickets to a PRIVATE CD release party (date, time, and place to be determined after we break $2K). And if we raise that much, I will be so appreciative that I guarantee the party will be AWESOME! So please feel free to tell your friends about my Kickstarter endeavor.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!!