Ok, I’ll start by stating the obvious…..

It’s been awhile since I hit you with new original music.

(uhhhh… yeah, Gav. Didn’t even think you were still alive.)

Mmmm, fair point. 🙂 At any rate, because I’ve been so ridiculously MIA, you’re, for sure, owed an explanation as to why (below). That being said… if you’d rather skip that and just get to the new music… here ya go:

 

You’ll Save Yourself (Hallelujah)

               

 

If, on the other hand, you have 5 minutes to kill and wanna indulge me… here goes…….

Soooooooo… I used to write my own songs. No, wait, that isn’t right… I’ve always written my own songs. I think, what I meant to say is… I used to RELEASE my own songs. (yeah, that’s more accurate 🙂 ) To those of you who’ve followed my music for awhile (and thanks so much if you have), you know what I’m talking about. But, for those of you who’ve come to my music more recently, if you’ll bear with me for a minute, I’d love to give you a bit of backstory.

To avoid this running too long (which, let’s be honest, it probably will anyway), I’ll start with my first original albums. In the mid-2000’s I released my first two records “My Personal Beauty Needs” and “Like Normal People Do.” The latter, especially, started doing well in what was then this crazy, newfangled thing called “social media” (yeah, I know 🙂 ), and by the late-2000’s, I’d managed to win a social media fan-vote competition that afforded me the rare opportunity to record at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. Not only did my players get to travel to England with me, but I was able to bring a crazy-talented video producer (Kyle Meek) along for the ride as well. We filmed extensively while there, and on one of the last nights, Kyle recorded an impromptu session that later became the acoustic EP “The Real World Sessions (Volume I).” Included on that EP were acoustic versions of my songs “Brave” and “Sight Unseen” as well as a cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.” The latter song, ironically, I’d learned for a friend’s wedding in 2007, but having decided it was too dark for the occasion, never performed it. Why I decided to play it that night, I’m not sure… but it found it’s way onto the EP nonetheless.

At any rate, when we got back from England, I immediately started recording additional tracks for the third album. But, Kyle’s footage for “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” kept bouncing around in my head, and a few months later, we decided to make it into a music video. So, Kyle did his thing, I uploaded it to Youtube, and promptly… forgot about it. Seriously, just…… forgot about it. Not being much of a video guy (being on-camera’s never felt all that comfortable for me), my focus remained in the studio, and it wasn’t until 4 or 5 months later that I remembered even putting it out there. Logging onto YouTube to see how it was doing, I was shocked to find it was already topping a million views. In today’s numbers, a million, although significant, isn’t what it was back then. And, after reading through some of the comments (most of which were, thankfully, positive), I figured… couldn’t hurt to try a few more acoustic covers, right?

Side note before continuing… to that point in my career, I’d done pretty well with my original music. Not off-the-charts by any stretch, but well enough that by the time we went to England, writing and self-producing as an artist was a full-time (and all-consuming) pursuit for me. And, the thought of doing more than a one-off cover had, quite frankly, never even entered my mind. But, your positive response to those first few covers was so overwhelming (and each subsequent song racked up plays so fast) that it started me down a path of doing ONLY covers for the next too-many years.

For those of you who only know me for my cover songs, I need to take a second here to make sure you know… I did (and do) pour myself into them. And, with the exception of one or two wait-I-did-WHAT-song? picks 🙂 … I’m truly proud of that body of work. The covers have allowed me to take a step back from my obsessive, studio-control-freak nature, and I can honestly say I’ve grown more as an artist in terms of my overall style as a result.

That said, anyone who creates anything (which, is pretty much any one of you reading this) can attest to the fact that if you unconsciously or even purposefully keep yourself from putting your most personal work out there long enough… it starts to eat away at you. I spent countless hours writing the songs for the third album (and every song since) and to not have released ANY of them… yeeeeeeaaah… not so much. Maybe they’re good, maybe they aren’t… maybe you like them, maybe you don’t. But I’m finally coming full-circle back to where I started… writing and recording my own songs, putting them out there, and ultimately hoping you can relate.

So, to wrap this up… am I gonna continue doing covers? Yeah, I am. For sure. I enjoy doing them and know many of you like hearing some of your favorite songs done in an alternate style. But, moving forward, not only will I be re-recording and releasing the songs from that oh-so-long-ago third album but continuing to write and release new songs as well. Starting with…

 

You’ll Save Yourself (Hallelujah)

               

 

Throughout my years as an artist, many of you have taken the time to share your individual stories with me… more often than not, stories of personal struggle to overcome helplessness and a longing to make a better life for yourself. Over time, your experiences have helped me put my own struggles in perspective, and I wanted to write this song quite simply as a message of hope. A reminder to never stop fighting, and that, in the end… you’ll find your way.

Thanks so much for everything, and… more to come soon.

Gavin