Show Us The New Stuff!

Allright then. Some artwork had to be done. Did it. You must have seen a few snippets already. If you put these pieces together, there it is.

Maybe it's not modern to say in these streaming spotify playlists times, where your songs are mostly shuffle played, I still love the "album" concept though. A year's work and it's more than the music. The package. A promo. To show it. To give it a name.

First: how did I come up with this title?

                                                              "Just Say KNOW"

Such things you don't come up with instantly, but as I read a lot of fine written biographies and watch the eye catching docs, movies and tv-series, a simple sentence or quote always seems to be laying there for grabs.
I already had this song (the first promo) "Not Now". Well, just dare to say NO for once. I guess my father taught me long ago to say that. Then I saw this documentary- Dying To Know- about Timothy Leary, 60s LSD guru/icon (“turn on, tune in, drop out”), read more about him and one quote grabbed me: "Just Say Know" (read more HERE) as a reaction to Nancy Reagan's war on drugs in the 80's/90's: Say NO to drugs. Leary used it in a smart way: just say kNOw. It has more merit: knowledge is power. To say NO to any authority or anything that wants to overrule you is more legit then. It's still the sign of the times. I'm not trying to preach or getting nostalgic, I'm just a musician, trying to be creative. I say YES to that.

So here are the frontcovers and backcover and I liked two of them. There's a release with- for example on Bandcamp- and one- on Spotify and the like- without alias, which is required by AMAdea. I've used (as usual) the latest holiday pictures, this time from sunny Sicily, Italy.

 Walking in Palermo, Sicily. Frontcover- distribution AMAdea without alias

On the one without the alias "The Vanished Dutchman" you can see me walking into the darkness (?) of original mob city Palermo, Sicily. It also became part of the backcover as you can see.

Backcover: songlist, credits, notice that mirror word "WONK"

Frontcover with alias (The Vanished Dutchman)

I liked our sleezy appartment/ hotelroom so much that a picture had to be taken. So that became the official frontcover. In reality It's not all that glamourous though, but just enough to give the stereotyped fame and starstrucked artist some due.

Back and Frontcover

Next: Let us hear a new tune!

Delivered!

Dear folks, a quick update. I had a minor problem with the frontcover as it was not accepted by the distribution man due to low resolutions of the picture (quality!), so I've showed them another, better one. It's allright now. Fingers and legs crossed!                         

Proof!

Next: Show Us The New Stuff!

Sent away to the shops!

Yep! As you can see, officially 9 may 2018. AMAdea, who handles the distribution, notes:
"It takes from 3 weeks minimum, to 7 weeks maximum to get it up and selling, once you've given us ALL the info we need. (Usually 4 weeks) Once we send it to them, it's out of our hands and they do what they can to get it imported and active in their service. We push them to get it added as soon as possible, and they always do it as soon as they can."

Proof. Can I get a witness?

I'm glad. At first I was worried that something wasn't right. OMG western problems.

Done it again. Worked like a dog. I've finally decided to send my fresh babies away. Why? Because I like them too much!
Yes, I've got a good, strong feeling about these songs. More than ever I took special care to every aspect of the production process (inspiration, songwriting, playing, recording, mixing, mastering).
I think these tunes are a upbeat, sinister, melancholic, desperate but overall fun and groovy bunch, just like me. Ok, sometimes.

After a long, long ping-pong process (the details) of mixing and mastering that is. That was a very intense 3 months period, but I'm glad I didn't overrush things. These songs needed some breathing and I needed some distance from them once in a while. But now it's time I let you enjoy my new grooves.

Well on the distribution side, that will be taken care of by AMAdea (after approval) and it will take about 3 or 4 weeks to hear the album on Spotify and the like. There are so many streaming sites today, so take your pick.

I'll send a few free download links (Bandcamp) to a few of my supporters too, so maybe a few reviews will come up before the official release in may.
Watch this site for more details, news about the design, covers, promo and tell me..what about a title and.... Soon, stay stuned. Promo coming at ya!

TBA4

TBA3

TBA2

TBA

                                                                    
                                                                                              Just say NO

I want my Spotify!

Hello there, just a little update for those who can't get enough news. Too much information gets in the way in the end, but hey, don't shoot the messenger!

In between that process of getting my new music together (yes it's getting there, just some finetuning to do and I'll send them babies away), I'm always roaming around the web for new possibilities, curious as a cat as I am. Some of you spotify listeners will surely have noticed a few added changes when one looks for an artist/ band, genre, mood or playlist. Like pictures, a bio and concert information. For the musician there are more tools available to promote yourself. It's all just for fun you know. One in particular is the Spotify Line-In where you can add some functional and personal info to the artist, album or song. More information leads to a better search result in the end. So why don't you try it out? Pick your favourite artist/ band/ musician (me of course), add all the tags that fit, so when we search for a certain mood, style, we always pick the best. Get comfortable.

Searching on Spotify

What's wrong with this bomb?

Well, let me tell ya. I'm against violence. Especially against animals. But human bombs are walking around everywhere, waiting for their moment. But a humoristic song about a bomb or a terrorist? Tricky. Once (in 2009 when I was tricky) I took a bomb. It became a narrated song where we can take a peek through the terrorist's eyes, whose sinister and desperate voice leads us to the unavoidable climax. Not glorifying anything, but it became a bomb for me. The song has been picked up by Tom robinson and various other enthousiastics (radioplays) in 2012 and since then it has served me well during the following years of promoting my music. It's my introduction I guess.
Yesterday I took the opportunity to submit it once again for a so called "secret" theme episode (example B-Side Guys) posting on Reddit. I think the song has a secretive message, so why not submit it again?

Listen to his story:


Today I received a small bomb back (a private message, respecting his/her privacy):

"How beautifully bizarre. Thanks for the submission!"
"Dude, I don't even know what to say about this one. This is so bizarre and so strangely good at the same time. The instrumentation and your vocal pacing is very "Flight of the Conchords," but the songs are more serious. I've listened to/reviewed/critiqued a ton of music, and I've never heard anything quite like this. The problem is that I don't really know what to do with it. I don't think that it makes the final cut into the Secrets episode because of the sheer amount of submissions we had. I want to help promote this, though. I want to use it on our website as an upcoming Track of the Day, share it on our Facebook, something like that. Let me know what you think about this plan. Thanks for the submission. It's truly something unique in the weirdest and best way possible."

Ok, (s)he doesn't know what to do with it....Well (s)he knows, (s)he'll promote it anyway. What the heck. I have to thank him/her for complimenting the song!

Another day in the never ending unpossible way of reaching your holy grail. Say ni!

Q & A 2018

Hello ladies and germs, I've got to get organised now. I'm still working my sorry ass off on those tunes, but hey....they sure give some grooves back to me! So many things to do, but I'm positive. As there's progress, here's what you can expect in the next few days, weeks, months (...?)

Before: Lazy Dutchman

Here's a little Q & A for ya: 

Q: Are you "The Vanished Dutchman"?
A: I'm here, ain't I? I'm more human now. The Vanished Human. Rather that than a chauvinistic nationalist.

Q: Do you like music?
A: No


Q: What are you doing then? 
A: Playing fiddle with a hammer

Q: What's on your mind these days?
A: Trying to be serious

Q: A new album, can we expect something different from the previous albums?
A: I dunno. I guess they all call it music.


Q: Well, what about a promo video?
A: Hey, I'm working on it! It's funky! But first I've got to finish the master of the chosen song, ok?

Q: Will it be you on the frontcover?
A: Well, it's a lucky shot that I've used. Yes, there's me and I've finished the covers already. But I've got to be really sure about the length and the sequence of the songs.

Q: What about a title?
A: Yes, I've got that figured out too. Won't tell you though. It's too shocking...I'll tell you all about it in the near future. It's a very simple one.

Q: Release date? Spring again?
A: Heeey, that's classified information! Gimme a break! Ok, well maybe...May 2018? If everything will go as planned, it will be around april that I'll sent it to AMAdea for distribution worldwide and that usually takes 3 to 4 weeks, so...

Q: The story about the songs?
A: Maaaan, I've got to work on those too! After the release I'll tell all my secrets. The whole world has got to listen first of course. Can you arrange that?

Yes it will happen folks. 

After: Lazy Dutchman