periol.com

this album is self-financed, self-mixed, self-recorded, etc.  there is no record label helping me through the process – a labor of love, but not always cheap.  so i need a little help from you to get the cd put out, and maybe even make some records.the cd is on pre-sale, with an expected arrival date of late february.

there will be two versions – the regular cd, and a limited “special edition” (includes an additional cd with bonus material and songs, and artwork).

you can also choose to purchase the album as a download, or purchase individual songs. if you purchase the cd with the download there is a discount for both!  hurray!

words & music: periol
except “when you are old” words: w.b.yeats
recorded & mixed by: steve wilmot & periol
mastered by: brent clawson
logo design: eric walker
art: periol

thanks to:

my parents, who believed from the beginning; i know it’s a cliche, but it’s true:  without them none of this would have happened.   i love you guys.

greg young: the cog that made the wheel turn; first introduced me to steve back in the day, has been huge for me the whole time i’ve been muddling through this.

steve wilmot: recording engineer; also created the original drum tracks on some songs (lonely moon, horoscopes, again, take your time, and heard you laugh); also played keyboards on some of the songs (certainly the strings on “shake the ground” and the cool sound effects in “lonely moon”); was there with lots of solid practical advice on all sorts of matters that pushed me along towards making the record better and getting it finished;  also, we DJ together locally.  A big, big thanks for all your help.

israel marshall:  recording assistant; is that the title?  regardless, a big help during the initial recording process

brent clawson: home studio master; did a great job mastering the record, he’s the real deal

jordan & lauren robbins: jordan helped fix up the realistic synth when i bought it, helped me put together the hackintosh this album was mixed on, and has always been there; also, lauren, thanks for putting up with us 🙂

dave warsop:  rocker and recorder; gave me some excellent and on-point advice during the mixing process

francisco magana: graphic design guru; he told me how to make the art not look bad

derek bahn: surf photographer extraordinaire; took the pictures of the synth that are in all the record art

eric walker: logo design; took a phone conversation and made that logo, great artist

stephen hindman: synth-pop genius; thanks for all the advice and guidance over the years – you really inspired me to make this album, and make it right

brad york: we recorded in his apartment together back in 2007 – he brought me back to music; check him out in sikamor rooney

brian bajari, courtney williamson, dave neel:  babyfishmouth

leonard sweet: my mentor; you were key in making this possible, in so many ways

Thanks are also due to the many people who have been friends and encouraged me over the years:  linda & joel levine, bree aseltine, allison nelson, amy dubin, stevie & hannah clifton, tom clifton, suzie bajari, chris relyea, chris roberts, rob tashiro, christopher boesel, frank deluna, nate bagley, rachael bogert, comrade simba & family, emeline, julia french, kelly cecil, moonshine, miguelito, elizabeth nowakowski, justine langston, erica wygonik, marie nalle, megan kress, josh mullen, tarssa yazdani, ana guterl, dave nola, eric jacobson, greg teal

this album was just an idea taking a vacation in my head for several years until the end of 2010 when i picked up a realistic concertmate mg-1 off craigslist.  i immediately started having crazy thoughts.  right about the same time i met steve and we started talking about recording.

i rented a small practice studio in huntington beach  for a few months in the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011, scalped nba tickets on craigslist, scrimped and saved and prepared acoustic versions of about 40 songs which we whittled down to 11 (didn’t become nine until later).   finally in february everything was ready and we started recording.

the studio was a small room in the back corner of a strip mall, and it was definitely not sound-proofed, so our recording schedule depended somewhat on when other bands were practicing.  but we got down to business as best we could…

the first song we worked on was “lonely moon”, and after spending a week to complete it we realized we’d have to work smarter.  the goal was to finish in a month!  so we would meet in the evening, lay down the framework of a song, and i would stay after coming up with parts on the synths for the next day’s recording session.

httpv://youtu.be/sm-M1yK_Rac

httpv://youtu.be/L2NxZ0m5QvM

somehow or other, by the end of that february we had the framework of the album in place.  then i left the studio, steve and i became roommates, and the next stage of the album process began…

i had no idea how much work was left.  the vocals were redone in the kitchen of our new place during lunch breaks from work.  new synth lines needed to be recorded, other synth lines taken away, and in general i learned how to mix from scratch.  the process became a journey.

more synths were added to the collection and used on the album during this time – now proudly lining the walls of my “studio”.  i swear they all do different things!  below are the images of the synths i used on this album.

once the album was mixed, it still needed to be mastered.  i asked around for advice on who to give it to, tried some mastering plugins, and finally found brent clawson, who did a great job.  better than i imagined, actually.and now, after almost two years of working and waiting and thinking and planning and figuring things out and starting over all over again, this album is done.  i hope you enjoy it!

p.s.  there’s lots of people i want to thank, so i made a separate page to do it in style…

i’ve gathered the album art (prepared for the not-yet-existing vinyl edition) and lyrics for “realistic” on this page.  the lyrics are saved as images, so if you have trouble with the slideshow below (hint: click on the slideshow to change to the next song), you can click on the individual thumbnails underneath to see the lyrics.

also, you probably noticed i’ve decided to include a music player on the bottom of this page (and all the pages, actually).  figured it could possibly be enjoyable to listen to the music while reading the lyrics.  i know i like doing that.  although sometimes i prefer mystery…