Hopping on for a quick little update.
We’ve been quiet on socials but super busy behind the scenes.
Next up, Album #7 is nearly done. There is just one song that Maddie has to put her vocals on and then the emphasis is on mastering. We’ll probably track those vocals tonight. All told, album #7 should be completed in September.
The visuals for album #7 are all coming together… a few visualizers, the Instagram feed, all the miscellaneous banners and other videos… It’s a lot of work but it’s all coming along. My good friend David Walk is helping me with the story for the first visualizer, which has turned into a much more expansive endeavor than I originally planned.
With album #7, I’m either going to release a first single in January 2024 or in May (for my birthday). We’ll see. Sort of depends on how things are going.
Simultaneously, Brad Dickert has been tracking tracking drums on album #8. He’s actually nearly done… 9 songs are tracked and comped (out of a total of 13). Album #8 is a real rocker of an album and it’s super fun to hear Brad just unleash on these tunes. Alan Sosa has also been tracking some wicked guitars for album #8, in between stretches of touring. Their contributions are adding a TON to this record.
Tracking feedback guitars on Album #7 with Adam Mott and Brad Dickert.
Album #9 is all demoed. Album #10 is being demoed as we speak. Album #11 and #12 are written, I just need to start the demoing process.
I’m definitely by nature a studio rat. I hope to start playing out more starting in 2024. Not too often, but more frequently. The show-going landscape of Los Angeles has changed considerably since Covid and a lot of the venues we used to frequent are either gone or bought out by live nation. So I expect it’ll be a strange process to get back into shows. But I grew up performing and I’ve missed it like hell. Crazy to think our last show was January 2020, for the Valkyrie release.
Aside from that, things have been busy with Shark Attack Records. We had some changes happen to the company at the end of last year and we’re still sort of reformatting our business. But I’m blessed to have a great career in music, which allows me to do Johnny Stranger the way I want to… no compromise, just authenticity.
I’ve also been working on plans to make the previous JS records available on Bandcamp… probably after album #7. I’m actually considering moving a lot of Johnny Stranger’s activities to Bandcamp in the future. But we’ll see.
Speaking of the old JS… recently heard from Judd. He shared this with me. These little splashes from the past mean the world to me.
