Peck

Good morning y’all,

It’s Chris Peck here, with a call to action:

The Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of my next album, “Wild Wind”, is coming to a close this Friday, at 10:45am.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peck/chris-pecks-new-album-wild-wind

In the final days of this campaign, it’s all about outreach. If you think of someone who would be interested in what we’ve got going, please share the campaign link with them. Likewise, a social media post goes a long way.

To all of you who have contributed to the campaign and expressed your support, thank you. It’s been a lovely ride since the campaign’s launch on Sept.7th.

“Wild Wind” is going to be a team effort, featuring my band, and many other players from our great webbing of musicians in the Bay Area. For a taste of what we’ve been up to, have a look at the video on the Kickstarter page, recorded at the Plant in Sausalito, Ca.

The album is really in its beginning stage – recording has commenced on two songs. The rest of the songs have been written and performed with my band at our shows in recent years, and I’m so excited to hear the songs take shape in a studio setting.

The folks who’ve visited this website over the years are indeed an inner circle, who have been with me through many chapters of this musical journey. As always, thanks for reading, and for your support, in whatever form it comes.

Yours in music,

Peck

A recent “Wild Wind” session, with producer/engineer Ethan Turner. Photo by Benjamin Young.

Dear Ones,

I’ve started work on a new album, and have launched a Kickstarter today to pre-sell the album and fund its production.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peck/chris-pecks-new-album-wild-wind

The record is called “Wild Wind”, and I’m making it with producer/engineer Ethan Turner, my friend and mentor.

“Wild Wind” will have a live feeling. Many of the albums songs will be recorded as an ensemble with my trio, comprised of JT John on drums and Tommy O’Mahoney on bass. There’ll be guest appearances by a host of musicians from our community, because we have a special webbing of musicians here in the North Bay and I want to represent that on this album.

To prime the pump, Ethan and I got together a little while back and recorded “I Like Life” (track one on the record), and photographer Benny Young joined us to document the day.

I’ve come up with some unique backer rewards for this crowdfund. Have a look at the campaign (link above) and consider getting involved at the level that is right for you.

Thanks for your eyes and ears, friends. I’m happy to be starting this journey today.

Peck

(Photo by Benny Young: https://benjaminyoungphoto.com/ABOUT-ME)

Hey, happy Saturday. Happy fall as well.

In recent weeks I’ve been uploading some new songs to Youtube. Above is my latest offering, a paean to the humble carbohydrate, a food class that should be exhalted, I believe.

This recent run of uploads is inspired by a hopeful trend I am seeing on that platform, where all kinds of songwriters have been uploading solo, mostly acoustic renderings of their music, usually filmed out in nature somewhere.

I’ve decided to join the choir. If you don’t already, “smash that follow button”, as they say on youtube, and I’ll keep the songs coming.

Yours in music,

Peck

Dear Ecosystem,

I woke this morning, hopped wearily onto land and adjusted my pH balance with a cup of Bogfee. Soon after the first sip, a thought sparked in my amphibian mind: let me put a hip in my hop – a Prog Frog cassette has dropped.

What followed was perhaps an ideal AM listening experience – a toad’s banquet of genres, phylums and orders of bog pork. Quickly my lethargy departed and the flies began to fear me again. I am honored to be encoded and conserved somewhere in this magnetic dust relief, released now into the wild. Thank you for inviting me to ribbet with the chorus, thumping and bumping here and there.

Breaking character for a minute, something about this tape brought me back. I remember when cool local bands would drop a tape (I’m talking like ’94 here) and my friends and I would know them first that way, before ever sharing words or a show. Something about the Prog Frog ep feels that way: a message for the ecosystem. I think other species are going to be thrilled to hear it.

https://progfrog.bandcamp.com/album/frog-prog

Somewhere in the middle of our day-long photographic adventure, Ian and I stood around for an hour or so on Fourth St. in San Rafael, asking folks if they would like to have their portrait taken for a music video.

Here is the result: Good Friend, directed and photographed by Ian Tuttle.

I hope you get to see a good friend today.

-cp

My collaboration with Ian kind of transcends any one discipline. We’ve played music together, we’ve done photo shoots, we’ve talked life, we’ve remembered teachers. Now, he’s made a pile of music videos and this is the first!

Thanks for your eyes and ears, as always.

Chris

Happy New Year, kiddos! Today, I am releasing two tracks from the archives, that few have heard before.

Some of you have heard my album “Ancient Baby”, which came out in 2019. It was a long and winding road, getting to that final draft. Some of the songs on the album were recorded four times in four different studios! What you’re hearing here are the first versions of “Rock & Roll’s Callin'” and “Possibilities”, recorded in 2014 by the late, great Alex Laipenieks.

Alex was a brilliant analog purist, whose studio (Owl Sight Recorders, in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood) was a veritable time machine. Between oil paintings of Elvis and his collection of ancient furniture, there was a trove of analog recording equipment. A neglected old computer sat in the corner, only used when necessary to produce a digital “drop” of one of his mixes.

I worked with Alex for 12 sessions total, making my first renderings of the 13 songs that would become Ancient Baby. Alas, Alex and I fought like cats and dogs. Our visions were strong, and our personalities divergent. At one point, we fell out of touch, with Alex refusing to hand over the 2″ reels containing my tracks, so that I could bring them to another studio for completion. After a year or so, Alex reached out and said, “Come by and have a glass of wine. You can do whatever you want to do with these reels brother.” We mended our friendship, and I carried the reels from Alex’s Owl Sight Studio in Oakland out to Ethan Turner’s Owl Mountain Studio, in Inverness, Ca.

Ethan is both a friend and a mentor to me and we produced our own versions of all 13 songs on the album. However, we did decide to work with two of the tracks that Alex recorded at Owl Site, adding things where we saw fit and creating new mixes of “Wild Horses” and “Back to the Start”. If you are new to my music, then this story whole story is probably a bit much. Just know that these tracks were a vital step in the creation of the Ancient Baby album.

In early 2021, Alex passed away, after a 3 year-long battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was a loving father, a totally unique recording engineer, and he made a mark on the Bay Area’s music scene. In addition to his work as a recording engineer, Alex was the original drummer of a great band called the Mr.T. Experience, and he interfaced with a great many musicians here in the Bay Area through his work as a live sound engineer at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill nightclub.

Lastly, I’d like to mention the album art, drawn in 2014 by Cameron Forsley. As a Google search will reveal, Cameron’s illustrations have proliferated the San Francisco literary, music, comic book and tattoo scenes. He’s a hard-working, original, humane and sometimes controversial artist who I admire greatly. This art was originally intended to be the front cover of the Ancient Baby album, and up to this point, has never been released to the public.

Thanks so much for reading and listening. Happy New Year, once again. May we look back with gratitude and go forward with purpose.

Chris

Hot off the press! A new music video, directed by my longtime friend and collaborator Zac Jaffee last month, on Lexington Avenue in New York City.

I love Zac’s improvisational spirit. He is a great actor, writer, and experimental musician. I implore you to have a look at his work: https://www.zacjaffee.com

“Yours Truly, New York” is a bit of a love song, or maybe a longing song. It’s also a song about songs. If you enjoy the sound and feel of it, I invite you to peruse the “Exact Change” album, which is now live on your favorite music streaming service, whichever one it be.

Like all the songs on the album, this one was recorded & produced by Alex Rather-Taylor and Miles Wick. The mix was done by Ethan Turner & the mastering by John Greenham.

As always, thanks for watching and listening.

CP

Friends,

My new solo album, Exact Change, has gone live on all the streaming sites. I’d love for you to hear it:

https://songwhip.com/chrispeck/exact-change

^ This link is a collection of all the sites where you can stream or buy the album. 

I hope this music brings you a feeling of depth, peace, connectedness with yourself and maybe a couple laughs as well.

Thank you, as always, for your ears and your support.

Yours in music,

Chris

PS- You can also hear the whole album on youtube:

Album Credits:

Dedicated to Bruce Munson Recorded & Produced by Alex Rather-Taylor & Miles Wick Mixed by Ethan Turner Mastered by John Greenham Album Art & Design by Parker Richard Front Cover Photo by Tomas delToro-Diaz Written & Performed by Peck Copyright & Published by Chris Peck 2023 ASCAP Crying Music