I'm done ...

Hahaha. Sorry to be all ominous. Didn't mean it that way. But you don't really have to worry. I will always make music in some form. It's a compulsion at this point.

Well, each of these albums is a step forward in time, and I really want each one to feel different. Some elements carry over, but there's more drum sets, and playing with sound, and it's more upbeat overall (musically, not lyrically ... I'm never a very cheery writer). The EP is more downtempo, and not super indicative of the album. I'm happy with all the songs on it, but I couldn't make them play nice with the rest of the album.

Another difference is how the words were written. The Roots was based in story telling. The idea of someone telling a group of people a story, or relating events verbally. This album is mostly based in letters. Correspondence from one person to another. I wanted to see how it would affect things, and I think it's subtle, but it definitely changed how I wrote and even how some things wound up being arranged.

The third album is based in photos and film. So more of the mood will be set by the sounds and the music, and the words will likely become both more descriptive and more obscured in terms of content.

Just about 2 years after the roots!

Well, turns out to be quite a bit. My teeth have been hurting me for a while now, but in the past couple months it's started to affect my ability to sleep. I haven't had insurance since I was a kid, so I haven't seen a dentist since I was 10 or so. I figured I was gonna need a couple root canals, but it wasn't that simple.

A couple years ago, I needed to have an impacted wisdom tooth removed. It was cutting heavily into my gums, and had become one of the worst pains I've ever felt. So I went to one of those places where you can just pay 200 dollars and they rip out the tooth. It was a bad experience. Novocain doesn't work so great on me, and I wound up feeling the operation pretty strongly. The tooth was very stubborn, had to be broken over ten times, and took an hour and a half to remove (feeling all that still was nowhere near as bad as the tooth pain that led to it, though).

Well, I had to have stitches because the hole in my gums was too big. But it wasn't done correctly. So over the past couple years, I unknowingly had a pocket of flesh in my mouth that was not being reached by brushing. Food and bacteria were constantly collecting in it. When I went to the dentist this time, he said I had an active infection in my gums from this, and have probably had it for a long time. Which is likely why I kept getting sick over the past year or two. Also, this infection had spread quite a bit.

So they had to remove 5 teeth, and check my jaw some. But because of a swelling in my throat, likely from this same infection, they could not sedate me. So again, Novocain and numbing agents were used, and again, it didn't totally work. Felt this operation too. I gotta say, feeling someone saw through a tooth into a nerve is pretty awful. But all the damage is out. I start gum therapy soon, and if all goes well, I should feel a lot better. And once I'm home from tour, I can look into getting some titanium implants put in. I will become part robot, which is pretty neat.

I will likely be recovering some on into the first tour, but I did Europe last time with a busted back, so I can handle this. The hard part is gonna be making this music video while recovering. But I will give it my best.

I'm actually really tired pretty often. Hahaha. I have to change my scheduling next year. I'm really having trouble keeping up anymore.

It sounds like you need to have a big rest. We like your music, but if you died or even had a mental collapse that would be totally not cool.

Yeah, I wanna die from something more interesting. But I'm pretty sure if I die tragically and relatively young it'll make my music more meaningful. Or so I'm told.

Touring can be stressful, so I'm always mixed on it. If I don't get sick it's pretty cool though. But I like making videos a lot. I'll just see how it goes while recovering. I guess if I need to have blood come out of my mouth, then I got that covered.