On our way into the fire...

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.

2023 Begins!

This year is already off to a wild start. I took a little social media break in December. The holidays are tough for me because I lost my Dad in December 2020. But the holidays were relaxing and fun this year. Lots of couch days. 

But now it’s 2023 and we started things with a bang!  We spent a week in Paris, traveling around, eating at all the cafes, and just filling our souls with adventure. It was nothing short of incredible. 

Now we’re back and we sadly learned we have to move suddenly.  It’s a long story. But it means things are going to be in flux for us for the next few months. 

But now for Johnny Stranger stuff…  I’ve been hustling and massaging the mixes for the next album (number 7). Meanwhile, we’ve been working on tracking album 8 and 9.  And I’ve started writing another record to insert into the whole plan.

These albums are all about having fun, challenging ourselves, and connecting with our listeners.  It’s wild to think… we’ve barely even started!  We have so many songs to track, it’s overwhelming. But one day at a time. One song at a time. 

We still plan on releasing songs from Album 7 this year.   It’s a dark, sci-fi horror film of a record. And we plan on tracking most of album 8 (to start releasing songs in 2024). We’ll see how this sudden move will affect our release dates… but I think it’s for the best. These extra couple of months will give album 7 more time for mixing. I’m already very excited by how it’s sounding and can’t wait for you all to hear! 

Goodbye 2022

Signing off for 2022. What a year!

Releasing ‘Mechanical Clouds’ has been a joy!  To release music mostly written 12 years ago is surreal. This whole experience has exceeded my expectations and I love that folks can finally sit with the record on a rainy day and let it become a grumpy part of their lives. 

And I have so many people to thank!  My beautiful wife and partner-in-crime Maddie for her support and brains. Ross Robey at KMG distribution for being a champ and helping to grow this army of strangers!  Ryan Vaughn of Backline Creative and Head Bitch Music for his friendship and help!  Kiel Feher for bringing these drums to life and Yan Perchuk for capturing these vocal takes. And of course my live band!  Brad Dickert, Alan Sosa, and Adal Jamil. You gentlemen are amazing with your friendship and super kind to keep hopping on the Johnny train. 

2023 is gonna be a doozy. I consider the entire release of Mechanical Clouds to be a bit of a soft boot following Covid.  We didn’t play a show and we were a bit quiet on socials (with the exception of the IG feed monstrosity). Well, things are picking up next year. 

We have a new record… album 7. We will start releasing in the spring. Around that same time, we’ll finally be back onstage here in Los Angeles. The next record is being mixed by yours truly as we speak. And if course I’m trying to squeeze in time to demo album 8. 

There is so much work that goes into releasing music and being present on social media, it’s mind-boggling. Luckily, we do what we do for the love of the art. And we always love the challenge of bettering how we get it out there. 

Thank you so much for joining us on this journey!  The best part of all this is hearing from you all. Next year is going to be a blast and I’m so pumped to have you along for the journey!

MECHANICAL CLOUDS

It’s finally here…

Releasing Mechanical Clouds is totally surreal for me. I started writing these songs back in 2019. And now it has at last arrived. Thank you all so much for following along on the journey and for reaching out with your support.

And to celebrate, we finally have merch again! The ‘Mechanical Dismay’ T-Shirt is another one that has been years in the making… but happy to finally share that as well!

I’ll write more later but just wanted to share the news!

Peter

Seeing the Future

Hi! Just a little update.

MECHANICAL CLOUDS (our 6th album) is going to be released November 2nd! Considering how long these songs have been rolling around in my skull, it’s surreal to finally see them out in the world. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the response! So many of you have reached out, it’s been amazing to really connect with you all.

Just released the visualizer for the single, “The Art of Saying Goodbye”.

Meanwhile, I’ve been having an awesome time working in my little garden and preparing future releases.

ALBUM 7. Mixing and mastering now. Still have 6 songs to finish the vocals on, but should have those done by the end of October. Hoping to release the first single in Feb 2023… which is really hardly any time at all following Mechanical Clouds. But I’m confident I can have everything ready by then. Been working on the cover art for the album itself and all the singles. I think it’ll be a cool switch-up in style and direction.

ALBUM 8 has been demoed completely. We’ll track drums for those probably around Feb 2023 (depending on a handful of moving parts). Hopefully have that record ready to be released in 2024. 14 songs to record. After we track everything, it’ll likely get whittled down to 10-12 songs.

ALBUM 9. I’ve started demoing these songs. This is our heaviest record. So far it’s been awesome. I’ve even busted out my new 8-string guitar for a change.

There are a bunch of other albums that are just in the written stage. Excited to get to demo them though! And even more excited to be sharing them all with you!

And if you’re wondering what all of this album talk is about, here’s an interview I recently did with the good gents at New Music Saturday that explains it all…