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Dear friends,
There are a few things that happened this summer that really opened my eyes. I'm not going to say what they are, nor will I even talk about them beyond this one mention of their existence. But I will say that sometimes things happen that effectively realign your priorities. There was a time when using wizard rock as a means of expressing my political and social views was a priority, and that's how Welcome to the House of Awesome came to be. There was also a time (like eight months ago) when I felt it was important to share a lot of personal thoughts and feelings with the wizard rock community, and that's how Demons at the Helm came to be. Now that I've gotten these urges out of my system, I'm really getting excited about returning to canon and removing myself from the equation completely. Because, frankly, I've spent too much time talking about myself. There are people for whom wizard rock is an opportunity to shine in the public spotlight -- and that's totally fine, and I spent some time there myself. But at this moment I'm feeling like a retreat is in order. Touring is awesome and I'm going to keep doing it. Writing songs and releasing records is awesome and I'm going to keep doing it. Beyond that, I'd like to strip away everything that's extraneous and really focus on the music and on playing good shows.
I still think Demons at the Helm is the best record I've ever released, and believe me, there are no regrets about the subject matter. If people love it, great! If people hate it, whateva! I originally thought of this record as transitional -- each Whomping Willows record has been increasingly personal, and Demons at the Helm is just the next step in a logical progression. But I realize that if this trend were to continue, the next Whomping Willows record wouldn't be wizard rock at all, it would be non-wizard music under the guise of a wizard rock band name. And while I would contend that I am free to do whatever the fuck I want with my band name, I could see why releasing a completely non-wizard record as The Whomping Willows might bother a lot of people. It may happen in the future, who knows, but it's not something I want to do right now.
Then there was that Wizrocklopedia article about The Parselmouths...
Dinah and I have hugged and made up and everything is cool. But I can't help responding to the whole ordeal with some kind of complicated form of commentary.
So, the next full-length Whomping Willows record is going to be 100% canon. I'm pulling a 180 and returning to the basics of wizard rock. Furthermore, it's going to be a concept album; I'll be writing songs about specific events from the books that involve the Whomping Willow, from the perspective of a variety of characters. A song about the flying car incident -- from Ron's point of view. A song about the Whomping Willow's violent tendencies -- from Davey Gudgeon's point of view. The possibilities are endless. I think it'll be fun. I'm considering calling this album "The Entire Wizarding World Revolves Around Me." I'm expecting it to be released in time for summer tour 2010.
I also have an EP to write for the EP of the Month Club. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with that, but I'll be working on it in August and September, so I should have an idea of the subject matter fairly soon.
Finally, here's an official announcement about fall tour: JFF and I will be touring from October 2 through November 15, and we'll be touring nationwide. We'll be hitting up a few cities I missed over the summer, including Phoenix, Las Vegas, and parts of the midwest. And of course, JFF will be back in the west for the first time since last November. This will be another house party tour, and at some point soon I'll be releasing our schedule and asking for fans to host shows. We'll be fundraising for the Harry Potter Alliance; to that end, all house party shows will involve a $5 admission, and a portion of that money will be donated directly to the HPA. The rest of the money will help us pay for gas and stuff. :)
Okay then. I believe that is all for now.
Love,
Matt
4:57 PM
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