About this new album of ours...

Whoa!! I just woke up a short while ago...I've been waking up in the middle of the night lately and sleeping in weird 4 and 5 hours bursts...and I started to reflect about the new record.

Rehearsals with Beau have been going amazing. We've tightened everything up so much, the songs feel fantastic. During the last month and a half, I have gone thru our songs with a fine-toothed comb with Ryan as editor-in-chief, and we have trimmed out all the stuff we didn't need. Sculpting and re-shaping and re-writing things and often, in the process, we've thrown out huge chunks of mediocre parts that we were once attached to and replaced them with simpler stuff that really serves the song. And Ryan has been there for me totally, being real patient while I was seeking and always letting me know when I found "it" and when I went to far and needed to go back to the drawing board. It's been the most amazing process to be a part of and the end result is nine songs that I absolutely love. There is not a note of music or a single word on this record that doesn't have alot of meaning to me!

As opposed to having a longer record with less spectacular material, we've chosen to stick with 9 amazing songs. It covers the gamut...from the rockers to some mid-tempo/slower ones to a bare acoustic and vocal song and a piano tune with electronics that reminds me a bit of the last record. In fact, many of the themes from "Let Go Afterglow" get re-visited all over the new record but my perspective is so much different now. Partly because I was so unsure of myself as a person and as a musician when I made that record.

I fully relate now to the idea of the "sophmore slump" when it comes to making albums. Back then, when I was writing/recording "Let Go...", I had no idea what I was capable of and by the time I finished it, I had caught a glimpse of my capabilities which blew my mind and made me feel like I had found nirvana. I mistakenly thought I had somehow arrived somewhere when in fact, I hadn't, and that illusion left me high and dry after two years of touring. At that point , I felt more insecure and unsure of myself than I ever had, though I was going thru some pretty intense life-stuff too at that time. But still, I felt like I had no footing...like I might never again feel like I did when I finished recording "Let Go..." like I might never be able to top that original creative fit. That feeling led me down a path of some serious growth that involved taking a real honest stock of who I am, who I wanted to be and who I needed in my life. And the feeling of needing to top that last record was my guide when Ryan and I went thru some painful choices about who should and shouldn't be involved in the making of this record. We really had to believe that we would get what we needed and deserved if we let go of everything that was less than that and just walked boldly into the future. And that is exactly how it went down.

Fast-forward to today...Jordan and I did some pre-production vocal tracks at his studio yesterday and it went well. He has "the gift" when it comes to recording. No doubt. I've never heard my voice sound that good with no effects and working with him is pure joy. He completes the deal. Everybody around me has been a part of this process. Ryan is the absolute tops, head to toe. No other musician has ever done for me what Ryan does creatively, inspiration-wise and otherwise. And I've never interacted with an engineer/co-producer like I have with Jordan. The man has serious skills and everything he's brought to the table and the songs has only made them better. And then there is Beau....who came in for a simple jam to cover a gig and ended up bringing even more to the project with his amazing playing, great ideas and sheer inspiration that he provided at a time when Ryan and I really needed it. We wouldn't be making this record at this moment in time if it hadn't been for Beau. And I can't even begin to forget the other important people like Jen and my son Brice, who've provided the inspiration, ears, patience, love and support that have kept me together during this process.

Today I think I figured what this record is about for me...and it came to light as I was driving back from Jordan's house. We had been talking about the unfinished verse lyrics to the last song. I was explaining to him about what I had in mind and how I kept just getting stuck spending countless hours trying to write those words and coming up with nothing. How the verses were this conversation between two people that were interrupting each other, essentially talking at the same time about a subject so the first and third lines are actually one statement coming from one person and the second and fourth lines are a single statement coming from the other person and the alternating lines are just broken pieces of single thoughts...born of the attempt to communicate at the same time. Ok, now I am rambling...but anyways...after talking with him about what I was after and us discussing a bit, the lyrics finally hit me on my way home. And I almost smashed into a Ford F-150 as I was turning left off Powell cuz I was scrawling the words on the back of a notebook mid-turn. That's what this record is about. It's reflected in the process I went thru to find the words. Yeah, sure, I tend to agonize over words. But this time it went to a new level. I wrote and re-wrote lyrics and melodies. Sometimes 6 or 7 times and in the end, I think the lyrics on this album are far and away better than anything I've ever done. And that's my take on this whole record for me personally. It's about just that. The realization that inspiration, however necessary, is only this brief and very small part of a process that is mostly good old-fashioned stubborn hard work and absolute dedication. It's about fore-going the easy in a search for something deeper and more meaningful because deep inside you, in your core, you know it's already there....it's already inside you and all around you. You just have to believe it's there and keep looking until you find it.

So yeah, we start pulling 16 hour studio days this Friday. Seven days of tracking and then we mix. We finish mixing on January 24th. This is it. This is the album that Ryan and I have waited our whole lives to make. Hands down.

I'm excited. And I'm grateful. I'm a grateful, grateful man.
Much love.
-tommy