Catch Up

Saturday I had an opportunity to catch up with my friends from Sucré, which includes Stacy King from Eisley, her husband Darren King who is the drummer of MuteMath, and Jeremy Larson who is currently touring with Canon Blue. (FYI - Canon Blue is a great band. My friend and I had a blast during their show this past Saturday. Check 'em out!) MuteMath is currently on tour with Canon Blue as their opener so all three of them were in the same place this weekend. 

Darren and Jeremy filled me in on a little of what is approaching in the coming weeks. I'm very excited for them, not only because of what I know is ahead but because of what's now behind them. I believe this album's been in the works for a couple years. Jeremy and I emailed about horn stuff for 5 or 6 months before it happened. There's still another two and a half months to go before the album is actually out! The three of them seem to have incredible patience and endurance for this album. For me, that makes its release so much the sweeter. 

If you haven't heard the album's new single "When We Were Young," please do go check it out here: http://www.spinner.com/2012/01/23/sucre-when-we-were-young-song/

I ended up contributing brass stuff to 3/4s of the album. However, funnily enough, the single they went with was one of the few songs with no brass at all. Hmmph! Nah, only kidding. It's a great song - one I love singing along to. Hopefully it will whet appetites for more! 

At some point, I suppose I should post of the projects I have personally going with my own friends. There are a couple of really neat things in the works. I can't wait to share them with you!

Thanks for reading... listen to Sucré!!!!

Sucré

I'm very excited to make a post about the upcoming album by Sucré - solo project of Eisley member Stacy King. I have been a huge fan of Eisley and specifically Stacy since 2005. I was blown away by the opportunity to do some horn work for this album last November. The experience was amazing, not only because I got to meet (and work for) one of my musical heros, but I was given the chance to do a job I dream of doing full time. 

It was a dream come true, and I'll tell you how it happened: I wrote an email. 

I've been reading Jeremy Larson's blog for about a year now. He's a great writer and musician, and he's played and written for a lot of really great bands out there now. One day last June he published this post on his blog which included his contact email at the end of the post. Figuring that since I lived in another country and that I'd probably never run into this guy, I thought why not shoot him an email. I gushed a little about who I was and how much I enjoyed his blog. I believe I finished the email by saying he was the type of musician I wanted to work with. 

And you know what? He wrote back, like, the very next day. Not only did he respond quickly and positively, but he also suggested I do some work for Stacy's album - both things I was not expecting at all. We corresponded for a few months, and then one month it actually happened. I drove up to Missouri and spent three days recording horn and other brass stuff for their tracks. 

I had a good time, and the work seemed to go very easily for everyone. (Very important - if you're going to be a freelancing musician be the kind that is a pleasure for clients to have around.) The music they had written is gorgeous, and I was beyond honored that my brass sound would be a part of the album. 

This is the lesson, dear readers: write emails. Talk to people. Inquire about things. Get in touch and communicate. If you don't, the world will not know that you exist. Don't expect it to accidentally find out you do exist. Write an email.

Anyway, here is a teaser. Yup, that horn you hear is me. :)

The album is out April 10, 2012. For more info on Sucré:

Official blog for the project - http://sucrediaries.blogspot.com/
Jeremy Larson's site - http://jeremylarson.typepad.com/

A bit of the town.

Jeremy at work.

Darren King and Jeremy Larson working out
a complicated chord for a song ending.

Writing out a line for me.

What I look like in waveforms!

The New 2012

Back! Hello darling readers. 

I hope the holidays have been grand for everyone. There's been a small hiatus here on this new blog, but I'm back, working, and in full swing in this New Year. I have some things planned for this site and planned for work. I look forward to sharing them with you all - whoever drops by to read! 

This will be a year of adventure and good fun; a year of hard work; a year of construction and change. I had good chats with friends and colleagues November and December of last year about work and my career. Two things I was told stick out in my head:

• "If you love doing something then there's a good chance you'll get to do it again and again - because your love will raise you to excellence in that thing you do."
• "Think of how long you've been learning the language of music and the horn. Now don't let anyone tell you that you don't understand it or know how to speak it."

These two statements will drive this New Year for me. My friend who said the latter thing to me helped me realized how much I do know as a musician. I've allowed things I've encountered in my recent training and experiences to convince me otherwise. Now I know that I am a musician in full - a performer and teacher for others, here to converse in that language of music!

So converse I will. I look forward to 2012. 

Cheers, y'all.