Live at the New Deal. rob Day 2020.

Live at the New Deal
Live at the New Deal’s Instagram advert…

So – this is something I’ve been working on for the past couple of months, but it really went into high gear in the last week to finish it for today’s BandCamp 100%-to-the-artist-day – whenever we play a show and someone’s like “so, which album best reflects what I just heard” or “which is your favourite” or “where should I start” (since we have a back-catalog of a dozen albums or so – “which one has THIS song on it” – finally, with the exception of that last one, I have a solid answer for all of the above!

And actually, with 22 tracks, probably an answer for the last one too.

Even though she’s not as obvious without the video, Melissa’s influence is strong on the album. It’s safe to say that spontaneous bursts of applause during the album are more about HER than US!

I’m really proud of what we’ve created and for ONCE I’m not tired of listening to an album upon its’ completion. No small part of that is the inclusion of songs from Rowan, whose tunes have slowly been infiltrating their way into our setlists simply cause nudging him towards playing more shows on his own wasn’t working. The LOVE that all of us have for one another is highly on display, the joy and humour – thank you to Kristen for being an amazing cellist, and of course my WIFE and for putting up with this being played so LOUD recently, thanks to Rowan for letting his material join us under the ilyBRELLA, thanks to Sharif even though he’s apparently bought a mic of his own during the quarantine and no-one EVER asked for that, huge thanks to Joey Jenkins who helped in last-second critique and encouragement on TOP of being an amazing drummer (which I think this album really beautifully captures), and of course thanks to my partner Heather Lloyd because we’ve been doing this for 20 years and I think this epitomizes us at our best. And of course thanks to our friends and fans, so many of which can be heard ON THE ALBUM singing happy birthday at the end.
I’m proud of this. Thank you for listening.

Seriously – this album does for me what OTHER people’s Live albums have done – which is to get my mind’s eye making up the narrative of what’s going on on stage. Moments when I’m not just rocking out to this amazing band (that’s ME!!) are spent listening to crowd noise, wondering what that crinkling sound was – making up a whole story and wishing I was there. And I WAS there. SO that’s pretty great.

upComing & inComing

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