Our First Album In Four Years
Only 100 will be made like this!
An Expression of Grief
The year was 2022, and to be honest, my world had fallen apart. The year before, I’d lost a close friend, along with eight others I’d grown to know and care for. Then in April of 2022, my partner of three years—someone I thought I’d be with forever—and I broke up.
I was lost. I was broken. And like most of the year before, I had no words. All I had was music.
After months of playing, of wordless singing and searching, I began to write. One song became three, then eight, until a whirlwind of music poured from me, no matter the instrument I held.
The more I played, the more I created—and the more I created, the more I realized I was grieving. Grieving the relationship I thought would last. Grieving the life I thought we were building.
An album so personal I didn’t show the band
I was halfway through the demoing process, creating the songs, the instrumentation, from scratch until I realized I was in a band. But the truth of the matter was, this felt like a process I had to take on by myself. My mantra was, “These songs are too personal. It hurts too much to show it to anyone until I’m done.”
On the other hand, I was frustrated, mostly with myself. Though we had (what I lovingly referred to as) a pile of songs the band had done, and were (mostly) finished, I felt the process took too long, but in hindsight, I was being selfish. Still, I felt stuck. I felt like I couldn’t move on with those songs. I was too preoccupied with the songs I was working on by myself.
So in the fall of 2023 I went to the studio. Alone.
But as the process wore on…
I soon realized I couldn’t do it on my own. I had shut out everyone for so long. Everything, from my personal life, to my creative life felt incomplete. I had to reach out. I had to ask for help.
Once I did, I realized that sharing with friends, leaning on them in my time of need was what I needed, and soon the album felt whole.
“Stay Sharp, Sunshine” Visual Album
A physical-only version of the album
In the process of making this album, I felt something so visceral, so real, that I had to express it in every way that I thought possible. Through that process, I wanted to not only express it through an audio experience, but a visual experience as well. I wanted to immerse the listener through every aspect I felt was possible, so I did something I’ve never done before and created a visual album to coincide with the audio experience.
But I had a problem: How was I going to share this with people? Especially to the people who helped fund this album? How was I going to give you the proper thanks you deserve?
I thought I could put it as a digital download? I could put it as a separate thing altogether? But I didn’t feel that was fair…
So I decided to do this:
This initial CD release for the album will be a limited run of 100.
But these first 100 will include something special that will only be available to you!
Every CD will come with two discs – the first disc will be the CD version of the album, and the second disc will be a DVD of the visual album.
Not only that, but to show my appreciation to you for helping us create our most ambitious album ever, your name will forever be in the album art for this album!
So, what do you get?
- 2 Discs, The audio album “Stay Sharp, Sunshine” on Disc 1, and the “Stay Sharp, Sunshine” visual album on disc 2
- Double wallet jacket packaging, featuring photography shot by me during the time of my relationship
- 4 page lyric booklet filled with even more photography
- Your name in the album art!
- Autographed by Tom (hey that’s me)
- Every copy will be hand-Numbered (one out of one hundred)
The Ultra digital download bundle
- All of the songs from the album
- Demos, early versions, and songs not featured on the album
- Full visual album
- Two performance videos featuring “Daylight” and “Amaze Me”
- PDF of the lyrics
- Album art and photos not included in the album art
Bonus Stuff
- Limited edition 1 out of 100, 3X3 sticker and 3X4 holographic sticker
- Limited edition pet picture not featured in any of the general public
- A hand-written note
- Free shipping!
Exclusive Pre-Order Price:
$45
But Why, Tom?
“Why make a two disc album? Why make a visual album? Why are you putting so much stuff into all of this?”
If I’m to be honest with you, I’m doing this to say “thank you”.
I’ve been playing and creating music for the last 20 years of my life and this feels like this is the first time where I’m actually connecting with people – real people who give a damn about the music we create.
I want to give you everything I can think of, ’cause if I’m to be honest, you are the one helping me fund this album. You are what’s keeping this proverbial ship going. I will always create music. That, I feel, is something that will never go away.
But at the end of the day, my dream and my goal is to be able to make a living from music, and you are the one that’s making all of this possible. You are the one that’s able to help me dream as big as I can and, succeed at doing it.
So from the bottom of my heart, and to the end of my days, thank you for helping me through this journey. I appreciate everything you do.
-Tom