In The Studio AGAIN??? So Soon?!?!?

Greetings to all my fellow Distractions!!

After a long two months of rocking the masses, KK+D have decided to take some time off and focus and things that really matter in life. You guessed it, RECORDING MORE MUSIC.

Back in January, a few freinds got together and decided to write and film a short 35 minutes horror comedy called Girls Night Out. Meredith Kotas and Chris Davis were kind enough to ask for my involvement in the project. Being a supporter of anything different and creative, I set out to write the theme song for the film. The song is of course called "Girls Night Out." A demo version has been circulating amongst freinds and relations, and we've been playing the song in our set for these last round of shows. The film is not yet finished, so we took the extra time bonus to re-record the song in its fully Distracted glory. The finished product is a fine peice of pop music, complete with spooky theremins and kick ass story telling. The song will be featured in the film and be available for download on our site when the movie is unleashed in October.

The full day session was rough, even for a well rehearsed band. I think we learned our lesson that playing two very long shows over 3 days and then hitting studio complete with blisters, hoarse voices, and hang-overs is probably not a good idea. But as always, even though we were tired as hell, we managed to not only get the job done with time to spare, but also record ANOTHER song!!

The extra time in the studio was spent not only celebrating my 28th year on this earth, but recording the Chris Freeman classic "Marsha." We have been kicking this song around in the set for almost a year. We first learned it when we backed up the might Freemanator last July. The song seems to fit the personality and humorous ideals of the band, so we recorded it to be the B-side for GNO.

So tomorrow I will head back to Gravity Boots to finish the last of the vocals with Josh in tow. After that, we will have two new tunes in the can. There isn't much on the horizon in terms of shows, but I won't be inactive. I need the next few weeks to get my head together and get all these ideas I have racing in my head down on tape before they go away. New tunes are in the work. Plus, Tha D has expressed that he wants to work on his guitar sound a bit and come up with some new "whirly" sounds. Good vibrations are on the horizon. But really, does it get better than this? We've been getting good shows, good press, and good reviews. All is good. Hopefully, we can bring more goodness to world very soon.

Riding High

I've been floating all week from the good feelings one seeks out when starting a band. Feelings of success, accomplishment. On a small scale, even respected.

Our record release show in Nashville and subsequent Nashville show were both great shows for us with great turn-outs. Our set is ever tightening, and the energy is up, way up. It's funny to think that we've taken the last two summers off from playing shows, and this summer we've hit it hard. Four shows in three weeks, and we are right in the middle.

As long as we've been a band, we've wanted to play our home town of Maryville. We just never got around to it during the era of our first record, and then we decided to wait until the new record was out. Our friends came out and rocked with us and bought bought bought merchandise. The people who didn't know us were pleasantly surprised by us and gave us positive feedback as well. Top that off with this article about us in the Daily Times, and we will definitely be going back to Maryville in a month or two.

The Maryville show was a double triumph for us. You see, Nashville venues don't pay. What a performer makes is proportional to the number of people they can bring and have pay at the door, and that's fine. Brackins in Maryville offered us a generous sum, but we had to play two sets. We had to put some work into this show to practice every cover we've ever done (well, almost) as well as all the Whimsical in Reverse songs we never play anymore. With all that done, I was genuinely worried about our ability to pull off over two solid hours of music (our previous record set length was 90 minutes). I was especially worried about Kelly's voice and Josh's exhausting physicality on the drums. But like I said, we triumphed. The practices and recent shows paid off for the 34 songs we did, and, listening to the bootlegs, I think we played our best show to date in Maryville.

Tomorrow night we follow up at Liquid Smoke. We haven't played Murfreesboro since February, so I expect good things from this show, even if it will be in toxic air. Saturday, we play a 4th of July block party that I think has the potential to be another great show spread across two sets.

And if that's not enough, on Monday we'll take all the energy and fruits of these last few shows straight into the studio to record "Girls' Night Out," a theme song Kelly wrote for an independent horror film that will be coming out in the fall. We also hope to record Chris Freeman's pop hit "Marsha," which we've been playing live and receiving rave reviews on.

That will mark the end of a long stretch of shows and practice, and a needed break will follow, but I'm all the more excited to see what will be around the corner for us in August when things get going again.

Rock!

Who Played What on the Record

The complete list and of whom and what you hear on the record.

"Election: 1800" (Kerr/Peach/Connatser/Williams)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass, Ebow guitar
Josh Williams - drums

"Whiskey Rebellion" (Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar, hand claps
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass, hand claps
Josh Williams - drums

"Eli Whitney" (Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, nylon string guitar
Daniel Connatser - acoustic guitar
Matthew Peach - 12 string guitar
Josh Williams - drums
Jeremy Darrow - double bass
Alexandra Deane - violin

"Commodity" (Peach)
Kelly Kerr - vocals
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass
Josh Williams - drums

"Bring Out Yr Dead" (Kerr/Peach)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar, backing vocals
Matthew Peach - bass, tambourine, 12 string guitar, backing vocals
Josh Williams - drums
Aaron Sefton - backing vocals

"Dear Abby" (Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, nylon string guitar, bongo box
Matthew Peach - bass, tambourine, acoustic and electric guitars
Rachel Sefton - backing vocals

"Groomed to Lead" (Peach)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass
Josh Williams - drums

"Gold Rush" (Kerr/Peach/Connatser/Williams)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass
Josh Williams - drums
Daniel Rice - hand claps
Aaron Sefton - hand claps

"Bob Dole" (Peach/Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, acoustic guitar, cowbell, Casio keyboard, omnichord, Ha Ha's
Daniel Connatser - Ha Ha's
Matthew Peach - bass, Ha Ha's
Josh Williams - drums, Woo
Jessica Connatser - Ha Ha's

"The Great Stink" (Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass
Josh Williams - drums

"Let's Go to War" (Kerr/Peach/Connatser/Williams)
Kelly Kerr - vocals
Daniel Connatser - guitar, backing vocals
Matthew Peach - bass, backing vocals
Josh Williams - drums, backing vocals

"Know It All" (Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass
Josh Williams - drums

"Central Incompetence Agency" (Peach/Kerr)
Kelly Kerr - vocals, guitar
Daniel Connatser - guitar
Matthew Peach - bass, backing vocals, electric guitar
Josh Williams - drums

Album Credits (part 1)

Since the record is available now online, many people won't see the credits for the record, so I'm posting them here (in two parts) for them to see.

Kelly Kerr & the Distractions
Chronological Disorder or How to Pass History in 13 Easy Steps

Researched, Documented and Reported by
Kelly Kerr, Daniel Connatser, Matthew Peach, Josh Williams

Cover and package design by Brian G. Pitts

Recorded at Gravity Boots Recording Studio, Nashville, TN, from March to December, 2009.
Produced by Daniel Rice, Aaron Sefton, Kelly Kerr, Matthew Peach, Daniel Connatser, Josh Williams
Engineered by Daniel Rice and Aaron Sefton
Mixed by Daniel Rice

This album is dedicated to history lovers everywhere, and to Dr. Amy Sayward, for her years of counsel, patience and friendship.

Special thanks to Jessica Connatser, Angela Peach, Mary Frances Kerr, Mitchell Murphree and everyone at Tomato Tomato (r.i.p.), Jeremy Peach, Justin Kerr, our families (esp. Ron Peach--thanks for letting us use "No. 2"), Steve Cross, Wes Lewis, Samantha Blanchard, Daniel Smith, Chuck Bruner, Bingham Barnes, Street Light All-Stars, Liquid Smoke, Heaven's Basement, Seth Timbs, Tatia Rose, Seth Graves, Stephen Rutherford, Brad Baxter, YEAH!, The Southern Girls Rock 'n' Roll Camp, Jacob Spaulding, Drew Dick, Chris Davis, Jason and Crisi Manley, Chris Freeman and Matt Field

D-Day

Drop day.

The record is available on iTunes, Amazon mp3, Napster and Bandcamp today.

In some ways this is the end of a long journey. Casting my nets into various media sources these days has shown me that the journey of getting the record out there is just beginning.

It's been a great ride, and it's been hard to believe that this moment is now here. The way we do shows is different now since we'll have something to sell readily. No show that produces record sales can be a complete waste of time.

I wonder how the response is going to be. Who all will want to buy this? Several people say they do, and my confidence slides between thinking we'll sell well or not at all.

I woke up early and began the promotion for the record. I flipped the "ON" switch at Bandcamp. The iTunes company tends to do what it wants with release dates. I was afraid it wouldn't be available today, but I checked last night and it was already up. Better early than late in this case. Amazon had clips up weeks ago, and it's available there too. I don't have a Napster account, so I can't check that one.

"Expect the worst and hope for the best," is my motto in all of this, adding, "Work my butt off," to that as well. Lots of shows coming. Practice is going well for the record release show, our next huge hurdle.

Album Eve

Tomorrow the album will be available for the world to enjoy. Hard to believe that day will finally come tomorrow.

Pressing Matters

I've blogged on here somewhere about how we've been banking all along on a particular pressing deal. It would have gotten us 200 pressed CD's in DigiPaks for a great price. We set the release date and declared that the May 22nd show would be our record release, thinking that we could have it all in time. We were a little later than we'd liked getting the masters, and I uploaded them to all the online stores as soon as I got them. I also e-mailed the company and asked about the special price.

Then I waited.

And waited. Three days later, they e-mail me to tell me they had forwarded my request to their pressing department. The next day, the pressing department said they aren't taking new orders as they are closing down and to use someone else. I found a company with a comparable deal and hastily paid to get it done.

Then I read the fine print.

The 15-20 day turn around starts after you send them the discs and artwork and after they approve it and after you approve the artwork.

We need the CD's by Saturday, May 22nd. That's 21 business days from today. If everything gets there on time and they approve it as fast as they say it will (two big if's), the 15-20 day pressing period will begin. That will be 18 business days before the show if all goes according to plan. That will be a close shave to get the record for the release show. Can we do it?

This begs the question of whether we should pay more to get it pressed faster. How much is it worth to us to get the record that fast? That's where they stick us on the price. I guess we'll have to wait until everything is approved before we look at the shipping date.

In the meantime, we have kicked the practice into high gear for the release show. We're working up the three songs from the record that have never been played live. The rest are getting infused with new energy now that the record is completely behind us. We've sped them up, tightened them up, and really learned how to PLAY them, and it's so much more fun this way.

After the release show, we booked the closest thing we can do to a tour with our work schedules, booking four shows in three weeks for the mid summer. Hopefully we can generate some sales. We are most excited about finally playing Maryville, the hometown for Daniel and Josh and me. That's going to be a very wild night.