Jonathan Perry writes that “Inference is an emotionally stark, bare-bones affair that puts his plainspoken, plaintive voice squarely front and center.” Read the full review here at Boston.com

After much deliberation, procrastinating and tweaking I’m finally ready to release my first ever solo album. It’s in your hands and ears now people so I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did creating it. For now it’s available digitally at Bandcamp but I hope to get some hard copies available for the CD Release Show at the Rosebud Thursday August 25th.



A little about the recording……

I started this solo project about a year (or two) ago after coming up with some songs I thought represented my love for mellow, country and folk music. I decided to keep the tracks to a minimum and also wanted to play every instrument myself. So I packed up my studio and headed south to Chatham, Cape Cod where my family has a summer house. I set up the mics in the living room in front of the fireplace and the control room on the porch.


(I thought I had pictures from the session but I guess not so this one of the fireplace will do!)

I spent an entire night recording the vocal and guitar as two tracks for five or six songs as my basic tracks. I was also engineering so before and after takes I had to go back and forth from room to room to hit stop or record. The house was relatively quiet inside but I had to close all of the windows because there was a little outside noise. If you listen closely you can hear the occasional passers by talking, a car or two and I swear I can hear seagulls on one track.

The next day I laid down some overdubs with my resonator and electric guitar as well as some backing vocals. Unfortunately that was it for the recording for some time since I became increasingly busy with other projects and decided to put it on the shelf for a little time. I did make some rough mixes to listen to and made a list on what needed fixing or additional instruments so the intent to finish was there.

It wasn’t until about 6-8 months ago that I got back to work on the songs. I had some computer issues and it took a while to retrieve the files and convert them but when I had them ready I headed to longtime friend and The Blizzard of 78 band mate Chris Cuginis Appleman Studio to finish tracking and mix. Again, other things got in the way and the process was slow but eventually I finished the tracking and made some mixes to listen to.

What I heard really pleased me and I became at peace with the songs and mixes. As some of you know there is only so much one can do when recording music and most of the time it’s best to stop when the songs sound musical which at this point they did. So, that was that. I sent them off to Dave Collins to be mastered and they sounded even more like what I was going for.

So there you have it my solo EP “Inference” enjoy!

About a year ago Glenn and I did a photo shoot for the cover of our Heart Beatings cd at the broken down and decaying nightclub Faces. Now, the Boston Globe reports that the club will have one more party before demolition…..and they didn’t invite us!? We can’t sit back and do nothing about this so join our Cause to let Parlour Bells perform at the demolition party just like the The Boston Phoenix has and help us dance the night away one last time!

The new single from Parlour Bells is here and can be downloaded from our Bandcamp page by naming your own price!

A great excuse to borrow a title from THE BEST Summer song ever written in my opinion. This video takes me back to how I remember Janes Addiction during the days where they made the biggest impression on me. If you listen closely maybe you can hear it in some of my playing. In the meantime check out this live version of “Summertime Rolls” from Italy in 1990.

Summertime has been rolling quite nicely for me so far. Parlour bells went to Q Division Studios to track drums for some upcoming singles to be released over the next few months or possibly be packaged into an EP. It was my first time working with PB Drummer Brandon Erdos and the session couldn’t have gone better thanks to his expert pounding! I’m really happy with the sounds, thanks to Matt Tahaney who engineered, and can’t wait to finish the songs. To see more pics from the session head over to our our Facebook page.



PB also had a great gig at one of our favorite haunts Rosebud Bar on June 17th. Once again the night was beautifully captured on video and in photos by Johnny Anguish over at Daykamp Music.

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Parlour Bells – “I’d Like To Think” from Johnny Anguish on Vimeo.

Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions had a couple of gigs in June too one of which was performing as U2 at the Cover Up. I always love these cover gigs mainly because studying and learning another guitarists technique opens my playing up to a whole different style. Learning The Edge’s guitar parts were no different this time and it was really cool to be him for a night. Check out some video below of us performing “Bullet the Blue Sky” with special guest vocalist Just Bill.





Next up, the Summer rolls on into July where I have a solo gig and more shows with Parlour Bells and Brendan Boogie. Check out my Live page for the details.

It’s been a very busy Spring for me and “the bands.” In April, The Blizzard of 78 performed in the 2011 Rock and Roll Rumble. We didn’t advance past the Preliminaries but the experience was a big enough prize for us and we played what I thought was a tremendous set with a 3 piece horn section. We also got to play with our friends and night number 1 winners Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents and Old Jack who somehow managed to plow there way to the Final round even though they lost on night one. Check out some great pics over at RSL Blog. The whole Rumble experience was great and every band played to the top of their game each and every night. As far as TBO78 goes we’re writing some new music and have plans for some gigs and new recordings in the early Fall. In the meantime check out some video of us performing “The Last Temptation” at the Rumble.



Speaking of Old Jack I’ve been playing some gigs with them too. Being one of my favorite bands in town it’s one of the easiest gigs to do since I’d probably be at the show anyway so most of the time I just show up with a guitar and hop onstage! Here is some video of a recent show at the Lizard Lounge.



I’ve been keeping busy with Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions too ever since Brendan decided he was going to release 6 EP’s in 6 months! I played guitar on the “Fiction Memories” EP and Produced, Recorded, Mixed and played all instruments on “The Cassingles” EP. Both sessions we’re awesome to be a part of but the more challenging of the two was the latter. Brendan decided he wanted to try something new with me and handed over all controls by simply giving me 4 demos of songs of him singing with an acoustic guitar. Needless to say it was a bit of work and imagination but I enjoyed every minute and are pleased with the results. Check out one of the tunes…



Parlour Bells are heading into the studio this month to start work on some new recordings. Would you like to remix one of our songs? The Heavy Dream Remix Project is an open call to anyone who wants to put their spin on our tune Heavy Dream. The first submission is from Dan Isaacs and is called the Insomniac Remix. If you want to get in the “mix” email us at parlourbells@gmail.com. We’ve got some gigs lined up for June and July so check out the Live page for dates, etc. Our last show was at Brighton Music Hall opening for The Dears. I loaned them my amp mid set when one of theirs started to crap out…nothing like being on the road and having equipment problems! Check out a review of the show as well as some excellent pictures, like the one below, by Johnny Anguish over at Daykamp Music.



Lastly, I haven’t forgotten about ME! I just confirmed a solo show at T.T. the Bears for Sunday July 10th opening for Jimmy Gnecco of Ours. My solo album is finished and will be released this August, hopefully!

Excited about this months shows!

First is on Saturday February 12th at Rosebud in Davis Sq., Somerville with Brendan Boogie and The Best Intentions. It’s the release show for “Songs From The Armory Volume 2″ and is part of a monthly residency featuring a new release each month. Look out for a release in June which will be produced by me.

The second show is the Winter Rock Formal featuring my band Parlour Bells and a host of other great bands and activities. It’s all happening Friday February 18th at Church.