Hello

Released January 2020

Notes From Dave

Hello is the first album in a series of albums being released in the year 2020 as part of a project called A Year of Music. Each album is set to be released on the 20th of each month and when complete, will mean that in 2020, 12 albums were released on the 20th of each month to create a catalog of 20 albums (including the three Era of Pain albums that are not listed on the site).

Hello is comprised of 11 tracks. Consideration was given to making each album 20 tracks long, but considering that would mean there would need to be 240 tracks done in the year, that idea was skipped to prevent extreme burnout.

More Humor

Something that stands out from previous albums is that this one features quite a bit more humor than its predecessors. While this is likely unexpected in the music, anyone who listened to the Voice of Crazy podcast will likely not be surprised by what they hear.

The track “That Guy From That Thing I Saw” was an out of nowhere creation originally attached to “Simple Reminder.” It plays off of the idea of reminding the world of my existence. The last album released was 7 years prior so the idea was to get the planet together in a single room and reintroduce me. The first question kicks off the “Simple Reminder” song.

While “That Guy From That Thing I Saw” is purely built on humor, it is not the only one.

Case in point: Hannah is back.

Hannah Returns

Deconstruction included a track called “Hannah”, a skit that introduced the world to a highly annoying individual who clamors for the latest trends, falls into many internet girl cliches, and frequently complains of things that are “stupid and dumb.” Despite being smashed in the head with a brick, Hannah has returned. Not just returned, but she’s declared herself my girlfriend and inserted herself into my life.

Hannah is on nearly all of the albums, and her appearances should be heard in order. They directly chain together and things take a different shape by the end than they did in the beginning.

Status Update

Over the last 7 years, many things have changed. For one, I got divorced. Then I got remarried. I don’t actually discuss any of this on the album beyond a few very brief mentions on “Hello” and “Status Update”.

There does exist a version of Status Update that talks about some of the issues that occurred but I decided not to put it on this album. It is very likely that this subject will revive itself in later albums, as much of my music is based on the emotional trainwreck that has been my life. For now, that song is locked down.

There is no stronger competitor than time itself

None of my albums would be complete without breaking from the bulldozer tracks and taking on a more serious topic. I turned 40 just a few weeks ago and as such, am fighting against the clock achieve things in life before it’s finally over.

“Fighting Time” is focused on the idea that no matter what you do, no matter where you want to deflect blame and reasons for not being where you want to be, the calendar is still counting down. You can give any reason you want for why you aren’t in a better position, but it doesn’t matter. Your life is your responsibility and no matter what, the end of it is coming. There is nothing you can do about it so if you want to achieve something, you need to do something now.

The song features the wonderful Romy Harmony on the hook and includes speeches from Fab Morvan and Shia LaBeouf. Yes, that one he did that was ridiculed so heavily by people who didn’t listen to what he was saying. His actions may have been bizarre at times, but what he was saying was dead-on perfect.

Not a Rich Rapper

I almost threw out Not a Rich Rapper. It was written and originally recorded to a completely different instrumental. After listening to it repeatedly for a while, I realized I didn’t like the track at all and pulled it from the album. For whatever reason, I went back, rewrite large parts of it, and recorded it to a different instrumental. Now it’s one of my favorite tracks on the album.