Good Boy Release Update

Patience, please.... this is a lot of Van Dam work!

I know that quite a few people are waiting to hear Good Boy in its entirety. Believe me, I can't wait to release it! But it turns out that DIY albums are a lot of work. Hell, I'm not a record company with a full-time staff of audio engineers, graphic designers, videographers, distribution and fulfillment experts, and marketing wizards. I am but a dude doing this all myself in my spare time. Not only that, but I'm doing some of it for the first time. F*** do I know about making a print-ready 12-page lyric booklet or CMYK blah blah printing? F*** do I know about putting together a release party? F*** do I know about putting together a press kit and getting the word out? Like I said, I'm just a dude with a hobby.

Now, as it turns out, we have made some phenomenal music. I ended up mastering it myself because I wasn't entirely pleased with the masters from the studio. The mixes were great, though, so I leveraged that and did a fine mastering job up to my exacting specs, meaning it's loud but that wasn't the point of mastering it -- dynamic range was somewhat preserved, and the parts that were supposed to be quieter remained so in my final master.

It took longer than I expected to master, and I released (to just one person who happens to be an audio engineer) the entire album, with some warts. Not sure if it went further than that one person. It usually does. Much further. Anyway, what I'm going to release is going to be even better than whatever you may have heard. If it's worth doing, it's worth getting right.

Same goes for the cover art and all the rest of it. This is going to be done right, damn it. If that means delaying the release a few more weeks, so be it. At least the audio part of it is straight now. Maybe I'll let some of that slip out just to sate my literally dozens of fans as they eagerly await the official release.

There is a deeply ironic aspect to this album: The song I hate most is the title track. No, actually, I like the song. I loved the first take that we ended up not being able to use because the chick who sang it had to be a drama queen about it...

So, anyway, just wait a couple more weeks. I'm putting the final touches on the cover art -- adding details that will be difficult to replicate so that people will order the CD instead of just downloading. The CD will sound better, too, of course. Sorry kids, but mp3 sucks almost as bad as Justin Beaver and the Kool Boyzz. You will order this CD, and you will be damn glad you did.

But you'll have to wait a few more weeks.

Peace.