Kickstart The 7" Version Of Spain's "I'm Still Free" Single

As you may or may not have heard, my band Spain was planning to release, with an outside label, a 7" of our first new songs in over eight years - "I'm Still Free", and "Hang Your Head Down Low" - recorded during the summer of 2009. The agreement with said record label fell through, as agreements sometimes do, and I'm left with two great songs and no money for upfront 7" manufacturing costs (I did release the songs digitally and as a limited edition CD single, much less expensive endeavors). I decided to partner with a website called Kickstarter.com and appeal directly to you for support in manufacturing the single to 7" vinyl, the way the songs should have been released in the first place.

If you go to our page at Kickstarter, you'll see there are different levels of involvement within which you can participate in the manufacturing of the 7", starting at $10 for a copy of the disc sent to you, to $15 for an autographed copy, to $20 for an autographed copy and your name printed on the back of the 7" jacket as a way of thanking you for your support. Once you make a pledge, you'll get access to exclusive messages and updates on how the progress of the manufacturing is going. Also on the website is a short video of me explaining the project, with a surprise guest appearance by my cat Dexter.

New Spain 7" Release Date Has Been Delayed

As you probably already know, Daniel, Billy, and I have been locked in the studio for weeks making improvements on the new Spain song "I'm Still Free". Matt's and Randy's parts were already perfect. We finally finished the song last night and now its ready for mastering but, alas, not in time for the strict deadline of December 15 set by label Acuarela Discos. Those guys are slave drivers, really. Anyways, in result we've delayed the release of the 7" and iTunes digital until January 26, 2010. So, you'll have to wait until then to hear the first official release of new Spain songs in, well, a long time. I may put the new version of "I'm Still Free" on the Spain Myspace page soon. I'm undecided about it. Acuarela president, er, dictator, Jesús Llorente, a friend of mine, and a good man, would rather us not, but I say, let the people hear the music. Free their ears from monotony and let them get a sneak preview of a song that took four years to write, and three to record, concurrently. Its Myspace, for crying out loud, it doesn't cost anything, and people can't download it. No one's making any money off of it, but, what the hey? Oh, wait. My Myspace uploading privileges have been temporarily suspended. Something about copyright violations for uploading songs I wrote. I should take care of that. In the meantime, what do you think? Should I break down and take the humiliating "myspace copyright law quiz" so I can upload the new version of "I'm Still Free" for you to hear, or would you rather be surprised on January 26? That way I could avoid having to "talk" to Myspace. But I'll have to contact them sooner or later. Who knows? Who cares? You be the judge! Leave a comment!

As an addendum, the Spain 7" release party at Spaceland on December 19 is still happening. I'll be selling a very special limited-edition cd of the new single at the gig. The show must go on.

Hard-Ons with Neil Hamburger "American Exports" 7"

I got the new Hard-Ons with Neil Hamburger 7" in the mail today. Now if only I could listen to it!