the bomb has been dropped

I announced something last night on DJ Metal Mistress' show and made sure the timing of it was too perfect. Since I was in charge of ALL the songs for my pre-birthday, I did a block of my own songs and the last tune was "Walk Through Lightning" from ACT NATURAL. And as soon as that song ended, these words came out of my mouth...

"I started work on my tenth album and Mike Sabatini is on drums again."

DJ Metal Mistress looked like she was going to burst into tears when I mentioned that. She was SO happy for me, and that was great. She said "You kept that quiet for a long time, that's great!" It was not easy though. But I am good at admirable restraint (to quote Bill Bruford) and so when I announced things, some people were like "WHAT?!" Am sure others were non-plussed but I don't care. I am very excited again, been a while since I felt so good about my music.

I had asked some musicians earlier this year if they were interested in playing with me. All of them pretty much said yes but then the trail went cold. One drummer said to me, "I can't devote the time you need but am glad you asked me." So when I talked to Mike on the phone about random topics back in September, I asked him "So do you want to hear a couple of things I worked on?" and he was excited. We started working on the songs October 1 (how fitting!) and I told him that I really wanted to make sure things worked out. He knew how I felt and still feel about the last album but rather than rehash those memories, I am moving forward. And when DJ Metal asked me to be on her show for October 29, I said to Mike that "I will drop the bomb on her show about this" and he said it was a good idea. 

Now that the cat is out of the bag, it's time to roll our sleeves up. There's no deadline, no rushing around; if anything things are way more relaxed and it makes for the music to flow freely. That's all I care about, get the music together and out the door when the time is right. Not worried about live shows, as I no longer have the desire to perform my own songs in public. The demand is not there, and never really was. That's okay. We can focus on making this album really make a statement, one that speaks louder than anything before it.

You excited?