What's Happenin'? Serious Business Business Update
Hi. This is Travis. I'm going to take a few minutes to inform you what
Serious Business Records has been up to so far in 2010. Even if you care,
you could find this tedious.
New shit...
THE TWO MAN GENTLEMEN BAND: Dos Amigos Una Fiesta
The sixth album from the Gentlemen was recorded in glorious mono by me
at Serious Business in April 2010. Richard Morris and I mixed it. He
mastered it. Jarrod Engel supplied his ample man ears. Andy Bean and the Councilman supplied their finest
song-batch yet. The entire record was recorded live to 2" tape with no
overdubs. Song titles include "I Like to Party With Girls," "There's
Something in My Trousers," "Going Into Business," and of course the
sweet ass Grammy magnet "Me, I Get High on Reefer." This will be out
officially in the Fall. If you happen to catch the Gentlemen on the road this summer you are likely to find the CD for sale already. Please feel free to pre-order the CD here. It will ship on or before the release date, AUGUST 31, 2010.
Here is a sneak peek of the guys recording the title track at Serious Business.
THE UNSACRED HEARTS: The Honor Bar
There is also The Honor Bar which to chief Hearts Joe and Dave and I
has been the album we've been working on since late 2006. Mind you we
work very sporadically so it isn't like we've been slaving away or
anything. It sounds like a slow motion photograph. This record has a
warm and cohesive sound which might surprise someone who only knows us
from In Defense of Fort Useless (2006) which was gloriously scattered.
The Honor Bar can be played in one's home while one is chilling out
drinking tea with one's special lady friend. And then there is this
little EP called Night Shift at the Hawk Refinery which sports more loud rock and which will
undoubtedly reveal itself as a free EP soon. To summarize, we are trying really hard to finish The Honor Bar. For now, enjoy downloading and listening to "I Am Joe." THE UNSACRED HEARTS - I Am Joe by seriousbusiness
ROCKETSHIP PARK: Cakes & Cookies
This record has been gestating slowly since as early as 2006 but most
of it has happened in the past year or two. It is safe to describe
this record as a little more "up" than its predecessor Off and Away but that alone would be doing it a great disservice. Josh continues to prove himself as a songwriter capable of cutting deep.
Josh enlisted performances from the usual suspects: Eric
Jackson, Brian Kantor, Annie Nero, Mike Phillips, Dawn Landes, Bryan
Devendorf (the National), me, engineer Halsey Quemere. Chances are there'll be a little
supplementary EP called Nuts and Bolts that will emerge too and this
puppy has a sweet title track with a lead vocal from Lauren Balthrop.
Release date? Who knows? It is in bad form to be talking about this stuff right now at all since things change and nothing is 100% official yet. But I'm an emotional guy (50% Sicilian) and I'm excited. We're really close to finishing the mixes which sound very alive and three-dimensional and exciting to my ears and then Jamal Ruhe is probably going to expertly master it for us this summer up at
West West Side and then we'll let you know what's up.
BENJI COSSA has a record brewing that is blowing my mind as we work on
it and hopefully we will get it done and into your earholes before too
long. There are a lot of songs. Over thirty. They are all golden hits.
This is the second record Benji and I have worked on together at the
Serious Business studio in NYC (the first was Benji Cossa and the
Tightens). Here is "Annie Delia" which was originally leaked on our year end sampler in December but has since been altered with more harmonies and some sweet horns. BENJI COSSA - Annie Delia by seriousbusiness
HIGGINS also has follow-up to Zs in progress which the last time I
spoke with Kevin was going to be called Straight As. Again, it is in poor taste to reveal this at such an early stage. He also had an
amazing cover idea but you know how these things go and it is early in
the game. The band recorded some basic tracks last year with me at
Serious Business and some more with our buddy Jamal Ruhe in a big ass
upstate NY church. Kevin has been pruning these tracks since then but
has been distracted by life, work and love (aren't we all) and none of
these tracks have reached the mixing stage so it is safe to say at
this point we won't be getting Straight A's for a while. Early 2011 at the soonest. That doesn't
mean you shouldn't be excited however. Back in December Higgins
visited me for the first Casual Business session. Now we haven't
dropped this session on the Internet yet because we're trying to get
that project rolling a little bit before we jam all kinds of Serious
Business bands up inside of it. But believe me when I say Higgins
brought it that day and these recordings of old classix, new hits and
a deep old Turtles number will be in your ears for free this summer.
Kevin also recorded a version of a new Benji Cossa song called Leaving
Hell last year and why haven't I finished mixing that yet? Your ears
need this! Jesus, I have so much work to do!
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...and more (... a tease ...): There is another big project underway that will emerge
out of the ether this fall/winter and you'll be very pleased to find out what
it is. You'll find out when it is the right time.
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...aaaand I can't help myself but to inform you that I am now a new proud daddy and Ruby Roses Harrison is my baby daughter. She was born on July 7, 2010. She rules:
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