Don Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't imagine the frustration of working so hard
> on a batch of songs, honing and grooming them, and
> then having issues with the label. I don't know
> any of the details of what happened, but I wish it
> had turned out better for you.
>
> I'm actually looking forward to hearing a modern
> twist on your songwriting. If the single you
> shared is any indication of what to expect, I'm
> all in.


Sorry I'm late getting back to you. It's nuts over here, in a good way.

Yeah, frustration was an understatement. Never a dull moment with me and music. LOL! Yeah this batch was hard because it took us so long to do. We decided to write once a week until we got 25 songs. Well, sometimes we didn't meet once a week for weeks or months. So what started in 2010, didn't get near pre production done until 2017. December 23, 2017 I had a scheduling issue with the 2 guys I wrote the album with. It turned more into them not having the desire to actually record the album for real. The pre pro was us doing tests etc. When it came time to really go for it, I was on my own.

There was no way I could play all the instruments myself, and man, after SLIT, I made up my mind I'd never do that again. Well, I couldn't find people to play on the album and I didn't feel like hiring anyone. So I decided to just take a break and scrap the whole thing. That's when my fiance "Queenie" stepped in and said "you do it, I know you can do it."

I didn't want to do it. No desire. I'm tired of doing everything, ya know? It's nice to just sing, play guitar, and move on. That never happens. Anyway, she talked me into it. On January 2, 2018, I started recording the album and put my own spin on it playing everything, mixing, mastering and producing. It took me a year and 9 months to complete.It's made me such a better musician. I obliterated everything I ever done in SLIT musically. I'd do another album again with the skills I've picked up after this one.

From there I shopped it to quite a few labels. I tried to stay away from AOR labels because I really (and I mean no disrespect to anyone) didn't want to be pushed to 5000 people that were hoping for a Europe sounding album. Let's face it, we're a dying breed and CD sales from artists that are bigger than I'll ever be are still not doing well. So I was set to release the CD on my own. I had talked to Khalil from Escape a few times, but as much as I liked him, I just didn't want to do another AOR release. I had two major labels interested and for some odd reason, they just never got back to me after the initial contact.

Well, after I released the single Khalil contacted me and asked me to release with him. I took a look at what I have going on here and how much extra work it would be for me to do a release on my own, and decided to let him do it. So here I am. Shooting a video in a few weeks, album artwork is about 95% done and looks killer, and I'm hoping for the best. :)

On the MTM thing, I really don't know what happened. One day I was on here reading some stuff and read they went bankrupt. No one even contacted me. I remember telling Marquee in Japan not to make me sign with them. But they insisted and had a long working relationship with them. DZL never had a chance. It broke my heart and I was done, honestly. That's another reason I didn't want to release with another overseas, AOR label. The next time I get screwed, I'm taking someone down with me. LOL! I must say though, I love Khalil. I've always liked him since I met him in 1999. He's a good guy. So we'll see what happens this time.

As for the modern twist, in MY opinion, there are about 5-6 AOR type songs and the other 9 are pretty modern. I didn't go nuts with big production, huge reverbs, over dubs....it's me being me with a bit more musicality than the single I released. I really think you guys are going to like it. It's still catchy and commercial sounding. And the lyrics are really crafty too. It's a concept album actually. I'm going to post some info about it and all the songs, meanings etc...sort of tell the story. It's really the story of life, in a nutshell. Anyway....I'm typing you another novel over here, sorry. Catch up with you soon, and thanks for the correspondence.

-Danny