Hello Strangers!
Yes, it has been entirely too long since I've posted. I apologize for the absence and will try to keep things up to date in 2015.
The past months have been busy ones. Since my last post, Sand Dollar Rodeo have played at The Chuggin' Monk, Pickles, Shannon Brewery, did a radio show taping at the world famous Thirsty Armadillo (with Nellie Olsen from Little House on the Prairie as our host), and performed at two benefits - the first for the Lone Star Parrot Head Club's Alzheimer fundraiser, then at an adoption event for Cody's Friends Animal Rescue.
Aside from that, I also performed solo acoustic holiday gigs in December. That was a really neat experience for me. In all my years of playing live, I don't have much experience in playing by myself that way. I've done Christmas shows in the past that used backing tracks, but never anything stripped down like this, with just me and my guitar. Different, for sure. However, I enjoyed it and plan on continuing to do it in the future. For the record, all is well in SDR land, it's just me adding a little variety to life. Seems like every time I do something that isn't an SDR project, I get an inbox full of people asking if we've broken up. No, we haven't. Now you know.
Additionally, I spent a good chunk of the last 4 months working in the studio mastering instrumental and karaoke versions of the entire Sand Dollar Rodeo catalog, cleaning up and re-issuing some of my older material, all sorts of fun stuff that has kept me glued to a computer for hours and hours and hours. If you're interested in seeing the work in progress, go check out this page at my personal website. Again, a work in progress, there will be more to come soon. But, if you're at all curious of my back catalog, it's a good start.
So, what is in store for 2015?
One word: Lots!
I am planning on keeping super busy. At the moment, we (SDR) are still working on the next album. It is expected to be released before Summer. We're also busy booking gigs and rehearsing for the shows. We've got a stripped down show coming up in January at Cobra Brewing (Lewisville, TX), then we'll be back on stage regularly starting around the end of April, so keep an eye on the SDR website for dates.
I will also be releasing more material from my back catalog as well as a few new singles over the course of the year. Just some stuff that doesn't fit the SDR sound. Again, the band hasn't broken up LOL. More detail on those releases will be available at my website later in the year. Another fun new thing I'll be doing is a podcast, tied into a series of videos on YouTube. More on YouTube in a minute...
Looking back, 2014 brought us our share of drama, but we've managed to survive. I've had a fun ride with SDR and I am really looking forward to whatever 2015 throws our way.
So, back to today. It's New Year's Eve or, as I like to call it, "Amateur Night." I don't go out to celebrate and don't really need an excuse to get drunk. Hell, I can do that any night. So, I stay home and avoid the drunks on the road. Ok, now how does that tie into YouTube, right? I know that's what you were thinking, surely.
I mentioned that I had been mastering karaoke versions of our songs earlier. Well, you guessed it - I've also been editing them into karaoke videos for YouTube and tonight, we'll be launching a little karaoke party just for you!
You can access my karaoke channel on YouTube by clicking RIGHT HERE.
Do the smart thing. Don't drink and drive. Drink and Sing Along with SDR at home tonight! All the cool kids will be doing it. Oh, and while you're at it, post a video on Facebook for us to see you rock out to your own version of one of our songs. Hope you enjoy the videos and have lots of fun with them.
As always, I thank you guys (so much) for the continued support of my musical endeavors. It is truly appreciated and you guys are the best - I'll see ya next year!
Stay gold,
RH
