Hey all!
Just wanted to let you know that Paul and I will be touring the UK in
October and November with Francis Dunnery in his band, the New
Progressives. Evil Knievel ain't got nothin' on us! Come on out and see
the greatest show since The Grateful Dead played the Winterland!
Tour dates and ticket info at:
http://www.francisdunnery.com/tour.html
We just finished the new DOUBLE album which features Tom Brislin on
keys, Dorie Jackson on backing vocals, Jamie Bishop on bass and Paul
Ramsey on drums. I somehow even managed to get some guitar on a couple
songs which is pretty tough to do considering the talents of Francis.
The album is available at
http://www.francisdunnery.com/shop.html
The Album, "There's A Whole New World Out There" is one of the best
I've been involved with. The SOUND is deep and wide and high and low.
It washes over you and pulls you in like a Saturday night bath. Tracks
like Staring At The Whitewash" could go on forever as far as I'm
concerned. I'd like to fall asleep to it AND THEN wake up to it in the
morning (or in the middle of the night when I take a leak).
What this album has, is a rare "betterment" of an artists songs. Rare
because most of the time when an artists attempts to re-record their
songs they usually come up with a flat, half-assed version of the
original. I promise this is not the case with this recording. When
Francis started sending me the original versions of the songs we were
going to record by his old band It Bites i thought damn, these suck!
They did not travel well through time. "Dated" is an understatement. I
was not familiar with the band It Bites and now know why. They were
pretty much everything i hated about the 80's rolled in one. Bad hair,
processed drum kits, too much reverb, shitty sounds and big light
shows.... and yet after listening more i found that there was melody
and a good lyric.... it was just bludgeoned to death by the horrid
sounds of bad technology and overplaying. I KNOW what that's about
because i've done the exact same thing!
Trying to re-create anything is always BAD. Timelessness means the
Present because it is only in the present that time does NOT exist.
Francis is not trying to reclaim It Bites and the past, nor is he
trying to bring his songs into the future and onward. To make something
Present is to make it timeless and real. It's what every great artist
strives for. To give a song a soul and breath in the NOW is magic.
Listen to Joni Mitchell's Travelogue.
God knows i've seen a thousand soulless bands playing their hits, doing
the circuit and pandering to the sentiment of the collective past of
the audience. Being progressive in music/art has nothing to do with
that in my opinion. This album is part of something that is daring, and
not chained to the past or concerned with the future. Francis has
accomplished the rare feat of stripping away the fat, bringing to light
the heart of the song AND at the same time, shattering
singer/songwriter pretension and platitudes. These songs are in focus
now and truly timeless in their delivery.
The recording we did is simple and pure. Real musicians singing and
playing instruments mostly live in a room together. Mistakes, magic and
the moment are on this recording. Its "high class" as Francis would say
and not "RAAACK" music. I've learned many things during this process.
Things about feel, time, sound and soul. I've learned about " The
Land", "Riding The Bus", "Blaggin' it", and what my porn name would be,
(Lady Flourtown).
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do...but we don't really care ;-)
Hope to see you at one of the shows this Fall!!!
sincerely
bwk
