Check out the new album trailer below, with video by James Cheeks III.
Hello all. I’m trying to do a better job of writing in here at moments besides when an album has just come out. There are two bits of news I want to share with you guys, so this seemed like a good opportunity.
One is a one-off live show in Los Angeles in two weeks time, July 28th at 8PM at Molly Malone’s. It’s been six years since the last date at Molly’s, and I hope to see your beautiful faces there. It’s 21+ and $12 at the door.
Second: news of my 8th full-length. In May, I took a group of guys into rehearsals for two days in L.A. to learn/rehearse songs for Gateway Drugs, my eighth album. It’s a record focused on adolescence, specifically the high school years of ages 14-18. Befitting of a project that touches on nostalgia, I’m bringing back some long gone familiar faces to fill out the band for this record, making for mini-reunions with bandmates from two of my previous bands.
On drums we’ll have Drew Langan. While he’s never played on a Marc M. Cogman record, we did work together in 2010 in my aggro-punk side project Love Song at the Apocalypse. As Gateway Drugs is on the more aggressive side musically, I thought Drew was the perfect choice to inject even more energy into the new songs.
Meanwhile, an even more familiar face is joining the band on electric guitar: Rob Leifer. One of my best friends for 20+ years now, he and I played in bands together for 7 years, most recently The Neon Calm, which disbanded in 2006 when I went solo and started making Welcome to the Danger Show. While he’s popped up once or twice over the years (on “Understudy” and “Need a Hero” on Anthems), and he was also a founding member of Love Song at the Apocalypse, this is the first time he’ll contribute significantly to one of my solo albums.
Mainstays Frogs and Steve McDonald will also play on the record, as per usual, and Madi Pearce will return on backing vocals.
In September, we’ll head to Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas for tracking and hopefully have Gateway Drugs out for you in early 2023. Check this space for more content on the making of the record. I’m very excited to share these new songs with you.
I hope to see you Angelenos in a couple weeks. For everyone else, as always, thanks for listening.
-Marc
Every time I’ve released a record since 2011’s Anthems, I’ve sat down to write a small essay to accompany it. I don’t know where the idea came from – maybe those occasional cryptic ramblings found in Dylan LPs, maybe my own habits as a compulsive letter writer and diarist. In any case, it affords me a moment to step back and consider the artifact as a whole and offer any last statements on what it all means for me.
The fact is, if I’ve done my job as a lyricist, I shouldn’t have to write a thousand words to drive home the message of an album, literal or spiritual or emotional or otherwise. It’s there. It’s supposed to be, anyway. Sometimes, however, a little context helps. It can explain, for example, why a record released in 2017 sounds like it was made in 1995, or why an album by a “solo artist” is accompanied by a band photo. And now, I might explain very briefly why I, a man who has raised no children, has suddenly and without warning delivered an extraordinarily personal, emotional, and autobiographical record called Daughters and Sons.
I’ll tell you a story. In December of 2019, a woman living on the east coast reached out to me via 23 and Me. She wanted me to know that through a donor program I’d been a part of nearly two decades before, I was the father of her beautiful 13 year-old daughter and asked if I wanted to see pictures. Ever since my rather esoteric “job” in college, I’d wondered if one day such a conversation would happen. But there was so much I hadn’t counted on, even outside of all that happened in the intervening years and how those events intensified my feelings on the idea of fatherhood.
First: I never thought I would have a chance to learn about a biological child while they were still a child. I was warned back in 2001 that one day, when any given kid turned eighteen, they could - through a long and convoluted process - seek to learn their origins and be put in touch, but this was different. Second: I never imagined having the opportunity to actually be in any of my children’s lives – an opportunity that was now generously offered by my daughter’s mother. Finally: I was in no way prepared for what came over me, emotionally, just by seeing a picture of one of my children for the first time.
Writers, singer-songwriters, poets – this is a group with a higher-than-usual tolerance for a fantastical notion like love at first sight, but I’ve never believed in such nonsense. I still don’t – not in the traditional, romantic, Romeo-and-Juliet sense. But I learned that day in december 2019 that love at first sight is, in fact, real: it’s what happens when you look at your children for the first time. I’ve never experienced the traditional way - looking at a screaming infant in a hectic hospital room - so I can’t say whether the feeling was made more or less intense by the fact that I was looking instead at a fully-formed person. (Though it’s hard to imagine another experience being more intense that what I felt.) And so – as the line goes – it was just one look. I was never the same again.
Crazily enough, the story doesn’t end there. Many of these kids from my donations were in touch with one another (they’re all half-siblings, after all, and it turns out there are registries). Some already had strong sibling relationships with one another, despite living far apart. And so by the pandemic spring of 2020, I was in touch with four of them: three girls and a boy, all teenagers, all several states away, each one amazing and surprising in their own unique ways. thus – even though I’d just released Dead Messengers in March, and the pandemic had prevented me from promoting it (or even getting to play a show celebrating its release) I did what I do in times of emotional upheaval: I wrote a new record.
Between May and August, I cranked out eight new songs, almost entirely focused on this incredible series of events, including one dedicated to each of the kids I’d come to know. Then I booked two sets of sessions for the fall – one on the east coast and one on the west, for the purpose of recording the album and getting to meet the kids in person. At a week’s worth of sessions in October at Boston’s Revival House, I worked with old friend Patrick Hanlin to craft a group of songs I called Sons. Then a few weeks later in November, I traveled with my longtime collaborator J Siegel to Tiny Telephone studios in Oakland to record with Shawn Alpay and a talented group of Bay Area musicians. Those four songs I grouped together as Daughters. After a few remote contributions from Dead Messengers Steve McDonald and Frogs, as well as mixing from J.D. Andrew, my seventh LP, Daughters and Sons is here. (Surprise.)
It’s always very fulfilling to make a new record and share it with all of you. At this point in my life and career, it’s probably the single biggest motivation for continuing to do it year after year. I don’t think I’d be remiss – however – in expressing how much this particular project means to me. I am incredibly grateful for so much: the talented musicians and collaborators who helped bring the recordings to fruition, the generous mothers of these kids for allowing a awestruck misfit like me in their lives, and of course these incredible kids themselves (one of whom even indulged me by stepping into the booth and contributing background vocals on one song – a dream come true, and a moment I’ll never forget).
lastly: I’m grateful to all of you. Thanks, as always, for listening.
Marc M Cogman, Salt Lake City, 2021
Join me in wishing Dead Messengers lead guitarist Steve McDonald a happy birthday today. He’s the only musician besides me to appear on all six of my albums, (he’s on 41 tracks, total), and so to mark his birthday, I’ve created a Spotify playlist of my personal favorite guitar performances. Let’s call it Steve McDonald: Guitar Hero. The link to the Spotify list is HERE, but here’s a brief rundown. (I don’t know about you, but when I listen to these songs, I’m usually listening to guitar.)
“Incurable Blues” – Welcome to the Danger Show (2007)
I saw Steve’s band Vermouth play a gig at Bordello sometime in early 2006. Then later when brainstorming re: all the weirdos I wanted to bring in to play on my first solo record, I recruited Steve through Giulio. I officially met him the day he turned up to record “We” and this song, and we had a good enough time that he joined the band and has played on every record since. Unlike most of the recordings below, his “Incurable Blues” track is 3 or 4 different passes through the song which I then edited together myself. Steve then learned the comped version like a champ and has played that live since 2007.
“Waltz Beneath a Balcony” – Beneath a Balcony (2009)
Whenever I get around to teaching myself some of Steve’s electric guitar parts, this will be first on my list. It’s pretty much pentatonic noodling, but done to the extreme, and I love the hell out of it. At a certain point in 2009, Giulio was moving to NYC and I debated whether the “Waltz” would be worth performing without his big B3 organ in the band. But the next time I played it with the remaining members, I realized it’s this guitar part that makes the song. So long as it’s there, it’s a banger live.
“Baby, I’m Okay” – Beneath a Balcony (2009) and “Baby I’m OK” – Anthems (2012)
There are actually three versions of this song, and my favorite might be the one Steve didn’t play on, the Kill the Messenger version from Sound of Music. Having said that, these two guitar solos, on Balcony and Anthems respectively, are a great look at his range. The country Balcony version has him showing off his slide skills, and the Anthems version has one of my favorite guitar solos in the whole catalog. It’s not flashy, but the tone is beautiful and it’s perfect.
“Safe” – Anthems (2012)
This was nearly a throwaway song until – a solid two years after it was first written – we decided to slap the lengthy guitar-solo coda on it. I think it’s one of several of Steve’s solos that reveal his punk roots – it sort of refuses to be too pretty, but still snarls. I’m still so-so on the song itself, but between the guitar solo, the backing vocals, and Frogs’ bass-line, I love everything from 3:43 to the end.
“You’ll Never Work in This Town Again” – Albatross (2014)
Steve still hasn’t forgiven me for the final mix of this song, which he always thought reined in his multiple guitar tracks too much in favor of other elements. I understand what he means; I would like to also have a version where they dominate, but I still think he shines the way this came out. The key is to play it really, really loud, especially in headphones. I love how he starts playing his own counter-melody underneath my singing in the third and fourth verses, starting around 1:35.
“Fake Constellations” – Nothing is Fantastic (2017)
My fifth album, is, more than any other – the Steve showcase record. Despite our different musical upbringings, he took over my 90’s guitar rock record and is the absolute star of thing, playing at least a little on every single song. “Fake Constellations” shows his ability to create spooky surf textures and drive the tune with a killer rhythm-lead hook in the verses, only to then pull out another great hook in the choruses. If you never have before, this – more than any other song – is one you should listen to while focusing entirely on the electric guitars.
“The Trouble with Sinking” – Nothing is Fantastic (2017)
Most of what you hear in this song is Frogs and I, but Steve’s outro guitar-solo is face-melting in the best way. With Nothing is Fantastic I set out to make the record my 16 year-old self would have made in 1995, had I only the talent and experience and resources. The passage from about 4:07-4:32 is the moment on the record I know my teenage self would have been jumping around his room, punching walls in excitement.
“The House in the Canyon” – Nothing is Fantastic (2017)
Another testament to his versatility, the very next song on the record has some of the most hauntingly beautiful lead guitar Steve has ever played on one of my records. He claimed he was channeling some Mott the Hoople elements in the main intro/verse lick, but I think his love for Irish music is what’s seeping through in the choruses. Everything from when I stop singing (around 4:30) out just kills me.
“Apples Off the Trees” – Nothing is Fantastic (2017)
There are other great Steve moments from my fifth record I could include – I adore the rhythm-lead on the choruses of “Shimmering Mirage” and the drastically contrasting solos on “A Story Worth Repeating” and “Merry Xmas, 2009” but I think the glassy leads on this song are so melodic and beautiful, particularly the one that enters around the three-minute mark.
“Goldbricker” – Dead Messengers (2020)
The second guitar solo is pure evil – pure, audacious, unadulterated, don’t-give-a-fuck evil.
“St. Anthony Blues” – Dead Messengers (2020)
This is a good bookend to “Incurable Blues” as they’re siblings. If the former is what happened when Steve recorded cold for a guy he’d never met, the “St. Anthony” lead guitar is what happened when he had a chance to meticulously work out his part for a guy he’d played with for 12+ years. You have to listen close because there’s so much going on, but if you do, you’ll get your mind blown. The whole thing is great, but especially pay attention just after the two-minute mark. (Again: headphones, loud. His lead guitar is panned hard on the right.)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4uFiKNviRZ5T1qse4xUfVe?si=E4XmjqRaTt-y2nlJyLgHmQ
As long as I can remember, I thought nothing could be cooler than being in a band. In high school, long before my friends and I could actually play our instruments (let alone play actual songs in front of actual people), we wanted to assume the identity of being in a band. Later, when going through those character-defining trials and tribulations, the moments of discovery and fear, the victories and failures, these were all made possible because we were doing it together instead of alone. If I’d somehow been charged with doing such a thing all by myself - sing a song I wrote in front of other people, say - it simply never could have happened.
Many years, songs, and bands later, there were a million reasons why it made sense for me to “go solo” in 2006. When you finally build an artistic identity and gain confidence and a sense of self, you start to have crystal-clear visions of what you want, and the only way to get what you’re after - what’s in your head - is a certain degree of control. I wanted to broaden my horizons and work with other people, and I got to do that with Danger Show, and for the first time ever, I conceived of a record and then went and made it and in the end, I’d actually managed to get on tape exactly what I’d heard in my head, all those months before. That was a new and exciting experience.
But then the craziest thing happened: the minute I’d made the record and released it in March of 2007...I formed a band. Just like that, I immediately had a small group of guys, B and Giulio and Frogs and Steve, that I wanted to be my band. After all that “striking out on my own” stuff - my whole lone wolf thing - I went right back to where I’d always been the most comfortable.
This record, my sixth now, is really a band record. There were elements of that present from the beginning. The guys – those same 2007 guys who were there helping me support my first record, and my same creative partner helping me produce it - they were all back. Some of them, like Frogs and J, I’ve been making music with for 20 years now. Even Steve, who I’ve technically been working with the shortest amount of time, has now played on six records and been on stage with me for over 12 years. There’s a shared history. There’s all the best things about being together for so long. You understand each other’s tendencies and know how to play to each other’s strengths.
That idea – a band record – comes into play in a number of ways, the biggest of which was the method in which we recorded it. I wrote songs, sent demos, and then gathered everyone in a studio in Downtown LA in July 2018 to rehearse. We spent those nights arranging the record on the fly, with everyone laboring together to figure out how to make the songs work. They were rehearsals primarily, but we rolled tape from a few mics, just so we could listen back to the process and the progress and make decisions. Then at the beach house in Oxnard five months later, we all got in one big room and made it live, something I’ve always wanted to do. It was in that same spirit that we decided to name the album more or less after the band, and call it Dead Messengers.
Like all my records, there are other elements than connect these songs and make them a group, at least for me. This time around, it’s the Southern settings, and the themes of suicide, death, and existential dread. Most of all though, this record is - for me - defined by the way it was made, and the guys who made it with me. I’m grateful for them, and for all of you. Thanks for listening.
-Marc M Cogman, Salt Lake City, 2019
Well the world keeps moving faster and faster than ever, but the truth is us music makers and record releasers are still subject to the limitations of time and space and circumstance. The band and I gathered nearly a year ago in Oxnard, CA to track my sixth full-length, Dead Messengers, and we put finishing touches on it a day or two later at Henson Recording in Los Angeles. Then, due to some unforseen obstacles, we weren’t able to get it mixed and mastered and released as quickly as I’d hoped.
The good news is two-fold: One, the record IS currently being mixed. Everything is sounding great and I now anticipate we’ll have this thing out in the early months of 2020, both digitally and on vinyl. For the vinyl release, we’ll organize a full-band show somewhere in the L.A. area.
Two, we’ve been lucky enough to reenlist J.D. Andrew of The Boxmasters to do the mixing. He’s a Grammy award-winner who also mixed Welcome to the Danger Show and Albatross, and I’m overjoyed he’s involved again.
So: the mix is in the works, the artwork is finished and beautiful (courtesy of Edward Carter Simon, as per usual), and we’re all anxiously awaiting sharing Dead Messengers with you in fabulous Hi-Fi. I’ll let everyone know when we have a release date.
Happy Holidays, y’all.
Marc
Hey folks:
I've realized nothing goes in here except when the odd show is happening or when a record is being released, so I thought I'd briefly bridge the gap.
While there are no shows currently on the calendar (the show this past March is my only California date of 2017, sadly), I've spent the summer at home in Oklahoma writing songs for album #6. It doesn't have a title yet, but as per usual, it will be a departure from the most recent record.
Looking back over the years, I tend to oscillate between the rock stuff and the rootsy stuff. Danger Show was a pretty even split, but then it was back and forth, back and forth. Since Nothing is Fantastic was the most unapologetically rock record I've made as a solo artist, it seems fitting then that I swing back the other direction for this next record. It will be, probably more than anything I've done, an unapologetically "country" record.
Now, before you elitists on the coasts lose your shit, I'll remind you that in my mind, this is all territory I've covered before. There's fiddle all over Albatross, not to mention banjo and accordion. The same is true of Beneath a Balcony. Hell, the first guitar solo in the very first song I ever put out, "Run Like Hell" is played on lap steel. Let's just say I'm making use of that half of the palette with this next batch, and I hope I'll have it out in 2018 before the big move back west.
Thanks for continuing to listen, folks. Sorry I suck at keeping you up-to-date.
Marc
Today marks the release of my fourth full-length record, now available in the Store
Cover art by Edward C. Simon
I'm pleased to share this, my proudest musical achievement, with the world. It has meant a great deal to me to write, record and release this record, and I encourage you to head over to the Store and pick one up, even for free, if that's what it takes. The download is available for name-your-own-price, meaning you can pay as much or as little as you want. You can even pay nothing. Seriously, I won't mind. In addition, there is a limited edition CD available for $12.00. Any purchase of the CD triggers an automatic digital download of the record (with deluxe digital booklet including lyrics), as well as a download code with your CD that gets you Ink and Hollow Bones: The Albatross Demos a month prior to general release.
I want to take just a moment to call your attention to a few parallel items. As I said, a digital booklet with lyrics comes with the download, but if you ever want to read the lyrics to any of my songs from any of my albums, they're all right here on the Lyrics page.
Secondly, I made three cool music videos for Albatross songs, all of which are on my You Tube channel and conveniently embedded over on the Videos page.
Finally, as I am a writer by trade, I've set aside a section of the website for essays. I've written two such pieces on the release of Albatross, one that serves as a bit of an introduction to the album, and another that provides a more detailed backstory for those who have listened to the record and want to know more. Both of these essays are located on the Writing page.
There is a full of list of "Thank You's" in the digital booklet that accompanies the album, but I would like to say again how much I appreciate the continued support of my family, friends, and fans. You all make it very much worth while to continue to write, record, and release music.
Now go listen to the new record!
The release of my fourth full-length, Albatross, is just one week away on February 25th. The third music video from the album was posted today, for track #5 - "That's Mine, This is Yours," joining the videos for "You'll Never Work In This Town Again" and "Elizabeth Murphy & the Albatross."
Just as with my third album Anthems, the new record will be available for download from the store for "Name-Your-Own-Price." However, if you purchase one of the limited edition Albatross CDs, you will not only receive an immediate digital download of Albatross with its digital booklet (as well as your physical CD in the mail), but you'll also receive a download code to get a second release for free, a month before it's available to anyone else.
Available to all on 3/25 for $5.00, but free to you a month early with a purchase of the Albatross CD.
Ink and Hollow Bones: The Albatross Demos is a collection of ten demo recordings for the songs that became Albatross. Accompanying these early demos is a digital booklet with mini-essays on each of the songs/recordings. While Ink and Hollow Bones will be available as a $5.00 download to all on March 25th, those who purchase the Albatross CD will receive a download code to get this collection for free immediately.
There a very limited number of Albatross CDs available. Considering there are even fewer of the VERY limited edition Anthems CDs available, you'll need to act fast if you want to have the entire catalogue on CD. Plus, a purchase of the Albatross CD gets a download code for Ink and Hollow Bones for free (and a month before general release).
After 4+ years of writing and recording, my fourth full-length Albatross will be released to the public on February 25th. Visit the Store when the day arrives to get your copy. In addition to a "name-your-own-price" digital download (complete with digital booklet), a very limited number of CDs will be available. Purchasing one of these CDs will automatically give you a download of the album, as well as a download code for another bonus collection a month prior to its release.
Check back often over the next three weeks as there will be more and more information about the new album. In the meantime, check out the first music video for "Elizabeth Murphy & the Albatross" by clicking HERE.
In the grand tradition of rearranging the furniture to keep things fresh, please enjoy my new website. Naturally, it coincides with the upcoming release of Albatross, my fourth full-length.
Check back often for more updates, including info on the release of the record.
Thanks,
Marc
My travels ran me around 47 U.S. states, landed me in Buffalo, returned me to Boston, brought me to Oklahoma City, and now I've finally come to rest (at least for the next few years) in Tulsa.
Tulsa, Oklahoma has an incredibly rich music history, which you should really learn about when you have the chance. Start with Leon Russell and J.J. Cale and Shelter Records and the Church Studio and just go from there.
At any rate, I've been gearing up these last few months to finish my fourth full-length Albatross and finally release it to the world. In December, I spent some time at Norman, Oklahoma's Blackwatch Studios to add some organ and accordion tracks. Next I'm planning on teaming up with an award-winning Tulsa producer and some great local string players. Finally, I hope to get the record to mix by sometime this fall and have it out by the end of the year.
For those of you still checking in, I appreciate your patience and support. It's easier to reward that support on a consistent basis when playing 100+ shows a year and getting new music out regularly. These last few years more or less off the road, writing and recording Albatross were a necessary step for my life. I'm not out there on the highway like I used to be, not seeing all of you as much as I'd like, but you have to believe me when I say I'm better for the change.
Making this record has also been an arduous, but cathartic trial. It has been an emotional and difficult process. But while it's almost become a cliche that every artist believes his new record is his best yet, I must admit I'm very excited about Albatross' artistic potential, probably the most excited I've been since before the release of Welcome to the Danger Show.
I'll leave it there for now. Before the record comes out, I'll unload a full-blown essay for anyone really curious about that record's background and message. In the meantime, thanks for listening, and hopefully there'll be news soon.
-Marc
I know many of you are expecting the release of my fourth album, Albatross soon. I too hope to get that record out to the public as soon as possible. The hold-up has to do with financing. The record is just about all tracked, but in order to have the album mixed, mastered, and released, I'm going to need to raise some money.
Now, I know lots of other people have gone in for "Kickstarter" style campaigns, but that's not me. I'm not going to ask you to donate money for the purpose of me doing what I love to do. I appreciate the idea of it all, but it's just not something I'm particularly interested in. So how do I reconcile the lack of funds with my desire to continue to release new music to you the fans, and to release in my preferred format, which is to "name your own price"?
I'm hoping this will help. I've released today in my bandcamp store a rarities record. It's 19 songs of previously unreleased material. Some are solo or full-band demos, some are live tracks, and there are even a handful of songs you've never heard before in any form. I combed through the vault of recordings from 2006 to 2009 (ie: the years in which my first three albums were written and recorded) and I only selected tracks that I feel are interesting or unique in one way or another.
If you think you'd be interested in this record, AND you'd like to push me toward my goal of mixing, mastering, and releasing my fourth full-length LP, please consider going to marcmcogman.bandcamp.com and downloading your copy. I have listed the price as $5.00, a helluva deal for 19 tracks. I've also enabled the option to give more than $5 if you'd like, and if you enjoy the rarities record, I hope you will.
The nineteen tracks are available for download along with a beautiful deluxe booklet in PDF form. The booklet has short essays about each track, explaining what makes it unique and why I chose it for the collection. Alongside these essays are some lovely black and white photos taken over the years of me and my band.
If you're a fan, I think you'll like it.
So, I invite you to check out my new release: Kill the Messenger: Live & Rarities (2006-2009).
It's music for you to enjoy, and a chance for you to help me get my fourth LP out as soon as possible. Every dollar earned from the sale of this rarities collection will go straight to the mixing & mastering fund for the next album.
Thanks for listening,
Marc
I had a great week in Los Angeles from July 27th thru August 1st, laying down more tracks for my upcoming album, Albatross. This will be my fourth album since becoming a solo artist in 2006. But in many ways, this will be my first new record in quite a while.
Technically, my first album came out in 2007, my second in 2009, and my third only a few months ago, in March of 2012. But these release dates actually belie when the records themselves were written and recorded. After my debut Welcome to the Danger Show came out in March of 2007, the songs for my second and third albums were all written and recorded simultaneously over the course of 2007 and 2008, with a few other recordings coming later.
So while I only just released a record less than 6 months ago, it wasn’t really “new” to me. In fact, Albatross will showcase all the songs I wrote in 2009, 2010, and 2012. You could say it’s the first album of a new era, and thusly, I wanted to work a little differently than in the past.
While there will be some familiar names on Albatross, there are plenty of new ones as well. As I’ve previously reported, drums and percussion were recorded in Boston this past April/May with Patrick Hanlin. He’s an old friend, but this is his first appearance on one of my albums. He also will provide accordion on a handful of songs. And when I traveled to Los Angeles this past month, I once again sought out a mixture of the old and the new.
The first stop was the beautiful Beach Studio in Hermosa owned and operated by Eddie Jackson, a very talented producer, engineer, and drummer. I knew I could trust Eddie to get amazing vocal and acoustic guitar sounds - the all-too-important basis for every one of my songs. Eddie engineered a few sessions on my second album, Beneath a Balcony, joining in on the percussion ho-down in “Blessing in Disguise” and later mixed and mastered the album.
He also mastered my third album, Anthems and also logged a few shows with the Dead Messengers as a fill-in on drums. On Friday July 27th, I traveled to Hermosa Beach and cut all of the lead vocals for Albatross in one go. Towards the end of the session, another familiar face dropped by, Kellianne Noftle, to sing backup vocals. She can be heard on both my first and third albums, and she added her voice to three of the songs on my new record.
The next day, we knocked out the entirety of the album’s bass tracks. Having only used one bass player since I was 18 years old, it was quite a departure for me to have someone other than Frogs playing bass. Nevertheless, we lucked out with Andrew Perusi, a great kid from the east coast who nailed all ten songs. He was even able to keep up with my frenetic recording pace, an essential for playing on a Marc M Cogman record.
With bass and vocals added to the drums and percussion, I put on the acoustic guitar and wrapped up my two days with Eddie by recording all of the acoustic tracks. This is often my least favorite part of making a record (as I’m a lousy guitarist and prone to f—kups) but having a skilled engineer like Eddie allowed for everything to come out sounding great.
The next morning was Sunday, July 29th, and I moved camp from Beach Studio to the Octagon House atop Topanga Canyon. It was here that I sat down with Dead Messengers veteran Steve McDonald to crank out some electric guitars. I first met Steve when he came to record on Welcome to the Danger Show over 5 years ago. Since then, we’ve played countless shows together and he’s become my de facto electric guitarist. In the past, I often made use of Steve’s warbling leads and excellent slide guitar work for my big country-rock tunes like ”Incurable Blues”. But this new record is a little bit different, and so Steve got to flex the muscles he earned as a guitarist in Bay-Area punk bands long before we met. Add in the fact that Steve built his own Leslie rotating speaker cabinet from scratch and we mic’d it up, and the results were awesome.
Monday morning, July 30th, I went to work with someone I’d met before but never made music with - Kyle Frederickson. Best known as a member of the Boston (now L.A.) band the Everyday Visuals, Kyle is a whiz with anything you can strum, from guitar, to banjo, to mandolin. I went to his home studio in Atwater Village to get all three on Albatross, as well as lap steel guitar. I won’t go into much detail about the session, just know this: Kyle will be appearing on many Marc M Cogman records.
I flew back home to Oklahoma City a few days later. There’s still some piano and organ to record, as well as fiddle/violin and even a trumpet track. Those will hopefully be done in the coming weeks/months. But I can say this: the record’s more finished than it isn’t, and that’s pretty exciting.
More updates to come.
After over a year, I'm returning to Los Angeles with a show at the Dragonfly (Santa Monica Blvd. @ Wilcox in Hollywood).
I hope you'll be there for this rare event!
Greetings from Boston, MA (for another day or two). As I mentioned last week, the long, slow process of recording my 4th album, Albatross has officially begun. As many of you know, the wife-to-be and I are moving again, this time Oklahoma City. Before I blew town, I wanted to set the recording process in motion with one of my good friends (and all-time favorite drummers), Patrick Hanlin. Pat is a talented multi-instrumentalist originally hailing from Indiana who’s been entrenched in the Boston music scene for some time now.
He’s probably best known as the drummer of Kid:nap:kin, a jaw-dropping power trio of aggro-prog-metal awesomeness (click HERE if you think I’m lying), but he’s also played as a hired gun in a number of other bands, rocked the VANS Warp Tour, and develops/produces local talent.
I first met him in 2003, tried unsuccessfully to recruit him to be the drummer in the Neon Calm back in 2005, and have been able to share the stage with him many times. He even appeared as the Dead Messengers drummer in the music video for “I Can’t Fix It”. Nevertheless, I’ve never had him record on any of my material until now.
At Pat’s suggestion, we spent two Fridays in a row at the studio of Producer/Engineer extraordinaire Scott Riebling. Scott first found fame as the bassist for the band Letters to Cleo, and has since become a go-to guy for great sounding records. He’s worked with a ton of artists (Butch Walker, Metro Station, the Von Bondies, Fall Out Boy, Dropkick Murphys and more) and produced one of my favorite local Boston records of all time, A Girl’s Name Here by Rocketscience.
But enough about all that. These are two awesome guys and they’ve helped insure that my fourth album will be awesome as well. Pat also added hand percussion and accordion parts. And Scott also made us homemade pizza. So the tracks we’ve begun so far:
1. If I Stop Singing, Check My Pulse
2. Still Running
3. The Long List of Names
4. The Wedding Party
5. No Show Tonight
6. That’s Mine, This is Yours
7. You’ll Never Work in This Town Again
8. Tender Venom
9. Elizabeth Murphy & the Albatross
10. The Road Home
More updates soon.
The Anthems FAQ
THE 10 MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ANTHEMS
Available now at www.marcmcogman.bandcamp.com
Q: What the hell took so long?
A: I know, I know. I thought this record would be out by 2009, and then 2010, etc, etc, etc. I had some tough times in there. Some crazy crap went down. If you’d been there, you wouldn’t be surprised that I fell a little behind with regard to record releases. But fear not: Anthems is here, and my next record is nearly finished being written. So don’t plan on having to wait another three years before the next one comes out.
Q: Why no CDs this time? You’ve always had physical copies as well as digital downloads available…
A: I do love CDs, but in addition to the fact that everyone listens to music on computers and iPods now, it was a matter of cost. I’ve had all of my recording expenses from the last five years funded by record labels, but finding the cash for the mixing, mastering and printing of Anthems has been the biggest hurdle in the record being released – because once I was out of my deal(s), these became out-of-pocket expenses. Printing CDs is expensive, so going solely digital meant the album could finally be released without the help of outside funding. The last piece of the puzzle was realizing I could include a deluxe digital booklet with all the photos, lyrics, and credits that would usually accompany a physical CD. Once I knew that was possible, I felt I could live with a digital-only release.
Q: You’re right about digital downloads; they’re the way to go, but why isn’tAnthems on iTunes?
A: Well, although iTunes put the digital music store on the map, it’s simply not as artist-friendly as other digital retailers, like Bandcamp. I’ve chosen to use Bandcamp as my music distributor for a few reasons, but the two most important are:
1.) I could offer the digital booklet as an easy download along with the music, and
2.) I could allow fans to NAME THEIR OWN PRICE when purchasing the album.
This last element is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and with Bandcamp, it’s really easy. The fan downloads the record, pays $10 or $1 or $5 or whatever they want, and everybody wins. So that’s the way I plan to release records from now on.
Q: I’m a bit of a collector. Will there ever be an actual CD of Anthems to sit on my collector’s shelf next to the first two albums?
A: I hope so, but I can’t say for sure. There’s a very limited chance that one day I could do a special-edition short run, just for posterity’s sake. I’d also love to do vinyl editions of all of my records at some point, if the demand exists and the funds are available.
Q: I saw you on tour in (Spokane / Omaha / Atlanta) and you played a new song about (a car crash / worms / Tyler’s sister) and it was one of my favorites. Why don’t I see that song here on Anthems?
A: Yeah, those will be on the next one. As you know I’ve been doing a lot more writing and touring for the last few years than making records. So I’m a bit behind. Those songs will definitely be on the next record, Albatross, which I’m nearly done writing. Sometime in the coming year I’ll start looking to record it and hopefully it’ll be out in 2013.
Q: It says David Lowery produced and plays bass on two songs. You mean David Lowery, the lead singer from Cracker?
A: Indeed, it’s that David Lowery. We were introduced back in 2009 and he graciously invited me to his home-base of Richmond, VA to record at Sound of Music Studios with him and the excellent house-band there. “The Rest of My Life” and “Oh Lily” came out of those sessions, and the talents of John Morand, Craig Harmon, Hugo Haggie, Alan Weatherhead and Miguel Urbizitano are also on display. They’re a great bunch of guys and excellent musicians.
Q: Why do the backup vocals sound so awesome? Is Kelli back? Could this really be true?
A: Yes, after being conspicuously absent from Beneath a Balcony, original Dead Messengers member Kellianne Noftle is on Anthems singing backup vocals. I hesitate to say, “she’s back where she belongs” because she’s actually been right where she belongs this whole time: putting out her own excellent solo records and promoting the publication of her award-winning book of poetry. But let’s just say we all missed her, and she’s a Dead Messenger once again. Hopefully she always will be, for many records to come.
Q: Tell us about the artwork. Please?
A: Edward C. Simon came up with the signature motif of the typewriter and Polaroids for the album cover way back in 2009, long before the record was finished. Eddie is a multi-talented artist and musician from New Orleans, and one of my best friends for several years now. He’s one of the many people who gave a lot of time and energy to seeing this record become a reality, and for his special contributions over the years and his friendship and support, I’ve dedicated the record to him.
Q: I’m OG and went to the CD release shows for both Welcome to the Danger Show and Beneath a Balcony. So when/where is the Anthems release show?
A: It pains me to say that a “release show” (at least in the sense of what I’ve done for my last two records) is not in the cards this time. I’ve moved to new states twice in the last year, and I’m more than likely moving to yet another state in the next few months. This, among other things (like the untimely death of my car), has made fly-back shows difficult and touring impossible. I hope to be playing live again soon in all my favorite places, but performing has had to take a back seat to getting the new album out. Maybe in the next few months we’ll get some celebratory shows in places like Boston, New York, L.A. and/or New Orleans.
Q: Well if you just put out a record and you’re not about to start touring, what’s next?
A: Well, I’m getting married. And moving. And in addition to spot dates in support ofAnthems, I hope to roll out a few music videos and then focus on a bunch of exciting stuff coming down the road. This includes a long-lost Dead Messengers live record from 2009, a documentary film about me and Ben De La Cour from one of our 2010 tours, and recording plans for my fourth record, Albatross. For now though, please enjoy Anthems. It’s the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people, nearly all of whom contributed their time and talents for nothing more than their love of this music. I’m extremely proud of this record and I’m sorry it took so long to release it.
Thanks for reading! If you haven’t already, please get your copy of Anthems for whatever price you choose at: www.marcmcogman.bandcamp.com
Find the fourth and final Anthems trailer below. The record will be released this coming Tuesday, March 6th. I'm offering the record as a NAME-YOUR-OWN-PRICE download at Bandcamp.com. Why Bandcamp? Well look for my Anthems FAQ post tomorrow and all your questions will no doubt be answered.
Enjoy:
Last week, #3 of the 4 "trailers" for Anthems went up. This one features a snippet from track 2, "The Rest of My Life". Now that we're less than two weeks away from the record's release, I'm getting very excited. I've been waiting a long time to release this record to the world, and I hope it'll end up being worth the wait.
There's one more trailer yet, which we'll see in a few days, but also be on the lookout for some new content related to Anthems to show up soon. I'll try to get the lyrics for the new record posted up, as well as entries for the "Songs & Stories" section of the site. Also, expect to see an "Anthems FAQ" to arrive
Here's trailer #3 if you haven't caught it on YouTube or the Tumblr:
As promised, here is the second in a series of video trailers I've made to help promote the release of my third record, Anthems. While the first video featured some band footage and an instrumental recording of the new song "Oh Lily", this video features a bunch of the polaroids we used to snap of party-goers at Dangerland, our long-lost house in the hills above Los Angeles. The music you're hearing in this video is from another song off the new record, entitled "Understudy".
In addition to the new video, I'm happy to announce I've got a release date for you: Tuesday, March 6th, 2012. There will be more videos, more news, and more information about the record release to come, but mark your calendars. In a little over a month, it'll be yours for the listening.
Check back soon for more updates.
