November 8th

There’s finally a release date for the new Allen Stone record!

“Building Balance” is out November 8th, and what a glorious Friday it’ll be.

Making records with big companies takes time.

For an album cycle to go well, record label, management, booking, touring crew, band and, of course, the guy whose name is on the ticket, need to be on the same page - green lighting a project before a consensus “ready, break!” is a recipe for bruised egos. Enter lunches, conference calls, text threads, emails in all caps, an egregious carbon footprint and, above all, compromise.

Writing for this record started almost three years ago, and by the time Nov. 8th roles around, almost two will have passed since the band hunkered down at Sound Emporium. A lot of life’s happened since then. Allen’s had his first kid. Band members have new relationships, new projects. Climb the Sky didn’t exist, and this humble newsletter was just getting started.

So, honestly, I’m as excited as you are to hear these songs. I wonder if the slightly younger, inevitably worse dressed version of myself holds up, and what new chapter unfolds.

Talented Friends

Matt Musty is Train’s new drummer, and I had the great fortune of hanging out entirely too much with him this summer.

Musty’s a rare musician - immediately upon meeting him, you realize you’re in the hands of a grown ass human being, that if everything goes to shit, if the freaking stage catches on fire, if Ted Nugent, bestride a sabertooth tiger, begins launching arrows at the singer’s keister, there’s zero percent chance the groove suffers.

And I reckon Matt out-fisticuffs the Nuge, though they’d both claim the contrary.

It was a treat hearing him speak so candidly about his journey through the music biz on the excellent Drummer’s Resource podcast.

Here’s the episode.

Again, Poems

I’d like to share another poem by Ocean Vuong because 1) he’s my favorite new poet and author and 2) my mind’s all kinds of foggy. I’m finally, you see, FINALLY kicking my infamous coffee habit, and eliminating processed sugar to boot. 

So yeah, these last few days have been challenging, but long overdue, and I’m taking advantage of my blah-ness by reading wonderful poetry, which, FYI, is unbeatable accompaniment to a splitting headache. 

Eurydice

by Ocean Vuong

It’s more like the sound

a doe makes

when the arrowhead

replaces the day

with an answer to the rib’s

hollowed hum. We saw it coming

but kept walking through the hole

in the garden. Because the leaves

were bright green & the fire

only a pink brushstroke

in the distance. It’s not

about the light—but how dark

it makes you depending

on where you stand.

Depending on where you stand

his name can appear like moonlight

shredded in a dead dog’s fur.

His name changed when touched

by gravity. Gravity breaking

our kneecaps just to show us

the sky. We kept saying Yes—

even with all those birds.

Who would believe us

now? My voice cracking

like bones inside the radio.

Silly me. I thought love was real

& the body imaginary.

But here we are—standing

in the cold field, him calling

for the girl. The girl

beside him. Frosted grass

snapping beneath her hooves.

Redefining Technology

Episode 31 of the podcast is live, featuring videographer to the stars Sean Sheetz, and one of the many things we discuss is redefining technology’s role in our lives rather than vilifying it into irrelevancy.

For example, I now write about 90% of the MoaTs on my phone. Like everyone else, I’m susceptible to insidious social media deep dives, but rather than deleting and re-downloading apps, using an app to stop an app addiction, or a myriad other anxiety-inducing traps, I decided to turn my phone into a portal through which I’m honoring a commitment to myself.

I still watch dumb crap on YouTube and feel the odd pang of envy when a buddy’s doing something cool (filtered just-so, of course), but now that I’m writing everyday on my phone - something about which I’m proud - I’m less inclined to waste entire afternoons “learning” about the Crystal Skulls.

Art According to Godin

Best selling author and former tech executive Seth Godin shared his definition of art this morning in his excellent daily email newsletter. Seth does a nice job disguising sorta self-helpy, go-better stuff within gentle, often irreverent prose. It’s a fun read every AM.

“Art is a human activity. It is the creation of something new, something that might not work, something that causes a viewer to be influenced.

Art uses context and culture to send a message. Instead of only a contribution of beauty or craft, art adds intent. The artist works to create something generous, something that will change us.

Art isn’t painting or canvas or prettiness. Art is work that matters.

It’s entirely possible that you’re an artist.

Everyone can be, if we choose.”

Poems

I was struck today by this passage from Ocean Vuong’s poem “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”:

Ocean, 

get up. The most beautiful part of your body 

is where it’s headed. & remember, 

loneliness is still time spent 

with the world. Here’s 

the room with everyone in it. 

Your dead friends passing 

through you like wind 

through a wind chime. Here’s a desk 

with the gimp leg & a brick 

to make it last. Yes, here’s a room 

so warm & blood-close, 

I swear, you will wake— 

& mistake these walls 

for skin.

Grubby Artist

I recently started following Charlie Mackezie on Instagram (@charliemackesy). He creates elegant, minimalist drawings, and they’re absolutely wonderful.

Hopping over to his profile’s become a first-thing ritual, especially when, as he puts it, “surprised by difficult things.”

He describes himself as a Grubby Artist. Should we all be so lucky.

Lemmy Wouldn’t Approved

Just wrapping up a 12 hour session with Climb The Sky. Our arrangements are evolving to where charts with little black dots are required. Lemmy from Motörhead wouldn’t approve.

It’s exciting how quickly the band’s becoming this beautiful amalgamation of our influences, and the music’s increasingly difficult to categorize.

Our next single’s out on 9/19. Maybe I’ll start posting the demos on my Patreon page?

Floating Melodies

The last show of the summer tour was only three weeks ago, but it feels like three months.

So much movement, so many dopamine hits, a lifetime’s worth of experiences, packed into a single season. Then, just as earnestly, it’s planting vegetables, and relearning the muscle memory of six out of ten.

Time’s condensed, then stretched, the ebb and flow of a productive day in one universe becoming the antithesis in the other, and I’m writing this while a curser hovers over “Buy Now,” destination anywhere but here.

But for the first time in my touring career, I appreciate the fine line between a youthful sense of adventure and running away.

So, I shut my laptop, pick up an acoustic guitar, and embrace the movement of floating melodies.

Episode 30 - Annika Bennett

The Trevor Larkin Talks and Listens podcast returns! Episode 30!

Annika Bennett is one of my favorite singer/songwriters, and I don’t think she realizes how talented she is. Her song, “Boy Who Has Everything,” is a perfect song. She's an inspiring creative spirit, unstoppable force for good in the world, and I'm grateful she took the time to share her story on my humble show.

Check out the episode here!

The podcast’s now live on Spotify as well, and I’m pretty sure everywhere else podcasts are streamed.

Taylor vs Tool

Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” is about to unseat Taylor Swift’s “Lover” as the number one album in the country, and the Twitter feud between sixteen year olds who’ve never heard of Tool (nor should they have - Tool’s last record came out when they were in preschool) and middle-aged video game enthusiasts is more entertaining than it has any business being.

“all the old ass 30+ year old men quoting and replying to this all mad…embarrassing…go take care of ur wife and kids weirdo”

”grandpas discovered iTunes I guess”

”As Taylor Swift fans, I guess youre used to manufactured dog shit and wouldn’t know what good music is if it hit you in the face”

Etc, etc.

Laughing my ass off at a duel between demographics both still living with their parents has chewed up the majority of what was supposed to be a productive afternoon. It’s worth a Google.

(ps, both records are really good)

Compounding

I’m currently pacing back and forth in my backyard, my melonesque cranium adorned with oversized headphones, listening to basic tracks Climb The Sky recorded yesterday. Sorta Sgt. Peppers prog mashed up with James Taylor and the Black Keys. We’re finding our voice, and it’s exciting.

The key to avoiding burnout in this lunatic business is finding joy in the small things - fun recording sessions, nourishing conversations, exuberant rounds of disc golf with kindred spirits. The tiny wins, the precarious-yet-none-the-less-struck balances, compound exponentially.

Any readers starting new projects, reply to this email with some links, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.

Another Shot

I’ve played music on every continent except Antartica, famous stages, not-so-famous stages, brushed shoulders with household names, and happily strummed away in gainful annonimity. 

I’ve kept the fridge full with a guitar in my hands for a long time. It’s a good life - an enviable one, even - and I’m grateful.

But it’s still a day-to-day struggle not to get discouraged. 

Jiminy Christmas, is this business ever unrelenting in its poking, prodding, and generally agitating, and today I wish the murky waters I navigate in order to keep making stuff up for a living would evaporate into blissful nothingness.

But it’s 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, the vegetables I’ve planted haven’t died (yet), and I have a sneaking suspicion the world won’t cave in on itself in 24 hours. Fingers crossed, anyway.

So, I reluctantly accept that I’m not perfect, and would be more tedious than I already am if I were. I’ll get another shot at this.

I’m Listening To…

…the new Tool record, Fear Inoculum, on repeat since it came out yesterday.

It’s dense, challenging, brutal and beautiful, requiring a whole lotta headphone and incense time. The yin to Old Town Road’s yang.

No edifying review coming your way unfortunately, but visualize gleeful foot tapping in 7/8 as I’m attempting to wrap my feeble brain around everything.

Here’s the Spotify link.

Precious Things

I was chatting with mastering engineer Eric Conn today, a dude far more accomplished than any name dropping could do justice, and he shared his circuitous route in and out of the music business.

A stint in full-80s-mode LA, a sabbatical in Colorado as a carpenter and ski bum, a gig as head audio guru at the freaking Smithsonian, more productive existential crisis (and skiing), culminating in a call from Garth Brooks’ camp in Music City, and Grammys. Many Grammys.

He was outspoken in his belief that taking breaks from music is ok, even necessary, especially if the alternative’s suffocating the joy out of what is, objectively, a remarkable way of making one’s way through the world.

There’s something to be said about laying down the precious thing and, in time, picking it up again, patiently, with more skillful hands.  

Adventure

I texted this to a friend earlier today, and thought I’d share it here:

It’s ok to do whatever you want, because you’re a good human, and by virtue of that you won’t fuck things up, not really anyway, only enough to encourage an element of adventure. And in being confounding to both yourself and others, the present becomes exponentially more intriguing than some boring ol’ future.

Look No Further

I may have shared this interview before - you lose track after 600 or so MoaTs - but I watched it again today and it’s somehow even more fantastic and inspiring.

If you take anything away from my daily meanderings, please let it be this: if you’re down on the music biz, or life in general, look no further than Dave Grohl.

Language not suitable for work, but you should quit that stupid job anyway.

Here’s the video.

Exponential

I was back at Independent Mastering today, putting the finishing touches on Climb The Sky’s next single (that’s Chaco, the studio pooch).

A brand new band’s a whacky university in which to chart progress objectively - it’s far more “productive” fortune telling something into oblivion. But it was encouraging listening to how far our production and songwriting’s come in just four months. “Neverland” sounds like a demo.

As unfashionable as it may feel not considering oneself a piece of unremarkable garbage, by simply doing a thing consistently, the growth is exponential.

That's OK

Getting off the road, it’d be days before socks found their way into drawers. 

This time around, I unpack immediately and put everything away. 

You’re not on tour anymore, I tell myself. You’re home, and that’s ok. 

I used to put off grocery shopping, feigning indigence that I should stoop to such quotidian lows as buying and preparing my own freaking steak.

This time around, I get right to dusting off pots and pans.

You’re not on tour anymore, I tell myself. You’re home, and that’s ok. 

I used to look at a calendar without tour dates and break down in a trembly panic. Will we ever be busy again?

This time around, I’m intrigued by the possibilities of a schedule I’m entirely in charge of. 

You’re not on tour anymore, I tell myself. You’re home, and that’s ok. 

The Way of Things

I’m laid over in SeaTac, about a half hour from where I was a blithering idiot 20-something. 

Hapless goober though I was, I somehow managed to put some pieces together, and now enjoy a life my niece and nephew dub “cool,” which is, of course, the height of praise.

Seattle’s a different place from when I left. Hipster food, which was always expensive, is now nosebleed expensive, and a weird amalgamation of douche and NPR-based economies vie for Patagonia’d dominance.

Such is the way of things, I suppose, and people with F-you money engaging in whose-dick-is-bigger shenanigans.

But I hope, rather than becoming a playground for artisanal-cheese-addicted tech transplants, that the city I love remains a safe haven for lunatics and weirdos who have a tendency to change the world.