Image: Artwork cover for "Beyond the Breakers" digital release, July 14th 2023.
Good morning rabbits, What’s new. Well, my apologies for not doing the weekly updates this summer. I have been busy working on things, so let me catch you up on some Hadder happenings.
Bella: It’s July and summer is in full swing in LA. To start, I’ve been tending to my girl Bella who has been diagnosed with the Big C word. Bella is my Japanese Tosa Inu. Me and her go back a long way, more than a decade. She’s actually the inspiration for Ezra from the Hadder tale. It’s hard to imagine a life without her and it’s been hard on me as of late. She’s still here today and I’m spending a lot of quality time with her now. It’s that season of my life I suppose.
Digital Release: I’ve been hard at work finalizing the record for release and trying to do everything I can when I can. The record officially drops on the 14th of July. So, about a week or so away. When I say drop, that just means it will be available world wide through the normal digital distribution services. Somewhere between my last update and now I finalized all the artwork for the record. A cover for each track as well as the artwork for the record as a whole. If you’ve been following along at all, you know that it was a little process, finding the cover that I wanted. I figured it would come down to the last few weeks. I decided on this piece of art that represents a form of Hader during some time of his life, that thing that embodied me after the fires… he's standing on my hill on corral canyon, with his imaginary friends… the ones that inspired the “Ballad of the dead Rabbit”. The wolf that came... the black bird... the rabbits.... When I was growing up I wanted to be a fantasy artist. I was inspired by mysterious record covers. I would stare at them while listening to records. And so this is the cover I think I can stare at and wonder about as I listen to this “Beyond the Breakers” record myself.
Music Video: So what else? I’ve been recording and working on the music video for “Long is the Road”. I’ve got about 2 weeks in on it now, it will probably take a month or two to get near some finality on it. It’s looking pretty cool for now. I’m using some new technologies on it, see how that plays out. I’ve converted my LA dwelling into a stage with lights and such... and I picked up a few new tracking camera tricks this spring… let’s see if I can pull it all together before autumn.
Merch: With all the artwork for the record done. I’ve begun some artwork adaptations for merch. I’ve also hired a few other designed to do some adaptations of the artwork as well. I’m guessing sometime before I leave for my winter pilgrimages, there should be a shirt or two for sale to commemorate this “Beyond the Breakers” record.
Rehearsals: The idea lingers in my mind although it simply hasn’t become the priority yet. Soon, with the record dropping, merch happening and a video or two coming in the near future.. I suppose rehearsals will happen. I actually looked at a place 3 weeks ago, a tower behind the wall of my former 408 tower, and was ready to sign a lease to start rehearsals, but someone else took it last minute… fate perhaps... so I think it’s just a matter of time now. I’m on LA waiting lists for the kind of room I’m looking for… I hear rumors of 408 opening soon… so, we’ll see. I miss it and I’m certainly looking forward to making some loud noises again with my trusty dented sure 58.
“Beyond the Breakers” Vinyl: I plan on pressing vinyl for this project. It’s something that won’t be available for a while as the lead time for pressing vinyl take months. I’m working on the artwork layout and trying to sort out all the processes, mastering for vinyl, plate cutting, pressing, vinyl color, printing.. ect. A lot of thing go into pressing a record and so I’m slowing connecting all those dots this summer. If I was to guess, I would say it will be available late this year to early next year. Excited to have this endeavor sealed up on vinyl, music and artwork and words. It should look really cool if I have anything to do with it.
Well that’s all for now. I decided to halt work on my video today so that I could do a little update.
Please wish the best things you can for my girl Bella. I’ll tell her you said hello.
God bless.
-the dead rabbit
Video Info: Video narration for "Kilwaughter: The Dream Coin the Rail and the Queen"