Blog neglect. Guilty as charged.

My latest therapy? The RPM Challenge. Make a record in a month. While we’re at it - let’s make it the shortest month of the year. Crazy talk. Just the kind of thing I need.

The RPM Challenge exists for a lot of reasons. Every participant has some motivation that’s driving them to sign up for such a crazy idea. Me? I’m a 42 year old average guitar player with plenty of band experience, and yet I don’t have a complete recording of something that I can truly call “all mine”. I’ve been all over the place with music post-Bickley, and I’ve failed to capture most if it. It’s time for me to grit my teeth and forge something out of the ideas that are swirling in my head.

It’s not going to set the world on fire, but it’s going to rock mine. And that sounds like exactly what I need to do.

For all of my xhcfx friends that might be reading this: thanks for the shove. I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s ideas come to fruition. This is where you can keep up with my fael… err, progress.

A few words about process:

• I have a few “songs” in my head that I’ll complete as part of the challenge. At a minimum:
  • Mama Said - a song about my now departed mom
  • Crush All Your Diamonds - a song about renewal
• The rest will come from the ether, assuming I can get it to condensate
• Genre jumping will be the order of the day, but I’m going to try to make it coherent. Somehow all of these sounds exist and blend together in my head, and one of my goals is to reflect that
• It will all be done on my Toshiba laptop using a PreSonus FIREBOX. Outer space exists because it is afraid to be on the same planet as FIREBOX.
• I plan to request the assistance of a few e-friends for various parts. I hope to have Ian Miller play bass on at least one barn-burner and have Jason Norman lay down a serious groove or two. I make no promises about the degree to which I will mangle their work.

T Minus 12 hours.