I went to Texas...

...and now it feels weird to be at 8500 ft above sea level again. But, there's something nice about coming home, I love the way it feels, and I missed Woodland Park an awful lot. Still, reuniting with old friends was well worthwhile. In spite of my vague inclination to spend time getting the Pen Saga ready to release by the end of this week, ultimately, I realize if I had gotten it ready by now, it would be rushed, and I would have had to sacrifice some really great times hanging out with people in Texas. The song is definitely coming along. To make it, I've used three different drum loops ("unique" right? haha) four different mandola parts, and an upright bass. Well and my voice but that's a given. It's one of the longer Pen Saga songs, about 5 minutes, and I'm bringing in Hannah Lara, a talented musician who played with me at WaterAid and Acoustic Idol, in to sing lead vocals in the chorus, and to double the vocals in the verses. Stylistically, the song veers towards hard rock/grunge/punk, which is totally not what Hannah usually plays, but I'm trying to subtly push her towards starting a heavy metal ukulele band (not really Hannah, not really). Meanwhile, the song that is supposed to be finished after this one is suprisingly almost totally done. After that one, I'm just going to release the next two as "Album Number One", and start working on Album Number Two. I want to create a fake, utterly absurd radio show to transition between the songs, and if you would like to be a part of that, you should tell me.






Cliff Letters is still working on our current album. I recorded a really fun track with Russell Patterson when I went out to visit, a take of our song Hide the Lions. I might share it, I just need to think about that a little bit. There are an awful lot of songs that I really love, that I really want to record, but there is not an infinite amount of space on a CD. We've recorded two songs so far, and our strategy at the moment is to record as many of our songs as possible so we can make the best possible arrangement for the final product. Everything that has happened in the community has strongly influenced both my writing and the direction of this project. Tyler and I do still want to include different people in this album. If you want your voice to be mixed into the song When You Talk (A song that is on the album for sure), I can send you a preview mp3 and the lyrics! Or if you just come to any of the show's we're having in the future, I will probably mic people humming the main part and work it into the song.

As far as music outside of the Cliff Letters/Pen Saga sphere goes, I would like to post about this new online radio station called, "Local FM". It's been picking up a lot of local artists from all sorts of different genres, and it's a great way to hear all the awesome stuff going on in the Colorado Springs area right now.
Here it is: http://www.live365.com/stations/localfmradio?site=pro
Here is their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/localfmorg

Next song, and so on

I am happy with the response I had to Caller Number Ten. Well, as a song. No one has really guessed, so I suppose I'll just drop that side of the idea and keep making music. Life has been pretty crazy lately. And by crazy I mean swaying between somewhat cataclysmic to, ya know, alright. During times like that, I try to minimize my time around the internet. I don't want to write pity-party blog posts any more than you want to read them, and so, I avoid being online too often. I have been working on the next song, which is coming along pretty well. It's around 5 minutes long, and stylistically, I would call it more rock than...whatever Caller Number Ten was. I'd really like to feature a girl in the chorus, because I write from the Girl's perspective, and I don't want to sing that part. I featured Kyla Valenti and Corban Roberts in the third song, which I started before the other because it was a little bit complicated, and I didn't even really have a melody for it yet.

Also, today is the day my band Cliff Letters officially started our first album, which I'm both excited and nervous for. Both of those words are understatements. What I've written is something that I believe in, but fear that I can't do justice to. While we don't have a set list of songs, we have a body of about 20+ songs we could use. I want to make those into an album that can mean something to someone, that can have an impact on them; like the first time I listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire or Floating World by Anathallo. Not to say I want our album to sound either of those, I don't, but I do want to create something meaningful.

With all of that said, hopefully I'll have time to keep blogging, which I greatly prefer to vlogging, which is probably one of my least favorite things to do. Please recommend the Pen Saga to your friends, and email me if you have any questions/guesses.

tvilgiate@hotmail.com
http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com