Life Update and New Music Announcement

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Hey Folks,

Now that we’re all semi-used-to this quarantine thing, I thought I would take this opportunity to give you an update on what has become of my adult life, amidst one of the weirdest chapters in the history of humanity.

With all of my future gigs either canceled or pending, I admittedly took the first couple days of quarantine to stream shows and challenge myself to a beer drinking contest, which ended in a draw. Once I got that out of my system and came to terms with the fact that life is on hold, I started to think of all the opportunities available as a result of having so much free time.

I found that when you take the constant hunt for money out of your equation, there’s something liberating about your life. I suddenly have become a voracious reader and runner (special thanks to a book called Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins). I’ve also been practicing music AT LEAST 4 hours a day. It’s been awesome spending time honing by craft again, and working on new music. Speaking of new music…

I’M DROPPING MY FIRST SINGLE AS A SOLO ARTIST ON 4/17!!!!!

This has been a long time coming, and I am thrilled to announce that the new song is called Turn out the Light. I’ll be releasing more details soon, but mark your calendars in the meantime.

Finally, I hope everyone has had a chance to check out my #MondayRecover series on my instagram. I’ll be posting new ones every week so please stop by and check em out.

That’s all for today, stay safe out there.

New Lose Control EP, Dark Times, Out Now!

I’m proud to announce that after many years we finally have released a follow up to our first album, Let it be Known, called Dark Times EP. We’re really happy with how it turned out (you wouldn’t know it based on its dark intensity), and I think we really captured the whole vibe of the album from sound all the way to artwork. Check it out and see what you think, it’s now streaming on all platforms!

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The Story of Ozzy

On July 20th, 2018 Ozzy entered our world and made our already wonderful lives significantly better. After dog-sitting for a friend one Sunday afternoon, we realized that we were more than ready to take on the responsibility of raising a puppy, and began eagerly searching for our future family member. In a stroke of fate, we came to find out that the puppy we looked after that day had a brother in need of rescue. He had been adopted by a woman in Reno who, for one reason or another, didn’t feel she was a good fit for the little guy and decided she was ready to part with him. Although it did seem like the perfect opportunity for us, we ultimately decided to do the responsible thing and sleep on it before making such a life altering decision. It’s beginning to scare me how much we are becoming responsible adults (writer pauses and stares longingly over his computer screen at some invisible “portal to the past”, but quickly realizes that this is best saved for another post, and decides to continue his story).

The next morning I was awoken to my wife with a look in her eye that I could only compare to an excited puppy, and I swear that if she had a tail, it would have been wagging her off of her feet. She was not only ready to get the dog, but she was really fired up on the idea. Once I sat up in bed and gathered my thoughts, I re-confirmed with myself what I already knew… that I was ready to get a dog as soon as possible. With both of us on board, I immediately sprung in to action. I contacted the owner, booked a flight to Reno (where the puppy was located) for the following night, followed by a rental car and a hotel. Flash-forward 36 hours and there I am in Reno, waking up in a Motel 6 and then driving my way to an address about 15 minutes down the road. 

When I arrived, I was greeted by a sweet middle age lady, a barking mini-chocolate labrador retriever named Cranberry, and hiding in the furthest corner or his kennel, a mini-golden retriever pup with a name tag reading “Alfalfa”… soon to be our sweet little Ozzy (my wife and I agreed immediately that he would be getting a name change). I slowly approached the trembling puppy and as I reached out my hand, he began gently urinating all over himself and his kennel. This will be quite a learning process I thought to myself as his then-owner began talking me through her life with him thus far. She then walked him outside where he ran to the nearest outdoor lounge chair and hid underneath with his eyes affixed to the stranger in his home. 

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After signing papers and some goodbyes, my rented Nissan Rogue was making its long journey back home to Hermosa Beach with a puppy hiding in his kennel, atop folded down seats. Every time I would look in the rearview mirror my heart would break as I saw the eyes of pure sadness and fear. It was as though the pup was on his way to meet his maker, and his last act on earth was peeing on the floor. I kept looking back at him and smiling as if for some reason, he would in turn smile back at me. Instead he just looked up at me with his little puppy head pointing down at his little puppy paws, while his little puppy body was curled up in a tight little puppy coil.  When I stopped for gas, I attempted to get him out to relieve himself, but I quickly realized that he was not getting out of his kennel without a fight, so I thought it best to just plow through the rest of the drive. It would be a total of 8 hours without relief.

After returning the rental car and transferring him to my wife’s car, we eventually made it back home where we carried his kennel with him inside to our fenced patio. When I opened it up, I had to pull the terrified little guy out and as soon as he hit the concrete he sprinted out of his kennel and began pissing and shitting as he ran for his short life. Within seconds, he tried to jump through a trash can barricade I had set up and got himself lodged between the trashcan and the stucco of the house with his front paws out like a little puppy superman. I simultaneously sprang into action and ran around the opposite side of the house in an attempt to stop him from going into the street, and thinking to myself what my future psyche would be like if I killed a puppy within seconds of getting him home. Lucky for me, my make-shift barricade stopped him and I was able to carry this “still-shitting” dog back around to a safe zone. I quickly noticed that I had broken a sandal strap amidst the chaos. After taking a moment for everyone to calm down, we then decided to give the feces-covered pup a bath before we proceeded with anything, and to our surprise, he completely calmed down. We were able to sit with him for hours on the patio as he began to acclimate to his new life.

He spent the next few days hiding out under our coffee table, but now after five days with us, he is already become a comfortable member of the family who enjoys walks, playing with other dogs, and of course the best spot on the couch. We love him to death, and can’t wait for many years of great times with our Ozzy!

One Love Fest 2018

Last Saturday was an epic day to be in Long Beach. I was fortunate enough to share the stage with Tomorrows Bad Seeds for a beautiful afternoon set to an amazing crowd. It has been a blast playing with these guys for the past year, but all good things must come to an end and it looks like this will be my last show with them for a while. 

Everyone is on the best of terms, but it's time for me to focus my attention on some of my own current projects. I wish these fellas all the best on their upcoming tour, and thank them for having me on board for about 50 shows. Now I will set my sights on finishing the new Bret Bollinger and the Bad Habits album and start playing some shows of our own. Be sure to check out the "Tour" tab for all of our upcoming shows. 

2018 is off to a great start, and there is so much more to come!

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Whats Been Up??

Well I am very glad you asked because, as it turns out, A LOT! 

For starters, the little side project I started with Bret Bollinger has turned into quite a large undertaking that's given rise to some great opportunities. I think that both of us were looking for something new to try out musically, and it's been a breath of fresh air for all parties involved. We're both still hard at work in our respective bands, but sometimes it's nice to step out of your comfort zone and play music with someone new. In just a couple short months, we've played KROQ's microbrew festival, two shows in Hawaii, recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios, performed live on TV, and also live on the radio... As you can see, we've been a little more active than your standard "side project"...

Our band consists of Bret Bollinger (lead vocals), Andre Davis (Bass Guitar), Patrick Salmon (Drums), and Myself (Guitar, Vocals). If Andre and Pat look familiar, it's because I have been playing with them for a few years in a band called Cheers to Nothing (See photo on the right). Hopefully that gets you all up to speed.

Next we have our sites set on Florida, where we'll be playing three shows at clubs located on the beach, and it doesn't get much better than that! After that we'll be recording a new album that will most likely be released next year, and I'm sure there will be more shows some time in the near future.

Aside from the Bollinger project, Lose Control has studio time booked so that we can get closer to finishing our sophomore album. This album has been constantly stalled for a number or reasons, no band drama or anything, it's simply that we've all been wrapped up in plenty of other projects making it hard to get our schedules aligned. It's looking, though, like we are finally getting the ship steered in the right direction now and we're excited to get this album done!

Finally, this past week I have once again worn the producer hat as the band Altered Revelations came through our studio to work on their debut release. These guys are extremely talented, and be sure to look for their album down the road if you are into the heavy/hardcore metal scene similar to early Avenged Sevenfold.

This has been by far the most eventful year of my life, and I look forward to seeing what more life throws my way in the coming months. Be sure to check back soon and keep up with my shows in the "Tour" tab above. I hope to have more exciting news and some new music in the near future.

That's it for now, Happy Fall!    

Waiting to record at Capitol Studios

Waiting to record at Capitol Studios

Live on the ABC Morning Show Hawaii

Live on the ABC Morning Show Hawaii

Live at The Republik in Hawaii

Live at The Republik in Hawaii

Cheers to Nothing tackling all the tough issues on Hawaiian television 

Cheers to Nothing tackling all the tough issues on Hawaiian television 

New Shows Added!

Summer time is upon us folks and I just added a bunch of new gigs, so be sure to check the tour tab for a list of places you can find me in the next couple months. I'll be staying fairly close to the home front as I continue work on the new Lose Control album, and take a couple of weeks to get myself married. 

I also would also like to announce that the new Pepper album, Ohana, to which I contributed production work, has been officially released to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Be sure to pick up a copy and give it a listen! Lose Control played 3 sold out nights with them last month, it was an incredible experience. 

That's it for today, check back soon!

-Jeff

Pepper's OHANA is Upon Us

Greetings folks, I must admit it's been several months since my last confession, but that certainly doesn't mean that I haven't been busy! Allow me to catch you up on what's been going on with me this year.

For starters, Lose Control has been hard at work on our sophomore album which is yet to be titled. We are recording the album at Kona Inn Recording in Redondo Beach with Mike Sutherland behind the helm as producer. Mike has also signed on board to be our manager which is great news for us as he is an invaluable asset, our 5th member, and a close friend. 

As of now, we have three tracks mostly finished with two more that are well on their way. We are shooting for ten songs total so I'd say we are about 35% done with a long way to go. We actually just finished writing the 10th song last week. I must say though this album is sounding awesome! We tracked all of the instruments live together which captures our sound much more accurately, and gives the songs a much more raw rock n' roll feel. I'll keep you updated as things progress, and we will probably be floating one of the tracks out in the next month or so. For now, just know that it's sounding bad ass and we are very happy with it.

LOSE CONTROL promo 2016

LOSE CONTROL promo 2016

Aside from recording with Lose Control, I have also been gigging quite a bit around my home town of Hermosa Beach with acoustic guitar in hand. I'm working on putting together a bunch of my own songs and recording a solo album this year, so these gigs have been a great place to work on new material and play some fun covers as well. I just ordered a new microphone from Miktek, a little audio company who endorses me, and once it comes in I plan on recording a bunch of demos that I will release into the wild with corresponding youtube videos later this year. I may release a song a week or something like that just to try something different, but I'll keep you posted on that.

Outside the music realm, you may or may not know this, but I am also a licensed real estate agent and have been practicing real estate for many years. I sold a house in Manhattan Beach last month which took up a good chunk of my time, and was an overall great experience. Be sure to contact me if you are every looking for a good real estate agent (end advertisement).

Finally, I am happy to announce that Pepper will be releasing their new album, Ohana, on April 29th this year. I did quite a bit of production work on this album last year and am really proud of how it turned out. The pre-order is now available, and I highly recommend that you grab a copy, it sounds fantastic! 

Available now for pre-order!

Available now for pre-order!

That's about it for now. I certainly have my work cut out for me over the next few months so be sure to check back soon and I will hopefully have some new music to share with you. Thank you for your continued support of my musical endeavors, hopefully this is the year I hit it big. Take care.

-Jeff

The Appendix: Nature's Freeloader

Pre-Op

Pre-Op

Well the rumors are true, I have been excommunicated from the Church of the Appendix. It all started last Wednesday with some sharp lower abdominal pain that landed me in the Emergency Room by Thursday morning. Several tests revealed appendicitis which has but one remedy; extraction via surgery. If the inflamed appendix is not removed immediately then it will undoubtedly burst some time in the near future and turn deadly very quickly.

I had to wait around all afternoon for an operating table and was under the knife by about 8:30pm. The surgery was a complete success with no complications, but unfortunately I did have to stay overnight due to the late hour of my surgery. The more unfortunate part is that the guy I shared a room with snored like a wildebeest and when he wasn't snoring he was groaning in pain. It was like paying a premium rate for the room next to the torture chamber.  

There's not too much information out there for what to do once you get home from a laparoscopic appendectomy (say that 10 times fast), other than basically just go get better. I spent the first two days laying on my back, taking pain killers and watching movies. Finally on Sunday I was able to ditch the pain killers and move around a little bit and I used those precious steps to do a photo shoot with Lose Control. The photo shoot is just one of many steps taken by Lose Control to get ready for more content in the new year so stay tuned on that.

As of today I am finally feeling closer to normal, although I now must refer to if my life as "post-appendix". I'll still have a few more days of laying low, but luckily I will be doing so on the beautiful island of Oahu. I had to cancel my gigs for the week, but promise to back in action in about a week or so. As of now, I am just glad to be rid of that freeloading appendix who does nothing for the human body other than wage war once it gets bored with it. Damn thing didn't even pay for gas money, let alone it's own hospital bill.

Post-Op

Post-Op

On the bright side, this experience has been yet another reminder of my own mortality. Although there is no known cause for appendicitis, it's been nice to take a step back and start focusing on my health as we transition into the new year. Even just a couple small steps like changing my diet and drinking habits I'm sure will yield much healthier results which in turn will lead to a happier and more productive life. Also, I must mention that the amount of support I received from family and friends was overwhelming, and I'm so thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life to be there when I get knocked down. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.     

That's it for now, enjoy the holidays!

-Jeff

 

That'll Show Em!

So you're in a band in the 21st century, and then all of a sudden someone from a "radio station" emails you and they're interested in your music!! You get so excited that you write back right away, only to get hit with a generic response telling you to submit your music somewhere... I think I nailed the response on this one:

Dear *****,

I'm generically copying and pasting something significant into your email chain since I can tell with 100% certainty that you did not read my initial response. I do, however, in some small way appreciate your effort to convolute what's left of the music world, so here's to the deaf ears that this falls upon. If you've made it this far and you truly wanna work with a kick-ass rock band, then inquire again. 

Jeff

Well Look Who Finally Got Their Own Blog!

I know, I know... This has been a long time coming. The longer that I waited, the more daunting of a task it became to start designing a website. Luckily for me, companies like Squarespace have finally emerged that allow for an inexpensive and easy way to design your own personal space. It has still been about a two week long process that has unearthed a tremendous amount of past memories and material, but all in all it's been quite a fruitful endeavor. I have scoured every corner of every hard drive that I have with the ultimate goal of painting a detailed picture of myself so that my audience can better understand me, both as a musician and a person. Plus, I'm tired of having to tell people where I am playing every week, it's finally all in one place! 

As many of you may or may not know, I have lived the life of a musician for quite some time, and through my experiences I've been able to develop a particular set of writing skills that have made for some great stories, or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, my main motivation for setting up a website is that I really miss writing and sharing said stories with the unsuspecting public. Throughout the next few weeks, I will be tracking down all of my old "Road Notes" from my first band Sand Section and finally organizing them into one place. Unfortunately I had all of them saved on our Sand Section website which has been taken down, but I am in the process of recovering them (Thanks Mom!). In these entries I take the reader through a day in the life of a traveling musician, and for those of you who have read them are aware, I'm pretty damn honest. I also write Road Notes for my band Lose Control that for the time being can be found at www.LoseControlRock.com.

The first Road Notes that I want to share can be found below, followed by many other posts over the past half decade for your reading pleasure. Going back and reading them has made me feel like I have already lived several lives, and yet here I am at 28 years old with what I can only expect to be an even longer road ahead. From here forward, even though I am sedentary for the next month or so, I'll still be posting every week and keeping you updated on not only life stories, but many other topics that interest me and that I find "share-worthy". I hope you find my new website easy to navigate, and as far as I know, you should be able to comment on any of these posts and leave feedback which is always appreciated. For those of you who have read this far and are still thinking "who the fuck is this guy?" then maybe a good place to start would the "BIOGRAPHY" tab. For everyone else, thanks for reading, enjoy!

-Jeff

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