Saturday, December 12, 2020

Stopgap Sam's Last Stand is on the way!


 My new double CD "Stopgap Sam's Last Stand" has been completed! 

Currently the highly talented Greg Gierowski is designing the cover. As I have once again worked on my music too close to the Christmas season, I'm hoping to have copies available for mailing by sometime around mid-January, followed two weeks later by a Bandcamp upload.

As soon as I have some "official" artwork, I'll be converting my "Dunning Kruger" blog into a "Stopgap Sam" one-stop shopping blog. Watch this space!

https://dunningkrugereffectdinodimuro.blogspot.com (copy and paste link)

Following is some boilerplate background to help reviewers:

Stopgap Sam’s Last Stand is a double CD (also available for download on Bandcamp) which is made up of new guitar instrumentals, a few cover tunes, and archival jams with my friends.


While not a sequel, Stopgap Sam’s Last Stand is a follow-up to a three-cassette album I released in 1994 (Stopgap Sam’s Steamin’ Stew), which served as a stopgap release between my last “official” cassette and my first manufactured CD. Those three tapes contained outtakes, jams, and new songs, though almost nothing was of good enough quality to include on an “official” release. 


Like many others, I began the Covid lockdown by recording new music. In my case, I bought a new Ibanez guitar and started recording solos using the whammy bar, something I have almost never done. After taping over six hours of solos over three weeks, I decided that with judicious editing, I could release these as another “Stopgap” collection, but this time making sure that all new songs and jams were of the same quality level as a regular release.


I want to stress that in no way do I consider myself a “guitar virtuoso” but I do have my own unique (if not terribly proficient) style. The inspiration to do this kind of album was the Frank Zappa “Shut Up and Play Your Guitar” series. Also, on every guitar song I’ve played all the other instruments as well, including drum kit. 


Normally my songs are very short, between one or two minutes. This double album gave me a chance to stretch out, though there are shorter songs as well.