It may come as a surprise to some of you but I've been working very hard on preparations for the content of this coming October's launch party, (the 'Songs For Ghosts' album,) for several weeks now.
The double album has yet to be mastered and I have many images to prepare for the packaging artwork, but I've sorted the running order out and have been working on video backdrops for the actual playback of tracks from the album.
This latter is taking up a heck of a lot of time...finding the right images, treating them visually to suit, and laying them into the video, (which requires an hour of footage at least,) is by no means an instantaneous task.
I also have created two, (at the moment,) brand new backing tracks to master and work with for the live performance, (plus video accompaniment which I still need to create for them.)
Original artwork to prepare for the merchandise stall, (a guitar to decorate for that too.)
Notes to write for the talk-through of the tracks that I hope to preview from the album, and, indeed, actual track selection for the album's playback to be decided yet. (It will be impossible to play the full two discs on the day due to time constraints).
Then there will be copies of the album to physically autograph for the exclusive pre-release CDs that attendees will recieve as part of their ticket purchase.
Plus, several guitars and backing tracks to be decided upon for the live performance, equipment prepared before packing and shipping it all to the venue... And several other things that require careful thought, attention and forward planning.
It boils down to just a few hours on the day but the preparation is completely out of proportion with those hours...a lot of hard work goes into what may eventually come across as a flowing, cohesive event. But, it's not at all easy and takes up a lot of time and energy for it to appear effortless.
Unfortunately, time is against me and I'm not getting any younger. This stuff takes its toll on my time and energies...but my desire to present something special, something that you will, hopefully, be able to take to heart and remember with fondness for a long time is paramount.
After all these years, it is still what I live for.