Yes, yes, yes… Things have been quiet in the JOT camp lately. However, here’s a few things of note to keep you guys in the loop:
-We’re still talking about a Brazilian tour – It’s just taking a bit longer to get all of our ducks in a row.
-We’re playing a bunch in California this Spring/Early Summer – Check out our tour dates for details. Of particular note is our show at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood – Where we’ll be debuting a couple of new songs.
-Speaking of new songs – Here’s a couple of our ‘descriptive’ titles to some songs in the works:
‘Didn’t Anybody Tell You That The War Is Over?’
‘The Painter’
‘E-AM9-C#m-B’
‘7/8 – 4/4′
‘Sing-A-Long’
‘The Billy Joel Song’
‘Bm – A Delay Song’
This is all in addition to the songs that didn’t make it on ‘WOW’ are in the running for the next album we hope to get in your ears by Christmas 2009.
- We’re also revamping our live shows to include some reworking of songs and inclusions of some interesting instruments and textures. If you haven’t seen us lately, you might be in for a treat when you do.
- Me? I’m listening to a bootleg of Elvis Costello’s 1989 tour rehearsal, pining for the new Nord Electro 3 and looking forward to the release of the iPhone 3GS. Yes, I’m a nerd.
Well, it’s been a month since the new album was released. Reviews and feedback are generally positive – Though a consensus of minds might think that it’s a bit eclectic; ‘Reckless’, ‘Lines’ and ‘Wasted’ all being on the same album… We’re still working in the next one already with two new tunes in addition to the four (five) that didn’t make the last one.
Earlier this month we flew to South Carolina for a great show in Spartanburg and I’m actually typing this up on the plane back from Detroit where we played The Magic Bag for a bunch of personal friends, family on fans. We also celebrated my birthday on Friday – Unanimously, all of us had an amazing time.
Personally, it was both gratifying and humbling to have the astounding turnout that we did have in Michigan. For anyone reading this that attended the 4/24 show, I apologize if we didn’t get a chance to chat but the insanity that followed was completely unexpected.
‘So what’s next’ you ask?
The official CD release show is at The Mint in May and our return to Gilroy in July for the Garlic Festival. Otherwise, it seems like we’re concentrating our energies to trying to make Brazil happen.
After the last few months of recording & producing ‘WoW’, planning a didn’t-happen tour and making sure the two tour dates that we did keep went off without a hitch I’m taking a back seat for a few weeks and letting other people work the black seam for a while. I’m [contentedly] pooped.
The University of South Carolina Upstate is having us back on Thursday for a show for their Spring Fest festival (seems redundant to type that). We’re flying out on Wednesday and flying back on Friday – Not a whole lot of time to spend in the fine city of Spartanburg but we’re plenty busy and need to get back to LA by the weekend.
These one-off shows are great and all but the entire band would like to be out on the road for a more extended period of time… Y’know, like a [whaddayacallit?] ‘tour’.
Interestingly enough, we’ve been talking with some concert promoters in Switzerland, Italy and Brazil – Making headway in some shows in their respective countries and could be touring abroad as early as August.
Neat, huh?
We’ll be taking some photos and video while we’re on the east coast this week – I hope to have a little round-up sometime next week.
Our new album, ‘Words On Waves’, is now available exclusively through Amazon.com for an introductory price of $7.99 (or 89¢ a song). iTunes and other outlets will follow in April and we’ll be getting hard copies in about a week.
Not much more to say but ‘go get it!’ Come back here and let us know what you think…
First of all, if you haven’t been keeping up with my Studio Diary (found to your right), then you’re not really in the know now, are you? Give it a skim and it’ll catch you up on what to expect from the new album.
Secondly, here’s the scoop on a bunch of loose ends:
The album will be released digitally on March 24th – It remains to be seen if TuneCore can get it up to iTunes or their own server in time. If they can’t, it’ll be available through Snocap first – Since the store is so easily embeddable.
Four songs didn’t make the album but will make their appearance later this year [hopefully] on another album. Both Bryan and I have germs of ideas for another four or five songs between us. Our goal is to get back in the studio by the end of summer to get another new JOT CD out by Christmas 2009.
Some of you have heard – The tour has been postponed. However, April 9th in Spartanburg, SC at USC Upstate is still a go as is The Magic Bag show in Ferndale, MI on April 24th. The 24th is also my birthday – In my home state – With a bunch of friends and family.
I’m really looking forward to that one.
We’re talking about hitting the road in July instead – Making our way to the east coast and back. Let’s see if we can’t make that happen.
Speaking of tours, we’re currently in contact with some overseas concert promoters and a European jaunt looks especially promising. Also, a concentration on some shows in Switzerland looks good.
We’re also finalizing an overhaul of our justoffturner.com website with the help of the incomparable James Matthew Mudgett for www.jmmseasons.com. Keep your eyes out for that soon.
Other than those bullets, we’ve got some new media that’s going to be happening including some video blogs, behind-the-scenes videos, music videos and appearances where you’d least expect us. We’re really excited about the rest of 2009 – You should be too.
Check out the link to the right (under Pages) for [what should be] an ongoing diary from the recording studio on the progress of the new album (tentatively titled ‘Words On Waves’). It’ll be updated more often than not, so keep checking back for updates and goodies from the studio.
Superfriend, Lauryn, posted her experiences with the band over at her Arkansas Times column Misadventures In The Dark. Check it out, leave a comment and tell her JOT sent you.
Our friends, David and Dino, at Brave New Network invited us to their studio a few weeks ago to shoot some footage of us performing some of our tunes. Visit www.bravenewnetwork.net/ for the opportunity to purchase exclusive MP3s and videos of ‘Hurts’, ‘The Long Walk Back’, ‘Bad For Business’ and ‘Ghost Town’.
While I (Phil) was in Brazil, on honeymoon with my new wife, I contacted local pop star and all around great guy, Tiago Iorc (pronounced ee-ork), to have lunch in Rio de Janeiro — Tiago’s new home. The four of us (including his good friend and manager, Bruno) had a great conversation surrounding music, life and the respective state of the music industry in our countries. Tiago has sent JOT a bunch of new fans from South America with his amazing covers of ‘How Much It Hurts‘ and ‘Bad For Business‘ and we feel compelled to send this talented new artist some international attention that he richly deserves.
This past Saturday and Sunday will go down in history as Just Off Turner’s ‘Long Weekend’. Bryan, Eric, Stephen and I sequestered ourselves in our rehearsal space to finish (as much as possible) the songs that will make up our new album (possibly titled [you heard it here first] ‘Words On Waves’). From 10am until nearly 9pm each night we sorted through each song that we’ve been working on, detailing each part in order to hit the studio in October. Here’s a list of the songs that we have slated for inclusion on the new record:
There’s fifteen songs right there that will probably be whittled down to twelve or so… Obviously, many of the songs remain untitled but need to be identified somehow. We recorded much of the two days on our handheld, Olympus LS-10 recorder (highly recommended), videotaped a couple of things and shot some pictures — All of which might find their way to you some day soon. A teaser, of sorts…
Otherwise, we’re looking to debuting some of the songs at the next couple of gigs in Los Angeles and Phoenix – Laying low while we get in the studio and hoping for a early winter release.
