We’re going live, limbering up for a full night of raw, exhilaration in the months ahead. For now, we’ll be debuting at Redline Tap in Chicago’s Roger’s Park neighborhood for a set at the International Pop Overthrow festival 2016! Here’s what you need to know.
Yesterday’s rehearsal went well : )
See you at Redline!
It is with sincere gratitude and great enthusiasm that I can announce the fundraising goal for the King Mixer album has officially been reached! Surpassed, actually! This was made possible by a friendly donation from someone who opted to hire me for a house party at the ‘Gold Event’ level, via GoFundMe.com. I’ll play a summer bash for them in the months ahead, meanwhile the band is rehearsing for the album release show while I launch press releases to media outlets big and small about the release of ‘Hang On’, from King Mixer. Date and venue for the release show is being worked out this week! You can listen to the King Mixer singles off the album HERE. Thanks to all who backed this project, and we look forward to playing the songs live, with you in the house, very soon! Stay tuned, boppers…stay tuned.
Anything worth doing takes time and care. That’s what they tell us, anyway. In the case of the King Mixer debut, I’ve found this old adage to be true. Over the course of the past year and a half, this record has taken many turns (ouch!), songs have shape-shifted, lyrics have been trashed and rewritten, great musical guests have stepped in and out, songs have been selected, recorded and dropped, sonic directions rerouted. All in the name of creating my best work yet. So in that spirit it makes perfect sense that the record, originally to be titled “Music On The Bones”, would suddenly receive a name change at the final hour. Literally during the mastering stage.
You have to listen to the wind when making an album. What you thought you were writing about isn’t always something to get locked into. By the time you’re ready to go public, many of the thoughts and circumstances which initially inspired the music have given way to a more modern feeling or tone. There were strong starts…then sudden stops while making this record. Then we’d start up the engine again…get it rolling along…and due to somebody’s schedule change or a momentary drop in budget…stalled again. Then the mixing of the record. Mixing, mixing, always King Mixing with Reuben Baird at Chicago Sound Lab for months at a time, all through last winter. Then I finished mixing several final songs off the record myself, in my home studio. This took awhile. I’m not much of a tech guy, I have minimal gear and I mix things more or less on instinct, trial and error, and you know, with my ears. Meanwhile my album backers were getting antsy. Fair enough. 
Amen. So as the King Mixer album drew to a necessary conclusion last month, in it’s final stages, I decided to listen to the wind and title the album both what I’ve been saying to people in recent months, what our production team repeatedly stated over the course of the past year, and also what I’ve been feeling and saying to myself for awhile now: ‘Hang On’.
I’m excited to announce the King Mixer album ‘Hang On’ is currently being replicated for CD and will be available in CD and digital formats in October 2015. Keep it here for details on a Chicago release show and more! Almost there…Hang on!
King Mixer
Read More »Recorded partly at Chicago Recording Company and also at Parka Studios in Berwyn, IL, ‘Zookeepers’ (side A) and ‘45′ (side B) marks the launch of new King Mixer music in 2015.
Both a CD single and a vinyl 7″ format will be released in the coming months. Meanwhile you can enjoy both tracks digitally HERE and HERE
Produced by ace sound designer/audiophile Christian Cullen along with King Mixer, both Zookeepers and 45 are standout meditations on the subject of father time and paradise perhaps lost. There’s a psychedelic quality to both tunes, but when paired together each song has its own unique individual energy which may wind up being the standard for King Mixer music: Same songwriter, same producer, same studios, same time frame = a deliberately different vibe, striking in both songs. 45 was originally billed as the official A side, but fans who opted into crowdfunding this project got a sneak preview of the singles and now insist that Zookeepers take center stage. Both sides beckon repeated listening. Download now and feel free to comment on which side you prefer~
Read More »King Mixer is both band name and my personal moniker for all my original music. You can read all about it in the ABOUT section of this site. Music On The Bones is the name of the upcoming album from King Mixer, poised for release in summer of 2015 with subsequent tour dates to follow . I’m excited about this new collection of edgy guitar driven rock songs I’ve been working on for the past nine months! This baby is about ready to pop… Rock music driven by vocal harmonies and the quest for inclusion in The Great American Songbook. Songs to sing along with in the car that will haunt you in your sleep (as they have haunted me). Songs of redemption and the notion that your soul just may be awakening from a deep slumber, RIGHT NOW. That’s Music On The Bones. Did we crack it? Only you and time will tell, but the first single will give you a taste of what’s to come: ’45′ will be released (naturally) on 7 inch vinyl in early 2015 (along with its B side, ‘Zookeepers’). Listen and download the new singles HERE
Looking forward to bringing you the new album this year!
All the best,
Fan Love