Official Announcement: The ShowCase Project

Click the image above to see the official homepage for my custom After Avalanche gear called "The ShowCase Project". I will be making some very cool setups for my live shows using all hand made gear that I did myself. Later this year, I am hoping to be able to make some of these and sell them online so you too can be a part of this!!

posted by:Shawn on 4/29/2012

And I'm Back!!

Oh also! I am very excited to be meeting for the first time today the lovely acoustic/soul artist "Birds With Clocks" whom I have been a fan of for many years now and it just so happens we might be collaborating on some music together soon! CHEERS!!

posted by:Shawn on 04/27/2012

Catching up!

I know its been forever since I have documented what's going on, and I have no time right now to elaborate. So let this photo give you a slight hint as to some cool projects I am working on for live shows and beyond. I'll tell you more later! Signing off!!

posted by:Shawn on 4/26/2012

No Foolin' Here!

So it's April Fools, and social networks are buzzing with people trying to freak each other out with ridiculous news stories or personal announcements. I just want to start by saying, anything I will write today is completely true.. as far as I know. ; )

April is going to be a big month for me musically speaking. 5+ shows lined up already.. Some of the venues include: Coyotes Bar & Grill, The Green Garage in downtown Portland, Insomnia Coffee Company.. Oh , and my house too!

As I look back on the EP release a couple of weeks ago, I am glad I was able to share these demos with everyone and its been great to see how much people are enjoying these tunes. When these songs are recorded on the official LP, I can only say that I will have some material I will be ready to seriously promote, but more importantly that I hope people will love!

Speaking of promoting, I have realized just how effective live shows/open mics, etc. are to marketing your music. Take note fellow musicians! You can advertise online, share links on social networks, or get people to follow you on twitter; but nothing really compares to playing your music live. Not only does it give a real life face to your music and the benefit of human interaction, but you never know what new and better opportunities will come from it.

For example, the other day I decided to head down to an open mic down the street from my house with some jamming buddies of mine. It was a mixed bag as you can expect from any open mic. Good and bad music happened that night. But after I played my set, I (along with my friends) was offered a potential spot at a local venue playing at the Tuesday farmers market! Sweet deal! Seriously, it's a paying gig... It's outdoors... It's a way to spread music locally throughout the community. I have no problem focusing my musical efforts on the local community,because this is my roots. And the stronger the roots get, the taller the tree will grow.

I am going to swing by an open mic tonight, as it so happens! No Foolin'. Come to Coyotes Bar & Grill in Hillsboro Oregon around 7 my local listeners!!

posted by:Shawn on 4/1/2012

Well now.... here we are

As I sit here on my pseudo-friday/saturday.. staying up simply because I can...I realized I might as well write something.

It's been a couple of weeks since "Symptoms EP" was made available: a collection of my "best of" tracks recorded as part of the songwriting process of my album "Pain Killers". So far, I have been honored to receive some great feedback from listeners and that includes some brand new fans who have stumbled across After Avalanche thanks to this realm known as the internet.

I'm glad that you all are enjoying these songs, and I continue to write material for the upcoming album. These songs are born from deep thought, meditation, random humorous conversations, or sometimes strange and peculiar stories from my own life.

The song I'm writing is called "I can't feel" and describes a situation where you are trying to let someone go and you keep stumbling across things that remind you of them...almost as if they had left a trail or are leaving you encrypted messages from the past...and essentially having to force yourself to become numb in order to move on. I will leave out the more peculiar details because I like to leave songs open for interpretation and personal meaning to the listener.

So there you have it.. I have only a few more songs to write and I will have a full album's worth. A good number of these songs were built off similar progressions. I have done this on purpose with an intent to show how one thing can be seen from so many different angles. In the story of the album, it is pain that may be the sad slow song that brings tears to our eyes... or become the invigorating fuel for pursuing our passions and triumphing over hardships.

I've taken these roots: a story of my own personal journey, and a simple guitar progression that I find both haunting and energizing. I am writing songs from these. And I am putting all my time and effort into doing my very best.

Here's to hoping my best is enough to land After Avalanche.. say, a few thousand more listeners. ; )

posted by:Shawn on 3/27/2012

House Show #2: Success!

Last night's house show in Hillsboro Oregon was a blast! Booze, Music, and good company! We didn't have everyone who RSVP'd show up, but it was still a full house with standing room only. Thanks to everyone who came to enjoy the great times!

posted by:Shawn on 3/24/2012

These...

More physical promotions in the works! In the meantime, nothing helps quite like all you great folks out there posting the link on twitter and facebook! I really appreciate it more than you know! So thank you for helping make the music be heard and for the great feedback!

posted by:Shawn on 3/17/2012

Promoting, Preparing

In a few days, the "Symptoms EP" has received approximately 40 downloads a day on Noisetrade.com! Not too bad at all! But this was due to some strategic promoting by myself (top secret, I can't share my special methods!) and mostly the overwhelming support and link-sharing by my friends and fans. I want to thank everyone for being so awesome and encouraging!

I continue to promote and will continue to promote the EP up until the full album is out. The first wave is complete, and soon we move on to phase 2! Let's keep the downloads happening and the "Symptoms EP" as high as we can get it in the top downloads!

I've been thrilled to receive contact from new fans who have discovered the tunes on Noisetrade or Soundcloud and have sent me shoutouts letting me know they are enjoying the songs! :) So far, most everyone seems to be loving "Make It Through" or "The Beat Inside" the most.

In other news, congrats to George for winning the T-shirt contest drawing from last month's voting for "Read Your Mind", and I look forward to seeing everyone on the 23rd for the 2nd house show of the season!

-Shawn

posted by:Shawn on 03/17/2012

The EP is called "Symptoms" and I just released it today. It contains the songs I wrote for the album and recorded as demos but in the best quality I could get and with as much time put into each track as I could manage. But, while two of these tracks took over 3 weeks each to complete, I decided to try something crazy today.

I sat down at my computer and laid down a fun beat, started playing a cool guitar hook to it and somewhere after that an entire new song was born and I decided to call it "Crazy Girls". You will have to listen to see why. That's right, I got lucky and finished it in about 8 straight hours of solid dedicated time. It was a long day, but very successful and fun! Thanks to everyone so far who has downloaded the EP... if you haven't yet, here it is below!

posted by:Shawn on 3/3/2012

"The Beat Inside" Pre-Listen

I've finally wrapped up over two weeks of work on "The Beat Inside" (EP version) and it is now available to my Soundcloud followers to listen to before anyone else! EP dropping on Tuesday (hopefully).

So far, I want to thank everyone for the very positive feedback about the new song! Seems everyone is really feeling the beat!!

This afternoon, I do some touch up work on "Read Your Mind" and "Make It Through" and one other secret song!

Woot!

posted by:Shawn on 3/12/2012

Recording, Demos EP

Well folks!

I just finished a large portion of recording and mixing last night instead of sleeping early to catch up with daylight savings! That's how inspiration works though. If I have the lightbulb shining bright above my head, I'm not going to just ignore it and go to bed! So I set out to finish what I had started on the full demo for "The Beat Inside".

My friends, I have almost perfected it!! I am very excited! With just a few more minor adjustments this thing will be a perfect example of the Pain Killers sound. This song will most likely be the final track because it's message is: "Don't wait, we cannot rest; If you fall, get up again. All I need is to break clean from all I've lost, again. What else can I say? Chasing every brand new day."

I mentioned "full demo" didn't I? That's because although these are not the actual album recordings, I want to make sure I have a clear picture to show of the individual parts of each song. More importantly, I want to make sure each track is completely written before I hit the studio. .... But I seem to have outdone myself with this one. The recording quality may not be major label quality, but it's definitely broken the demo definition thanks to my new equipment and skills!

Therefore I am pleased to announce a "Pain Killers Demo EP" dropping next week that will contain a revised version of "Read Your Mind", "The Beat Inside", and one other track (I haven't decided which other one to let you folks hear yet!!).

There you have it! Happy Sunday all!

posted by:Shawn on 3/11/2012

It's Happening!

I have been writing these songs and then recording the demos, and each song I get down into that demo form seems to surprise me in the end with how it turns out. This process is really working. It's allowing me to write and re-write with no shame. I am taking all the time in the world. I am not afraid to scratch an entire part of the song out, or add something completely new towards the end. Even re-write my lyrics completely.

So after putting this latest track "The Beat Inside" through the idea blender machine that is my mind, I am glad to say that I am producing a song that is not only smooth to the ears but I feel will fit in with the message of the album Pain Killers. Lyrically, I want the songs to be ordered from Solemn to Determined to Victorious. The Beat Inside is right about at the victorious part, but I don't know if it will be the closing track or not.

I got to use my new delay pedal on this track as well. DANG SON. I am going to have a lot of fun with this thing. Just remind me not to overdo it! ; )

In other news, Today I might be picking up that Mandobird I put on layaway a couple weeks ago! STOKED!

-Peace! (Shawn)

posted by:Shawn on 3/9/2012

Songwriting Updates!

Currently, the main phase of the album process I am caught up in is the songwriting and re-songwriting portion. This means a lot of personal meditation, searching for inspiration amidst daily conversations and real life experiences, lots of coffee, and listening to lots of music that inspires me. While the process is slow at times, I just finished wrapping up my demo versions of the drum and synth for a new song called "The Beat Inside" that I just might release on the "actually not bad for a demo CD EP" (NOT the actual title) that will have just a few songs that I recorded in my home studio and will re-record for the actual album! Just a little preview of what is to come

I am kind of caught up between a few half-written songs currently. I keep pluggin' away, and am reminding myself never to consider a song completely done in the first place. I will listen to what I have recorded and allow myself to be inspired to change it up, bring more feeling out of it. Sometimes that means simplifying the music, or other times it could mean adding more parts. I won't stop until I know I am expressing exactly what I hope this album will express to the listener.

posted by:Shawn on 3/8/2012

Preparing For Recording

So if no one knows this yet, I will be working with my old friend and previous bandmate Nate to record and produce "Pain Killers". I have a great deal of respect for this dude and his musical talents. He has a great ear for good music and most importantly knows and understands the sound I am going for. So yeah...I am very excited!!

In total so far I have 5 songs completely written for the project, a few that I am still writing, and a few that have yet to be written. There are a small handful of demos out there that have been made available to my special team of super fans!! So I want to thank everyone for their feedback so far.

Besides working on writing and preparing for recording, I have already been making some plans with a few folks for the marketing and promoting of the album later this year! We're gonna get creative!!

posted by:Shawn on 3/5/2012

Coming Up With A Game Plan

This morning I drafted up a game plan for the "Pain Killers" project on a few pieces of note paper I had sitting at my desk. I can't share these ideas with you now, but let's just say there's a lot in store for this album that stretches far beyond just the music! Stoked!

posted by:Shawn on 3/3/2012