End of the Year

After Sunday evening’s show, I had about six hours in the car by myself to get home from the venue.  I had the masters of the album tracks with me, so I decided to pop the disc in and listen.  Now, of course I’ve heard them a thousand times, but I wanted to just drive and listen to the music like it was just that; music.  Not like it was our album that we’ve been messing with for the better part of 2013, but just some songs.  For the first time since we started recording I actually heard the songs as finished products, not critiquing and trying to think of things to make them better, just listening and enjoying the music.  I must say, I’m really proud of what we’ve done with this record.  I think it is really difficult to know what you want to do when you are doing all the recording, producing, mixing, editing, and mastering yourselves.  Are we trying to go for that “Nashville Sound” that you hear on the radio all the time, or are we going for something more raw and real.  I think probably somewhere in the middle.  The one thing I do know is that when we record our own music, we want it to reflect us as a band.  And that may sound simple and logical, but it’s not easy to do.  On the record you will definitely hear ‘us’, but a little more also.  It doesn’t sound just like we do on stage, but it hopefully we are able to do the songs justice when we play them live.  We tried to make each song unique.  From the style of writing, to the way we recorded each one, even to the way they were mixed.  One of our goals was to have a record where each song sounded different; where you couldn’t really label us.  And I think we were able to accomplish that goal, at least for the most part.

So anyway, I was listening to the songs as I was driving and a few things surprised me.  For one thing, I caught myself bobbing my head to several of the tracks.  I never do that with my own music.  Then there’s an acoustic song that I couldn’t stop listening to.  I must have played it about 20 times.  The song is called “Friends Like These” and is my thank you to all our fans that come to the shows and make it worth it for us to be out on the road away from our families all the time.  It’s a really simple stripped down song, just two acoustic guitars and vocals, but I think I’m more proud of my vocal track on this song than on any other song I’ve ever recorded.  I think just because the song is so truthful for me; it is not a commercial song at all, and I would never expect to hear it on the radio, but I wanted to include it on the album b/c it most directly reflects our relationship with our fans.     So it is probably my favorite track on the album, but not one that I ever expected to really like listening to myself.  And I have to say how impressed I am with some of the performances that Kevin gave on this album.  Some of the things he did on guitar throughout the record show what a talented and dedicated musician he really is.  Like on the song I was just talking about, he found a way to make an acoustic guitar sound so incredible, and made his solo speak, without overpowering the rest of the song.  Or how on the song “What They Say” in the second verse he made the background filler guitar so dirty, yet fit right into place and really improve the entire song with just that guitar.  Or even at the end of “Moonshine at Midnight” where he was able to flawlessly go back and forth between acoustic and electric lead solos while making them almost blend together.  I’m just so impressed with the work he did on this record, and I don’t think I can appropriately describe how much of a positive influence his playing had on this album.  I hope he is as proud of it as I am.   Well, I guess what I’m saying is that while listening to the songs on the drive home, I became very proud of the work we’ve done, and I am so excited to get the music out for you all to hear.  I really think there is something for everyone on this album, whether you really like country music or not.

Well, it’s the end of 2013.  We’ve played a ton of shows in hundreds of towns, in about 15 different states this year.  We completed an album, made a band member change, added new lights to the show, made a new stage backdrop and got a new banner, added stage gear, added new merch, and I’m sure several other things that I’m not remembering right now.  Sometimes playing to thousands of people, other times playing to less than a hand full, but always trying to have fun and be (if nothing else) entertaining.  It has been a fun year for the band.  Hopefully you all have enjoyed us being out there as much as we have.  What’s your favorite MDB moment from the past year?  We’d love to hear some stories you have from our time in your towns.  Feel free to email me some of them (michaeldband@gmail.com), and maybe I’ll be able to share them with everyone else on here.  But now we’re looking ahead to 2014.   So I think to myself, is this the year that we make that giant leap forward with our career?  If you read the last blog, you know I’m really hoping it is (the thought keeps me up at night).  I will say this: if I may make a collective New Years Resolution for the band, it will be to work as hard as we can every day.  My goal is to do at least 1 thing every day that moves us closer to that ultimate goal; to take no days completely off.  Maybe you all can hold me to that resolution; make sure I’m working hard every day to get this band to the next level.  And I’ll hold you to your resolutions as well (okay, no I won’t be doing that). 

I do want to take a moment to tell you all how important you have been for us, and to say thank you for listening to our music and coming out to our shows.  It really doesn’t matter to me who you are, or where you come from: male or female, white or black, straight or gay, Christian or Muslim or Atheist, or whatever else and everything in between.  If you’ve enjoyed our show, or liked our music, or even just stuck around for a while in the back of the club listening, then we really do appreciate you.  For us, the most important thing in the world is that you enjoy our music; that in some small way, the music we play influences you.  As musicians, that’s where we get our kicks.   That’s the high for me – when someone comes up and says “I really like that new song of yours” – that’s the best feeling.  Or when we’re singing one of our songs and I can see someone in the crowd singing along; they know the lyrics to our stuff well enough to sing them with us.  That is so cool for me (actually, listen to the chorus of “Friends Like These”.  That’s exactly what I am talking about here).  And my favorite compliment that we get from people is this: “You know, I don’t really like country music, but I really enjoyed your show tonight”.  That we can help someone enjoy something they initially don’t even like, wow.  That blows me away.  So to sum this long babbling ‘thanks’ up, let me say that I am humbled by all of you; every time you come to the show, every time you get out on the dance floor, every time you cheer after a song, every time you stay until the end of the night, every time you come back; just being there and supporting our music and our band really touches me.  And thank you for being interested in our lives. 

Lastly, several people have commented lately that they’ve been enjoying reading these.  And I thought just maybe two or three of you were out there reading.  Apparently a few more of you out there want to know what’s going on, which is awesome.  So, because I told him I would, here’s a shout out to my good friend DT who lives in down in Texas.  I hope we make it down there soon so you and Gil can make it out to a show!  For everyone else out there, if you are enjoying reading the posts let me know.  Maybe we can do a shout out to people all over the country… or maybe that’s stupid and no one cares, I don’t know.    But as always, I want to end by giving a shout out to all our websites and social media pages.  So please make sure you check out our WEBSITE, as well as our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages.  And you know what would be really cool?  For everyone out there to take about 20 minutes to invite all of their Facebook friends to “LIKE” our fan page.  If you don’t know how to do it, EMAIL me and I’ll tell you how.  Again, thanks for reading.  Be safe out there this New Years Eve.  Hopefully we see you very soon next year.