YONDER BREAKS

I recently released my first self-produced EP! You may have noticed the heading on this website has been, "words + waves // stories + songs," indicating some combination of written word and song, with a reference to surfing because I love it (and I used to write about it all the time ). In keeping with that theme, I wanted to share the stories and lyrics of each song on this EP. Here is the first one for "Eleanor Means Light." Being a father and a songwriter, there is a certain expectation (even if self-induced) to write songs for your kids. You bring the mind the great ones, like " Isn't She Lovely? ," " Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) ", or one of my favorites, " A Father's First Spring ," by the Avett Brothers. When Ellie was a baby, I had started a song that would eventually become, " Let It Go Lullaby ," but was having some trouble finishing it. Sure enough, before finishing what I thought would be the first song I...

Every once in a while there is a brief window of time when I get to the skatepark and feel like I can do anything. I'm sure most skaters can relate. Maybe you've spent the last several days dreaming up tricks in the off hours of the day, waiting for work to be over or lying in bed, imaging quarter-pipes and handrails in your mind's eye. Whenever life's responsibilities back off enough for you to do something superfluous like hit the skatepark (though to you, it's never superfluous, but life-giving and essential), it's like a cannonball launch. You hit the pavement hard and fast, cruising around, getting your legs back. And man, that feeling...the speed in blasting down a ramp, the sounds of urethane carving the hot concrete, the freedom of flying through the air and then the friendly reminder of our earthly domain beckoning us back down with gravity's pull. In those first few minutes, anything can be accomplished. Pain is irrelevant and failure is an old en...

Exciting news -- a modest 3 song EP (so cleverly titled, Three EP) comes out today! This one has been a long time in the making -- some of these songs were written 5+ years ago, and have been recorded as demos, but this current iteration is in its best form yet!   I originally began this EP as a little experimental project to record three songs for three people (my wife and two daughters) using only three instruments on each song. I was going to call it 3x3x3 (which doesn't really make sense mathematically). It was a novel idea, but really the main purpose was just to save money in paying someone to mix the album! I started recording with this intention, but somewhere along the way I realized that instrumentation and arrangement are some of my strengths, so why limit the songs just to save a little cash? Also along the way, I made friends with some talented singer-songwriters that taught me that learning to mix and master is a worthwhile task for someone who wants to make music re...