New Album “Wayfinding” to Drop, and Tunnel 18 in the wild
Once again, I’m aware that I’ve been a little quiet here for the past few weeks. In addition to my quotidian activities, I’ve been getting new tracks down and also getting a few people off to where they need to be in the world. In addition, I’m sad to say that I am also working though the logistics of seeing a family member out of this world. My cousin Debra passed back in June. She was – among other things – the person who helped me build my Star Trek models at the same time that she was introducing me to bands like Fleetwood Mac and Styx.
The world revolves, and we remind ourselves that every moment is to be savored.
Nonetheless and as promised, I do have new music to talk about: Tunnel 18 has two new tracks released in demo form. Two!! Not one, but two.
I wrote Dancing after hearing that Tom Petty had passed last year. Among all the changes that have happened – of all the luminaries who have passed the past few years – his death has hit me particularly hard. I wrote this song about three days after he died, and the current recording, I think, covers my feelings pretty well.
By the Side is a little older. This one had a pretty difficult birth, but covers a lot of territory. It all started with the riff (you’ll know the one when you hear it) and then went looking for a theme. I ended up in a place I’ve been more than once: thinking a lot about the nature of how we understand our identities – how we create and define who we are.
And somewhere along the line, I also realised I have the album done!
There are 11 songs in total on the new album – titled Wayfinding. The track list is:
- Pleased to Meet You
- Not Sleeping
- Take Me Home
- No One’s Coming
- Damaged Goods
- Not That Bright
- Breathe
- In The End
- Closeout
- Dancing
- By The Side
(I haven’t figured out the running order yet, so please, act surprised.)
There are more songs than these already done and ready to go. There are also more songs that are in the works and will find their way to the studio sooner or later (we hope sooner). But Wayfinding is ready to go, and should be ready to ship before the end of the year.
I think this is going to be the last album that I am able to do on a self-funded basis (I’ve done 2 so far). To put it another way, I’m going to ask for your help in the future. I am still very interested in doing albums, and there’s a lot of music that I still want to share with you, but I’m gonna need your help.
Just for an example, I priced out the album art, mastering, and running a few hundred disks over at CDbaby last night, and thought maaayybe I could get y’all in as partners on the ground floor…
Lots of potential. Lots of growth opportunity. (nudge, wink, etc)
In the meantime, please enjoy “Dancing” and “By The Side.” I promise that there’s more to come – both music and words. I’m really looking forward to sharing it with you.
Oh, by the way… I’ve started to bring some of these songs out to the open mic circuit in the Newton, MA area (or wherever I might be travelling). First run was at Terry O’Reilly’s in Newton Centre this last Wednesday, where I played “Caroline” and “Old Age and Treachery.” (They both play surprisingly well as acoustic numbers!) Please keep an eye on the @tunnel18band twitter or the Tunnel 18 Facebook page and I’ll try to let you know when and where I’ll be performing!
-Chris
-Chris