Friday, January 30, 2009

RPM Challenge

Last year, a friend of mine ("For Privacy's sake, lets call him Pat S...Wait thats too obvious. How about P. Stura") suggested our "band" try to participate in the RPM Challenge, a non-competitive invitation to record an entire album in one month's time. Specifically, the month of February.

The rules are pretty simple - record ten songs or 35 minutes of music, burn it to CD and mail it to the RPM HQ with a postmark no later than March 1. It does not have to be professional quality, or even remotely good. There is no prize for being first, being best, or being cool. The whole project deadline is really just an excuse to get people off their butts and be creative and productive, with whatever means they have available.

At that time, we gave it a little thought but realized, due to scheduling conflicts and lack of material, it would not be feasible. But this year I've decided I want to give it a shot.

My friend Andy and I have about 20 hastily written and recorded bare-bones songs from the past 8 years or so. As a side project to our primary band, Kemman, we call ourselves "Wild Pitch," and we've decided to record full-band versions of at least 10 Wild Pitch songs over the month of February for the RPM Challenge. It will be a DIY affair, as we don't have money for professional studio time. We're not expecting it to be perfect, but we can surely improve upon what we have, and hopefully enjoy the process.

If it goes well, I may try to do an entire album by myself next year. Finally there's something in February to look forward to.

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