Ok, this project has been a long time coming… Long enough, in fact, that my musician buddies used to joke for a number of years that it was going to be a tossup which came out first, my debut or Axl Rose’s “Chinese Democracy.” Needless to say, I lost that one. The earliest song on this album was written in 2000 or 2001, and I began tracking in the summer of 2010. Life intervened shortly after I finished all of the rhythm tracks, but I finished the lead guitar in, for the most part, the span of a couple weeks in 2012, and had it mixed by the end of 2013.

“Zero Mantra” should be out by January 13th, available on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and a number of other online outlets. The album spans thirteen songs, including a bonus acoustic version of “Alien Love Child,” and just shy of 67 minutes of music. I recorded and mixed the entire thing in my home studio here in Somerville, and it features a guest solo from Chris Quigley, and a string section comprised of Jen Stevenson (violin) recorded seven or eight times. Mark D’vaz from MDV Productions handled the master.

Like most projects that have gone on far longer than they probably should have, there are things about this that I wish were better… But, on the measure, I’m happy with this album and think it’s a pretty good picture of who I was as a player when I hit “record.”