shawn avery

today the new through the sparks album finally officially gets released. its been complete for about a year, and was released digitally back in march. the physical release is based on the artwork of merillee challis and chris lawson, with addition graphic design by vic denali. it has been released as a digipak in the states and multiple online outlets. i didn't play on the album, but i've played pretty much all of these songs live and feel connected to them that way. although it took 3 and a half years between albums, through the sparks is already putting the final recording in place for a release of 2010 singles and are well into recording another full length that should be out by the end of 2011. not too shabby. we are playing a cd release show for worm moon waning this saturday at bottletree with rubys and sunny so brite. this show will signify the end of an era and the beginning of another for through the sparks. the new line-up is pictured above. the album cover and relea...

ok, so i really don't have anything to write about anymore. anyway... i just spent half a day trying to get my stupid saab started. turns out the battery just needed to be disconnected and reconnected. now its running. to celebrate, i put in my cassette copy of lusicous jackson's debut ep , in search of manny . their video for daughters of the chaos is below. what a quirky, incredibly indie ep that was. ever since purchasing my saab, i've been revisiting the glorious, low-efficiency world of cassette tapes. for the majority of the past 10 months, when i've decided to dive into my high school bin of cassettes, its been rush albums, home made tapes, or the cars album, candi-o . i also spent some time listening to the first missing persons album, a few yes albums from the 80's, some prince, van halen's women & children first and some assorted classic rock. a few days ago, i reached into the bin and grabbed a new handful of tapes. included in these: lou...

i've been playing a few shows lately at bottletree. here's a video clip from a show in early august with the greenleaves, playing our set closer written by brad lyons. and here's some pics from a show with through the sparks on 9/24. that was a pretty crazy closer- "friends in low places" was performed as an encore along with taylor hollingsworth and a few guys from the chad fisher group. i played another bottletree show with rubys last week, but i haven't seen any pics from that one yet. coming up in late october, i'll be playing bottletree yet again with my 4th (!) band... electroliner.

q : shawn, are you a liberal or a conservative? a : that's up to you to decide. q : ok then, what exactly do you believe? a : good question. i'll provide a few examples. i'm for a free market i support a woman's right to choose i support gay marriage i believe in federalism i support gays in the military i'm for the legalization of pot i'm not religious i believe in limited welfare / entitlement programs i was against the war in iraq i support the war in afghanistan i believe in public funding for the arts i support cleaner air / water standards i want a balanced budget i believe in small government i'm somewhat libertarian i believe the internet should be more regulated for children i believe the environment should be protected, but so should jobs i do not support cap & trade i do not support tax based universal health care i believe in american exceptionalism i believe our borders should be more secure i have no problem with a mosque at ground zero

here's a few nicely shot, nicely edited clips of the song "winter trees" that clint wrote recently and "a stroke of good fortune." props to the crew at beyond the horizon productions for making workplay look interesting, which isn't always easy to do.

big thanks to roger stephenson , for taking these great photos. you can view the rest of his baam! photos by clicking on his name. the skybucket showcase was packed from about 8 until midnight. through the sparks, 13 ghosts and vulture whale each benefited from having such a great crowd all night. this was easily the highlight of the music festival. i'd say over all, baam! was a success, although next year should be better because they'll have more time to promote it. travis morgan deserves a lot of credit for making this showcase such a success.

so, i came from not knowing what the hell "baam fest" was 2 months ago to now playing it twice on saturday. saturday afternoon i'll be playing with the greenleaves at workplay, a little before 5pm. i'll be playing bass. then later in the evening, i'll be loading up all of my drum gear and hauling it over to rogue tavern for the skybucket records artist showcase. through the sparks goes on at 10pm and vulture whale is closing the showcase at 11pm. here's the al.com info about the festival . on labor day weekend, the 3rd raindrop festival will be held at george ward park, and will feature the usual fund raising efforts, endless free beer and the following bands: Delicate Cutters Duquette Johnston and the Rebel Kings Ferocious Bubbles Great Book of John Kate Taylor and the Twerps Nag Hammadi Sunny So Brite Twinside i've signed on to help run the sound and assist in general. it should be fun. lhey are combining the music event this year with the other hlrt.o...