“Deeper Than The Underground” – Out NOW!!!

Over on Bandcamp right now!!!

This was recorded over the last couple of years, was mixed by Dennis Leeflang, mastered by Joe Carra @ Crystal Mastering and artwork by Dan Verkys.

Ben Todd – Drums
Jose Guia – Piano and Keys (“Not Like Them” and “We Are Strong”)
Richard Curran – Violin (“Final Days” and Strings (“We Are Strong”)

Also some extra cool backing vocal and / or spoken word by these folks:
Bella Szkup, Mathew Szkup, Damon Brown, Gavin Burgess, Kratae, Nigel Cunningham, Richard Anderson, Tony Gilbert, Glen “The General” Parker.

So these are my latest songs which I think came out really good. I let them guide me as I always do, and the result is some of the best stuff I’ve done. Circumstances delayed some parts of it, and cost of living was really a ball kicker, as was the case for all of us.

All of these things and others made it come out probably a year or two later than it was meant to, but I’m happy. The great team of folks I have to help me really do make me sound and look much better than I am every time. Thanks to Dennis Leeflang, Joe Carra, Dan Verkys and not to mention Ben Todd, Jose Guia, Richard Curran, Richard Anderson, Adrian Eyes, Bella Szkup, Mathew Szkup, Gavin Burgess, Kratae and Glen Parker!

And if anyone out there listens to these songs and enjoys them, then I appreciate you doing so! The reason for the title and the album artwork is a bit of a dig on how things are these days but also perhaps intends to shine some light on things as well. There seems to be less patience, less looking out for each other and less regard for whats right in the interest of getting what we want faster. How about lets take our time, think about things and not always take the obvious and easiest route, and who knows what we might find?

It really hit me this time, perhaps things have gotten worse, or I’ve gotten older and finally realised, I’m not sure, but the realisation was that no one is waiting for this album. When you think about the boredom that ensues at your favourite band’s gig when they announce that “this is a new song” and the lines of people that take their bathroom and beer break as a result. Or the endless comments you read on how “this band was good for two albums and then sucked”. I mean, if people don’t care when all those amazing veteran bands are still being creative and making new music, what hope has a little guy like me got? This is the album that no one wanted.

That’s another reason that I called it “Deeper Than The Underground”. When you think of music that’s “part of the underground” and has a cult like following, well, even fewer people are into this, so it goes even deeper. And it also allowed us to do some cool things with the cover art and have most of the main players involved in the creation of the album on there. Dan Verkys did such an amazing job like he always does!

But with all of that, you know what else I realised? There were certainly a few moments this time when I wondered why I’m bothering, but the truth is, if you are a creative person, most people are going to think you’re a weird motherfucker and not get what you are about at all either way, but the thing is, you HAVE to keep going. If you don’t, I dread to think what would happen, but it wouldn’t be good. Can you imagine if every creative person in the world one day just said “whats the point” and stopped – what a horrible world that would be. I think we all feel broken and lost as creatives at one point or another, probably most of the time, but there is a good quote from Ricky Gervais which says “It’s better to create something that others criticise than to create nothing and criticise others”. I like that.

If you are a songwriter, you have to write songs. If you are an artist, you have to paint, draw, whatever it is. If videos are your thing or writing, then do those things. As corny as it might be, it’s really like something as essential as eating or breathing. The song “Not Like Them” talks about this a bit – “Sometimes it would be easier” if I was a regular goofball who was into football or something. That kind of thing. I would have a lot of extra money too, even though Spotify’s CEO thinks it costs nothing to make music.

Anyway, enough of my blabbering. The bottom line is that I’m stoked with what I made here and I’m glad I never gave up. Make sure you never give up with whatever it is you are doing as well. Keep going. Remember, “We Are Strong”!!!

Snippets:

New Album – “Deeper Than The Underground” – Coming March 2025!!

Coming in March 2025, my new album “Deeper Than The Underground”.

This was recorded over the last couple of years, was mixed by Dennis Leeflang mastered by Crystal Mastering and artwork by The Art of Dan Verkys

Ben Todd – Drums
Jose Guia – Piano and Keys on two tracks
Richard Curran – Strings on two tracks

Also some extra cool backing vocal and / or spoken word by these folks: Bella Szkup, Mathew Szkup, Damon Brown, Gavin Burgess, Kratae, Nigel Cunningham, Richard Anderson, Tony Gilbert, Glen “The General” Parker, Adrian Eyles, Dan Verkys.

I can’t wait to get it out there. Was a tricky one but also a pleasure. Will write more about this upon the release, which will likely be next Monday!

Album Review – Ponch Satrio “Start Again”

“Start Again” out now on Zoester Records!!
(https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ponchsatrio/start-again-2)

I proudly own Ponch Satrio’s two previous albums “Get The Vision” (2010) and “Guitarville” (2011) and am a huge fan, but having been lucky enough to work with the man himself over the years, and also having met in Jakarta in 2017, I had occasionally heard bits and pieces of his music that were more vocal oriented (including the 2018 single release “Forever” which also appears here) than those albums, and really liked what I heard and hoped for more. And make no mistake, this isn’t to take anything away from those albums – they are incredible, and as a guitarist Ponch Satrio is one of the modern day greats, but as mentioned, I always hoped to hear more stuff with him lead singing on his music as well. So when I got the news that the new album “Start Again” (released May 2019 on Zoester Records) was going to be a vocal album, that certainly made me very happy.

Pleasingly, he handles this situation extremely well, providing great memorable lead and backing vocals for all 10 songs on the album, as well as playing all of the instruments aside from drums, which are played by Kevin Dwi. The production is crisp and modern but definitely still very real with a rawness to it, self tracked at his own Watermelon Productions, with Angga Irwan handling mixing and mastering.

It could be said that the album shows another side to what we know of Ponch’s music, but it is another side that is completely a part of his overall picture, and feels just as natural as his instrumental guitar work from previous albums. The album is just full of great hooks and melodies, and is very well composed with the song overruling everything else.

The guitar playing while very “hooky” also still has a good amount of heaviness and cool riffs (the intro to “Wicked World” for example) to go along with the great textures and layering in the parts. It also should be noted that while there is some ripping guitar playing (especially the solos of “Tell Me When It’s Over,” “Emptiness” or “Wicked World”) it absolutely never outstays it’s welcome. When you have chops for days and know so many amazing licks that you run your own Guitar Dojo (true story! – Ponch really does run his own school in Jakarta, Guitar Dojo), and I suppose even if you don’t have chops for days, or run your own Guitar Dojo, the secret is knowing when to use those licks, or more importantly knowing when NOT to use those licks. To quote a former teacher of mine and great man, “it’s like sprinkling salt” – too much of it and the whole thing is ruined and there is no going back. None of the songs on “Start Again” have had too much salt added to them. Fans of The Foo Fighters and most definitely the “Normal” album by the great Bumblefoot will definitely find a lot to like about these tunes, as well as rock fans and music lovers in general. Listening to the songs I can feel the soul of the lovely guy who created them, and that is what it’s all about.

Favourite songs – ALL OF THEM!! Perhaps a special mention to “Wicked World” for the heavy intro and ripping solo, but honestly all of these songs are extremely well written and performed, and I feel they are best consumed as part of the overall picture. We may be able to purchase songs as singles very easily nowadays compared to the past, but let’s get back to listening to full albums. Like this one! Crank it!