The fall harvest of releases that I've been involved in this year has been very bountiful.
As some of you already know , I am a drummer as well as a band leader and I am proud to announce the releases of several cds that I have performed on over the last few months. Just Out:
The Tripwires 'Makes You Look Around' (PaisleyPop2007) Drummer
Roy Loney and The Long Shots 'Shake It Or Leave It' (Career Records 2007) Percussion/Background Vocals
Carrie Akre '...Last The Evening' (Loveless 2007) Drummer/Percussion
Eileen Cuba 'Simple Geometry' (2007) Drummer/Percussion
I am also finishing up work on a new Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands release that features the fine production work of Steve Fisk.
Barb Hunter has joined the Praying Hands on Cello , you might know her name from her years as a performer with The Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers.She is a fine addition to the line-up and has added a very welcomed sound to our group.
Michael Musburger has also joined the group to relieve me of my responsibilities as a drummer , I'm sure that some of you know his name from The Posies , The Fastbacks or the Supersuckers.
Ian Moore has also contributed some amazing guitar and omnichord parts to the new record .
We are sorry to see our piano player Micah Hulscher leave for Los Angeles next week to pursue his career in the field of film and television music scoring , we did manage to get him to lay down a few "choice performances" before he hits the road. We wish him well and know that he'll find more than enough work down there.
Johnny and Jim Sangster and I will be performing several shows with our "other band" The Tripwires this fall and winter in celebration of our new release 'Makes You Look Around' . The Tripwires are fronted by John Ramberg , a very talented band leader who continually surprises and challenges me with some of the craftiest pop numbers I've heard in all of my years in this business!
On Jan 4 2008 The Praying Hands will be performing with Carrie Akre at The Triple Door , here in Seattle and it looks like our pedal steel player(Maggie Bjorklund) will be flying over from Denmark to take part.
It looks like I have some free time from November through February if anyone is interested in employing me to pound on some skins (recording sessions / drum lessons , sorry , no live dates please)
This is as good of a place as any to discuss my schedule or my rates.
In the past few years I have performed with and recorded music with Brandi Carlile , Neko Case , Jon Rauhouse , Carrie Akre , Truly , Mark Lanegan , Nirvana , The Dusty 45s and many more .
I'm willing to travel if needed (at the expense of the artist , of course)
Signing Off ,
Mark