[bandcamp width=350 height=350 album=377694268 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]Friends, I am proud to announce the first new music from my band Books Died On in six years! My new Ep, Cold & Hot, will be coming out Sept 24th on no record label in particular (do labels still exist?). I'm sure you have questions.
What the hell is Books Died On? Glad you asked! BDO is my 'solo' project that is hardly ever solo. I have four previous releases as BDO, including 3 concept/story records. You can hear/buy them at my bandcamp page. I have all sorts of friends who have played in or recorded with BDO, most notably Christa Palazzolo (Boyfriend), Cari Palazzolo (Belaire), Terry Irwin and Forrest Allen (my bandmates in Markov), Jessie Rupert (formerly of Bodies of Water), Mike Busbee (of songwriting fame), Josh Myers (composer and indie rock producer extraordinaire), two guys who now have PhDs: the late Dr. Travis Bannerman and James Drake Pitts, and many many more. Therefore my solo project has hardly ever been 'solo'.
Books Died On is a terrible name, what the hell? The name for Books Died On came from a copy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that I had got used in 2002. From one of the most fantastic paragraphs of the book I saw the words 'books died on' underlined in pencil. I took it and used it as the name for my then new project.
Why the hell are you putting out music now after 6 years? Good question. This new EP was actually mostly recorded back in 2007-2008 in a transition time in my life when I moved from LA to Champaign, IL to Austin all within a year. A couple of the tracks were recorded when my good friend and long time collaborator Cari Palazzolo came to visit me in Champaign and we recorded our asses off. Since then these recordings have been on the back burner due to my involvement with Markov, Belaire, Unwed Sailor, Brazos, the Mole People, the Gentle Wolves, etc etc. I unearthed them last year and had to put some finishing touches on them, and thought they were too good to never see the light of day. One interesting note is that they were almost entirely tracked on a portable digital 8 track, using the internal mics and direct inputs. The limitations of the medium were helpful in both writing songs and getting them down simply. Since these songs go back to the BDO era of my life I thought it wise to put them out under that moniker, however delayed its been.
How can I hear it cause I don't think I really care? Here's one of the tracks, a nice quiet duet with Cari that we recorded late at night in the midst of lots of cold air and snow. More tracks will be unveiled as we get closer to the release date. [bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=377694268 size=medium bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]
Are you going to be playing shows or do you think you're the Beatles now? Your questions are getting more hostile, don't be a dick ok? I will be playing as Books Died On very soon, in fact I played last week by myself and there were a lot of folks out to hear me play. Thanks for coming! On that note, there will be a CD release show in September with a full Books Died On band (the first in 3 years). Details to come.
At least your album cover is cool, who did that? The photo on the cover was taken by Erynn Patrick, who also took the photo on the cover of the Reservations new EP, which I mixed. Then my good buddy David Metcalf (of Music Go Music and Bodies of Water) put it all together with writing and words.