Done And Done. Issue #138

I'm not gonna front, I really don't have a specific theme or story I want to write about this week other than the KIRBY KRACKLE album is done and I'm exhaling. In a good way. I'm just gonna go with it here...

It's been a pretty intense 3 weeks that has felt like a few months with everything we crammed in everyday to get this thing done in the time frame we set. The album will be mastered in a few days and then the printers next Tuesday. When its all done I think I'm going to find myself wondering what to do cause in a lot of ways writing and recording this album has got me and helped me through the life changes of the past 6-months in a way I did not expect. I found myself 5 months ago with KK partner Jim starting at a computer screen with 11 slots to fill and only a handful of ideas. All I knew was that the fun we had during the 1st half of 2009 had surpassed any expectation I had of the first KK album, and I wanted to re-create that ten-fold in 2010 with the follow-up. Bad.

I've heard over and over throughout my life that in extreme life transition the best art is made. I never really believed that. It always mostly sounded like a cop out to believe that extreme trials and the life of the grind would equate good art. Kinda like setting that precedent meant that if anything comes out of it it must be good even if it sucks, right? Hmmmmmm. Seemed sketchy to me. Most of the time I feel like a pretty happy guy, thankful for what I have in my life and my friends and I like to think that is the main creative fuel for me and my art. So, imagine my level of discomfort when I realized I HAD to make it in the exact opposite of life situations and that the result would be what I would have to stand behind for the next year regardless. Didn't seem like a recipe for success at all. It didn't look good to me at the time, but every day Jim and I would get together to work on the songs and just do the best we could despite what was happening throughout the peripherals. After we worked out the skeletal framework and guitars/lyrics were done, we were lucky to present the songs and concepts to our amazing live band Nelson (drums) and Byrce (keys). Not involved in the first album but an intricate and important part of the live band development; they helped shape the songs and pick up the gusto when I wasn't quite feeling like it many times. We couldn't have done it without them I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such smart and empathetic artists.

Once all the songs were arranged and ready to go and despite months of delaying till stuff was "right", we stepped into the studio with producer Don Gunn for 3 weeks of tracking and the most intense recording experience I've ever been a part of. He pushed me and I pushed back and I highly value the working relationship we have in understanding how the other person creates and how to get the best possible product we can make. That was the goal from day one and I'm very happy to say that the new KK album "E For Everyone" is coming out in March on schedule. If I can say it obviously subjectively, and something that I would have never thought would have been possible to say when life changed 6-months ago; this is the best piece of art I have ever created. Then again, maybe I'm not the best judge but I do know this...I am so proud of it and what it means to complete it in a way I haven't yet felt in my life. Everyone worked so hard and long and it's surreal it's done at all, much less how I feel it turned out. I CANNOT wait for KK fans and followers of my music in general to hear it because though the album is about/from the perspective of comic book characters/superheros, it turned into something much more for me with themes that run deep regardless of niche or market. That feels really, really good and I hope listeners connect with it even a pinky nail as much as do. March can't come soon enough...


Excited for the future and thankful for the now,

KS