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