New Album!!!

I'm officially letting the cat out of the bag.  I'm closing in on Felsen V.  Yup, a new album under the Felsen banner.  This one is gonna be a bit of a departure, especially from the previous three albums.  Those albums were more of the traditional approach to band album making:  write songs (me), rehearse with band, raise funds, take band to studio, crank out 10-12 songs in 2-3 days, slavishly comb through overdubs for a few months(mainly me), mix, master, print and then distribute to fans, friends, family, journalists, bloggers, radio peeps, etc, sell at gigs and on various internet sites...Felsen V (I don't have a title yet) is shaping up somewhat differently, slowly taking form, gathering momentum, sprouting legs and coming to life.   I'm mainly working on this one alone at Felsen’s West Oakland Man Cave/ Hurt Locker, staring at my aging computer monitor.  It's been kinda fun though and I do crave the alone time.  Most of the songs were written in the fall of 2014/winter of 2015 reflecting on earlier events in 2014, which was a really tough time for me, my Murphy's Law phase if-you-will.  Anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, or at least it seemed at the time.  I move at a glacial pace processing life events turning them somehow into songs.  And now I've been tasked with trying to sum up what the album is sounding like.  That's a tough one, but here goes.  On stage at Felsen gigs, often towards the end of the night, after much rocking has ensued, I will ask the crowd if we've earned the right to play something quiet.  Will we lose you?  Nah, they usually say--go for it.  That’s it really, a batch of those type of songs.  I’m hoping that I’ll be courageous enough to stick with that plan.  God only knows, maybe I’ll throw in a few rockers.  Not sure though.  My gut says don’t do it but there is inside me a fear of alienating Felsen’s ever-growing and faithful audience who like the rock.  Forgive me in advance.  The songs better be good at least--I’m on it.

I started a little branch to the left of the Felsen family tree about a year ago, playing with a few new faces and a few old ones, referring to that unit as the Felsen Symphonette.  Lower volume, acoustic-y renderings of Felsen hits.  The Dara is there singing and equipped with her glockenspiel, our new-ish collaborator/co-conspirator  Joann Demars playing her cello.  Girl power!  Often Scarth Locke (AKA Bongo Bob), often in drag,  playing percussion and synth and then really whoever else is available from the rock and roll live band as well.  Recently, we’ve even added trombone into the mix.  I got big plans for this rag tag ensemble.  We’re like the coolest 8th grade band that ever was!  We've been playing lots of house concerts, a few radio shows, backyards...low volume, lo-fi, low tech and I've been really enjoying that.  Why not write an album of that lower volume stuff?  Well that's where the idea began.  Of course, ideas change and morph and this album in particular has been like following a plastic bag floating in the breeze:  it goes where it wants to and I'm trying not to fight it, trying not to mold it too tightly into one easily defined commodity.  However, I will say with certainty, it's much quieter than other Felsen albums.  The tunes kinda sprawl out more and take more time to unfold.  It's music for headphones or late night car drives.  There's way less of the epic hard rockers that we've recorded many of in years past.   Well, have we earned the right to unplug a bit perhaps, take it down a notch or two?  Tone it done, lay on the floor next to you in your house, dim the lights and just listen to this thing from start to finish?  Would you do that for us?  Felsen will bleed its heart out for you and cry you a river while we’re at it.  We’ll also drink all the beer in your fridge and eat the leftover pizza too.  

So...we're gonna be playing a house concert in Alameda (my hometown) on Saturday Oct 10. My friend Tom Heyman is going to be opening up the show (Tom is one of the very best songwriters I've ever worked with). This will be a fundraising event for Felsen to help us pay for this album. Details here. The party is at the home of our dear friend and felsenista numero uno, Laurie Wagner. She is a pro at house concert hosting and her home is truly a magical place to hang out and hear great music. We're honored. Please join us.