A Shameful Delay

Here's a post I made over at the Brad Sucks LP5 Indiegogo:

Let me hit you with the bad news first: I need more time! I planned to have the new album to you all in August but I’ve clearly underestimated how complicated it’d be to put this very human record together. I’ve never made an album with this many people and tracks involved and it’s been moving slower than I hoped.

So with a huge apology I’m moving the release to November. If anyone’s super bummed and wants a refund, please contact me and I’m happy to give you your money back. I’m really very sorry for this — it’s been stressing me out and I should have budgeted more time from the get-go.

The good news, though: we’re basically done tracking — drums, bass, guitars, keys and vocals. So next it’s overdubs (additional percussion, keys, sounds and backing vocals) and then finally mixing and mastering. I think it’s all sounding really good and I can’t wait to get to the final stages of polishing everything up.

I’ve also got an album title: “Naturally” (after a song on the album). I think the title works on a few levels — it speaks to the more organic/natural process of this album with real musicians playing everything instead of my usual computer-first DIY approach. It’s also a bit of a double entendre — Brad Sucks “Naturally” aka “Brad Sucks Of Course”, and there’s also some irony in there as unless it’s truly live, no recording is really “natural”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the rise of artificial intelligence in visual arts and music. It’s fascinating from a technology perspective — I owe my career to digital home recording and file-sharing which analog purists hated — and of course it’s very scary from a professional artist perspective. The seven-fingered A-OK logo (featuring video of my hand) is a reference to the trouble AI has had drawing hands. 

Making this album in a more traditional way with real organic performances and contributions from a full band feels like it could become a thing of the past so I’m very thankful to you all that I’m getting to do it at least once in my life. It seems like music will be in a very different place once this project’s done.

Anyhow, my apologies again for the delay and a huge thank you for your support and patience, 

Brad