Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bad Blogger Turns Good...

I have been a bad Blogger. Can I even say I am a Blogger, if I have not blogged since July? I have just been overwhelmed. Between work, playing shows, and preparing for the CD release it seems that my motivation to do anything else is nonexistent. Right now I should probably be sending follow-up e-mails to all the media outlets that we sent the CD to, but I just need to take a step back, breathe, reconnect and give y'all a little recap.

Between July and now, we played some shows, of course. More importantly we met a super cool band, Rhum Boogie, a band that we genuinely respect and appreciate.

Throughout my career, I have always had “go to bands,” bands that you reach out to when trying to put a show together, bands that you go see when you do not have a show, bands that reciprocate and come see you. It has been harder with So Much Closer because we are not as niched. With early EKe it was Dark Water. Later versions of EKe were often paired with the Big Thumb or Madahoochi. But that was easy, we were “labeled” as a Jam Band, so we played with Jam Bands. The same was true for Whiskey Daydream, we were definitively Alt-Country/Americana, and as a result we played with bands like the Fishpaws, the Gaslights, and Backyard Tire Fire.

With So Much Closer, I do not think people know where we fit. Heck, we don’t know where we fit. I mean it is a culmination of all our experiences, so there are elements of Jam, Alt-Country…Patrick Swan was in a popular Indie band, Circus Window, so that shows up. Patrick Enright is Math Rock influenced, as a result there is a headiness to the Rhythm section, and Chris Logan is totally driven by the melodic groove, so no matter how down-tempo and sparse a song may be, there is always a solid drive, a solid groove. Rhum Boogie is very similar in that they are drawing from an amalgam of influences. On their Facebook page they list: Reggae, Rock, Proggresive. We list: Indie, Groove, Rock. So while we are not identical bands, we share an understanding of musical exploration and creation that somehow seems to make shows work together. We have played twice already and we are thinking of big things to come.

As you will hopefully remember, partial funding of our CD was done through our Pledge Music Campaign. Pledgers received some form of reward for donating to the cause, could be name in the CD, signed CDs, etc. ALL, Pledgers got early releases of the disc. We have received some really great feedback from the Pledgers. While most would focus on feedback from Media, I wanted to share feedback from my Dad. I mean he has EVERYTHING I have ever recorded, every solo CD, EKe, Whiskey Daydream, spoken word...everything. Over two e-mails, here is what he had to say.

1st E-mail
Hi Eric,

Well, I finished working on my truck, so I was able to listen to your CD at least four times. I think it's the best thing you've ever done. Of course, I always say that, but it's true as you keep getting better. It was just very well done and professional (professional in its positive sense). All the songs were good, so it's hard to pick a favorite. I did like the Tiger and Daisy, though, and the duet. That was one soulful chick. Lyrics were good, subtle for the most part. The CD art was most professional looking...Vicki commented on that, as well. I hope it's getting some air time and lands you and the band some larger, money making gigs. Congrats!

Love, Dad


2nd E-mail

Yep, good CD. I don't see how you can sing a song like "Scared of Your Love" that's so emotional and pretty. I'd get all choked up, wouldn't be able to get through it. That transition to Taps was really cool. I've never heard anything like that before on an album. I missed it the first time. I thought the CD was over. I should have known, as you have a habit of sneaking things in at the end. The last few times I listened I really cranked it up and it worked much better. Kind of like Lesile West and his, "Made loud to be played loud." And I really liked the 1-2-3-4 that preceded it, or is part of it, but then I always enjoyed that hard driving stuff.


Rather than dropping a new poem, I wanted to focus on a song from the CD, “Scared of Your Love.” My dad referenced it, my mom and sister have been telling me it is the best song I have written since they heard me play it acoustic a couple Christmases ago, and through the beauty of Twitter we learned:


To satisfy everyone, I have created a Soundclick page and will be adding a new song from the CD everyday leading up to our release this Friday, September 10th. "Scared of Your Love" was recorded as a duet with my friend Tiffany Belle whom I was in choir with in Palm Desert, CA--Kick Aztec!--but is currently living in Denton where we recorded.



I also wanted to share the lyrics with you. Lyrically, I do think it is some of the strongest stuff I have written.

Scared of Your Love

Verse 1
I’m scared of your love; diamond eye shine when I walk in to the room
I’m scared of your love; your smiles like a gift only give to me
I’m scared of your love; the words you whisper when we turn the lights down low
I’m scared of your love; you make the storm stop bring me calm midnight

Verse 2
I’m scared of your love; and the me I am when I am wrapped around you
I’m scared of your love; the way I quiver when I open up your smile
I’m scared of your love; the short breathes that only you can bring me
I’m scared of your love; the calm of night when everything’s alright

Chorus
Powerful fears
The one who’d been burned
So many tears
Oh and lessons learned
But I’ll keep tryin’
I’ll keep tryin’ for you baby

Verse 3
I’m scared of your love; you’re gonna leave me empty room and all that white noise
I’m scared of your love; the sense of solitude when we lie in the same bed
I’m scared of your love; silent conversations between disappointed eyes
I’m scared of your love; visions of you crying good-bye to me


Chorus
Powerful fears
The one who’d been burned
So many tears
Oh and lessons learned
But I’ll keep tryin’
I’ll keep tryin’ for you baby


Hope you are enjoying what you are hearing, we'd love any feedback you care to share on the tunes, and would really like to see you all at the CD release party this Friday:


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