Alright, here's the deal. I've been living, breathing, eating, and sleeping with this album. Without much sleep. And eating Marchese family leftovers at midnight. Sometimes I don't even have time to breathe. Or blog. Or live normally.

There's a funny paradox that exists within the making of my new Senioritis album: I can't do work in school, or basically in any area of life besides music, but am so weirdly motivated when it comes time to create/record/discuss album art/listen to mixes/give feedback to Dev/et cetera. Perhaps I'm moving on from one aspect of priority to another, at least for the time being.

Tangibly, here's what I've got for ya. I am so close to being finished. Nico and I have recorded 8 of 13 songs that are waiting to be mixed (1 if which needs slight additions). 2 others are interludes, one of which needs to be written and recorded (probably will do by Monday) and the other is strictly instrumental and Dev has it covered. That makes 10 tracks. Then we've got a half-recorded song with Jesse Denaro, I just gotta add my vocals. A collaboration song with Symmetry that I need to finish writing and record. Then a verse in my collab song with A-Game that I need to just add my vocals to. That makes all 13 tracks.

So, basically, I should be done by the end of this long weekend/mid next week with writing and recording. Devin will mix the remainder of the tracks (he has completely finished two, and three others are very near finished) within the week and we will then send them to a mastering engineer named Frank. We are planning to order copies on Wednesday the 9th at the absolute latest. The graphic design is underway as well, and it's going to be dope. Wait until you see the cover shot...

So everything's coming together, as far as the album goes. I'm looking to release it July 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and am planning to have a basher-cd release-party somewhere locally. It'll all be announced. Check your facebook for my spam in the next few days, as I'll announce track listing and everything. Maybe I'll post new the information blog by blog on here....

As far as my life goes, I need to make sure I don't fail out of senior year and gotta get my ass back on track after I'm done writing and recording. Even though I love it too much.

I hope you're looking as forward to this release as I am. Let me be completely honest, it's a whole ten levels above anything I've ever worked on.

Viva la senioritis, students. But at the same time, d.o. work.

PEACE

Awesome, so awesome. I think Bamboozle is the best show, overall, that I've ever played. Mad fans came out from home and mad new fans gathered around to watch. There was a huge, receptive crowd, and not to be cocky, but we totally rocked it. Let me tell you about the day from start to finish, if you've got a minute..

Wake up mad early. I'm talking 6:00 am early, and arrive in NJ a few hours later. We're behind the scenes, in artist parking, driving Nicole's motherly baby blue mini van that says "Seniors" on the bumper and trying to find a spot among MGMT, Girl Talk, and Ke$ha tour buses/trucks. Not intimidating, but exciting, and quite hilarious. We get Artist Passes, really awesome Artist Passes, that get us into Bamboozle before it opens, and we walk around and see the empty stages and other band members, which was quite the thrill.

We take a momentary pause from artist-mode to go flyer the shit out of people, and prompt 1,000 lucky strangers to see me at 1:50 pm on the Lincstar B-Boy stage. We give out a free Bamboozle mixtape with each flyer, hopefully spreading my music around a bit.

Back inside, time starts to speed up. The Lincstar B-Boy stage is sick, and we have a sick merch booth (thanks joey, conor, chels, dennis!). We hang backstage and talk to John D., the founder of Bamboozle, who wants to rock one of my newly ordered black-and-white "I'm not a Hooker" shirts. Sam Adams and his crew and Grieves and his crew both arrive, and I talk to/exchange cds with everyone I can. All my friends are waiting to see me and Tom and I start to get real amp'd up. It's already been a long morning but the day is just starting.

Our performance rocks. We use the house DJ set up (what up DJ Prime! << He's the man, check him out, he will be scracthing on my album) and play The Book Report (with Nicole on violin), Treehouse Music part 2 (with A-game, newly tatted up), Old Armor, Spirit Week, Garden of the Gods (with Nicole on violin), and Kite Flyers, respectively. I drink actually a thousand waters on stage and am more tired than I've ever been when I walk off, ready to collapse from the combination of my adrenaline crashing and the hot (really hot, like 90 degrees) weather. Spirit Week, a new song off my upcoming record Senioritis, is a huge hit. People love to drink beer, apparently. Well, who doesn't? (man I can't wait to release this track)

Talking to a ton of new fans, a couple artists and security guards backstage, and directing everyone to the merch table fills up the time for awhile. We watch Grieves and Budo rock it, watch Sam Adams rock it, and can't wait for Spizzyspose (actually the nicest guy I've ever met). I get some really genuine, interesting advice from Grieves---and we discuss my track with Mac Lethal and my track with Symmetry (grieves' buddy)---and I'm already so stoked for how great the day has been, hoping that some of the day's new contacts come in handy in the future..

Tom and I branch off to watch some of our other favorite acts, such as Kevin Devine, MGMT, and Girl Talk from a backstage view. There are like a thousand different levels of press passes, and we're on the bottom of the food chain. But we make do with what we've got, even if we can't stand on the k104 high rise or anything stupid like that. I mean, we got into the "Red Bull VIP Tent," whatever that was, and got some free buffalo wings.

Time to head out, so physically exhausted and so aware of my out-of-shapeness. But super satisfied. More than satisfied. Viewing the work ahead as a positive reality, and the work behind me as a major accomplishment. Two local shows coming up, schoolwork to catch up on, sunburn to Noxzema the shit out of, and mad people to get in touch with. Sounds like Music to me.

Once again, my blogs run too long. I'd be surprised if anyone reads them all the way through. Regardless, here are my updates:
-the album is going to be bigger than I thought
-perhaps I'll rock a NJ show sometime soon
-I've got a ton of merch left over. I'm going to sell you it. Hit me up.
-my myspace is now officially updated, thank you Adam!!
-THANK YOU to all my fans, my family, and my friends who helped me attack this Bamboozle show to death
-I'm back on the map. Life back in track again. Okay, go.

Y'all do work, and look forward to Senioritis, as well as a few articles about Bamboozle in the local papers.
Thanks
Love you
Dylan Owen