Sooooo... I won the contest. Because of you, in six weeks, I leave for England to record my next album at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. You voted for me over TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND times in this contest, more than DOUBLING the votes of the 2nd place finisher. If that alone isn't a testament to just how amazing my friends and fans are... I honestly don't know what is... That said, I have a story for you. Here goes...
I come from a family of five kids. Four sisters... and... me. (go figure on the sensitive guy lyrics, right? :) Anyway, growing up, my sister Nicole (who's three years older than me), was, without a doubt... the boss of me. I can admit it. She was. From being forced to play dress-up with her to filling the roll of the 'Indian' in her 'Cowboys and Indians' saga (for which I was unceremoniously covered head to toe in multi-colored permanent marker stripes), I was, without a doubt, at her beck and call. To firmly illustrate this point - by the time Nicole had reached her teenage years and cd's had started to become popular, rather than buy her OWN cd player, she figured having ME buy the cd's she wanted and dubbing them off to cassette was a much smarter (and more economical) way to go. So, that's what she had me do. Often. :) (In my own defense, I only bought cd's I mostly wanted anyway, putting my foot down on such Nicole-sought-after gems as Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon") Anyway, one hot summer morning, as I was heading to the cd store to buy Richard Marx's "Repeat Offender" for myself, Nicole, quickly assessing where I was going, pestered me to buy this one particular cd she wanted. "Hmmm..." I thought... "Why not? I don't really WANT that one, but it can't hurt. Maybe I'll get some use out of it..." So, when I got to the store, along with the Richard Marx cd, I bought Peter Gabriel's "So." I remember getting home from the store, eagerly ripping open the Marx cd... throwing it in the player... loving it in all it's cheesy goodness... But, when it came time to open the Peter Gabriel, I reevaluated, thinking... "Mmmm... no. No, this guy sucks. No WAY am I gonna keep this. Nic can by her own crappy music..." So, I returned it. (just to make sure I'm being clear here... kept the Richard Marx... returned the Peter Gabriel.)
Ok. So, fast forward a few years... It's summer again, and having just heard the song "In Your Eyes" from the "Say Anything" soundtrack, I buy the Peter Gabriel cd... again. This time for myself. I'm driving out in the country at sunset the first time I throw it in the player... (As a side note at this point in the story - I grew up in Indiana. And for whatever one might say that's negative about the state... it has the most amazing sunsets. Maybe it's to make up for the cold grey winters and the melt-your-skin-off-hot summers... Maybe it's just the fact that the state is flat as a pancake. Whatever it is... they're beautiful...) Ok. So, I'm driving, the sun's just setting over the corn, and the sky's a million colors... The first song, "Red Rain" comes on. It starts with this whispering hihat... then this dreamy high-register piano comes in... then it builds... and it builds... and it builds... and... BOOM! It hits the chorus with what I can only liken to the sound of a nuclear bomb dropping. I swear, to this day, I've never heard anything like it. In that moment, the music moved me like no music had before, and I distinctly remember looking out at that sunset thinking... this is it. THIS is music. It made me feel larger than life, and ever since that day, through all of my different phases in music, Peter Gabriel has remained a constant for me. His music has been there in the best and worst moments of my life and has served as a source of continued inspiration. An infallible reminder of what music SHOULD be. Something that can, in one single moment, capture exactly who we are... exactly what we're feeling... and ultimately, make us feel alive.
So, why exactly am I telling you this story? Because, in six weeks, I'm going to England. To Peter Gabriel's studio. To this place I've only dreamed of seeing (let alone recording at). And, YOU'RE the ones sending me there. I'm telling you this story as a way of hopefully explaining to you just how big winning this contest is for me. Thank you isn't enough. No words are enough... And, here's the thing - maybe voting for me in the Real World contest was nothing to you. Just a simple gesture of goodwill to help me out. Maybe it was something more than that. A genuine fan wanting to see his or her artist reach a moment of success. I don't know... Whatever it was, you did it. And, I won. And, for as insignificant as that gesture might have been to you, it isn't insignificant to me. Not at all. It's the nicest thing you could have ever done for me.
Ok... so, where does that leave us now? With a slight change of plans. I know I've spoken at length about my upcoming touring. And, that's still going to happen, I swear. Just more in the spring/summer rather than the fall. We're keeping a few dates through the end of the year, but the next six weeks are going to be, quite frankly, INSANE for me. A whirlwind of finishing writing, arranging parts, setting up song files, coordinating travel plans... all in an effort to make sure I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity you've given me. I hadn't planned on starting into my new record until well after the start of the new year, so I'm playing a crazy game of catchup right now. If I don't respond to your congratulations emails (or any emails at all for that matter), PLEASE continue to know that I do read and appreciate every one. Although my time has become more and more limited over the past year, my appreciation for all you do has only increased. My career right now is entirely a product of you even listening in the first place, so don't think for a SECOND that I've forgotten your importance in the whole thing. On the offchance you DO forget... you need only look to the sheer length of this blog. All in an effort to let you know just how much you mean to me. :)
I'll be posting more about my upcoming trip and touring plans soon, but for now, let me just say this one last time... thank you. For everything.
Gavin
PS - I do need to take a minute to mention just how great everyone at Eventful, SSL, and Tunecore have been throughout this entire contest. They're amazing companies (and amazing people), and I can't thank them enough for everything they've done. If you have a free minute, you can visit their websites at:
www.eventful.comwww.solid-state-logic.comwww.tunecore.com"I come to you defenses down... with the trust of a child..."
Peter Gabriel, Red Rain
