Bill Swann: News

Yes, I am terrible at keeping this site updated. I like to think I have good excuses, but . . . ?
The truth is I simply hate dealing with a website. I will try to do better because I know there are a few people who are interested in knowing where gigs are, etc.

After two summers of work, thousands of dollars, a few backaches and bruises, my basement studio is now finished. I moved gear in last weekend and have already been able to begin work on some of the 8 or so songs that I mentioned in a previous post. I am excited and optimistic about the new stuff.

BS

I've pulled the guestbook down because I was having to remove spam from businesses trying to direct traffic to their sites. If I figure out how to solve that issue I'll put it back. Thanks to those of you who posted there . . .

Eight of a planned 10 or 11 songs are written for a new CD. It is always hard to tell whether or not something is good enough for release until it is finished and has had some time to percolate through the brain and ears for a while. But, hopefully most, if not all, of those eight tracks will be ready at some point in the near future. The studio construction is taking most of my time so I will not speculate as to a finé for this project. With regard to the studio, what I'm really building is a room in which I can do most of the mixing and direct tracking. Live tracking will continue to be done in my office and in the recital hall at MC. I can get much better sounding results there than with anything I could build on my own.

Summer break is finally here. I love my job, but this break in the summer is a great way to get my chops, both writing and playing, back in shape. I will be adding a studio to my basement this summer while simultaneously trying to write and record songs in my office. That may be too ambitious--time will tell. Either way, when the studio is finished I will definitely be able to make more progress recording than I can currently. Here's to HomeDepot!

In addition to physical CDs being available for purchase at CDBaby, all three CDs are available now for download purchase through iTunes. Click the "BUY" button above to get to the links.

Thank you to all of the recent customers in Japan. It is always neat to see how the internet lets music from one small area spread over the planet--very cool.

Still working on tunes and concept for new CD. I will begin tracking in early June. I am envisioning a very piano-oriented CD, with vocals, that walks the jazz/rock tightrope. I also intend to use fewer tracks to get a more stripped-down sound. On "No Bears" and "Zoloft" on the CD One World Over I simply improvised a piano part to a click track then added the other parts around it. I think those songs had an interesting vibe because of the improvisatory nature of the foundational track. So, I'm planning on that being the guiding method for the new CD.

Thanks to everyone who purchased one of my discs. "Three" is popular enough to require a second printing of CDs. They should be arriving in the next 2 weeks at CD Baby for online ordering. Thanks again!

Work on a new set of compositions is under way. I have no time-frame for things, but I imagine that June will be the first push to begin recording. My vision at this point is to find a middle ground between the rock-oriented sound of the first two CDs and the straight-ahead jazz sound of the third CD. Vocals? I think so, even though I definitely don't think of myself as a jazz vocalist. I expect the sound to be mostly based around piano, bass, and drums like a jazz trio, but with a harmonic integration of jazz and rock (sounds a bit like fusion doesn't it?).