Session Info:
Most of these songs were recorded during the latter part of 2020,
but a couple of tracks were recorded in 2019 and one in the
beginning of 2021.
All recordings were made in Gabriel's apartment in North Boulder,
usually late at night. All of the tracks employed multitrack
recording techniques using a
Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface, a
MacBook Pro and a DAW (Digital Audio
Workstation) software program called
Reaper.
Instruments Played:
Gabriel Perry - Electric, acoustic
(steel and nylon string) guitars. E-Bow and slide guitars.
Gabriel plays Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars. He
also plays Taylor and Jose Ramirez guitars. He uses all sorts of
effects pedals and gadgets. Visit
The Pedalboard Page
for more details.
2020 has been an incredibly tough year for most of us. A global
pandemic broke out and is still going strong as I write this.
Unprecedented fires raged throughout the world and western
United States this past summer and well past the late fall causing
the sky to turn orange in many places on the west coast including
the skyline here in Boulder, Colorado. Three of Colorado's
largest fires in the state's history happened this past year and
Boulder County's largest fire in its history was one of those
fires. That particular fire was only a few miles from where I
live. And, the world saw yet another record breaking hottest year
since we've been keeping records.
It was an election year and the worst election campaign season I've
ever witnessed: one full of incessant lies from the
Republicans while the Democrats fucked over Bernie Sanders for a
second time in the Democratic Primary. It seems we're exposed to
a constant barage of propaganda, lies, and bad news now. Who knows
what the hell is really going on anymore?
And only last week right wing extremists (aka Trump supporters)
invaded the U.S. Capitol building in D.C. in an attempt to
overthrow the will of the American people and the results of the
2020 Presidential election. Thankfully, these fuckers were not
successful in their coup attempt, but it doesn't seem that we're
out of the woods yet. Trump was impeached today for "incitement
of insurrection" with even ten Republicans in the House voting
for it, the most bipartisan impeachment vote in the U.S.'s
history. But will the Senate actually convict the Commander in
Thief?
Also, last year I spent way too much time alone and away from
my girlfriend. Sadly, she lost her favorite cat, her "soul kitty",
a beautiful Bengal cat named Baker, aka Bakeroni. I had grown
very fond of the little guy too over the last five years and it has
been utterly heartbreaking dealing with his loss. In short, it has
been a tough fucking year and 2021 is already over the edge crazy
and we're only two weeks into it.
Sir Baker Dough-Boy Smith, aka Bakeroni, 2017.
Somehow, I managed to record a little music despite this past year
being such a challenge. In fact, maybe it is because it was such a
tough year that I was able to record. That and the awareness of
the remaining amount of time left for me seems shorter as I
approach being on the planet for almost a half century, at least
in this body. So, yes, I've definitely been more motivated to
produce some music, albeit in short bursts. But, alas, here it is!
A collection of seven songs, not as long as some of my previous
collections, but long enough to warrant an album's worth of
material.
For a few of these recordings I went back to the vaults and
resurrected some old pieces. For instance, "Faces in the Clouds"
was a piece I wrote when I was a Berklee student in Boston. I'm
pretty sure it was written in the late spring of 1992, my last
semester at Berklee and it was my submission for the final project
for my Theory 4 class with Prof. Mike Scott. We were learning
about how to write modal tunes at the end of the semester and
this piece was an opportunity to show off a few flavors:
Lydian and Mixolydian.
Street Art by SMiLE - Boulder, Colorado - December 27, 2020.
"Back Home" was a piece of music I wrote when I was a Naropa
student circa 1995 or '96. It was a chord progression and a
melody I had in my head since then but never got around to
recording or arranging it into an actual song until this past year.
It's good to finish things and this song is no exception. I'm
quite happy with the way it turned out and I used it as an excuse
to play through a reissued Big Muff pedal which was quite fun.
How on earth David Gilmour played through these things and
achieved such a clean tone is beyond me.
"Sailing On" was a song written by a dear friend of mine in late
1977 or early 1978 while she was in college. It was a piece that
I fell in love with when I first her heard it in 1996. I love it
so much that I decided to make a proper recording of it only a few
days ago and am quite happy with how it came out. I also
updated the piece with a bridge in the middle section which was
quite fun to write and record. I think it really adds something
a little extra and special to the original piece.
I hope you enjoy listening to these pieces. They were made
during a very tumultuous time, but let them be a reminder to you
that doing art during these kinds of times is absolutely crucial.
Recording them has brought me much joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Time is short and of the essence so stop squandering it. At
least, that's what 2020 has been showing me among other things.
They say the worst vice is advice, but do yourself a favor and
finish that project you've been putting off for years. Do the
things your heart truly desires. Do what you're here to do. The
bullshit doesn't need all your attention all of the time. You
don't have forever.
Let's hope things start to turn around this year. We need to
come together, overcome our differences, and start addressing
the very serious problems that face us as a species. We don't
have forever to set things right. We better get started now.
If not now, when? If not here, where?
~gabriel
13-Jan-2021
Boulder, Colorado
Professor Doctor Cookie Jar meditating in his favorite spot, 2017.