scarletjinn.com

Yes, I’m getting all your emails and messages on myspace and facebook asking “when is the next show?”  Some of you are worried, some of you are a bit annoyed, and some of you are just really wanting the music and miss us.  We miss you too.   I love hearing from you, it really touches me that so many of you care enough to write…

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The newest song we’ve completed writing and recording is Gravity Well, and it’s almost ready to mix.  Once that’s done, we’ll post it and I’ll announce that it’s available.  We had a lot of fun recording the harmonies for this one, it required projection of a certain attitude that could only be achieved by singing the harmony parts in a unusual voice.  We should have videoed that session, it would’ve made you laugh.

My favorite part of this song is the chorus, “The game is hide and seek till I find myself, hidden in illusion at the bottom of – the gravity well.”  the music is played a bit heavier to portray the gravity. 

And of course there’s nowhere to go from the bottom of the Gravity Well but up.

It’s part of the Labyrinth collection that will be featured in a new section on the Psychanaut website.  Many of the songs in the Labyrinth you’ve already heard at Rock Scarlet shows…such as Wayside, Egypt Eyes, Oracle & Alchemy Waits.  What’s been missing is a format to present them and let them tell a story. 

So adding this piece is going to help bring it all together.  Of course, if you don’t want to venture into the Labyrinth or play with ideas, and you just wanna rock — you can still get the songs directly from the download page… but eventually, the Labyrinth will be a cool way to preview the tunes while visiting some cool imagery within the Labyrinth.

PS)I’m looking for artistic people to help with creation of  the Labyrinth artwork.  If you’re interested or  want to help out, contact me either from ScarletJinn.com Psychanut.com or Rock Scarlet.com.

Winter Solstice marks the date of the longest night and the shortest day.  From now until Summer Solstice we get a few seconds more of daylight each day.  Thus it’s also the traditional time of new beginnings.  Rather than wait till January 1st, this is the time for renewal, and new beginnings.

It’s appropriate that today I’m beginning to look forward to Psychanaut as a new beginning for our music…although it could also be considered a continuation of Rock Scarlet, and in reality, all the bands I’ve sung my songs with.  (Whoa, that goes back sooo far!) LOL.

With the same guitars and vocals and the same writing, lots will stay the same.  What I’m wanting with Psychanaut is the pro players with ability to rock as hard as RS, but also the skills to know when to make space & create moods.  I’m excited to let more songs finally see the light of day with Psychanaut.

What I’m also looking for is players with soul and who get the vision and vibe of what the music is about.  Until the right people come along, we’ll most likely have a few new faces come and go.  But the songwriting, vocals, and front people are still the same.

Oh, Yeah!

The new logo was developed by artist Todd Bradford.  Working with Todd was really a delight, and he’s so intuitive that he totally got what I wanted really easily.

We’re in the studio for the rest of the season…but look for the new logo at the next show!

Psychanaut is firstly the name of the recording project we’re working on -  it incorporates a few songs I’ve written alone and a lot of songs co-written with Brian.  These tunes were recorded by musicians in Rock Scarlet, as well as with other musicians, and all have a similar theme.

It’s the theme of the songs that’s lead me to explore some ideas outside of putting out just another recording.  I do want to make the songs available individually, but even more importantly,  I am hoping to create a fun audio/visual experience for the website Psychanaut.com that will be like a simplified video game, with atmospheres that change with each song.  It’s a rather ambitious project, and it’s beyond my current programming abilities, so I’m going to need some help with it – but the current batch of songs are all written, many are recorded, and I’ve created a detailed outline of how it should be developed. 

We’ll be re-mixing many of your favorite songs this winter, as well completing as some new ones.

At this time, it feels like Psychanaut is the vehicle that will allow me the most creative expression – and what I’m hoping for is for this project to be a vehicle for the other musicians too, more than we’ve seen in the past.

Many of my lyrics are telling different parts of the same story – so this idea would allow them to be a part of a visual/audio experience.  I’ve wanted to do a rock opera, like The Wall or Tommy, and that idea has morphed into this online one.  But first the songs need to be finished. 

So with that portion in mind, Brian and I are going to spend a lot of time this Winter in the studio getting the recorded songs finished and recording some new ones.   We’ll be posting them as they are completed.

Next, my vision for the live version of Psychanaut will be a project that has the ability to rock as hard as Rock Scarlet, but the skill and finesse to bring the noise level way down for acoustic songs with minimal, very tasty accompaniment (or no accompaniment at all on some songs!)  – And the talent to perform a much more dynamic, creative, varied show. 

This means we’re looking for musicians that are very skilled, dedicated, and musically flexible.  This will probably mean a pretty high turnover in players as we look for the right people. I’m really excited that this project will have the ability to perform some of my Celtic rock tunes like High Roads, as well as do justice to eclectic songs like Egypt Eyes – plus some of the more progressive styles that weren’t possible with the old lineup.  There are so many original songs we could not perform with Rock Scarlet that Psychanaut will do – given the right players.

I’m looking forward to featuring new players in the upcoming tunes and performances.

(Rock Scarlet will be on hiatus the rest of the Winter.)

So for now, it’s back into the studio on these chilly nights! 

This Saturday “not yet Psychanaut” will be playing at Happy Hours from 8-12!  Brian, Daemon and I will be performing with rhythm section provided by Axel Fleming and Joel Root.

We’ll perform some stuff on acoustic guitars, some on electric, and some blended tunes with a bit of both.  Brian will do some slide guitar work as well. 

The collection of players for this show is a rather loose confederation brought together by synchronicity rather than design!  There may eventually be a keyboardist, and backing members may change as we find the right fit.  Axel and Joel don’t know all of the original material, so just  for this show we’ll be playing some extra covers/remakes, including some stuff you’ve requested over the years.

That means that I’ll sing a Heart tune and a Stevie Nicks song, and maybe even a bit of Tina Turner, as well as some Van Halen and other rock stuff that we’ve done in Rock Scarlet.  Daemon and I will do a duet on Battle of Evermore and a unique presentation of Breathe by Pink Floyd… and more. 

Due to the newness factor and holiday season minimal rehearsal  time, we did not make fliers or advertise this show (we’re still pondering whether to send out an email to the list)  so for those of you who happen to come out, this should be a rather unique show…a “secret show” of sorts.

Let’s see what happens and have some fun!

Last Friday, we had that show booked at Goodfellas.  That day, Richie called and said that he’d booked a flight leaving at 5AM, and couldn’t do the show since we’d be playing till 2AM.  Uh oh! 

Well, we wouldn’t cancel a show with that short of notice (unless we were deathly ill or worse).  No matter where the venue, we wouldn’t leave our fans hanging, or the venue without a band; so we had to do some quick thinking.

Brian spoke with Richie and it appeared for a while that Richie would play drums with us till midnight… but somehow communication got confused.  Mike came and picked up the band’s house drum set (so Richie wouldn’t have to set anything up).   But then later he talked to Richie who had decided he couldn’t make it at all – so Mike didn’t bring the drum set to Goodfellas and assumed the band simply would not play – and he disappeared with the drum set in his car.

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Here’s the poster for Friday’s show… hope to see you there!   We’ve had to  cancel the Nov 21st show, so this is our only November show.  We’ll be looking for YOU.

Oh, and check out the previous post if you’re interested in Friday the13th original  tradition of good luck and love!

It always strikes me as odd that most of us don’t even know the origins of everyday words that we all use, much less the origins of holidays and supposedly “bad luck” numbers, items, and days.  

Most people are unaware that each day of the week is named for an ancient God or Goddess sacred to our forbearers.  (Monday is Moon Day, generally personified as a Goddess, Tuesday is Tyr’s day, the Norse God of war… etc.)   We live in a culture that is somewhat isolated in time – we celebrate some holiday traditions but most of us just skim the surface, not knowing or caring why.  Or perhaps even sillier, many people continue to believe that their favorite holy day has something to do with their favorite contemporary religions (Christmas, Easter, etc).  Despite the signs they put in their lawns, it’s simply not true.  Contemporary religions subverted and/or borrowed holy days from older beliefs. 

But back to Friday the 13th.

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I’ve begun updating the lyrics page at scarletjinn.com/lyrics.html – having added some songs such as Circus that we don’t do often enough at the live shows.  I have been quite remiss in adding to that page and I’m attempting to correct that.  There are probably 5-6 songs that weren’t posted there before, and more to  come.

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