Image: Some random artwork I did for the "200 North" single cover. It might turn into a shirt in the future.
Good morning, Friday in late September. Wow, time flies. I woke this morning to the first real chill of autumn. A strange moon out there this day. Here is a little update on Hadder happenings.
Interview: Well looks like my recent interview with Yiannis Dolas over at www.Rockpages.gr came out this week. I have to say Yiannis did a great job. It was really great talking with him. We chatted for about an hour or so one summer night over a zoom call. La to Greece. A discussion about heavy metal music yes, but I would say it was more about life and the art of living. A conversation about grief, hope, loss, passions and choices. I did my best to tell the story of beyond the breakers as honestly as I could. Lots of little things need to happen over long periods of time to complete a record. During that time life doesn’t stop for you… oh no, it barrels along and you have to do your best to not be swept away in the current. I had some moments during this record when I was swept away and that’s part of it too. A few times I awoke on a new beach and had to gather wood so I didn’t freeze and a few times I lost things along the way… I also found some things that washed up on the shore just when I needed them. Well, if you have the time and want to learn a little about the record or want to read about how a dream of a man named Mr Evermore changed my life or how and why a thing called Diamonds Hadder arrived on this earth. Feel free to read the interview over at Rock Pages. It’s a start.
LITR Music Video: So all the filming is done for the new music video but as I suspected October is coming quick. I’m generally well into my first pilgrimage of the year in early October and so I decided to set a release date for the video on All Hallows night. Halloween night is my deadline. That should give me plenty of time to complete the final edits which are pretty extensive. As I was creating this video small ideas started turning into big ideas and so the endeavor has grown a bit larger. There will now be a little sequence before the video which was something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Sometimes ideas linger in me as I’m unable to complete them all. The intro should be a nice surprise and it’s very meaningful to me and to the world of heavy metal here in the states. You’ll know what I mean when you see it… or hear it I might say. I now see this video bleeding over into the next video “Ballad of the Dead Rabbit” which I aim to film this autumn and complete for the end of the year. That’s all a tall task for me but I’ll be striving to complete all that. With the 2 video’s and the record complete, it will free me up for other things around the start of next year. These videos are as important to me as the record. I feel that’s needed to be said. When you make a record, it’s a lot of work… words and rhymes and syllables and poetry and techniques and style and music and felling and emotions all thrown together like an ocean… rising and falling from still to stormy. Each song is a swell. There’s a harmony to a record, a delicate dance. I worked on that a while and at some point, I completed it. At least enough to close that first book. But… it doesn’t end there. I’ve only touched the surface with words and music… now it’s a visual journey I’m on. Its much more than just a video to me. It’s an extension of “Beyond the Breakers”. How dare I release a lyric video or some 2 week mix of generic video clips just so I can feed the hungry content machine monster. You know what, that thing fucking eats whatever you throw at it and its always there to consume. This week, next week… it doesn’t even care what it eats. Shame on it really… and shame on any artist who gets pressured into selling their integrity to timelines and content eating monsters. I suppose there’s a place for it and maybe I just never really fit into it. I’m a visual nerd geek. What can I say, I care about what I’m creating and time doesn’t always want to play nice with me. I’m always fighting time because I care so much. Any who.. the video is going great, I finished scoring some of the opening sequence and another week or so of midnight slo motion post production clips should get me into some final editing around the time I’m packing for my first trip with Ezra this autumn. My first pilgrimage to white mountain in early October should break up the editing workload, which can be a blessing really as it will give me some perspective on that what I’ve done to date while I’m traveling. I generally return from these trips with an overwhelming amount of ideas and I'm sure the same will happen again this year. Lots of little things you hear on the breakers record perhaps came during these travels. Sometimes even a phrase or word movement is enough to shift the tide of a song and these pilgrimages prove fruitful and invaluable in that regard. I’m hoping they do the same for this video. Another reason why I think it’s best sometimes not to rush into things… perspective sometimes needs just a little time to set in. At least it does for me.
Well that’s it for today. The new chill in the air today is like old heroin for me. I sense the woods and leaves and the hillside above BOK and Ezra is grumbling like a crazy fool with a loving grin on her face.
May your days and nights be filled with dreams of magic and wonder, and your heart filled with grace and gratitude. Enjoy your footsteps today, and watch out for all those noisy twigs.
Farewell.
-j