There’s a quote from Japanese legend, folk hero and philosopher, Miyamoto Musashi that goes: “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.” He once killed a man with nothing but a boat oar — so you know he was serious.
Allow me to paraphrase — “Develop yourself before you worry about everyone else.”
Easier said than done, Musashi. I don’t know about you — but I’m guilty of not focusing inward enough and getting distracted by what’s going on around me. I heard a prolific songwriter talking along those lines this morning. He claims to get envious, or competitive with what other writers are achieving in the industry. I get it. I do. I’m not near on the same level of songwriter, or accolades, but I feel like sometimes I focus on the outward instead of the inward.
Worrying about what everyone else is doing is NOT what my latest project/experiment is about. It’s about making the music I want to make. Pushing myself to grow as a songwriter, an artist and a performer. Starting a Patreon, and cultivating a community is all about sharing that journey. Artists (myself included) tend to operate in secrecy because we’re afraid to lift the veil. We’re afraid you’ll see the normal guy in a green suit, and not the large, intimidating holographic head that floats before you. Which is kind of counter intuitive as artists, because we tend to operate from a vulnerable space, and yet we don’t like to be too openly-vulnerable about the process of recording/writing music. I’m really excited about opening up the process and letting it motivate me to do more work.
Sunday, May 6th, I headed down to the Seaside, Florida area with my trusty friend/drummer Ike Thurston to begin the aforementioned journey. Tired from the night’s previous gig, we set out, sufficiently caffeinated, to Florida. Alabama sure is beautiful this time of year, and most of the time, in fact. I’ve heard a lot of trash-talk about Alabama in my life time, but from personal experience, I find it soothing and interesting to drive through the Yellowhammer state and its small towns. But I digress.
Monday, May 7th, Ike and I drove to Miramar Beach, to the studio around 10am to meet Jeremy Griffith. Jeremy recorded my previous band, Gin House in 2012. We’ve been trying to link up and work on something since then. The planets finally aligned. His computer was on the mend, so we met at a different local studio than his own. Make no mistake, it was pretty impressive (if you consider a half a million dollar studio impressive). Thanks to Chris for allowing us to use your studio for the day.
We got right to it, and I played through the song. From there, we moved on to some acoustic guitar, and then some vocals. Around two takes a piece. Ike started setting up drums shortly after, and we headed out for a lunch break. I had more raw oysters on this particular trip to match my previous life-long quota altogether. After lunch, we jumped right back in with Ike finishing up his part in 30 mins or less.
The three of us were feeling pretty excited, and so we just kept moving. Jeremy laid down synth, electric guitar, and then hi-strung (Nashville tuning) guitar. Last but not least, Jeremy added bass to the track. Studio time goes by really fast, and by the time 7 or so rolled around, we were done for the day. With just a couple things left to add, our parts were finished. One song down! We had a blast. It seemed to happen so fast, I think both Ike and I were sad to say goodbye to Jeremy. I should have updates on soon on when you’ll hear the first new music!
Excited to have you along for the ride, and for what comes next. You’ll be the first to know when the song will be available. And if you’re a Digital or Super Fan on Patreon, you’ll be able to download it early before it debuts online.
Be well,
Brandon