I know… I know; here it is May and I'm finally checking in with my first proper update of 2018.
Up next: my Oscar picks!
Where to start?
Well, a record I played on won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. Nieces and nephews are finally showing me some damn respect. My mom thinks I won a Daytime Emmy.
I had a great time doing a Shaking Through session for Weathervane Music with Jesse Hale Moore, which was released last month. Jesse is one of the brightest among many bright lights on the Philadelphia music scene. You can check out the track we cut, "Enter, Light," and a little making-of documentary on the VIDEOS page.
We did some Clap Your Hands Say Yeah shows earlier in the year: a festival in Santiago, Chile, and a bunch of West Coast dates. All quite fun. I even met Dave Matthews in a Seattle barbershop. Totally chill guy. I’m headed over to Europe with Clap in July for some more shows (dates here). I also did a little knocking around with Alec in the basement recently on some song ideas. I think he's working toward a new album in the not-too-distant future.
Also earlier this year: I participated in an amazing Tom Petty tribute show with a mess of great folks. It was me and my pal and fellow Petty obsessive Pat Finnerty (he plays with Son Little), his cousin Mike Quinn, Todd Erk on bass (he also plays in Clap Your Hands), Zach Miller from Dr. Dog and an amazing guitarist named Justin Mazer. We called ourselves the Philadelphia Tom Petty Appreciation Band (rolls off the tongue, I know) and it looks like we'll be doing a New York City gig in October, along with another Philly date. Hits! Deep cuts! Unreleased stuff! Wilburys! So much fun. Details soonish.
What else??
For the first time in more than 12 years, I unexpectedly found myself recording drums for a Pernice Brothers record last month! I had hoped it would happen again someday, I just didn’t expect it to happen right now. I tracked drums remotely in Philly to a few new songs Joe has penned. It reminded me how much I missed playing Joe’s songs. At heart, I'm just a drummer that loves playing to great songs. And Joe’s one of the best songwriters I’ve ever worked with. One of the best of his generation, really (though I may be biased…) I’m not sure when/how/where the new stuff will be released. I just know that Joe is working toward releasing something.
Another thing I hadn’t done in a while (since 2010, I believe) I found myself doing recently: recording with Daniel Smith of Danielson! It wasn’t for a Danielson project though… it was for a movie soundtrack very much in the wheelhouse of two dudes who grew up in South Jersey in the 80s such as us. More on that as the project develops and the film begins shooting. All I’ll divulge at this point is that I used a double-kick pedal and TWO rack toms. Very excessive, by my standards.
Last bust certainly not least: as I briefly posted about a couple of weeks back, I’ve joined a new band! It's called Corporal Quorum, and it features Wesley Stace of Wesley Stace (and the English U.K.)/John Wesley Harding fame, Kurt Bloch of Fastbacks/Young Fresh Fellows/Filthy Friends fame, Eddie Carlson of English U.K./Jon Langford/Poi Dog Pondering fame, and ME!!! Here’s the catch: We’re only playing two shows (for now). Think of us as a small-batch, artisanal sort of supergroup. The shows are June 2nd (the 10th Annual Dara’s Defense Benefit in Philly) and June 3rd (Rockwood Music Hall in NYC). Deets on the SHOWS page. We'll be playing selections from the Stace/Bloch catalogs, and covering a whole mess of obscurities from the 60s and 70s, plucked from all sections of the record store: prog, psych, chamber pop, new wave, pub, proto pub, and hard rock. It’ll be like a MOJO sampler come to life.
I lied, there's one more thing. Two, really. As in I'm playing on two great DIY records that have just been released. I worked with a band from Pittsburgh called The Local on their new EP Reverie which you can check out here. And I play on a new record called What Happened to You? from Philly's Backyard Collective which you can check out here. Reppin' both ends of the state, I am!
I think that’s all I’ve got…
P.B. 5/14/18