Toll Roads
Since we’re finally getting back to releasing music, I wanted to be more intentional about the process. Even though we’re doing this on our own, I want it to feel like there’s a plan, like we’re prepared, and not just like we’re throwing things at the wall to see what sticks… even though that’s essentially what we’re doing. So for me that means extra content to support each song release. You know, like the pros do.
In the case of “Where Do You Go” that meant a series of little video clips that I’ll be posting leading up to the release date, January 13th 2023 (presave the song on spotify here). Now, in the past I’ve tended to take the road of least resistance when it came to content creation. The backyard was as good a place as any to make a video because it was free to use and I was already there. But like I said, this time I want to take it a little further - do everything I can to see the vision all the way through. So when the idea came to me for these teasers and I saw Erica (our vocalist, more on her later) at the beach in black, I had to at least try to make that happen.
This blurry beachy vision informed the album artwork as well - I used a photo I took at Crystal Cove some years ago as part of the composite image that appears on the cover - and since Crystal Cove was going to be on the cover I figured we should go there for the teasers as well. We picked a day that worked for Erica, Understanding, and myself, packed up my camera, scribbled out a couple images in my notebook to use for references and we hit the road. I went to school at Chapman University, so we would frequent the O.C. beaches on weekends, holidays, and some afternoons when the idea of going to class got to be just a little too much, but it had been years since I’d been. I decided to make a day out of it and go in through the canyon, but I forgot about the Toll Roads.
Toll Roads. Ain’t that some shit. You gotta pay just to use a road. Just to get where you wanna go. Forgive my lack of respect. On top of that, I don’t have an EZ-Pass, or whatever you call the California equivalent of an EZ-Pass, so I have to pay the toll online within five days of my trip, which I never - ABSOLUTELY NEVER - remember to do. Then the real kicker is that the fine comes by way of snail mail, and very rarely do I open my mail the day it comes. So once I finally get around to opening a letter, a few weeks or so after it arrives, there’s an additional fee to pay for missing the first penalty. Sure, this last one is on me, but it’s still bullshit. A three dollar toll becomes a sixty dollar toll becomes a ONE HUNDRED dollar toll. I just wanted to take some pictures at the beach.
Once I finish complaining though, I can usually find some perspective in a situation. Life is full of toll roads. I’m on a toll road right now, learning how to run a business. Learning how to use my camera, at the expense of missing the shot every now and then. Refining the sounds of the different artists we will present to the world through trial and error and countless recording sessions. Getting healthier by committing myself to daily exercise and a better diet. Zoom out to see that all of this is experience gained at the expense of time spent, in hopes of getting closer to my ultimate goal. You just gotta pay the toll.
Anyway, the day turned out to be a lot of fun, and we got a bunch of nice frames that I think work nicely as the teasers I envisioned. At the end of the day, I was able to essentially do what I wanted to do for this first rollout, and now the mission is to improve when we do it again for next month’s release.
Hope you like the clips. Hope you get to the beach. Most of all, I hope you find the courage to take the toll road, because it’ll take you where you want to go.