The first

Hey everybody, John here. Welcome to the site! We’re excited to share with you what we’ve been up to. From building this website to act as a hub for everything OOD—like music, merch, news, and more—to recording and writing new music, we've been busy.

I have a few musical projects going simultaneously, though they're all at differing stages of production. There is a lot of clarifying and refinement in my process, and that takes time. I allow it to take time as much as I can stand, but for me there’s always a balance between riding the flowing wave of creativity and paddling a bit to get moving. And sometimes, I don't even feel like I’m in the water at all.

A piece I’m calling The Boy and the Serpent is coming along nicely. There are still a few compositional issues I’m working out, like finalizing the ending melody and the flow of the ending itself. It’s a bit of a ride, this one. I’m very excited for everyone to hear it!

Writing it has been a welcome challenge as well. As often happens, I was noodling around on my guitar, and an interestingly odd riff started to emerge. Odd in timing and flow, it was interesting enough to stick in my mind for a while. I often grabbed my guitar just to hear it again as well as feel it under my fingers. I’ve spent the majority of my practice time over the last few weeks on about seven seconds of a guitar solo. There are a lot of notes in that seven seconds, so I’ve been programming the muscle memory to be able to perform the part for recording.

Once that’s done, I’ve only one more hurdle to clear: Amy. I want her to sing some very specific parts as well as her own melodic meanderings on the song. As an artist, she requires time to develop a relationship with the music before we even step into the vocal booth. This takes time, and it is worth every patient moment.

It’s no secret that I play and create music that I want to hear because I love the sound of it. The feeling I get when sounds organize and flow is sacred. So much so that I often relate to God as a creator. This must be what it feels like to be a father, a mother, a shepherd.

You’ve heard of a cover artist—one who plays other people’s music, like in a cover band. Sometimes an artist will do a cover of someone else's song and make it their own. I’ve recently joked that all composers are just covering God.

The act of creation itself is godlike. Everyone is actively creating their lives in every breath and every decision they make, whether it is intentional (conscious) or not. The act of creating art is taking the power of creation and making it not only intentional but, in every circumstance, an homage to the great creator.

…And I’m not Christian or even religious in any traditional sense (as far as I know). I do, however, feel a connection to all that is, was, and will be when I connect openly to the moment between nothingness and something new. And I get that when I play (may as well exchange the "l" for an "r").

I’m also beginning production on two of our Out of Doors songs that have existed for over 10 years: Vultures and In the Dark.

“What the hell is taking so friggin’ long?” you ask.

Well, for starters, this shit isn't easy. I know we often make it look easy—like with Sisters only taking a few months to get out, and the sheer quantity of music we (OOD, John Jinks, Musical Mockeries, The Genesis Party, and Sunscrypt) have released.

These songs are special, and therefore we’re certain to do what every artist does from time to time: get too attached.

Vultures is an interesting song. It may be better suited for Broadway than a rock song. It’s so long and dramatic, both musically and lyrically. I struggle with the direction to take the production.

A “song” is technically comprised of lyrics, melody, and harmony. How you package that song in a recording can vary infinitely. That’s where I get stuck with Vultures. I even have some pretty grand ideas that I’ll probably end up doing, but yet I wait. Perfection paralysis much?

We played Vultures to a crowd of retreaters at a breath retreat in Topanga, CA (as well as hundreds of other places over the last decade), and the response is always, “Where can I hear that?” I guess it’s a lot of self-imposed pressures led by expectations and insecurities, and who the fuck has time for all that?

I’ll digress and get to work. Vultures will be out soon.

Let this be a lesson for you, if you will: get off your ass. Go do your thing. No one makes it out alive.

Thank you for visiting the site. Please be sure to stop by the store for a souvenir. ;)

JJ