NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR SURPRISING CONTENT

So there's been a lot going on since we last wrote something here (and the blog was broken, so that was our excuse!). Here's the basics:

1. Neal and I are playing with some new folks, and we are pretty dang excited about it.

Neal has switched over to guitar full-time now. As many of you early Vague-ites know, he's very good, and you heard some of his handiwork on "Trial." But now it's a whole new ballgame. Neal is doing his best to transform my goofy little songs into something grander and more interesting, as is his prelidiction.....

And there's a whole new rhythm section. Travis Ambrose is an old friend of mine, and he's playing bass with the Vague now. Travis is quiet but deadly, as I say sometimes to people. He now takes my place as the person in Mister Vague who talks the least, but he's a talented, creative and interesting bass player. A different style from Neal's but still compatible and risky.

Our drummer is Jason Thomas. Originally we hired him to just play on our new record (see more below) but he's been willing now to do some shows as well, so we'll see how it goes. We've also been friends with Jason for a while and we've often been awestruck by his skills in bands such as Cranium, December, Above All Things and The Novelists. He's still active in most of those actually, so he's a busy guy! And so, as always, when you see "Mister Vague" it will be whoever showed up to the party, and that's OK of course......

Most of December and January has been practice and learning (and in my case, relearning!) our songs that we plan to record for our new CD. It's been a fun experience playing all-new songs with a bunch of folks and then figuring out what fits and what doesn't, and adding everyone's input and ideas. I missed that over the past year (apart from Neal's great suggestions up to this point, which are always given and often spectacular).

We ventured out once thus far for a show at Walden's and we were both surprised and gratified by the turnout and the reaction to a set of all-new songs (or mostly new, altho non-recorded oldies like "Midnight To Seven" are quite different now!). It gave us fuel for the future.

And what is that future, hmmm? Well, the plan is to go to Duluth, Minnesota (my former hometown) in early Spring to record our new CD. Alan Sparhawk will record it (he of many bands, including Low and Retribution Gospel Choir) and Eric Swanson will engineer (and he recorded one of my band in Duluth even, so it'll be like a reunion and such!). After that, it will show up in both the non-corporeal and corporeal worlds sometime later this year.

So anyway, we're doing just fine, and we'll try to be in touch more....

MARK E
RENO NV