Summer Wrap-Up

It’s the first day of September, Mike is back in college, and with fall right around the corner we figured it’s a good time to get you caught up on the busy three months we just had, in case you missed anything. And while we’re at it, we’ll give you a sneak peak at what we’re planning for the next three months, too!

The summer opened strong. We played two shows in just over two weeks, one on 5/30 at the Ivy in Princeton, NJ, and the other on 6/16 opening for The Dirty Pearls at Crash Mansion in NYC. The Dirty Pearls show was a bit of a surprise last-minute performance, which we explained when we announced the gig the day after it happened. After that we took a break from playing out for a while, but we ended the summer on a high note by picking up a sponsorship from Sold Out Tour for a month of free radio promotion at the Gotham Rocks showcase on 8/8, again at Crash Mansion.

If you missed any of the shows, or if you had such a good time you want to re-live the experience over and over again, you can check out the media section of our website for pictures and video from this summer’s shows.

While we were on our short hiatus from playing live, we worked on new material and recorded drums for two of the new songs – “Bulletproof” and “Break The Mold” – with highly regarded producer and engineer Rod Hui. Roddy was Brian’s college professor for his lab on mixing records, and we wrote a nice long blog post about how we put the session together with him and what we were hoping to accomplish.

Now that the summer shows are over, we’re going to head back into the studio soon to record the rest of the instruments and finish up those two songs. We’re aiming for a winter release, if all goes well.

That brings us to two weeks ago. Right after the Gotham Rocks showcase Brian got a new computer for the studio for a few reasons, most importantly to be able to run the newest version of the recording program Pro Tools. It has been a very rocky transition, to say the least. Between losing all of the live recordings from the Gotham Rocks show, to problems with new video software, he’s been spending all his time trying to get everything in shape. Thankfully it looks like we’ve finally got everything back under control.

In the middle of the new computer disaster, Brian was interviewed by Dr. T from iLike2Rock.net. We were offered a featured spot on their site because of our performance at the Gotham Rocks show, and we were asked to do an interview so that they could put together a podcast featuring the band. We are this week’s "Band Of The Week," and a podcast, including two songs from Standing Over Shadows and the full interview with Brian, is up on their site. You can also use the direct link to download the mp3 for the podcast.

That pretty much covers everything that went down during what we feel was a productive and eventful summer! Here’s a peek into what the fall holds:

Right now we’re working out an arrangement to get a small distribution deal finished for Germany and Western Europe. The details are still being worked out, but we were contacted by a company that wants to help stock and promote Standing Over Shadows overseas. This isn’t a major distribution deal, so don’t expect to see our album sitting in the checkout isle of Tesco, but it’s definitely a good first step to reach a foreign market.

We’re also looking to expand our audience in the homeland. We’re planning to play more shows in our area during the late fall or early winter, but also keep your eyes peeled for a few shows that may be held outside of the northeast too! Again, nothing is finalized, but so far things look pretty good!

The next thing up is recording the new songs. Because each of us has a lot going on this week individually, and then we have a holiday weekend, we don’t plan to head back into the studio until next week. Soon after Labor Day we’ll start putting the finishing touches on “Bulletproof” and “Break The Mold,” and we’ll be posting our progress on our Twitter Feed and Facebook Status, so friend/follow us if you want to stay in the loop!

That’s all for now! We give you our sincerest thanks for making this summer so successful for us!