A Special Year

Getting a bit nostalgic these days as my label Zeptune Records celebrates a tenth anniversary this year. I started it in 2004 to house my project Dream LAX which eventually morphed into The Velvet Ants two years later. Those were also my first digital recordings (you can hear the laptop chirping on "Shovel Twang" as it was recorded straight from the on-board mic.

2004 isn't the only throwback as it's been 15 years since picking up the guitar and beginning to record in 1999 (when Zeptune was originally conceived). Time has flown. Maybe that's why I'm re-discovering the music I'd listened to in my youth with such fondness. (Cue Blind Melon's 'No Rain').

2012 was about as bittersweet as it can get and I can't say I knew what the outcome would be. Music is and has always been a very personal thing for me and it started to become a burden. I've tried to look at it differently and move forward. I'm glad I was able to make another record with the Ants and am starting to zoom out on the whole of it all with more ease than before. It's all a mess when you're in the thick of it -and- no matter what's next I remind myself of the friends I made and the experiences music brought me.

I've said it before about records and I can honestly say sometimes things find you. And lead you places. And change your life. I'm grateful for all of it. I had aspirations and dreams and most of my goals have been met, mainly to make record of songs and catalog them.

So here's to Zeptune and also Thaylobleu, the first band signed outside of my own musical projects and a band that needs to be heard and seen!

-Ian

Art Institute of Washington

Heading into D.C. next week for a two day recording session at the Art Institute of Washington. We're going to record a few songs with a student there working on a class project. We hope to get a couple of songs down but whatever comes of it (and if it turns out decent of course) we'll share it with you all.

Say goodbye to winter people, and let that warmth in!

-I