May 7, 2024
I am SO excited to write this entry!
SO much good stuff on the horizon!
I literally feel like a giddy little kid
on Christmas Eve lol!
SO where to start? haha…
FIRST… we have a date for
our album release SHOW!
Technically we’re waiting on a
couple of things before we can
officially confirm it with
the venue, but they’d like to book
us for one of the first 2 Fridays
in November! AH!
So can I tell you why I’m giddy??
This place is called
The Rebel Lounge, and if you’ve
gotten to know me well enough
by now you know that my hometown
heroes are Jimmy Eat World
(we all grew up in Mesa, Arizona).
Well… Jim Adkins the lead singer
performed for his very first time in
his life on a stage at…
can you guess? THE REBEL LOUNGE.
I’ve played several local venues in
AZ but never here!
Jimmy Eat World’s Futures album
was a big inspiration behind
naming the band “Fenwick & the
Futures” as well so it feels like
fate that this opportunity would
open up for us there for our big
album release show!
If you’re not local to AZ,
NOT TO WORRY!
This show signifies the KICK OFF
to many upcoming performances
hopefully at a venue near you as
soon as possible! If you live near
Arizona (like Utah, Las Vegas,
SoCal or New Mexico…
heck even Texas or Colorado
WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU
in November! Otherwise, we’ll
see you at a venue nearer to
you hopefully not too much longer
than November. It’s gonna be
A BLAST THO.
So… why else am I giddy?
Well… it’s kind of mixed feelings
about this next item of news,
but still exciting… due to our
upcoming focus on live
performances I am trading in our
electronic drum kit for an acoustic
one! The electronic one is great for
in the studio, but a little more
cumbersome on the road and on
stage… so many cables to plug in
and so many electronics that could
go wrong in a performance. Plus
it’s WAY more fun to play on
and see an acoustic kit on stage
even though our electric one is
“disguised” as an acoustic one
haha… (it’s not like one of those
tiny video game GuitarHero drum
kits lol). They’re actually full size
drum shells with the electronics
built in them. I am going to miss it,
especially since it is way quieter in
the home than an acoustic kit will
be. We just don’t have the space
(or money) to have both.
The new one I’ve had my eyes on
for the trade-in is BEAUTIFUL
though! Fingers crossed the trade
goes smoothly and that the music
shop won’t undercut us on the deal
we’re asking for…
LAST but not least! I have NOT
been able to get my mind off this
for the last couple of weeks.
In fact, it’s been driving me
bonkers finishing the writing of
this final song on the album…
but before I get into explaining
it all, here is the final decided
track listing for the upcoming
“Beautiful, Terrible” album:
1- Shadow/Light
2- When the devil Calls (Da Ta Na)
3- Find Yourself
4- The Reckoning
5- Thanks But No Thanks
6- When Words Fail
7- Stay Awake
8- Beautiful, Terrible I: Clarity
9- Beautiful, Terrible II: Duality
10- Beautiful, Terrible III: Reality
Seeing it written out in order like
this is all so beautiful 🤩
So if you’ve been following this
process closely, you may realize
that track 2 used to be called
“Beautiful, Terrible” after the
album name. While the lyrics in
there do include the term
“beautiful, terrible” a couple
times (at least presently they do)
the original title of the song
when I first wrote it was
“When the devil Calls” and it
just feels like it matches the
overall theme of the song better
too. BUT this angsty/attitude song
that I’ve been mentioning working
on in some of my recent Studio
Journal entries?? Well… that song
has NOW turned into
THREE PART epic song movements
we’re calling the
Beautiful, Terrible trilogy!
SO SO SO excited for this! I’ve
always wanted to write and
put out a song like this.
And literally? It’s not written in
traditional verse/chorus format
AT ALL. Just like a symphonic or
orchestral piece is usually written,
it has 3 movements that flow
from one to the next! There is
no repeating of sections at all!
Y’ALL. I literally cried writing it.
NO JOKE. It felt like one of those
pieces that literally hit me from
somewhere outside of me out in
the Universe. Don’t get me wrong
though it has been a STRUGGLE
to make sure everything is written
accordingly.. I actually verbally out loud PLEADED with the Universe
to PLEASE not let me botch it up
haha! It seriously feels that special…
So there are a few key changes
throughout the 3 movements
which means I have things like my
vocal range to consider haha!
Also Sam and Sarah will also BOTH
be singing it, so I had to especially
make sure that with all the key
changes that when it gets to
Sarah’s part, it’s in a comfortable
range for her… so everything
preceding it has to be in the right
keys in order to transition and
land in the right place for her voice.
ALSO it was Sam’s idea to also
include a hidden bonus track at
the very end of Part 3 which I’M
SO EXCITED to talk about in a
future Studio Journal as it will
involve as many people as we can
cram into my little studio hehe!
But SHH it’s a hidden track for a
reason! You are the first to know
about it! (sorry for slightly spoiling
the surprise here, but you are the
FIRST to know about it!)
Alrighty, that about does it for
this entry! Thank you as always
for being here and reading
these words!