An album of hard to define musical played with ridiculous chops! Joe Olnick gives a bit of insight into the process: "The band consists of very experienced musicians, having played hundreds and hundreds of shows over the years in various acts. And I've also worked with more bands that I could remember as an engineer myself. I am so thankful to have a band that consists of friends that support doing original material like this. It started out more as a mostly-improvised project that over the years has evolved into something more defined and structured, and the journey has really been interesting.
Doing something like this by definition will fall under the radar for a lot of the local crowd, but there is no denying that it has been very successful, especially in the cities and overseas. The fans seem to be really keen on hearing something fresh, blending genres together into something new. Lately, the shows have also had a visual component with custom video projected and that just makes the live videos even more intriguing. The music is really part of a bigger multimedia art project that hopefully will continue and evolve. I am very, very grateful to all of the words of encouragement that have come from around the world. It means everything, really." Here we go track-by-track...

Track 1: Sticky Floor Nightclub
JO:This piece kicks off the album, and was also what kicked off the original recording session! The adrenaline was definitely kicking in, as it was the first proper studio session with our current drummer Stew Bradley, and the way I run my sessions with the band tends to be a little different. I like to work with folks that can improvise, or work with very little direction, and see what happens. This technique has served me well in previous projects. It's kind of like Miles Davis, I guess, but in this case applied to a rock setting.
For this one, I literally started playing the opening riff and the rest of the band quickly joined in. One take for the basics, and then some later overdubbing for the guitar solo. It was one of the magic moments in the studio where it's immediately obvious this will be a great track, and what a great way to start a project!
The album tells the musical story of a misunderstood hero, in this case an Iguana named Don. This came from one of the many interesting things overheard at a practice session one day, and quickly grew into an instrumental concept album that informed the songwriting.
In this case, we are being introduced to the world of good times and people gathering, albeit in a place that would be problematic for a fellow like Don. The sticky floor of the nightclub would cause him a lot of trouble, so he is kind of forced to be on the outside looking in. The original artwork on the inside of the album references this scene. There is also some irony here, as it seems that the nightclubs with the sticky floors that a lot of the local & regional bands aspire to are frequently reluctant to bring us in. At first, I was perplexed as to why, but then realized that this is actually not a bad thing.
Sometimes it's good to be ahead of the curve. I've played at some prestigious venues to a lot of folks, had airplay & fans from around the country and overseas, pleasantly surprised at streams & sales reports, yet the sticky floor nightclubs would routinely turn us down. Perhaps they can tell you why, as it I think it says a lot about the current state of music, especially in America.
Regardless, I was originally thinking of a Talking Heads-style riff, with a funky rhythm guitar track as the foundation. Some have said this sounds a bit in the vein of a James Brown groove also, and I can hear that as well. From there, we are treated to not one but TWO bass solos (when was the last time that happened in a short funk track?) by the amazing Jamie Aston. Again, improvised on the spot.
With that setup of the scene, like in a movie, it was time for the guitar to appear and the track to take off. Part way through the solo, Jamie gets some great funky popping on the bass going on, and it reaches a climax as the sound of the crowd kicks in. I love using sound effects more and more, as it helps to bring that cinematic quality that I'm trying to convey.

Track 2: Don's Theme
JO: As the crowd noise dies down, we immediately have the entrance of our iguana hero. This came out of the suggestion by folks in our camp to have a theme that actually plays when Don enters the scene. There was some discussion of also coming up with a graphic novel version of this album originally; I tried to get a local artist interested, but getting the album cover itself took so long that we simply ran out of time.
But the idea of an iguana theme kind of lent itself to a bit of slower, introspective piece. After all, he is an outsider who is struggling to find what he is looking for. There is some frustration and sadness of what his fate is, but ultimately the piece builds up to an almost orchestral quality that shows larger forces are at work here.
Before this was recorded, we did a series of shows last fall where we experimented with this composition: we would sometimes kick it off as a very heavy, grungy, distorted number and other times as a very ambient, minimalist piece. It took a while to figure out where this one was going to end up, but I think it's safe to say the process yielded a very emotional, personal piece. So much that I had a bit of a breakdown during the recording of it.
The album also mirrors a lot of the frustration that I've had trying to create my art and get it out in front of people. Doing cool, original stuff like this goes down very well with some listeners, but a lot of people are thrown off simply because there isn't a singer or a lot of chord changes. They haven't been exposed to a lot of music like this before. It's to be expected, but it certainly can mess with one's head and make one feel like an outsider at times.
Channeling such emotions into the music is the best way that I know of to deal with it. I just keep creating, and refining as I go along. More folks get it over time, and that leads to a growing fan base, which I am forever grateful for!

Track 3: February 2nd
JO: This was part of a bigger, ambient piece that was recorded on, yes, February 2nd, 2019! Thus the title. My original music goes down either the path of the band, which is more of a rock/fusion/funk/jazz world, and my solo ambient work. I'm always looking for way to combine the two, of course. In this case, I had done hours of looping but ultimately wasn't quite satisfied with anything fitting into this project (I actually ended up with material that will come out on an ambient album in the future). Some harmonics that I had recorded caught my ear, so to speak, and while manipulating it in my computer I came up with a way to take almost all of the attack off of each note, which created this otherworldly sound.
It's really a short epilogue for Don's Theme. After ruminating over his fate, and ultimately feeling larger forces at work that gives him hope, there needed to be something to signify that something mysterious was at work. Almost a spiritual moment of sorts. Something to essentially resolve what Don was going through and set up the next piece.

Track 4: Misadventures In Hi-Fi
JO: I really had a lot of fun with this one, from the original sessions to what it eventually evolved into. I had originally written a rather heavy piece, very hard rock in the early '70's sense. Think Bad Company or Mountain with a very heavy bass part. However, as the overdubbing began, the theme that presented itself started reminding me more and more of a '90's-era R.E.M. riff that would feel at home on something like their Monster album.
In a cinematic sense, here was our protagonist out on an adventure, and having to navigate numerous obstacles, including other animals! Certainly some risk as he moves around, trying to find what he needs. I love using sound effects, and could not resist here.
it was a little tricky trying to find a way to move into the guitar solos that eventually take over this one, and not get in the way of the main theme, but eventually this sorted itself out over time. Sometimes I will overdub a lot of solos onto a piece, and spend more time removing bits than creating, but eventually reach a point where it just suddenly falls into place. This was one of those moments.

Track 5: Why?
JO: I wanted a solo acoustic piece on this album, and this was one that I had been working on for a couple of years off and on. Like Glendale Avenue on the Defiant Grooves album, this was one of the acoustic numbers that I just kept going back to over the years whenever I would pick up the Martin acoustic guitar, and kept working on it until it was set.
This was recorded live in my home studio, in one take, no overdubs. I did a few versions of it, and they were all pretty close, but this particular take stood out. It has a very human, ragged, endearing quality that reflects the iguana perhaps sitting by a camp fire on his travels, wondering why he is destined to do what he does. Why does life have to be such a struggle? Why are we here, anyway?
Ultimately, we all have our moments where we ponder our place in the bigger world, and where our lives are heading. We take comfort sometimes in where we going, and occasionally we have to question why we have to deal with what comes our way. And simply ask "Why?"
Technically, it was recorded at an extremely low volume, owing to the fingerstyle playing. I have usually played guitar with a pick, but have been playing more without one lately. I also got to use a signature recording technique: an extremely sensitive microphone on one side, and a pickup in the guitar on the other, which is one of my favorite things to do with a solo acoustic guitar track.

Track 6: Hot Rocks
JO: The big finale of the album, where the iguana finally gets what he is ultimately looking for, a hot rock in the sun. He even has ROCK on his clothing, although some folks misunderstand this and think he wants to rock out in the musical sense. He likes to do so, but really he wants a nice hot rock that can relax on and this causes him a lot of frustration. He finally gets everything that he wants.
The piece surprisingly started with basic tracks recorded at the end of the studio session. During overdubs, I wanted to try out a new microphone so I started doing some riffs on various microphones and settings on them, to compare later. Imagine my shock when I thew all them on, and most harmonized beautifully together! My subconscious must have been at work. I started hearing something that reminded me of the Allman Brothers' Rambling Man, and from there the overdubs went in that direction.