The Maddest Hatter (Album Preview)

This is a preview video for a new project I've been involved in for the past year. The idea started as a short film or extended music video, with the songs being the soundtrack. It's taken on a life of it's own, and we recorded 9 songs. The songs are almost ready for release as an "album" and a video single should follow in the fall. I hope the full "movie" will be completed in 2015.

Since this is a collaboration with Ravi Raman (of "Stradavatt" fame), and sounds quite different from Facade, we decided to brand it under a new project name, "The Maddest Hatter".

"Wonderous Stories" cover

The Chapters...

So the question has been asked..."what are the chapters?" Several of the past few songs have titles followed by a chapter number in parentheses. The simple answer is: if you read a book, in chapter order, it tells a story. Such is the case here.

 

Although each song stands on it's own, string them together and you should start to put a picture together about what the "story" is really about. At this time I will only say, it is not about one particular person, but rather it's based on aspects of several people. Enjoy!

Bite The Hand (Chapter 6)

Where is the Line? (Chapter 5)

A video for an older song

This was a song I recorded several years ago (about 2008). The interesting thing about this song is that it started with an isolated vocal track - no music, and no way to get in touch with the original vocalist. It was more challenging than you would think to build music around it, and not make it sound completely artificial.

mmm...Hershey Park...

Another chapter...

Featuring video from the Philadelphia Magic Gardens.

The next installment...

Here's a new video of a pretty cool song, with some video of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in central NJ during October 2012. It's not particularly dramatic, until you realize that the damage shown was similar across the entire state of NJ and large chunks of NY and PA, and that this was nothing compared to what hit the Jersey shore. We were fortunate to only have tree damage, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a pretty cool song.

Balance of Power (Chapter 4)

The Five Phases of Grief

After two long years, here is the "Grief" Suite. I now know WAY too much about grieving...

Preview video for "The End Game"

What, is 30 minutes too long? OK, then here's a 5 minute edited version. You have no excuses now...

The End Game

At long last - nearly 10 years in the making - this beast is "done". Well, I'm "done" with it, anyway. Here's a fun little video, with LEGO minifigs reenacting the story line. They're not the best actors, but they work cheap and barely ever complain. Their work is a little "stiff", but hey, you get what you pay for. 



Many thanks to Brett "Jough" Darling and Karen Chen Rushon for working for so many months on the vocals, and Ravi Raman for completing and improving my lyrics. Luckily, YouTube no longer has a 15 minute limit on videos...

Pirates, Part 1

This recording is going back a year or two, but the video is new. This is a cover of ELP's 1977 epic, "Pirates", from "Works, Vol 1". In this version, it's a little heavier than the original, and I modeled the drum playing after the Emerson, Lake and Powell live version. Vocals are courtesy of Graham Seaman, of Noddy's Puncture - UK's premier ELP cover band. Thanks Graham!

Video for "Close to the Edge"

Here's a new video for the cover of Yes' "Close to the Edge" from a year or so ago. This is a shortened version of the original - enjoy!

Pirates, Part 2

Here's a cheesy little video of a "new" song, Pirates Part 2:

Our first video...

This is the "making of" video diary of "Pirates Part 2". A video for the full song will be forthcoming, as soon as we finish the harmony vocals in one of the sections. Until then, please enjoy this grainy, hissy, home video of the writing and recording process of this original sequel to the Emerson, Lake and Palmer classic from 1977, "Pirates".

So much for "last cover"

So here's a shortened version of "Close to the Edge" by Yes, featuring some great vocals from Karen Rushon (Chen). This version is about half the length of the original. Which means you can like it twice as much. (That's what we like to call "new math"...)

The last cover song...I promise!

But at least it's a good one. Even if you're not a fan of ELP, this is one of their best, and yet least known songs, called Pirates. It was originally written as a soundtrack to a movie that never materialized, and then ended up on "Works". This features some great vocals from Graham Seaman of England, who is in a well known ELP tribute band. Please to enjoy.

Holy crap, something new!

and yet, really really old... See if you recognize these Rainbow songs from the late 70's, early 80's.