Oh my. It has been a very long time since I've posted anything to this blog. OK here goes...
Felsen's long-overdue 5th album is finally recorded, mixed and mastered. It's been two years of many obstacles, many false starts and many blind excursions down musical dead ends, but I feel like I got out alive and emerged with something beautiful to share. I had a strong desire to depart from previous Felsen albums; easier said than done.
One big difference is Allen Clapp's mix of this album. A few years ago, I was reading a 1971 review of George Harrison's then new album, All This Must Pass and the reviewer described it as "music for mountain tops". I loved that. And I love that album. I was also greatly under the musical narcosis of Beck's twin albums Sea Change and Morning Phase as well as Songs for a Blue Guitar by Red House Painters. I wanted something bigger, more expansive--music for mountaintops. Allen has a special understanding of reverb and this album needed tons. Of course he got what I wanted to achieve--he and his studio reside on a mountain.
If you gotta mix an album, it might as well be here, in the Santa Cruz mountains, sitting on a bench made out of felled wood, and drinking a beer at 11am.
One big difference is Allen Clapp's mix of this album. A few years ago, I was reading a 1971 review of George Harrison's then new album, All This Must Pass and the reviewer described it as "music for mountain tops". I loved that. And I love that album. I was also greatly under the musical narcosis of Beck's twin albums Sea Change and Morning Phase as well as Songs for a Blue Guitar by Red House Painters. I wanted something bigger, more expansive--music for mountaintops. Allen has a special understanding of reverb and this album needed tons. Of course he got what I wanted to achieve--he and his studio reside on a mountain.
If you gotta mix an album, it might as well be here, in the Santa Cruz mountains, sitting on a bench made out of felled wood, and drinking a beer at 11am.
The tunes too are different, tempos slower, less of the amped-up rockers of Felsen past. I'm often singing in a lower register of my voice. The tunes are often quieter. My 10 year old son said they're more meaningful (whatever that may mean to a 10 year old), I'll go with that. Felsen's last album, I Don't Know How to Talk Anymore is all about feeling displaced by technology while trying to remain human. This album is about direct (and indirect) communication, desire, loss, cutting through the BS, wanting to be with you and wanting to sing right into your ear. I think you'll like it. I think you'll get it. The album's called Blood Orange Moon. Hey, some good news: We'll be releasing this one on Allen's Mystery Lawn Music record label. Pretty cool, huh?
So here it is...you're first look at our new album cover. This was from my all time fav Felsen photo shoot. We spent an afternoon at the home of gal pal numero uno, KC Rosenberg's lovely home in Alameda and shot the front and back album covers as well as a bunch of band PR shots. Photos by Stephanie Williamson.
Day One was all about the last minute transpo issues. Scrambling to figure out what to do and as usual, Felsen is operating on pretty much zero budget. Why have rental prices on vans more than doubled since the last time felsen rented one 3 years ago? we're touring commando this time around. 4 Dudes, 1 SUV. Minimal gear and borrowing what we need from the other most helpful bands were performing with. (Thank you fellow rockers.) This is contrary to a band's usual power move: arriving at venue in cool big van, unloading shit ton of gear with band's name "Decryptitude" stenciled in impossible to read Gothic font on recently purchased from from Guitar Center road cases. "Wow they must be great with all that gear. Stenciled names? That's next level." Felsen's power move: arrive with nothing and proceed to throw down mightily. Def our most MacGyver-esque, Stealthy Ninja Commando raid of a tour. Our other huge power move...our sexy bass player Bryan Dean is less than 2 months out from a very successful cancer surgery. Bryan's come back tour? The Bryan Dean kicks cancer's sweet ass Tour of 2017? You'd never know based on how he played. Such a pleasure to rock with him.
The Dip in Redding was a fun one. The Band sounded great. Really beginning to inhabit some of the new tunes: Telepathic Kind, Private Airline in the Sky, White Denim Jeans.... It was just us fellas last night as we'll meet up later today with the Dara in Medford for the remainder of the shows. We opened for Foxtails Brigade--very interesting band. Def check them out. Small crowd of peeps hanging out for our opening set and then a wall of people arrived JUST IN TIME for their set--such is the fate of the opening band. We def one over a few (Felsen wins fans one at a time). The good people at the venue were kind and supportive and invited us back whenever we're passing through. We had fun. Now getting some extra rest at the RodeRage Inn of Redding. 4 dudes, one room. "Free breakfast" sounds great on the website when you book the room...but in reality, it's usually fairly grim. Styrofoam coffee cups and those weird cereal dispensers, make your own waffle set up, folding chairs, florescent lighting, TV on the wall perpetually turned onto FOX news. Motel life. Next stop Medford. Temp 102 degrees.
So here it is...you're first look at our new album cover. This was from my all time fav Felsen photo shoot. We spent an afternoon at the home of gal pal numero uno, KC Rosenberg's lovely home in Alameda and shot the front and back album covers as well as a bunch of band PR shots. Photos by Stephanie Williamson.
Felsen is in a fun phase now of learning how to play the new material and road testing it. We booked a little tour for the last weekend of July. This was the first time on the road, so-to-speak in quite some time. We had a lot of fun, drank some good coffee, ate really well, played great, jelled as a band and made some new fans. How bout a little recap cobbled together from my Facebook status updates...
Day One was all about the last minute transpo issues. Scrambling to figure out what to do and as usual, Felsen is operating on pretty much zero budget. Why have rental prices on vans more than doubled since the last time felsen rented one 3 years ago? we're touring commando this time around. 4 Dudes, 1 SUV. Minimal gear and borrowing what we need from the other most helpful bands were performing with. (Thank you fellow rockers.) This is contrary to a band's usual power move: arriving at venue in cool big van, unloading shit ton of gear with band's name "Decryptitude" stenciled in impossible to read Gothic font on recently purchased from from Guitar Center road cases. "Wow they must be great with all that gear. Stenciled names? That's next level." Felsen's power move: arrive with nothing and proceed to throw down mightily. Def our most MacGyver-esque, Stealthy Ninja Commando raid of a tour. Our other huge power move...our sexy bass player Bryan Dean is less than 2 months out from a very successful cancer surgery. Bryan's come back tour? The Bryan Dean kicks cancer's sweet ass Tour of 2017? You'd never know based on how he played. Such a pleasure to rock with him.
The Dip in Redding was a fun one. The Band sounded great. Really beginning to inhabit some of the new tunes: Telepathic Kind, Private Airline in the Sky, White Denim Jeans.... It was just us fellas last night as we'll meet up later today with the Dara in Medford for the remainder of the shows. We opened for Foxtails Brigade--very interesting band. Def check them out. Small crowd of peeps hanging out for our opening set and then a wall of people arrived JUST IN TIME for their set--such is the fate of the opening band. We def one over a few (Felsen wins fans one at a time). The good people at the venue were kind and supportive and invited us back whenever we're passing through. We had fun. Now getting some extra rest at the RodeRage Inn of Redding. 4 dudes, one room. "Free breakfast" sounds great on the website when you book the room...but in reality, it's usually fairly grim. Styrofoam coffee cups and those weird cereal dispensers, make your own waffle set up, folding chairs, florescent lighting, TV on the wall perpetually turned onto FOX news. Motel life. Next stop Medford. Temp 102 degrees.
We went to check in at the motel in Medford and the nice lady at the counter asked to see all of our IDs. The look on her face was priceless...I assured her all of our criminal records were clean-ish. Who's the most shady? I vote for Dara. She looks straight outta Breaking Bad, cooking meth in a trailer in the desert kinda shady IMHO.
Day 2. Felsen's Tetris game is bullet proof. 5 musicians, 1 telecaster-black w/ virgin of Guadalupe sticker (what? I'm a recovering Catholic), 1 mexican Fender Squire Stratocaster, 1 big black Johnson acoustic guitar, 1 schecter PJ5 bass, 1 Fender blues Jr amp (thanks Scarth), 1 small bass amp (thanks Eran), 1 1967 fender pro reverb amp, 1 Ludwig snare, 1 cymbal bag, 1 glockenspiel (thank god she left her MFing didgeridoo at home), CDs, ladies t shirts, 5 backpacks, 1 ladies fanny pak (seriously WTF?) 1 sleeping bag "the cloth missile", assorted cheetos, coffee cups all in 1 mid-sized SUV (nothing mid size here...this shit's small.) Rolling down the highway to 2 shows today in Portland. Savoring memories from last nights crazy fun show at Johnny B's in Medford. So damn fun. TV Heads were amazing. LA friends.. Please, please check them out. They very kindly let us use their drums and bass rig. Bless them. And Johnny & April who ran the club were so damn cool and nice and just true believers in rock and roll. Bands: highly recommend you try and book a gig there. Now listening to Zappa, Bill Withers, the Beatles, Ram Jam and Hocus Pocus by Focus and rollin down the 5 towards Portland... Ready to break some hearts.
Day 3 Portland & Vancouver, WA. 1st stop, an in-store performance at Portland's very hip record shop, Music Millennium.
Portland's smartest people love Felsen.
They like our band here...so much that they made us this lovely window display. Love this city, BTW. You ever been? Worth it. Good restaurant town.
And then the litte tour closer at the Thristy Sasquatch in Vancouver, WA. We were so damn tired, but managed to find the energy, embrace the bunny within, coax the mojo and throw down mightily for the good people of the North.
Felsen invades your personal space...in a nice way.
Join us dear friends for a lovely show at our fav SF venue, The Lost Church. We'll be helping our long-time pal, Rich McCulley celebrate his new CD with a low volume show. This will be Felsen's 3rd time at the Lost Church. Each time has been truly magical. Would you please join us?
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