Jan18,2012

Goodmorning, fellow internetgoers. On this, the 18th day of January 2012, when many significant websites are enacting a voluntary blackout in protest of the SOPA and PIPA, including Wikipedia, Reddit, and other less famous but popular sites, I dedicate the song Internet Junkie off my acoustic EP to the cause.

The funny thing about songs on this EP is that many of them are making their debut on it, but were actually written as "full band" tunes, and appear here as acoustic "covers." The way I handled the guitar solos, for instance, is evident in this particular tune. Enjoy!

.... and SAVE THE INTERNET!

(I'll let you find petitions and phone numbers for your area.)

Jan2,2012

Happy New Year!

I just thought I would announce that this domain name is no longer hosted at GoDaddy. Instead I am using NameCheap, who were to my knowledge against SOPA from early on.

I also would like to share the letter I wrote to my Senators (Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin) on the subject. I know there are some things I could have added or been more specific about, but here's what I sent.

Haven't heard back but I guess I don't really expect to. Anyway feel free to copy that text and use it for your own letters if you think it's good.

Yes I am still rehearsing/developing the 2nd album. It's been almost 8 years since the release of Ashes & Fire (2004), but fortunately I'll have something to show for that huge gap. As in, better production value and higher standard of playing, making the music a lot easier to listen to.

I really love music. It's what I want to do with my life. Just thought I'd put that out there in case it seems from my partial "artist block" that I'm not very serious about it.

I should also get off my wannabe-webdesigner-ass and port this site over to a blog system that allows user comments.

Dec20,2011

Happy Holidays, everyone!

We hope, anyway. Those reading the news are chewing their nails I'd suspect. Of course, all these mass political issues may or may not stem from individual personal issues, no? And I know that people are having a hard time lately. I mean a large portion of those I talk to are experiencing major fan-shit hittings. What percentage of people you know are actually having a smooth, easy time these days?

There are good things happening too, though. It's hard to describe what exactly is good about them, but there are some really deep undercurrents surging around that seem to be something like, The Truth We've Been Waiting For Is On Its Way or something. And I don't mean "OMG 2012" and all that shit, I just mean... Well personally, it feels like the shit I've been after my whole life, deep down, is finally about to start emerging. Like some long awaited orbit is completing a cycle. Like some fucking stars are aligning and some crazy lazer is gonna shoot through a pyramid and conjure some titanic force of creation or someshit.

But practically speaking, what will visibly happen is likely 1) my second album in hand, 2) the musical score for The Vindication Of Ronald Clay, 3) creation of the Rock Ballet that's in the works, 4) a couple musical side project albums that will be announced as they arrive probably, and 5) I'll be a better musician.

Man, I need to get this site rebuilt so it's more of an interactive blog experience, with commenting features and such, and more direct access to music!

Oh, and there's also this.

Oct13,2011

Holy crap, some worthwhile news! I have finally created a BandCamp page for the music I've published so far. I don't know why I hadn't done this before, other than I guess I didn't realize I could do it so easily. I'm a little slow, I know. I've accepted it.

For the first time ever, the Wormtooth Nation score is available online. Still not in the iTunes store, but BandCamp is in my opinion, an easier and more accessible store than iTunes. Not to mention you can play it all for free online before buying. Yup!

More music is coming soon! I've actually got some tracks down that may or may not be final for the new (second) album. My music production has rises head, shoulders, elbows and pretty much a couple stories above that on Ashes & Fire. Exciting! Stay tuned.

Oct1,2011

Wow a lot of stuff's been happening! Let's see if I can go in chronological order.

This summer I got to act in another film! This one's called The Vindication of Ronald Clay, a kind of fables thing about many characters intertwining in karmic craziness. Angels, demons, jazz, coffee, time travel, espionage, and space ships. I might be lying about the time travel. I play the title character, Ronald Clay. Shooting was super duper fun and I can't wait to see the movie.

I also get to score the film! Heck yep yo! Just like Wormtooth Nation, I'll be working with the dudes who wrote and shot it until the music is there too, and it's going to be another game of genre-Frankenstein, my favorite! Mainly jazz from the Beat era, other influencing factors will be film noir, orchestral, silent film, electronic, sci-fi, and metal. Yep, can't do without metal.

Next I went to California with my girlfriend to chill in a cabin in the mountains with a host of awesome folks. Music, hiking, food, sleep, fresh mountain springs. Awesome times.

Later I got to work on site as an audio tech for a movie shoot that I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention, so I won't. The fun part came when my multitrack recorder went into full panic mode in the middle of the shoot and all but exploded right then and there. Eleven days out of warranty! We had to re-route a lot of microphone wires and we're still doing a bunch of salvage work, because the places we routed the wires unfortunately did an abysmal job of recording. Anyway, all's well that ends well and it looks like the movie will shape up nicely. Plus I got to work with some awesome people and make some great connections!

Speaking of awesome people, I scored a temp gig with one of my sister's bands, Rock Paper Scissors, playing drums. Well first I mixed their live EP that was recorded last year, which you'll find at the above link. Then we played the EP release show! Super fun. Awesome music. Check them out and give a little. Darla's other band Animal is soon coming out with their own official release of all new material, which I'm also really excited about. I haven't heard a single note of their new stuff but I have a feeling it's going to be amazing.

Speaking of amazing, I am the proud new owner of some serious sound gear. Some generous folks in purchasing new gear wanted a new home for their old stuff, and by some grace of goodness my name showed up on the receiving end. Two horn loaded JBL 15's and two 12's, plus two Carver amps. I gotta replace some tweeters and service the amps, but for the practical value of this gear it's worth it many times over! Thank you so much!

The most recent thing going on for me has been my girlfriend's show, The Provocative 1980's - A Fairfield Dance Gala, where there's lots of awesome spectacular dance moves, kickass music, and funny 80's voice character commentary between each piece by yours truly and a couple others. First show was last night, second is tonight! Sondheim theater, Fairfield. Check it out before it's too late!

The most pertinent matter of all (to this website and myself) has been delayed yet again. Artist block! But never shall I give up on writing and recording music, and publishing for everyone to hear! This will be solved and many many many musics shall be made, oh yes. In fact, there ARE many made. The block comes in rehearsing, recording and publishing them. More on this when I have results, especially since those connections I mentioned have some good "DO IT NOW" power.

Apr14,2011

Recently it kind of re-dawned on me how long it's been since the release of my first album, Ashes & Fire. Seven years. Not only that, I was reminded of how much better I've gotten at studio production and how much better-sounding any new project would be. I thought about how many songs I've written since A&F and how many good ones I'd written before it that didn't make the cut that are still ripe for release.

"Holy crap," I am thinking, "a new album is WAY overdue."

Enter the two dozen track lists and collection ideas I've played with in the last year or two during less-than-prolific moments of project inspiration. I have at least 3 albums due for recording. All with different attitudes and themes. After considering for a while which "kind" of songs are currently relating to my life/feelings, and how rusty I am on the instruments (some songs are easier to play than others), I made my decision.

Bad Habits is the working title for a collection of songs that deal with several unpleasant and/or negative feelings. I'm choosing it not because my life sucks -- on the contrary, things are awesome -- but because, due to the comforts in my life and the self-reflection I've afforded myself, I've been digesting large quantities of that old, painful shit. It's great because it's on its way out (poop haha get it) and the coming days will be happier. It also gives me a chance to rediscover with some relevance a dozen or so of the songs I've written in that vein.

Another point, both a perk and a deciding factor in recording these songs now, is that it allows some degree of chronology in the long term view of my song releases. In other words, several of the songs going on this album were written closer to Ashes & Fire than to present day. More were written afterward, which will be recorded on future releases.

So I'm sitting and banging out notes to a metronome in preparation for making album recordings for Bad Habits. I'm excited! More info soon.

Mar08,2011

Fixed! The email form on the contact page is now working again. Email me if you need help making music, or to say hello, or anything else!

Mar06,2011

Well, neat. It seems as though my email form is not working, and probably hasn't been for several months! Swell. I'm on it.

Mar04,2011

What's up, friends. The Dance Gala is going well (I'm running sound for it, it's a two night show). I'm really impressed by some of the music in this town, not to mention the dancing. It's been great to have had a hand in producing some people's work! I love taking on, or being involved in, projects with styles that reach outside my default box. SPEAKING OF WHICH. I placed an advertisement in the program for the gala, telling folks to come here with music production needs. If you are any such folk, please do email me! Making music and recording/engineering/mixing music is my passion. And I'm good at it. I'm much better at it now than I was in 2004 let me also say ;)

Coming soon are site features that better identify music production services. In the meantime, email me!

Feb26,2011

Good news! I've got a band page (and a BandPage) on facebook now. I don't have all the songs up there that I have on my myspace space, but I'll think about it.. the thing is they're all prototypes, but we'll see. Boy I'm glad to have more than just a myspace player now! Something that loads in under 3 days and actually works when you click on it!

Feb25,2011

Holy shit.. has it really been since December that I posted? Wow. I'm that good (and grammatically correct super especially).

Well, happy new year, merry holidays, all that. Can we have spring already?? Good crap I am tired of the snow.

Today's update is going to be a bitchy update.

First new song in months, posted on my myspace space. It's at the bottom of the playlist because myspace's amazingly goddamn brilliant new layout maximizes functionality while kicking you square in the nuts. It took me half an hour to figure out how to upload a new song, because they decided to place the main menubar of function-packed awesomeness smack dab exactly where the website's useless icon/tagline used to sit. Yes, it taught me I didn't need to look up, so I didn't.

Oh I'm sorry I got carried away I just love myspace so much (yes I gotta hook up on soundcloud and other, better, music services) but as I was saying,

I'm trying to migrate toward incorporating synths and stuff into where my rock and shit comes from, hence the bass sounds. Been programming (as opposed to recording) a lot of my drum tracks lately, too, for prototyping purposes. So yeah, enjoy the song!

In other news, I recorded a new version of Human Condition (also on my myspace space) that is a top contender for the track list of a compilation CD of local (Fairfield, Iowa) artists. Jonathan Natera at Appleseed Studios is doing the recording and so far things sound pretty slick over there. Not sure when the disc is scheduled to be released. Probably the night of the CD release concert, which is Saturday June 4th 2011 at the Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts, where I am employed as an audio engineer, forgot to mention that. Neato.

Can you tell I'm having the best fucking day ever? It has nothing to do with the news I bring but it's certainly coloring its delivery.

I've also been working on some mixes and recordings for a few friends, specifically my sister's amazing band Rock Paper Scissors and my sister's other amazing band Animal.

My girlfriend Hilary Jordan (not pictured) is producing our town's second official Dance Gala, and the theme of this one is local music. That means several choreographers have created dances using the songs of local musicians, and they will all be performed in a big bangin' stage production this March 3rd and 4th at 8pm at the Sondheim where I work, yes. Each musician will appear and introduce their piece and the dance that's going with it. Guess what, I'm appearing and introducing Come Forth. But see, not the version from Ashes & Fire, whose tracks are the recording-studio equivalent of grasping drunk for a bar of soap in a cold shower, on a small boat in a storm at sea. No, this is a new version. Programmed drums and some instruments, yes, bigger badder synth elements, clearer vocals, better dynamics over all. That, and you'll get to hear it over the Sondheim's Crown-powered JBL VRX line arrays (huge speakers that can basically blow the meat off your face).

Boy, don't get me started on how those amps were set up before I was hired. No, it wasn't anyone on staff. My guess? Chimps. Possibly retarded. Let's leave it at that.

AHEM Also in the line up for the Local Music Dance Gala are friends Arthur Lee Land, Joey Delre, Animal, cellist Daniel Sperry, Heather Miller-Rodriguez, Theodore Burghoff, Phil Carter, Philip Rabalais, and the Skunk River Medicine Band.

There, that's about three months of news, isn't it? One more thing. I just ate some hot, fresh pizza with marinated steak on it, barbecue sauce in place of tomato sauce, and a fabulous amount of cheese. It was fucking delicious.

Dec23,2010

The year is almost over and we still haven't "made contact." Pfff.

In more relevant news, check this out..

And here's part one.

EXPLANATION: Last weekend there was a "25th hour" play festival, for which several playwrites were wrangled to write a short Christmas-themed play, cast it and perform it all in a single day. My friend Carol Lee took this chance to begin writing a Rock opera about some Gen-X versus the World kind of stuff from Santa's point of view, and she cast me as Santa Claus. I joined after learning that Santa had a bent attitude, since the majority of contemporary Christmas ideas frustrate me. Not so much in a "woe is me" way as Santa is expressing in this play, but more of a "really? come on, guys" way. I tend not to speak out, because I don't want to shit on people's freedom, so I make (or partake in) art because it can be taken subjectively.

The gig went over so well that its momentum spawned a music video for "Overjoyed."

Please check out the credits at the end to see who is responsible for this fun and extremely quick project. Among them are Micah Salaberrios on camera and directing, and Carol Lee and Arthur Lee Land on songwriting.

We put up a location to purchase the track for a dollar: www.GenXmasRockOpera.com.

Happy holidays to all! Even if you have stuff to be depressed about.

Sept26,2010

Last weekend's show that I forgot to talk about :)

Wandering In The Rain

Sept20,2010

Just added two more to the videos page from Friday night's concert! It was a fundraiser for the local no-kill animal shelter, Noah's Ark, headlined by my friend Arthur Lee Land with a set featuring several of Fairfield's young singer-songwriters, backed by Jonnie Cohen on bass and David Hurlin on drums. What a fun show! Many thanks to Arthur for pulling the whole thing together, and to the Fairfield Art and Convention Center for hosting us! A BIG thanks to Glen Chumley for shooting these and many other fine videos of Fairfield, Iowa entertainment.

Rumor has it that there is more, similar, multi-artist fun on the horizon. Stay posted and keep tuned!

Sept12,2010

Harken unto the navbar gods, for there is a new videos page!! This means that any youtube clip or anything that can be easily embedded should eventually end up on this page. If you have any that I'm missing, please visit the contact page and let me know!

In general davidjmurphy news, current inspiration is to create lots of videos (or video drafts) like the one below to build momentum for producing the live show I'm dreaming of, which will basically be a full live set with me on lead vocals and electric guitar with all my "buddies" pre-reorded and backing me up over the PA and video projector. Check out yesterday's video to see what I mean!

Enjoy!

Sept10,2010

I am quite pleased to post my first music video.

The song is "Joy and Love," a pre-release demo of sorts for the next album. What you are hearing is what I do in my studio. All the recordings I have ever posted online are made in this fashion, though some of them have programmed (computerized) drums.

I plan on creating similar videos for more new songs before actually laying down album tracks.

I'm drawing a blank on things to say at the moment. More on these ideas soon!

Enjoy, and share!

May27,2010

I'm posting every day. No seriously.. I'm just doing it so fast you can't see me.

Jaykay... my last post was on new year's day. A lot has happened since then.

In February I moved to Berkeley, California. I did this for a few reasons. First, it seemed high time to get out of my home town, since I had lived there since the ripe old age of 3. I wanted a taste of other locations from a homemaking perspective so that I could decide whether I was going to live and die where I grew up. Second, I needed a job and my town's economy seemed to be running on fumes, like most around the country. I had been teaching myself some cooking skills for quite a while and had been messing with raw foods for a year or so, and there was a raw food restaurant in the Bay that I became seriously interested in working for. It seemed like a very rewarding job to hold while developing a music career. Third, I needed clarity and perspective. When you go through lesson after lesson and emotion after emotion, and motivational block after motivational block, in the same town you've stomped since before you could stomp, you build up a set of ideas about your environment. A certain biased perception of cause and effect. What I mean is that I had become convinced that a lot of my problems were due to the town I was in, and that changing my environment and lifestyle might shake things up enough to either help my productivity or show me just what percentage of my "problems" were actually being caused by my environment. I definitely got something out of the trip because I found that the percentage was around zero.

I sold a lot of my stuff before I moved, so I had money to coast on, which was great because I didn't get the job I'd hoped for. I got the clarity and the taste of other homes, though. Two out of three. Plus I got to skip out on the worst 1/3 of an Iowa winter.

By mid March I had realized some very important things. In trying to get things going out there, I was rehearsing songs for the purpose of gigging. I wasn't interested in acoustic/coffee shop gigs. I wanted to put on that chest-thumping rock sound, like I did back in August '09 (before getting too self-critical to play it again without rebuilding my technical approach). During all this practice in my 6'x9' room in Berkeley, and feeling the confinement of being too self-conscious to practice singing where it would disturb roommates and neighbors, and running out of money to coast on, prompting urgency in the job hunt, it suddenly all came together in my mind. What job was I going to get? Well what did I want to do? Music, definitely music. Well how could I work that out? I did some research and math and found that with renting my own apartment, my own studio (for developing the live show that I want), shipping all my equipment out to CA, commuting every day, and eating, I would need a fairly substantial income.. I would need a serious day job to pay for all of this. In the BAY. This place is purported as second only to New York City as far as cost of living. What did I feel like pursuing as a day job? Music. I realized that I didn't care about anything else. I didn't have anywhere close to enough interest in anything else to be competitive enough to command the income I needed to support my music career in the Bay area. Even if I DID score a job paying that amount, I would probably be so wiped at the end of every day that the last thing I'd want to do is ride the metro across the city for an hour and practice four instruments for another four hours. I'm sure I would rather blow the extra money on all the awesome STUFF there is to DO out there! I pitted this against my hometown, where I had free studio access, cheaper food (that is admittedly less ripe), my friends, my family, my music equipment, and where I had been paying literally the same dollar amount in rent for a 1,100 square foot two-bedroom apartment with a full bathroom, kitchen and living room plus on-site laundry and walking distance to an organic grocer, as I was in California for literally a converted tool shed. A six foot by nine food room in the yard behind a house where I shared facilities with housemates (one of whom used my nice cotton dish towel to scrub grease out of a cast iron pan). Some would consider these sacrifices worth the nicer weather, better food, and more lifestyle buzz from living in/near a city. I asked myself again: What do I really want? I want to make music.

The answer was clear. Why should I struggle for a life in California when I had easy, cheap access to everything I need to pursue my dreams back in Iowa? When it comes to population density affecting my marketing.. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. My heart was already back in Iowa, so I bought my ticket and flew home. Two months to the day of living in California. I flew out February 1st, and flew back March 31st, and I'm endlessly glad I went. I don't think anything less could have made up my mind about what I have going for me here in Fairfield.

Upon arriving back, though, I realized that in the frantic haze of moving (I had given myself 10 days, after spotting absurdly cheap air fare for that date), I had sold some essential pieces of my musical equipment. I am now in the process of climbing back up the ladder of income-versus-expenses in order to replace the pieces I need so that I can work on my ultimate dream projects. Alongside that, my old band The Speeding Trees are back together and seeking a drummer for playing live shows. I am dangerously excited about playing shows.

So in a sense I am back where I started before moving to California, minus some possessions (never too much of a bad thing), and plus some wisdom and freedom of thought. But in another sense, due to the things I gained in going, I am much further ahead than before... and indeed, dare I say, much further ahead than I would be now if I HADN'T gone (minus a few gigs perhaps).

Apart from the moving around and the soul searching involved, the other happenings have involved people and friendships, which always serve to make one a deeper and richer garden of humanity. I have met, and gotten to know, some extraordinary people in the last five months, had time to reconnect with some old friends, and have become close with some new and fabulous people. I am really grateful for all of this.

Today I found out that an acquaintance, somebody very close and dear to a few of my very close and dear friends, took his own life. Everything I've heard about him in the past painted a picture of someone very evolved and wise. I suppose that even the best of us can get seriously lost. My heart goes out to his large group of loving friends and family. I might have a bruise from how hard I sat on the floor when I heard about it over the phone. Today was a very, very sad day. As far from qualified as I am to comment on his life, or why he chose to leave, all the events of this year so far definitely beg a single thought in my mind: Of all the valuable things in life, the most valuable and sustaining to me might just be gratitude for myself and everything I have.

Jan1,2010

Happy new year! It's a new year, a new decade, a new mission. The year we make contact. With whom or what remains to be seen. :)

2009 was amazing! A year of knowledge, growth, newfound love, newfound hardship and challenges. For me it has been a wealth of growth, inner and outer.

I had a mission for New Year's Eve. It was to dance. Sounds tame, but I don't dance. It's mainly rooted in fear and projection, i.e., I typically judge others rather heavily just while observing them, so I avoid potentially exposing scenarios because my mind says the people are judging me in the same way. Because of this, I don't get out much, and my life is becoming very sheltered and my emotions fragile. My judgement of others arises from lack of self-love and self confidence -- it's the need to boost myself up by mentally slashing others. I hope to reverse the process at least in part by putting myself in those exposing scenarios, pushing past the fear, dancing anyway (even poorly), and keeping in mind that it's FUN.. Who doesn't like fun? and who cares if they think I look stupid, or that I skipped a beat, or that I dance like a rapist, or whatever it is that my mind can come up with to keep me from dancing? Me? Do I actually care? The reality is that what they think about me has no relation to, and no effect on, my intentions and actions. Why should I pretend that it does? Only what I think can possibly affect that, ever. My actions arise from my intentions, which arise from my feelings and desires. These can all be brought into control by the mind. If the mind is deliberately focused on one thing, all other factors align accordingly. Actions create results. Therefore, results are in line with the occupation of the mind. A mind occupied by fear will create results rooted in fear. By focusing on having fun, enjoying life, being active, participating, and being productive in spite of fear, then the results in my life will be fun, active and productive accordingly. (I almost typed 'accordion'.)

So I went out and danced, 100% sober, like I used to in high school when I didn't have those fear complexes around dancing (I don't even know where they came from). I had a BLAST! And nobody laughed and pointed like the fear tried to make me think they would! In fact, I saw friends I hadn't seen in a while, felt comfortable dancing in front of them, and even got compliments like "You look great!" and "You're effervescing!"

Mission accomplished. David 1, Fear 0 ... well, for that one night anyway ;)

Hopefully that story is inspiring to someone.

The album and live show are being rehearsed. I haven't talked about it very much yet: the live show is going to be REALLY fun. There will be video projection, sequenced lights, and maybe fog. The video is there to show the other "band members" (that's me) as if you were seeing them on the jumbo-tron at a real live butt-rock concert, interspersed with cool footage of stuff relating to the songs, semi-music-video style. The lights are to enhance the craziness! These factors of course do not apply to any low-volume acoustic shows that I do, like the one in the post below.

Again, I wish all a fabulous new chapter in life. This is a time for inspiration! Don't stress yourself out with resolutions and slap your wrist when you drop them. Do something wonderful for yourself, and have fun doing it! And then congratulate yourself on a job well done. :)

Dec13,2009

Confirmed are the details for this week's gig!

Café Paradiso (in Fairfield, IA), 7:30 pm, $6.

Four performers, with Sara and Milena emceeing and keepin it real between acts. Tonight's rehearsal revealed to me that this will be an AWESOME show. Be there!

This is a fundraiser event that my awesome friends Sara and Milena are hosting to help fund their extended education. I will be selling both of my CDs at the event, sending all proceeds their way! Come, move with amazing music, and support a great cause.

Performers: Ojas (Wade and Omar, who I met tonight, who sound GREAT), Nathaniel Alexander (unexpectedly high-class songs and a fabulously gritty voice hinting at Jack White), myself (doing acoustic numbers as heard on the EP), and my friends Micah Saleberrios and Michaela Terrien doing some foot-stomping covers to help close the week in party mode for the holidays.

Come to Café Paradiso on Thursday night! Be prepared for awesomeness! I will see you there!

Dec5,2009

I'm a comic book celebrity!!

Not really.. BUT my voice acting has been used in some of the new Marvel Motion Comics episodes! Check Spiderwoman Episode 4 (and also one line at the end of Ep3), I play Paladin, the guy pointing the gun. Another awesome story is that my voice acting for the character HULK was used for Marvel Comics' partnership Motion Comics contest with Aniboom! They posted sound clips for fans to animate their own Motion Comics, and seven finalists were chosen (view the awesome cartoons at above link). Pretty Neato Sweeto!

EXTRA AWESOME THANKS to Hedquist Productions for giving me that opportunity.

In other news, I will be performing songs from my new disc, middle a nowhere EP 1, on December 17th at Paradiso in Fairfield. More details soon!

In other other news, rehearsal for the 2nd album, working-titled Joy and Love, has been under way for a while. Recording schedule currently unknown as the studio is not currently heated. :) Tentative release is early Spring 2010.

Happy December! (i don't have time to draw a messed up bear today).

Nov5,2009

FINALLY.

The new EP is available for sale online. Go ahead and grab a copy! Also available in digital download from above location. The collection will show up in iTunes probably within a few days. There is a feature in iTunes called Alert Me that I think you can use to notify you when the EP shows up for download.

I'm excited for this release; I think it sounds great! It's a short collection of acoustic versions of otherwise "whole band" songs. I recorded it for the purpose of selling along side the "vagabond" act I took to Sweden, i.e. guitar and voice only, for impromptu use at unplanned locations.

Enjoy!

Oct27,2009

OK so I broke down and got a Twitter account :) Here's my page:

http://www.twitter.com/thedavidjmurphy

I'm THE davidjmurphy. Plain old davidjmurphy was already taken because I wasn't quick on the draw. haha.

Follow me on Twitter.

Oct19,2009

Ok, update. The covers for the EP are printed! The color is way off, but that's not a big deal. It's still pretty fabulous service for automated online self-serve manufacturing hookups. Anyway, I sent the covers off to the warehouse today, so in just a few days the disc will be available for sale online at CDBaby. And just a few days after that (maybe sooner, I'm not sure how long it takes), the EP will be available on iTunes and other digital outlets. Til then, check out the samples on the music page. Laterlolz!

Oct14,2009

All you freaks inna house say "hellll-o-ween!" (GET IT HAHA)

Just a quick update about the EP: The artwork print job is under way, and barring print/ship errors, the disc will be available online starting the week after next (like between the 26th and 30th).

Those of you already in blissful possession of the disc do not own the 2 -sided panel of cover art. If you want it, contact me with your mailing address and I'll send you one!

ALSO: I just updated the music page with samples from the EP. Let me know if this works ok in your browser.

That's all for now guys. <3

Oct4,2009

Whatup peoplolz!!

So, yeah, ahem.. Still haven't got the EP available online yet. In fact I just realized today that it wasn't even in the "music" section. It's listed there now though. Soon will get mp3 samples posted for it.

I was going to leave town and push back album production yet again, but that plan made me realize that what I really want to do is stay put for the winter and record music! So keep your ears peeled.

UPDATE: I'm not really sure how, but 60 copies of the EP have been distributed to people. So, thanks for being there to hear my songs, guys :D ... Now that I think of it, half of these are in Sweden. HAHA. awesome.

love and kittens.
-David

Aug3,2009

Successful gig!

Saturday night's show was pretty rough, I must say, but I want to thank the attendees for showing up :) and the Beauty Shop for having me. Thanks to this place, Fairfield has more of a scene. Also thanks to my awesome friend Amy Kettenburg for snapping some photos.

The show consists of accompaniment that I've recorded and programmed—drums, bass, backing guitars, synths, piano, backing vocals, etc.—that I play along with and sing. The sound you hear is that of a full band on the loud club PA, as I said in the interview, but I'm the only guy on stage as it's rare, especially in a small town, to find people who are satisfied playing every note you tell them, and never a note that you don't :)

The show is fun, and I'll be adding to it. This first run was about a 45 minute set, and I'll be tightening up the performance and expanding it to about an hour. Ideally a programmed light show will arrive soon, as well.

Next up is planning the recording of an album with The Speeding Trees. Nothing's set in stone, but we hope to have it done by the end of summer (which is some time in September in this case).

Cheers to all, and to all a good everything.

July31,2009

Hey people! Luv ya.

Just posting to say that I'm playing the first official David J Murphy gig tomorrow night at the Beauty Shop here in Fairfield. I just did a spot with James Moore on KRUU FM, the local radio station, which was fun. Here's a link to the audio from that interview.

I hope to see some of you fraggles rocking out at the show. Enjoy!

 

July17,2009

OK so I lied. There has been a technical delay in getting the disc buyable from CD Baby. However, I have the discs in hand, and have for weeks, so if you would like one, drop me a line and I can mail you one.

In other news, that is all.

 

May31,2009

I'm totally thrilled to announce that, without much warning despite all the "coming soon" hype, a new compact disc release will be available for purchase next week from CD Baby. It's an EP that I recorded this weekend for the sake of distributing in Sweden while I'm there, as well as to all my fellow Americans.

It came about when I thought "Wow, I'm going to play songs in Sweden. I should have a disc for sale that sounds something like what they hear (voice and guitar)."

Fortunately, voice and guitar is just about the easiest thing to record acoustically, hence the project's lightning-fast production (all of it was recorded yesterday and I just submitted the order for processing).

There are six songs on the EP, totaling 23 minutes. There is one Ashes & Fire resurrection: the song Shapeless in its original acoustic arrangement. The original did have more voices and layered acoustic guitar tracks (and was also never released--the one on A&F was the "electrified" version), but for this EP everything was to be stripped down like a street performance.

I'm very excited, I think it sounds good for what it is, and I hope you'll all enjoy it! I'll post again with links etc., once it's up in the store.

Happy June!

May25,2009

I'M GOING TO SWEDEN.

OK, here's the story. A friend of mine (thanks) told me about this and suggested that I apply. It's a cultural exchange being started by the Fairfield Rotary Club and their friends in Sweden. Apparently there's a Swedish community nearby, and they somehow met our mayor, Ed Malloy, and decided to start up a cultural exchange with Sweden.

At first I hummed and hawed because I was letting the limitations of my comfort zone dictate my thinking. Then I talked to a couple friends about it and realized how dumb it would be to pass up the chance. So, I applied. Somehow there was only one other applicant, and it turned out to be another friend of mine!

As fortune has it, they're allowing both of us to go. The main purpose in going is that we'll be attending a festival in Sweden (I don't know what it's called or where it is). The Swedish folks want American artists, musicians and the like to come to this Swedish/American (?) festival they're having and either perform or give demonstrations.

Yes. I have a gig in Sweden.

Can I just FREAK OUT FOR A SECOND?!???!?!!?!?!!!

WHHAAAATTT!!!!!

This is going to be SO COOL.

Naturally, I'm going to see what I can do to record video of any performances I do and post some good stuff online. I'm also considering recording a quick voice-and-guitar demo to sell for a few Kronor at the festival. I'll have to see if that's allowed. Probably not. I should get business cards.

In other news, I've found software that I'll be using to restructure the back end of this website (after I get back), so that users will be able to comment on these posts and subscribe to RSS feeds from this site (which lets your blog reader get notified when I post, so you don't have to check back all the time to see).

Happy 25th of AWESOME-ber.

Zombies.

May11,2009

Wormtooth Nation got more awards!

This weekend, Wormtooth Nation creators Geoff Boothby and Cullen Thomas and Production Assistant Donald Revolinski attended the Iowa Motion Picture Association awards ceremony to accept six awards for Wormtooth Nation. The awards are: three Nomination awards in "feature film", "Lighting design", and "Editing", and 1st place in "Screenplay - produced", "directing", and "original music score."

Pretty kickass, huh? That means we got a nice shiny Oscar-Wannabe for each category. Mine's sitting in my living room now!

I'd like to thank everyone involved in the project. It was a blast! And, apparently, still is!

If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out while it's still hot! And let me know what you think.

Thanks again to all. Enjoy!

(yay color change)

Apr27,2009

New songs are up! They're up on my Myspace space. I've had a bit of creative diarrhea in the last week. Yay! Gross!

The first is called Bondage of the Animal and it's basically about exploring your own faults and rising above them to reach your full potential. That's right, you, specifically. It's somewhat aggressive rock, in a style similar to the darker/faster Foo Fighters stuff. Oops!

The second is called Watchin' the Folly and it's about the fact that we shouldn't take life too seriously. One could easily step back from the daily "absorbed" perspective and laugh a bit at how crazy stuff is. It's a less hard-edged, groovy number.. resembling older rock based on standards..

The third is a sad tune, called Waiting, done in a very dreamy soundscape type style. Good for those nights when you're feeling forgotten or lonely, lying on the couch staring out at the rain, or something.

Each of these songs contains some new territory for me, musically, and it's pretty exciting to branch out. Sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic with all the styles I visit, and I'm sure it will earn me some criticism some day, but hell.. it's fun!

In other news, a week ago last Saturday I had a really fun night running sound for a benefit concert in Fairfield. Playing around in the studio is always fun, but getting out for a night and putting the same skills to use in a crazy public venue is a blast sometimes... and darn good practice.

There was something else I was going to say, but I forget. Oh well!

Enjoy the songs! And happy new ... week ...
-David

Apr17,2009

I feel excellent today!

Apologies for not updating. I could make excuses but I won't.

There are a few things of note, pretty cool stuff... One is that I've been composing/producing the occasional musical number for DLF.tv, which is the site for the David Lynch Foundation and all their video content (there's a LOT!!). My stuff has been going into the "Profiles" of which there are currently 3 (the third is about to be released). Also, my brother Ed had the amazing opportunity to work with DLF on site in New York for the huge concert a few weeks ago, featuring Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, and many others. He's one of the video editors for DLF.tv and has been helping generate the plethora of content for the site. Another friend in that category is Geoff Boothby, who created Wormtooth Nation with Cullen Thomas (also on board at DLF). It's a pretty happening scene, you should go check it out!

Another point, speaking of Wormtooth Nation (which I had the huge privilege to score, mix/master and act in), is that it has been getting some critical attention. It won the Golden Eddie (which is "first place") at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival here in Iowa a few months ago. And the current buzz is that Wormtooth Nation has been nominated in two categories, "Best Sound Design" and "Student," of the Webby Awards, which is pretty darn sweet, considering the Webbies are THE Internet video awards. Sort of like the Oscars of web films.

And speaking of the Webby Awards, YOU have a chance to participate. There is a separate award from what the judges choose, and it's called the People's Voice Webby. If you go to the site you can register (it's really easy) and browse the wealth of entries in different categories. Vote for the ones YOU think are best (ahem Wormtooth)... and who knows, you may stumble upon some brilliant content you otherwise wouldn't have found!

Another cool tidbit about the Wormtooth soundtrack (which is available to purchase via a SNOcap store, check the Music page, and if it doesn't work I'm happy to mail you a CD of it, gonna try to get it on iTunes also soon), is that the local mashup group, Porno Galactica, has used The Sky Is Free (intro theme from Wormtooth) in one of their pieces, though they still don't seem to care enough to post the track anywhere, despite my harrassment.. come on, guys, get on the ball! It's the least you could do after using the track without permission ;)

I should also mention that back in February I had the opportunity to play with a truckload of very talented musicians at the Sondheim Theater here in Fairfield. It was for a monthly benefit concert.. a multi-artist tribute (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Sting)... I got to play a couple Police songs with a band. It was pretty fun! There was supposed to be video posted, but I think it was one of those things where the guy showed up with three cameras, shot it, and forgot about it. Oh well..

As for David J Murphy releases, things are still up in the air, but I think they're going to land soon, which will give clues about release dates and what will actually be released. The Speeding Trees are in a similar situation. Bear in mind that as soon as these things become clear, I/we will do everything we can to let people know!

I also tried getting this site to point to a blog so that any readers could post comments to entries like this, but sadly all it did was screw up the DNS resolutions and the whole site was gone for a couple weeks (as well as my email address, which hopefully warded off some spam bots!)... Soon I'll find a solution, because I'd love to hear from readers! Meanwhile, hit the Contact page!

Cheers, people!

PS - the color scheme on this site was a bit of a joke... it'll go other places soon enough..

Dec30,2008

Uh-oh, dropping the ball again here on posting frequently...

Well how about this. There's no real news, but I have some wishes for you.

Whoever you are, reading this, I sincerely hope that you have learned something from your time in 2008 that will make you a better person. I also sincerely hope that--be it love, money, revelation, travel, rest, parenthood, whatever--in the near future, something will make your life what you want it to be.

Too much time is spent being distant from what we want. I don't understand it, and certainly don't have the clearest ideas on how to fix it. However, I do know that beholding something or someone magical, important and beneficial in your life feels really, really good. I therefore wish it upon you, myself, and everyone, and wish it to last.

That's what "happy new year" means to me. So, happy new year!
-David

Dec15,2008 - yes

To those who have commented (thank you) that the News page should act like a blog where viewers can leave comments and add to their blog readers, yes. I forgot to say it in the last post but this is what I intend to do. In spare time I've been learning how to do this (it's a css thing and other stuff I haven't read yet) so that I can also keep the other parts of the site to make it more than JUST a blog. So.. yes.. Coming soon, as they say!

Love and a loaf of seven-grain.
-David

Dec13,2008 - general

Hey all.

It feels good to be posting frequently again! Welcome back, me!

A couple next steps I'm looking into are setting up a more poignant music-sale/download situation for this website, where all the songs are in a store or player right on the music page, and you don't have to go noodling around on Myspace etc. to find a song I don't have up anymore. Also, I will be moving in the direction of single-song releases instead of album releases .. meaning, instead of posting half-ass pre-release cuts of new songs up on Myspace, where you can't download them, I'm switching modes so that when a song is posted, it's in a final, buyable form. No more of this "album coming soon!" crap. Even when someone releases an album, most people only buy a couple tracks from it on iTunes anyway. Later when I'm swimming in recording contracts we can talk about full albums :)

The good news about this is that I'll probably do things like "Come Forth Version 2" or "Greet the Morning 2" and whatnot... Single releases will be less formal than an album (but far more refined/polished than Ashes & Fire), which means having a "MKII" of something won't make me feel like "I'm making the second album just like the first! what kind of artist am I?" etc..

Speaking of that album, here's a link to get Ashes & Fire from iTunes if you feel the urge. I'll find a better place for that link very soon. Someone bought it on iTunes Europe last month! Woo! Thanks!

Things with The Speeding Trees are on the studio end right now, too. We're rehearsing for an album release. The difference here is that with TST things are oriented around the real world for the real deal of having a real band on a real tour and real investors--which, granted, would be nice for DJM too but it's not a priority at the moment--so we want a physical disc on hand to go along with this. The purpose of davidjmurphy.net is to be an outlet/secondary focus for ideas out of sync with The Speeding Trees. This may change some day, too.

In closing, may you always breathe deeply of health and vitality!
-David

Dec12,2008 - a thought

6 minutes is shorter than 5 minutes.

The phrase "5 minutes" is so commonly used that it's lost its meaning. I'll do it in 5 minutes. It'll take me 5 minutes. I'll be there in 5 minutes. Invariably, it always becomes 10 or 15, sometimes 30 minutes (or in the case of getting out of bed, a couple hours). This is because "5 minutes" is effectively a figure of speech, indicating "soon" or "quickly" and so forth.

It will take 6 minutes. Suddenly, we're talking about an accurate time frame. Six minutes is six minutes. Why would you specify six instead of five if you just mean "soon"? You wouldn't. Because "6 minutes" has not become a figure of speech. It is specific. When you say "6 minutes" you don't mean that it will take 30 minutes, you mean it will take 6. And not 2, either. You're gonna have to wait.

Thus, 6 minutes is shorter than 5 minutes.

Also, fifty-three years is longer than forever.

Dec8,2008 - ha

HA! I made two posts within the same month! Mere days apart, in fact!

I was messing around with different drum tunings last night and I think I stumbled upon a new breed of snare drum tone that I really like. And by new breed I mean something that's been done a million times by other people.

Oh, I just remembered about some things I've never posted on here. A big one being the Theory of George. This is a band of which I am a participant. We did a couple shows last month that were pretty sweet. It was an opportunity for myself, Matt Ticciati and Dan Rodman to each perform selections from our individual songwriting, with a full band. My sister Darla played bass and rocked the backing vocals.

While we're on the subject, check out my sister's band, Rock Paper Scissors. I'd like to congratulate them on their upcoming CD release. Buy it. They're incredible.

Something else worthy of mention is DLF.tv. The David Lynch Foundation is going around the country helping out some schools and groups in adopting consciousness-based education and meditation practice. To spread the word, they showcase video footage of this activity, as well as spots with celebrities and the like. They need good background music for their videos, and I'm one of the musicians they've asked about this. So, I'll be making stuff that you might hear behind Mr. Lynch's characteristic voice as he raves enthusiastically about meditation. More on this later.

And now a word from our sponsor. .. Sorry what's that? ... Ah.. I'm being told there is no sponsor. Well then. Maybe next time!

Dec4,2008 - oh man

*looks at date of last past*
haha ... haaaa ... awwww shit.

So many changes happen from day to day. I don't like it.

Good changes, bad changes, whatever. I'm getting tired of changes. I'd like each day to be like the previous for a while (the previous being a good day, please).

I've been reading webcomics lately and sorta loving them. It makes me want to start one of my own, but then my self-inflicting judgement kicks in and I realize I'd be drawing just another one of those webcomics.

How about I just practice music instead. Good plan.

Yay weird color schemes!

July7,2008 - General

Long time no update.

Tonight I went to see these guys. Pretty wicked cool, check them out and get them a gig.

By now, for those who don't know, Wormtooth Nation has been completed and the DVD is available very soon (a week or two for printing or something). After you fall in love with it, buy the soundtrack.

Words.

May26,2008 - Ep 6 Monday!

Hey all,

Just reminding you to watch Episode 6 of Wormtooth Nation tomorrow (monday) .. i think 7:30pm (central time).

For those not yet tuned in (and who care), I've been doing all the music for this movie, and some acting, and it's incredibly fun and expanding my musical horizons. Pretty exciting shit. (Side note: if you're not tuned in, well tune the hell in! and start at episode One!) ... There are some pretty sweet musical features (well, as much as you can feature film scoring that's mixed back enough not to tread on the dialogue) in this one.

Visit wormtoothnation.com (or vimeo.com and search for 'wormtooth nation') to get your underground steampunk fix.

Yes.

May22,2008 - Rollin'

Alright! Stuff is really starting to roll now.. with Wormtooth Nation I mean. For those of you just tuning in, Episode 5 is coming out today. Checkit at WormtoothNation.com!! (Side note: all episodes are available on the site as they're released.) In short, it's a steampunk tale about an underground city and the humanity within. Very awesome and very fun. See post below for more info.

What's REALLY cool news for today is that the theme song you all love so much is now up for download!! And even better, soon the soundtrack will be selling, and WITH the soundtrack you will find an extended version of the theme song. This is being done by popular request! That's right. You people want it so I'm making it, even though it won't be in the show.

*switches hats*

In other news, The Speeding Trees just received confirmation about a gig in June. Yep, we will be back to rocking faces starting Friday June 13th. The show is at Pure Imagination Tattoo in Mt Pleasant, IA, for their annual store bash party thing. At this one, KQ92 will be doing a live remote broadcast of the show!! There are 4 bands performing: the Jefferson County Green Band, The Speeding Trees, Anternicy and Ritual Fixx. JCGB will kick off the show at 6pm. Age limit is 21+ (unless you're 18-21, a close friend and dying to come, we can get you in, but you absolutely cannot drink), BYOB, free admission. See you there!!

May12,2008 - It's out!!

Dear Friends and Fans,

Some of you already know, but I'd just LOVE to announce Wormtooth Nation, which is a movie/web series being created by many of my friends. It's a steampunk tale about an underground city, and it's very dark, very profound and uplifting, and very very cool. I also act in it, and am in charge of scoring the film (making all the music (except for a badass dance feature song by Ian Fry)), and mixing/cleaning all the audio. It's a student film on a donation budget, but with that considered it's downright amazing.

Episode One (of nine) was released on Thursday, and Episode Two comes out today (I believe).

View Episode One here:
Wormtooth Nation - Episode 1 - YouTube (1 of 2)
Wormtooth Nation - Episode 1 - YouTube (2 of 2)
Wormtooth Nation - Episode 1 - Google Video
Wormtooth Nation - Episode 1 - Vimeo, high resolution (worth it)

Read more about the movie & cast, post comments/reviews, and even watch the episodes as they come out, at the movie's official website: http://www.theskyisfree.com

Enjoy!!
Lots of love to all
-David

May01,2008 - big news

Hello all you hot sexy rock stars.

Two things:

A) Happy May!

B) Spreading the word about Wormtooth Nation, which is a film by Geoff Boothby and Cullen Thomas.

It's pretty kickass. It's about an underground city, the population divided by oppression and revolution, a mysterious gas (called "wormtooth" or "wormy") that causes complete memory loss, and people's hopes and dreams of finding "the surface."

Matt Ticciatti, Helena Grace Treadwell, Elisabeth Hughes, and Steve White star.

Lots of supporting roles and extras appearances made by all your friends!

The sets and locations look amazing, the costumes and props are fabulous (e.g. authentic WW2 french issue gas masks), and most of the acting is quite moving.

If that isn't enough, I got to act in it, and even better, I'm writing and producing ALL of the music for the film, assisting with sound editing, and in charge of final mixing and mastering of the audio.

Wormtooth Nation will be released as a feature-length movie (90 minutes), as a culminating event after it is distributed as a nine-episode web mini-series. Yes, you'll get to see the whole thing in cliff-hangy chunks throughout the month of May. The first episode is released May 8th (i believe).

For a high quality movie trailer, visit the official Wormtooth Nation site:

TheSkyIsFree.com

Enjoy!!
I'm excited.

March20,08 - Happy SPRING!!!

Yes. Yes. Spring is finally here. Sometimes I feel like winter has some death grip on my happy glands or something. But today's the first day of Spring, and the weather is actually nice! It'll probably shit on us a few more times in the coming weeks, and then become stupidly hot outside, but let's cross that bullplop when we come to it.

Currently I'm involved in three projects. In non-alphabetical order, the first is a new Davidjmurphy solo album, which I've been mentioning for months/years. Tentative release is Summer '08. The second is a debut album from The Speeding Trees. Me and Jon are working on this, and tentative release date is Spring '08. The third is scoring and soundtracking for Geoff Boothby's new film/web series called Wormtooth Nation. I've been writing jazz, blues, and electronic/bigbeat pieces for it, plus others. I'm also covering all the non-song parts like when something happens and you just hear a smattering of notes to accent a moment or something... like, not a full song... et cetera. Release date for the web series is the first week of May. The series, which is 9 episodes, about ten minutes each, will be fused into a feature-length movie and shown at a premiere in Fairfield, early June '08. I also acted in this film, which was fun. I've been watching the rough cuts from the editors, and I can say that the lead actors did some fabulous work, and there are some powerful moments to look forward to.

Overall stuff is cooking behind the scenes and will be unveiled to the public in all its steamy glory in the next few months.

Yay spring!

March7,08 - Here's a good laugh

http://reserveaspotinheaven.com/

reserve a spot in heaven.. for as low as twelve bucks! or else risk eternal damnation.

oh and you can also send someone you know deep into the pits of hell.

Feb29,08 - Shouts

y'all not knowin', I'm here to let you know. On the upcoming davidjmurphy album(s?), you'll be hearing my latest toys from Saluda Cymbals. Jaime and his gang will make beautiful cymbals, custom-tailored to your tastes, per order, at amazing prices. Tell 'em I sent you.

Feb21,08 - Progress... No seriously

Just thought I'd say that since the release of Ashes & Fire, a few fundamentals have changed, my songwriting style included. I have acquired some tasty treats, most notably a new drum kit (Gretsch Catalina Ash.. not exactly the Rolls Royce of drumkits but it's way better than my last one.. love it), a new room to record said drums in (don't even get me started about the drum recordings on A&F), and today I ordered a real set of studio monitors to mix on. Apart from that, I've been reading up TONS and tons on sound engineering and general production techniques. Thing are gonna start sounding pretty sweet on the second album, which I plan to start recording rather soon. In similar news, I'm also working on the first The Speeding Trees' album with Jon... which we also plan to start recording soon. Weather providing, you should see the two new CDs by early summer or sooner.

sprinkles!

Feb14,08 - Site relaunch!

Whatup, kits and kaboodles?

Happy fucking Valentine's Day... Guess what I did for this occasion? Yep. Redesigned davidjmurphy.net. Very streamlined.. stripped down .. all naked and sexy.. unlike myself at the moment. Ha!

Take a look around! Trust me, it won't take long. While you're at it, buy Ashes & Fire! Yes, even if you already have it.

Peace, love, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

ps - email me if the site looks not-right to you.

omg shopping official CD releases   Ashes & Fire (2004) • on CD Baby • on iTunes   middle a nowhere EP 1 (2009) • on CD Baby • on iTunes   Orders sent by CD Baby - the fastest, safest, and easiest place to buy CDs online. You can also call 1-800-448-6369 to order by phone. davidjmurphy.net is not part of CD Baby, and waives any liability in users doing business with them.