I got COVID early in the game - back in February of 2020. It hit me pretty hard. I was off work for a month. And that summer, there were still times when I had a hard time catching my breath. No lingering effects at this point though.
I worked from home through most of 2020 and 2021. My challenge was the same as yours: how to avoid being completely sedentary when mostly confined to the homestead. It was especially hard during the winter months when the weather was bad. I spend a lot of time in my living room. The good thing is, my record shelves and book shelves are close by. The bad thing is, the fridge and the pantry are too. I found that lulls during the day were too often filled with trips to the kitchen.
To avoid turning into a total potato, my first thought was to buy some home workout equipment and I did a pretty good job sticking to that work. I started filling some of the lulls with exercise. But I found the bigger challenge to be: how to occupy my mind. If I was snacking because I was bored, maybe the best solution would be to avoid getting bored in the first place. One way I’ve always been able to occupy myself for hours on end is by making beats. So, starting last November - when the weather turned gloomy and cold - I made beats. That was the genesis of the King Of Drums album.
I didn’t know it would be an album at first. I was just messing around. But I kept adding more and more detail to my sketches. I ended up making a full instrumental album - complete with turntable work - before I wrote any lyrics. Never did it that way before. I was dreading writing lyrics, to be honest. That’s a deep pool to have to jump into and taking the leap is always a little bit daunting. But one day I plugged my nose and jumped. And once I got started, I couldn’t stop.
So when I had a finished album on my hands, I was faced with a question: what do I do with this thing? The obligations of my old recording contract were fulfilled with the release of my last album in 2014. So I didn’t “owe” the record to anyone. What to do with it? First thing I did: I made a list of friends and people I know who I thought would like the record. There are 15 names on that list. So I went around town looking for blank cassettes, thinking I’d make dubs and send them to the people on the list. Then I had another idea.
I contacted a couple of vinyl-pressing places, hoping I could find someone who would be willing to press 50 copies. I did find such a place. I figured I’d get the records pressed, then I’d order 50 plain white sleeves. I’d do handmade artwork for 20 copies or so, give those to friends, and then leave the remaining 30 in a box in my basement until I croak. That was the plan.
As of today, six or seven have heard the album (the audio clip at the top of this post is a dirty box-to-box dub of a clip of one of the new songs). The first person to hear it was my friend Tommy, known professionally as Controller 7 (beat-maker/musician/hip hop producer extraordinaire). After hearing it, he got in my ear and convinced me to do more with the album than let it collect mold in my basement. He went so far as to help find a label to put it out. So, it’s coming. The hope is to have cassettes and CDs in June, if all goes well. It will be available digitally too, of course. Keep an eye on the Bandcamp page. Vinyl will happen but as you’ve probably heard, pressing plants are backed up these days and so that could take a while. People seem to be saying it takes six-to-eight months to turn around vinyl now.
So, like I said, I basically made this record to give myself something to do during the winter of my COVID discontent. And it wasn’t the first time. I did something similar during the first wave. As you may or may not know, I helped out with an album called Billy with the aforementioned Controller 7 in early 2020. In fact, I wrote and recorded a lot of my parts when I was sick with COVID. There’s a song or two where I sound sick as a dog. It’s real.
Tommy approached me with the idea in late 2019. He sent me a full instrumental version of the album right at Christmastime in 2019. He said he liked the idea of the album telling one big, continuous story. That sparked a memory. You know how sometimes someone will write a novelization of a popular movie? I always thought it would be a fun idea to turn a movie into an album. I thought of the movie Buffalo ’66 and mentioned it to Tommy. He reminded me that when we first met, we kinda bonded over discussion of that movie. Vincent Gallo (who made Buffalo ’66) is a friend of mine and I figured he’d be okay with the idea. So we ran with it! I love how it turned out. Check it out, if you haven’t already. And by the way: vinyl for Billy is in the works too. Pre-order here.
All of this is to say, thank you, Tommy. You pulled me out of my long hibernation. You’ve inspired me so much. I’ve said it before - you’re the only artist I can think of who’s never made ANYTHING that I haven’t LOVED. You’re the only one.
So. Tommy played a big role in the new album. COVID played a role. In the next few posts, I’ll get into how two other things played roles: my return to playing competitive baseball seven or eight years ago AND the work that I put into my hidden Instagram account.
Hey - real quick - if you know anyone who might be interested in our get-together here, let ‘em know. It’s appreciated.
Until next time…
