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Digital liner notes

Now that the first Thirteen Conversations release is out, I thought I'd share some background info on it. I love it when bands do this, so I figured this would be fun to do.

-The recording of these songs came from a suggestion my old bandmate Dave made. He wanted to test out some vintage equipment he acquired and asked me to record with him. He said the music could be any style, so I jumped at the chance to record some emo-tinged stuff.

-A majority of the riffs on these songs were written in 1999. I was in the middle of college and spent a lot of time in my dorm room playing guitar. I kept coming back to these riffs over the years, and they are almost exactly like how I originally wrote them.

-I recorded all the drums and guitars last year. I also recorded vocals and bass lines, but I didn't feel very confident as a singer and played a bass with dead strings. I wrote new lyrics and used a brand new bass when I recorded again. Only some backing vocals in the bridge of "Born to Run Away" were from last year.

-"Born to Run Away" is absolutely an homage to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." My spin on it is running away from your life and finding yourself in a state of flux.

-"No Future, No Furniture" as a title is an homage to the often-used Sex Pistols lyric of "No future for you!" The title also pays homage to Everyone Everywhere's "No Furniture." Just a fun fusing of things in a song about being forced to start over.

-The drums were recorded first. I tried to play to a click track, but my playing was way too stiff, so I trusted my instincts. I slowed down in a couple of spots, but I think only one time is very noticeable.

-Both songs have layers of guitars. I believe "Born to Run Away" has four on the choruses.

-The intro to "Born to Run Away" is in mono. That's a direct lift from Motion City Soundtrack's "Everything's Alright."

-The cover photo was taken behind my house. Since this release is my first few steps into putting my own music out there, I thought this was fitting. Pure coincidence that it looks like an E.

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