Tag: blog

milestones

I’ve been dancing around talking about this because the process is so long, and occasionally painstaking, but my rock & roll band has completed another record. It’s bittersweet in a number of different ways…

It’s a pleasure to have completed what we set out to do, and the record sounds absolutely massive. It’s a relentless rock & roll record, to be pressed on 10-inch vinyl with 7 songs on it. The artwork is a fantastic contribution from a friend and favored artist. Everything about it is exciting.

However… now that the work is done… the work begins.

It’s not enough to make a record, and it’s not enough to have it mixed and mastered, and it’s not enough to have killer artwork.

We have to go cram it down everyone’s throats for the coming year or so.
We’re put thousands of kilometers on our tour vehicle, to play dozens of shows all over Western Canada. Digital uploads to streaming services, piles upon piles of gas receipts, burger joint stops, disposable coffee cups… merch booth set-ups… drunk patrons… amazing fans… playing shows with amazing bands… in amazing venues… all in hopes that we’ll run out of our brand new product as fast as possible.

It’s all coming at us quickly and we’re excited to share what we’ve done – so sometimes it’s hard to just stop and enjoy the moment of completion…

But I think we have to take those moments.
This rock & roll thing is really fun and as difficult as it can be to get our thing done the way we like it to be… it’s super fun and I am honoured to be able to do it with THESE guys.

There will be more shows.
There will be more songs.
There will be more records.

No reason not to stop and relish in the accomplishments when the opportunity to do so arises.

outlets

I’ve recently taken on a new project, and a direction of learning I’ve never spent any time with before. It’s a wild trip, if I’m being honest. I purchased an online course during boxing week and it’s likely the closest thing to a New Year’s Resolution I’ve ever done… though the timing is somewhat coincidental.

I’ve decided to dig in on Brian Wampler’s guitar pedal building course, which is a very thorough and fairly in-depth way of learning all the ins & outs (HA!) of guitar pedal building.

I’ve long been frustrated with the availability of things I need in order to accomplish what I want to accomplish as a performer. I have a number of great pieces of equipment I’ve acquired over the years but there is a piece of the guitar effects market that; I feel, anyway, is largely ignored. I can’t be certain that there’s a market for what I’m hoping to accomplish once I attain the knowledge I’m setting out to find, but it’s quite possible that there is. I’m hesitant to get into what that is in the event that this does turn into some measure of side-hustle but there are some things I know about myself that are definitely helpful here:

  • I am really good at playing guitar
  • I am really good at getting sounds I am happy with
  • I have an intense level of focus
  • I have an artistic vision

But… if all I end up doing is building things for myself then I honestly think I’ll be happy with that… but you never know how things will go until they go. Anyway, it’s very exciting and extremely nerdy and I’m happy to have this new direction of learning.

If you tuned in to this blog from some spiritually-driven snack, and feel like you’ve been denied that, don’t worry… I’m not done yet.

It might sound a little bonkers, but this is truly something that aligns with me spiritually and is truly helping me navigate the prairie winter months. When I am immersed in this, it can only happen in real time… it’s an incredible experience where I am not thinking about food, or work, or anything except for what’s in front of me. It’s an incredibly meditative (active meditation, obviously) and grounding (HA!) experience that seems to tie me to the present moment in a special way.

Sure, I have other things in my life that offer that level of detachment from the world around me, but the way my brain seems to thrive is to have a few options to alternate through – songwriting and composition, recording, performing, my vintage automotive pursuits, and now this new exercise – all provide me with a break from my distractions and put me into a moment where I can completely lose track of time and just create.

It’s thrilling.

refinement

The holidays in the rear view, the statistically-speaking saddest week of the year is behind me, and yes; even the contingent of people who made New Years’ resolutions to go to the gym and stare at their phones while obstructing equipment have started to thin-out as the temperatures get colder here in Alberta’s capital city. You may not be experiencing that 3rd event just yet, but it’s fair to say there weren’t that many people who resolved to go to the gym in the early morning hours as there were who resolved to go after work.

I’ve been feeling like it’s time to refine things a bit – to add structure.
Lofty goals require lofty means.

I’m currently on the treadmill between 45 and 60 minutes 3 days a week, on a stationary bike for 30 minutes 3 days a week, and lifting weights 2 days a week (“a push day” and a “pull day”) and before you tell me that’s 8 days per week, a workout is 2 hours.

For those who care, the new target is 45-60 minutes of cardio, and 2 sets (to failure) of 5 exercises, 5 days a week.

I’m also compelled to refine my art life. Specifically songwriting.

One of the things I like to do while I’m on the treadmill is listen to an album front-to-back that I am either (a) no very familiar with, or (b) a total stranger to… and in so doing, I’ve learned that not all music is treadmill music… but I’ve ALSO come to critique and scrutinize my own methods of making songs by way of hearing elements of songs that make me think “I wish I was doing that!”

Now, I don’t wish to change what I’m doing from the ground up, but there are elements of songs that I’ve come across from the twangiest bluegrass, to the durgiest synth music, to the heaviest metal that can sometimes be the difference between a good song and a great song – in any genre. I don’t want to spill the guts any more than that, other than to say that the greatest bands take on a life of their own at a certain point, and they become bigger and better than the sum of their parts.

I believe my band has already don this, but there are still ways to hone and shape what we’re doing to take it somewhere new… because another thing that great bands do is transcend their own genres… because a genre is just a box, and once you figure out how to break out of that box without compromising your own values, that’s when it gets really wild.

That’s where I’m going.

here we go again

We’re a couple days into 2026 now, and although I’ve done my level best to clean up my feed, there’s still so much negative posting about 2025… celebrity deaths being the main culprit, I suppose, as there’s been a bunch of those in the past little while.

I’ve got some real sour news for everyone. If you’re hanging your entire year on the prospect that no celebrities, filmmakers, or musicians you ever liked will die then you are setting yourself up for massive disappointment. Death is really the only thing we’re guaranteed in this life, as it’s the only thing that fate really owes any of us.

Of course, many of these are close to home, and it’s perfectly natural to be upset about the loss of people who shaped your childhood. I’m still upset about Harold Ramis, and nobody can take that away from me, BUT the people who enriched your life as you were growing up are much older than you, and they; too, are given a finite number of days to spend on this planet.

We’re lucky to be alive at the same time as any of them.

This year is going to have it’s ups and downs.
Some really great things are going to happen.
Some absolute shit things are going to happen, too.

How do you want to handle them?
I recommend grace and optimism.

I used to refer to myself as a realist, until one day I came to the conclusion that this “realistic” view of the world I was holding onto was inherently negative. I guess bad things happen… but good things happen just as often, sometimes more often.

I can’t honestly say that my life is worse now than it was a year ago… maybe you CAN say that, but we all have the power to improve things in our lives. It starts with wanting it, but you’re going to have to do some work to get there.

I wish you all the best this year.

another spin

I suppose it’s that time now.

If I’m being completely frank, I’m entirely satisfied that the interruption of my regularly scheduled food regimen and workout schedule is coming to an end. The holiday hours at my gym are less than ideal and at the risk of sounding like a total grinch, the notion that Christmas is ONE SINGLE DAY that seems to infringe upon us from December 20th until about January 3rd is irritating.

I like Christmas. Don’t get me wrong… but I feel like I am one of the few that acknowledges that traditionally, Christmas Eve is the day that a family would go out and cut down some unsuspecting sapling, then on Christmas morning the kind would open their (singular) present, and play with their newfound toy until dinner was ready. Boxing day is a tradition by which leftover food would be ‘boxed up’ and taken to the cornerstone of every community – the church – where the less fortunate folks go go enjoy a meal of leftovers…

… and that’s ultimately it.

What my brain knows about this holiday season, and what my credit card statement knows about this holiday season, are vastly different. My credit card statement’s knowledge of the history of christmas only goes back about 30 days.

It’s fine. I’m happy everyone had a nice christmas, and honestly, I had a nice Christmas.

I don’t live to work out. Nor do I live to eat.
I eat and workout to live.
And taking breaks is an important part of living.

But… now it’s time to get back into my regularly regimented program of eating nutrient-dense food and beating the absolute shit out of myself at the gym. My goals for the new year haven’t really changed much. My athletic goals are an augmented update of the previous year, and my artistic goals are an augmented update of the previous year… and with each passing year those things are more and more important.

My goals need to be steady, really. I’ve got a teenager in my house who is going to finish high school, become a legal adult, and enroll in a post-secondary program that will set her up in a better way than I ever was. Ultimately, I’ll be riding shotgun for those huge steps in amongst my own smaller old man steps.

I’m lucky I get to do that.
I’m stoked for it.
I’m sure you’ll get to read about some of it.

Happy new year, y’all.
All the best in 2026!

holidays

I try to be transparent in these posts – I really do – though I’m cognisant of the fact that; although I think or feel a certain way when I’m sitting at my computer with a coffee and a peaceful house around me, sometimes the follow-through of my namaste demeanor out in the real world is… let’s say… harder to spot in a crowd.

It’s that same contrast that allows us to identify that Christmas is the season of giving while simultaneously road-raging our way to-&-from the mall on a Saturday afternoon. So, in that way… It’s not even a thing I’m willing to apologize for… because we are a complex and messy race; we humans, and are worthy of a little grace and understanding.

But it’s in that very lack of apology that I must also allow people to be people… and generally speaking, people are panicky, stressed out, over-caffeinated, under-slept, hangry, and financially maxed out at the best of times, but December adds it’s own layer of chaos to the mix that tends to result in an additional element of ‘unpredictable.’

That’s fine.
All most people need is a little space, I think.
And a sandwich.

This phenomenon isn’t relegated to strangers. There’s a good chance that your friends and people in your family are behaving erratically as well – and after a recent observation, roughly 1/3 of people (an American statistic, but how different could Canada really be?) are estranged from their families or members thereof.

I think a lot of people are shocked when they hear a family member is estranged, but as someone who has put distance between myself and certain members of my family (in the past, for a good while) I can honestly say than any time I’ve heard that someone has chosen to do this, I’ve congratulated them on making an obviously very difficult decision to take care of themselves first. When an airplane loses cabin pressure and the oxygen masks drop, you are instructed to put your own mask on before assisting others, and don’t think this metaphor is out of place here.

There are also seasons to everything.
The end of my estrangement situation came with the death of a parent’s partner.

I guess what I’m taking the scenic route around to saying is that the holidays are just as hard as they are magical – and it’s okay for the holidays to be both hard and magical… so as we close in on the most hellacious part of the whole ordeal, I hope that whatever your Christmas or Christmas-adjacent plans might be, or where they might take you, that you find some peace, love, and hope.

I also hope; on a more personal level, that you choose to celebrate without harming any of our fellow earthlings – the ones who can’t speak up for themselves. Veganuary can start ANY TIME.

Happy whatever-you’re-into, everyone.

the end of the year

It’s coming up quick… resolution time.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know I couldn’t care less about resolutions, particularly around the new year. I’m a firm believer that the new year starts when you make a change in your life, not the other way around.

I became vegan on March 28, 2000. That was the start of a New Year.
I started working for the company I work for in September of 2011. New Year.
I started training for a triathlon in September of 2021. New Year.

Usually for me, it’s in September or October – which; as I type this, I realize I missed the anniversary of me starting this blog. I guess I’ve been too focused on making the changes I’ve wanted to make to stop and look around at what I’ve accomplished. And… that’s okay… it’s okay that I missed it, and it’s okay that my focus was elsewhere.

I do what I can to stay in the present moment… just like my dog.
He’s a constant reminder of the present moment.
He’s hungry when he’s hungry, he wants to play when he wants to play… not a moment before or after. When we’re walking and I have to pry chicken bones out of his mouth, he’s mad at me in the moment – but a moment later, he’s over it, and he reminds me of this, because I am still pissed off about it moments later, and he’s very irritatingly past it. I strive for this.

However, when I’m making plans for the future, and celebrating the past, I’m not in the moment. I’m living in the future or the past – but rarely the present.

That’s what I want.
More and More, I want that.
But I’m staring at my phone too much.

I actually make my living in nostalgia, both in my day job and in my art… but when I’m playing LIVE, or in the throes of MAKING a record (which I am currently involved in) I am IN the moment and it’s amazing.

And as I typed all that, I was in the moment.
That’s why it was a bit of a tangent.

Anyway… nostalgia is okay.
The past and future are okay.
There’s no shame in thinking about those things, I guess.
We’re geared to think about those things.
But to be truly in the moment is magic.

Not staring at my phone.
Not thinking about how long I have to wait until the snow melts.
Not thinking about New Year’s resolutions.

In the here and now.
And right here, right now, it’s Saturday Morning.
Isn’t that amazing?