Hey Hi - Blog 1

In this section, I am going to share some thoughts randomly. I spend my time often being awake late at night, and seriously, it's hard to believe that cable TV can keep getting any worse. So sometimes I may just "meander"!

Next week I am back in the studio working on some songs for a new album. Yeah, I still call them albums. By that, I am not meaning vinyl, CD or any specific platform. These days, they all need to be included. What I mean is a collection of songs that really should be heard together.

That's something I think people really miss out on today. When I was a kid, I'd hang out for a new release of my favorite artists. I'd get the album (vinyl or cassette) plug in my headphones and play it at least 5 times all the way through. A good album took me on a journey. The song list was important, as was dynamics and the lyrical journey. They were all aspects that made it feel like I knew the artist more personally. I gained insight into who they were.
You simply cannot get that through a single. One song is like bumping into someone on the street and talking about the weather. Over the 40 - 45 minutes of a full album, you have time to get beneath the surface and actually make a connection.

And to me, that's what music is about. It connects us, not just to each other, but to something bigger than our sum.
Our whole universe and physical realm are built upon scientific and mathematical principles that simply cannot be explained as chance. Music, harmonic structures, scales etc, are based on physics and maths. They are built upon universal principals.  I don't for one minute pretend to understand this, but I know I connect with it.
Just as air sustains my life, I do not need to understand the complexities of how its made, sustained and functions, in order to benefit from it.

I believe that music and in fact most art connects us to a higher existence.  Some people (like me) call that God, others an unknown presence or universal energy. The terminology doesn't matter nor does the fact that this is something we merely sense, but cannot logically identify. I've often read about people who have had near-death experiences, claiming to hear the most beautiful music they have ever heard, while not being able to describe it. Was this a real experience or an inner brain reaction? I don't know. What I do think is that in those moments/seconds/hours, they have tapped into the real energy and vibrations of the universe. And I am sure that if we could hear the perfection of the universe, it would be the most beautiful music imaginable.

I think when we make music we tap into some form of that energy/vibration. Now, of course, most of the time we all just scape around the edges, do our best, but never really connect to the source. Occasionally someone does really tap into it, and true art is created.

But I think its that search for such a connection and the feeling of comfort artists get in being in that realm, which drives artists forward. I also think that not being able to sustain that connection, between the physical world that we know and the spiritual world we sense through the artistic vibrations, is why so many wonderful artists have struggled to deal with daily life.

I am constantly amazed by how so many business people, who have spent their lives focused internally, have a desire to connect with music. I think it fills a void in many lives.

Now I have no illusion that in recording my new "album" I will reach such spiritual hieghts. But shit, I may as well give it a go!