The last month has been absolutely insane for us.  The end result is a successful move out to the valley… and we couldn’t be happier with our new apartment.  It’s bigger, it’s quieter… and the area is far lovelier.  There are actual trees outside!  haha.

First, we are very excited to be performing at the Hotel Cafe on April 17th!  We will be joined on stage by our good friends Matt Saba and Carlos Beltran.  We’ve been crafting the flow of the set and we are excited to be playing songs from all 3 of our previous releases and one song off of the upcoming Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies.  We have also been dabbling into covering a famous pop song… we’ll see if we pull that one together.

The move out to the valley has set us back a month on the production of Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies.  We have the 6 songs ready to go.  Step 1 is tracking drums with Kiel Feher… but we had to bump back recording (which was supposed happen mid-march) to the first week of April.  We are looking at having the EP finished in July or August.  

Last month, our manager showed some of our tunes to a European producer who liked them.  I’m paraphrasing, but he mentioned the Beach Boys and said we had a “new california” sound.  Total paraphrasing, but that’s what I took from it.  It was inspiring to me, to hear an outside perspective like that.  I think Maddie and I have always tried to stay away from being overtly ‘california’ in our music… but hey, I guess you can’t escape your environment.  There’s nothing more spectacular than a California sunset, after all… so why not let that color your art?

Friday night we had a chat with our manager and landed on the songs that we want to release next.  Out of 23 ideas, we sent off 14 songs, which we whittled down to 8 of our favorites, which is now 6.  The idea is to release a compact, energetic record that is direct and immediate.  Thus, our next release should probably be called an EP… but I suspect we’ll refrain from using that word.

Speaking of releasing an EP instead of a longer LP… Maddie and I were talking about this during the demoing process.  I would recommend to all young bands to hold off on making longer records.  Unless - of course - it’s creatively the absolute right thing for you to do.  We invested more money into Telescopes and really busted our asses to release that chunk of 10 songs… and - although  we are really happy with the album’s reception and the number of folks willing to take the time to engage with the full album - we also feel like it’s smarter for us to pour all that energy into half the songs, to really hone them and release something powerful.  Furthermore, when we release songs, we do so every other month… promoting singles as we go.  It used to be, that the singles were meant to sell the album.  But with our current ‘singles culture’ and streaming culture, a lot of folks don’t buy albums.  Besides, selling records isn’t really our goal.  We are a tiny local band.  And although we feel like we have some great momentum, our singles are really out there to spread the word of Polaris Rose and our sound.  At the end of the day, we feel that releasing music constantly and being ‘alive’ on social media and in the local scene is more important.  There needs to be a constant stream of Polaris Rose coming out… with the occasional break, so we can build suspense for the next release.  It’s a timing thing, I suppose.

So you’ll probably be seeing smaller records from us coming out consistently.  Of course, this could all change tomorrow.  

In other news, we are moving to the Valley.  We signed our lease and are picking up the keys this Saturday.  We are super excited for this life event and especially to have a designated studio room.  Shark Attack Studios is getting an upgrade.  :)

We are also helping to produce some albums by some artists that we really admire.  As we speak, I am reviewing notes for a project for my sister Rachel Elizabeth.  She hasn’t started her social media presence yet.  As soon as her EP is ready, I’ll be sharing it here.

Alright.  Another blog successfully written.  I’m tasking myself with writing more frequently.  So far so good.

The demos are done!  All in all, we sent off 14 songs to a series of good listeners… our manager, our drummer, a terrific producer named Yan, and our guitarist… as well as a few great friends, like our videographer David Walk and an old musical buddy of mine named Blake.

Just before sending out the songs, Maddie and I put our heads together and selected 8 songs that we felt were ‘it’.  Looking at the list, they were the songs we felt best about.  The only problem was that those 8 songs ranged from ‘classic’ Polaris Rose sound to dark & bluesy.  In the upcoming weeks, selecting the right songs will be a major task for us.  Or maybe we’ll just record them all.  Haha, it depends on if we want to make a statement and say ‘we’re a super dynamic band!’ Or if we want to go for a more uniform sound… which would likely equate to a more-easily-marketable band.  

The feedback we’ve been getting back has all been positive and there seems to be a widespread agreement over what the best tunes are.  And for that, we are pleased.  

Just a side note:  in the background of this entire selection process, I have begun writing our next record.  My working title is Red Sunset.  We’ll see.  I’m not married to the idea.

Aside from that, there have been a lot of big life-changers for Maddie and me.  We are moving!  Finally abandoning our tiny 1 bedroom apartment and soaring into a larger, quieter neighborhood in the valley.  After a stressful week of searching we ‘found it’ and now we’re heading there Monday to sign the paperwork.  Fingers crossed!

So, happy late Valentines Day to you all!  You’ll be hearing from us sooner rather than later (i always say that, don’t I?)

We are excited to share this!  Below is the remixed and remastered version of ‘Set Me on Fire’… Mixed by Yan Perchuk and Mastered by Joe Bozzi.

 A brief story of how this all came about… last summer, me mixed our LP 'Telescopes’ on our own.  Some would say it’s a super bad idea to mix your own work, although many artists out there can understand the desire to have creative control over the final outpouring.  While we are very happy with 'Telescopes’ as a whole, we wanted to give 'Set Me on Fire’ a bit of a special treatment.

We reached out to our pal Yan Perchuk.  Yan has been with us since the beginning, helping us to track vocals on our first two EPs and 'Telescopes’ as well.  We asked if he’d be willing to mix the track for us and he agreed.  He then put us in touch with Joe Bozzi, who mastered it.  Overall, it was a three-day process that gives us a slicker, cleaner mix of 'Set Me on Fire’.

Enjoy!  

davidawalk:

Los Angeles is often spoken of in a derided manner. You usually here the same scoffed discontent in conversations, “Why would anyone want to live there? It’s so crowded! Parking is terrible! The traffic! I couldn’t live with the traffic!”

After six years of living in the “City of Angels” I…

2015 has come and new happenings are upon us.  

First off, we hope everyone had a wonderful New Years.  We celebrated by staying in and demoing new songs.  No finer way to say goodbye to our eclectic 2014 and welcome the shining, golden 2015.

We did talk - in a celebratory type way - about all our 2014 accomplishments.  Well, we were very proud of them.  Looking back, we began the year working on OceanSongs… which seems like a lifetime ago.  Those 6 songs really showed us the value of investing in ourselves.  And it taught us a healthy sense of our limitations.  And then - immediately thereafter - we began the massive process of demoing new music for the album that would be Telescopes.  And - with the help of Phil and Sera - we came out with a record that we’re fond of.  

The highlight of our year, though, was packing the Hotel Cafe on December 5th for our CD Release show.  We were truly humbled and thrilled to see such a big crowd, and it reminded us of how much we’ve grown this last year.  So hooray!  We were blessed to have Kiel Feher join us on drums once more (our fav drummer) and we were also thrilled to have Matt Saba join us on guitar.  We really thought the 4-piece lineup expressed our songs excellently.

This next year, we will be releasing more music and performing more often.  Our next show is in the works right now.  We have been quiet all of December and January (aside from a terrific launch of our single “Blue” on Soundcloud… 3.5k plays in just 8 days), but it is time to start making noise again.

Since December, we’ve been demoing material for our next release.  At first, we thought maybe another 10-12 song album, then we were thinking an EP, then maybe two EP’s released back to back… we aren’t entirely sure what shape it will take.  

But I can say, the record is named Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies.  I came up with the title a little over a year ago… just a simple reference to a California sunset.  And I can tell you a bit of the theme we’ve been seeing in the writing… while Telescopes was largely about a search for something unattainable (in my life, it would a life a musician), Ocean Blue Velvet Skies is more concerned with having found that something and about finding a true and holistic approach to life.  Sounds vague, I know… but it’s the kind of stuff we’ve been thinking about.

Out of the 20 songs/ideas we’ve demoed so far, some of our favorites have already risen to the top.  Songs like TigerBait, Whatever you Choose, and Misery & Moonbeams (to name a few) sound to us like Polaris Rose taken to the next level… same jazzy chords over a rock feel, but with an immediacy to the songwriting we think make these songs punchy and exciting.  While these songs make us smile, some of the others have got us scrunching our noses… You see, I thought - at one point - it would be cool to include some lounge-y songs on the next record, to really create a dynamic sound… but those lounge songs have fallen flat… songs like Sunset to the Sea, Echoes, and Moons & Clocks are just too lounge.  Maybe I should start a jazz band.  Ha ha ha.

We have more songs to demo, and we’ll be posting more frequently here at The Process.  Maddie says hi, by the way.  She’s laying on the couch playing Candy Crush.  I’m listening to Failure’s Fantastic Planet with a miniature dachshund on my lap.  Life’s not so bad.