The Critically Ashamed "the compromised one"

Released May 2020

So now with those other releases “out of the way” It was time to take all of those songs ideas and demos I have been recording, present them to the band and pick which ones we were going to make all our own. This was the first time in many years where I would go back to being a member of an actual band, not just me working on ideas and releasing on my own I would get input/feedback and recording with other players!

We wanted to get as much as a “live feel" we had with the “clams” album where we would all record in Gary’s home studio at once while he played drums and figured if we got a great live drum recording, we could keep what we had energy wise and always overdub our guitars and vocals to what we already had laid down.

Now as with the other past releases, I demoed a bunch of songs, which now instead of just finishing them on my own at home, I would bring them into rehearsal, we would go over them and let the others put their as I called “their own stank” on the songs.

Here’s the part though that was proving difficult for me this time though…

by this time I have recorded and released 4 or so full length album’s worth of songs for the most part completely on my own when it came to arrangements. It’s great when you can have other people you trust and respect give you feedback and suggestions (which you will see later) and of course with Gary, Shawn and Helene I 100% respect their opinions and of course love the way they play/perform. The gigs we’ve played through 2019 and beyond were incredible.

Unfortunately for me, It was challenging to let go of some things.

When I am writing music and demoing I have a specific idea in my head about how things should go. specific arrangements, accents, things like that. Especially being a bass player as my “main instrument” I write specific parts and if they aren’t there, it just sounds wrong to me, which is not fair at all for guys like Shawn.

I’ll admit, when it came to some of the songs on the album, I caved and “gave in” to some of the arrangements because I wanted it to be a BAND, not just me being a dictator. Even on past songs once we played live, they would “tweak” some of the parts and 9X out of 10 it was for the better, so I figured maybe they know something I’m missing right?

Listening back to the album as a whole though, there are some where I think we nailed it perfectly, but If I’m being honest, some (which I won’t name) I just outright dislike how they came out. No fault for performance wise, It’s just not what I heard in my head and one-two in particular, if I listen back to the original demo version, I love way better, which is a shame.

What’s even more disappointing was that we worked on the album for months and months. I was excited to start performing under The Critically Ashamed with a “debut album” and continue the momentum we built the past year or two. We played some big shows and thought “2020 man, this is OUR year!”

Then came fucking COVID

The album was done and was ready to move on at this point, so we thought “eh…we will release it in May, then hit the stages all Summer to promote. Can’t take that long right?”

Needless to say, that didn’t happen. So for 2020 and 2021 we sat dormant unable to promote, which was heartbreaking.

But alas, your boy was far from being dormant in the studio.