I was lying in bed next to Angela crying, and telling her how afraid I was to die. Then we ended up in something that looked like the deep ocean, and there were these fish-like spirits floating around, all swarming and fighting to get to this one tiny hole in the water, and I then realized that this is where spirits go to try to be born. I also then realized that the process is similar when people die—it’s just as hard to die as it is to be born.

Here’s the music video for my song “Let’s Get Bloody”. This was conceived, shot and edited by Jeremy J Quinn (JeremyJQuinn.net) with additional camera by Michele Jaquis. Statues provided by guy selling statues in Hollywood. Thanks Jeremy for putting this together!!

Here are some photos that I took during the video shoot.

Here is my cover version of a track you may remember from the early 1990s from the band Dig. This one was in pretty heavy rotation on MTV’s old “buzz bin” back in the day. I recorded this in a “video song” format—what you see is what you hear, all video captured during the creation of the song (with the exception of the outdoor footage which was taken in my back yard).

I just got an old Apple IIc and wanted to see what kind of music I could make with it. This started as an experiment in what kind of sounds I could make with with old 8-bit technology, and ended up turning into a song. I’m using 8-bit Weapon’s DMS (digital music synthesizer) for all of the sounds you see coming out of the IIc. I recorded this in a “video song” format—what you see is what you hear, all video captured during the creation of the song.

I’ve got a new album coming out but I’m still working on new song ideas! I decided to put together a quick demo of what I was working on. In this video I’m running my Roland Juno-6 into a Strymon TimeLine.

Holy crap lots going on. I’ve been hard at work on a new album. And a lot of stuff goes along with releasing a new album! This means that I have been busy. And tired. And in desperate need of a frosty Newcastle ale.

Recording is done!
- This new album took over a year to put together but it is finally done! *whew*!! I’m really excited about it and can’t wait for you to hear it. It will feature some brand new songs, and some new versions of songs that I had originally posted as demos. The album features two songs from my Collaboration project, including audio samples from a whole bunch of friends around the world.

Album photography
- Last week I worked with photographer Ezra Spurrier and model Aussie Guevara on the new album cover. Shoot went great and now working on putting together the final artwork.

DIY album promo
- My mind has been spinning with all of the ideas that i’ve got to try to promote this album on a limited DIY budget. I don’t know what will work and what won’t work, but I’m going to try a few different things this time around. I might even get organized and write everything down.

Exporting source files for remixes
- I’m also spending a ton of time exporting each individual audio track from this album, for all of the genius remixers out there! Hope to put together a couple remix contests over the coming months.

Music videos!
- Working with a few directors on some music videos for the new album. Been shooting stuff, editing stuff, working on finding locations, hiring dancers… it’s crazy time! Stay tuned…

How the hell will I release this?
- Still trying to figure out how I’m going to release this album. Some have suggested CDs, vinyl, iPhone app, download-only, thumb drive, a custom State Shirt book, even cassettes! I will be offering all of the new songs for free, to be shared, copied, mangled, remixed, used for videos, etc. But there are many of you that have expressed interest in something tangible. Now I gotta decide what that will be!

Here’s a little Let’s Get Bloody intro video.

So I’ll stop talking now. What have you been up to? Have any projects that you’ve been working on?

I’ve known Matt since grade school. During our formative years we were in a number of bands together, some good, some slightly less good. Over the last decade or so, Matt has been moving on up and has been performing his introspective piano songs for the Western Massachusetts music community. He’s gone through a lot, including a two time battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and I’m glad to say that he has had a clean bill of health for some time now.

Matthew (and his band The Documents) had spent the last year or so recording his new album Apheresis. To help finance the recording, he received The Andrea Coller Memorial Award, presented by Andrea Coller’s family members and The SAMFund, an organization that assists cancer survivors with the transition to post-treatment life. Andrea Coller was a fellow Massachusetts musician who lost her battle with cancer in 2008.

Sometimes “short, quiet and sweet—other times building into wall-of-sound Hotel-California-like anthems”, Matt’s songs often recall the serious health issues he has endured. I was lucky enough to have taken a trip back east last summer while they were tracking with Dave Chalfant at his studio in Conway, Massachusetts, and I contributed a few guitar parts. Earlier this year, when Matt asked me to mix and master the album, of course I couldn’t refuse. The songs are just great. I spent quite a few months behind the studio monitors, with many in-progress tracks being sent across from California to Massachusetts to be reviewed via SoundCloud. I was really honored to be a part of this project, and I highly recommend checking out Matt’s music.

::: Click here to listen.

From Matt’s site:

With a trio of instrumentalists called The Documents (Greg Saulmon, Aric Bieganek, and first cousin and longtime collaborator, Steve Biegner), their debut album Apheresis was lovingly recorded in studios, hallways, and living rooms. Dave Chalfant (The Nields) and Ethan Tufts (State Shirt) were at the helm, as well as an incredible cast of guest musicians: Mark Schwaber (Lloyd Cole and the Small Ensemble), Rebekah Dutkiewicz (Oweihops, Northernly), Julia Suriano (Steve Biegner), Matthew Loiacano (Matthew Carefully, Kamikaze Hearts), and Philip Price (Winterpills).

So the artwork concept for my upcoming album is, let’s just say, “not safe for work”.

While I won’t reveal the details of the photo just yet, I will say that it does involve some non-sexual nudity. (It’s not me! Thank you very much.) The photo is intended to spark some discussion, but isn’t intended to be offensive for the sake of being offensive.

Given that I’m an indie artist with no record label, giant legal team, or marketing budget, this photo will pose an interesting “marketing challenge” in terms of how I will be able to promote and distribute this album.

So as I gear up to figure out how I’ll get the word out about my little album, I’ve got a few questions.

Will Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow me to use the artwork on their sites?
Will Apple allow the album artwork in their iTunes store?
Can I get away without a censored version of the artwork?

It appears as though the answer to all of these questions could be no. But there does appear to be some gray areas here.

Facebook Terms of Use:

“Photos and videos containing nudity… are not allowed on Facebook”

Well, that’s pretty black and white. Not much gray area (or areolas) there. However I did come across the covers of Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy and Jane’s Addiction Nothing’s Shocking on Facebook, both of which feature nudity and were considered quite offensive in their day. But there are a bunch of stories of “offensive” images being removed. Art school sketches and nude paintings have been removed, as well as photos of women who have undergone breast cancer surgery, and photos of women breast feeding. I guess as long as women continue to have boobs, there are going to be people who are offended by them. So I guess I can take my chances here and just see if the album artwork gets flagged.

Twitter Terms of Use:

“Twitter does remove obscene or pornographic images in either user profile pictures or user backgrounds.”

So a bit of a gray area on Twitter. Since my photo won’t be pornographic, it all comes down to how someone decides to define the word “obscene”. Reminds me of how former justice Potter Stewart of the US Supreme Court, when trying to define “what is obscene,” wrote, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced… [but] I know it when I see it.” So I guess I’ll take my chances here as well, and see if the artwork gets yanked.

“We do not regulate content on external (non-Twitter) websites, nor do we regulate Tweets that link to content on external websites, including pornography.”

Well that makes sense. I wonder if anyone actually thought Twitter would try to regulate content on non-Twitter websites?

YouTube Terms of Use:

“Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube. There are exceptions for some educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic content, but only if that is the sole purpose of the video and it is not gratuitously graphic. For example, a documentary on breast cancer would be appropriate, but posting clips out of context from the documentary might not be.”

Ok, YouTube has the most specific definition here, but still obviously open to interpretation. I’d like to think that my imagery contains solely artistic content, but my guess is someone could flag it as offensive here as well. They do offer a lot of information on how and when videos could become age restricted.

“YouTube staff review flagged videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine whether they violate our Community Guidelines. When they do, we remove them. Sometimes a video doesn’t violate our Community Guidelines, but may not be appropriate for everyone. These videos may be age-restricted.”

Can I assume that the worst case scenario here would be that a video that featured my album artwork could just be age-restricted? I guess that could work.

 iTunes

This one was a tough one to find answers to. I looked all over Apple’s site but couldn’t find any answers here. Apple does allow the album covers of many albums that were deemed offensive in the past… Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy, Jane’s Addition Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, The Black Crowes Amorica, Roxy Music Country Life. But I wonder if those remain solely due to standing the test of time? When preparing to add State Shirt Let’s Get Bloody to iTunes, will the Apple censorship police come out in full force and ban my little album?

CDBaby

In addition to offering mp3 downloads on my own site, I may likely work with CDBaby to coordinate the digital distribution of my new album. They partner with a bunch of music sites (including iTunes) to distribute music. I couldn’t find anything specific on their website either. I guess I’ll send ‘em an email, but until then I’ll just assume that nudity won’t be a problem!

Overall I’ve learned that there is no hard and fast rule. Most sites rely on users to flag content as offensive or inappropriate. “Offensive” is impossible to define, it’s different for everyone.  I’m interested to see how all of this plays out in the coming weeks! What do you think?

Did a little accidental dirt tracking in my spec miata back in June. Target fixation is a bummer. Once I could see where I was going, I didn’t have any intention of slowing down. Figured I’ll just keep it mashed to the floor and see if I could keep the car pointed straight. Caught a little air a few times. 80mph off-roading in a miata = fun!

Here’s a little excerpt from my video from the Sunday June 26, 2011 NASA spec miata race at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.

Target Fixation: A process by which the brain is focused so intently on an observed object that awareness of other obstacles or hazards can diminish.

Here’s an example!