‘Fun and Games”

My new record came out yesterday, and I thought I’d share some details about the songs and, especially, the folks who helped me make it happen. 

The cover was a photo taken by Walter Wall behind his studio where I’d play tennis between editing sessions

I’m usually pretty flush with songs. Some I’ve been playing live for years, and others were fresh ideas I was excited to refine for a record. I have a bad habit of writing half songs, and have them live like that forever in my mind. Half finished, no pressure, all potential. 

There were a few songs that felt raw, simply because I wrote them quickly, in one session. ‘Dear Lynn’ was essentially done. ‘Tennis’ was living in limbo until I sat down with Meghan Bradley (Carrot) from the band ‘Not Your Baby’, who took every metaphor I didn’t think was usable, and showed me that they all were totally fair game (I’ll pretend that pun was intended). Chess wasn’t done, and Fear or Love was nothing more than a piano riff. I think a motivating factor for recording these songs was being sick of the expansive nothingness that is tomorrow, or someday.

I set a date with my friend Jack Daley at Dugdeep Studios in Asbury Park, NJ; locked in some of the best players I knew; and called upon my good friend and collaborator, Roshane Karunaratne, to engineer and produce a full length record. I used the deadline as motivation. In the months leading up to recording at Jack’s studio, I took the time to finish the songs and make working demos, decide on tempos, and keys. There came to be multiple versions of the same songs, before deciding on the final version. I’ll have to share these at some point as some of the alternative versions are really interesting.

I was lucky to have highly intuitive players on the first recording session, including Santo Rizzolo (Drums), Cody McCory (Bass), and John Kadian (Piano). The group joined me in the studio for a full day of tracking. The following day, we had a few overdubs including, Robbie Bukowski, who played guitar and trumpet. From there, I had the opportunity to work with my friends Alex Brumel (Pedal Steel), Salvatore Boyd (Mandolin), Carrot, (Vocals), as well as a day of tracking strings, arranged by John Kadian,  with Jenn Fantaccione (Cello), Ben Karas (Violin I), Garry Ianco (Violin II) and my, now good friend, Nicole Scorsone (Viola). Anything else was played by either myself, or Roshane. 

Most of the songs that were written in the last two years have much more clarity in the lyrics, but the record does shift gears quite a bit throughout. I didn’t concern myself with the cadence of the record until I was ordering songs. It’s not a conceptual album, but I happened to be singing a lot about things like Chess, Tennis, and my love of swimming in the song 32 degrees. It made sense to call the album “Fun and Games”. The album takes a turn for the darker side, echoing some foreshadowing hidden in the title. But that’s about as far as a conceptual album goes.

I’d like to thank everyone who helped make the release possible. Roshane Karunaratne is a wizard with exceptional taste. Jack Daley provided an environment that breeds creative freedom and mindfulness during recording, in addition to just a great studio to record in. Thank you Alan Douches from Westside Music who mastered this record.

Thanks to all the musicians, Cody McCory, Santo Rizzolo, John Kadian, Carrot, Jenn Fantaccione, Ben Karas, Garry Ianco, Nicole Scorsone, Alex Brumel, Robbie Butkowski, and Salvatore Boyd. 

Thanks to Walter Wall, for all the help with photos and other promotional materials in addition to J Waltz, Alyssa Mancini, Sam Marx, Marilyn Schlossbach, the Jersey Shore Rescue Center, Rock Sports Club, and anyone else who held a camera, or helped in any way with providing a backdrop for this record.

I’d like to thank Masha Protopopova and my dog Belkis for their continued support.

What’s next? Well, I’m completely backlogged with ideas and material I’m eager to explore. I owe this record a great deal as it helped clear the mechanism, and help me establish where my music would take me next.