After Halloween
When the pandemic hit, it shut down a fine band called dreamwest which was just getting rolling. Along with Coen Spek (percussion, vocals), Michiel Spek (lead guitar, vocals) and Jolanda Haanskorf (vocals), we had a solid CD that was getting decent airplay (LIVE at Coen's) and we’d done a number of good “live” shows, including radio and regional television. We got together on a Wednesday evening for dinner and to plan our next series of moves, but then on the following Sunday the country – along with the rest of Europe – shut down. Adios, dreamwest. The band and CD were the summation of 53 years of playing and learning. With the help of my bandmates, being able to apply those lessons and seeing it all work was hardly a waste of half a century.
But it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good, and for yours truly what was first perceived as a cruel twist of Fate was merely the closing of one door, and the opening of another.
I continued to write songs, recording eighteen of them under a new handle, After Halloween. I also returned to the flute, an instrument I’d dabbled with back in 1970/71.
And somewhere in there, I made the conscious decision to finally break away from more traditional guitar-driven, “hum and strum/pick & grin” music and spare myself any further association with what’s come to be called Americana.
I have been exposed to far too many types of music, have played too many different types of music, and have seen far too much of Life to be satisfied with limiting myself to one genre, one in which it’s apparently acceptable to put out albums which are creatively little more than variations on a theme. Why not just re-release the same tunes every twelve months, with a different collective title and new artwork? There’s so much more out there.
As Jefferson Airplane once sang, you’ve got to “tear down the walls.”
The new music will appear most often in 5 or 6 song collections. The latest - Blues for Chang - has 8. It just worked out that way. Here's the link:
https://www.reverbnation.com/afterhalloween
(Should any of the songs strike your fancy, they may be downloaded for free.
Now, it's entirely possible every single person who checks out the new songs will think, “That’s crap.” And that’s fine. There’s nothing I can or would say to try to change their minds. Of course, I might ask, "How’d you like the price?”)
ARTIST'S ADVISORY: As of January 1, 2023 new recordings by After Halloween will be instrumentals. Chronic health annoyances have greatly reduced my vocal ability, necessitating this change. There are still a couple numbers with a vocal "in the can" that lack finishing up, but once they are completed - if they are completed - that will be it.
When the pandemic hit, it shut down a fine band called dreamwest which was just getting rolling. Along with Coen Spek (percussion, vocals), Michiel Spek (lead guitar, vocals) and Jolanda Haanskorf (vocals), we had a solid CD that was getting decent airplay (LIVE at Coen's) and we’d done a number of good “live” shows, including radio and regional television. We got together on a Wednesday evening for dinner and to plan our next series of moves, but then on the following Sunday the country – along with the rest of Europe – shut down. Adios, dreamwest. The band and CD were the summation of 53 years of playing and learning. With the help of my bandmates, being able to apply those lessons and seeing it all work was hardly a waste of half a century.
But it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good, and for yours truly what was first perceived as a cruel twist of Fate was merely the closing of one door, and the opening of another.
I continued to write songs, recording eighteen of them under a new handle, After Halloween. I also returned to the flute, an instrument I’d dabbled with back in 1970/71.
And somewhere in there, I made the conscious decision to finally break away from more traditional guitar-driven, “hum and strum/pick & grin” music and spare myself any further association with what’s come to be called Americana.
I have been exposed to far too many types of music, have played too many different types of music, and have seen far too much of Life to be satisfied with limiting myself to one genre, one in which it’s apparently acceptable to put out albums which are creatively little more than variations on a theme. Why not just re-release the same tunes every twelve months, with a different collective title and new artwork? There’s so much more out there.
As Jefferson Airplane once sang, you’ve got to “tear down the walls.”
The new music will appear most often in 5 or 6 song collections. The latest - Blues for Chang - has 8. It just worked out that way. Here's the link:
https://www.reverbnation.com/afterhalloween
(Should any of the songs strike your fancy, they may be downloaded for free.
Now, it's entirely possible every single person who checks out the new songs will think, “That’s crap.” And that’s fine. There’s nothing I can or would say to try to change their minds. Of course, I might ask, "How’d you like the price?”)
ARTIST'S ADVISORY: As of January 1, 2023 new recordings by After Halloween will be instrumentals. Chronic health annoyances have greatly reduced my vocal ability, necessitating this change. There are still a couple numbers with a vocal "in the can" that lack finishing up, but once they are completed - if they are completed - that will be it.
