I try not to pimp out bands I work with too much from my site or from my Twitter account unlike so many of my friends in the biz. But when it comes to Abandon Kansas I have to spread the word when I can because I am extremely proud to be working with these guys and I feel their music and work goes unnoticed.

As I wrote in back in July I’m glad I could have my friends Mark Lee Townsend, JR McNeely, Ethan Luck, and Eddy Boer help me create an EP that sounded and looked amazing. So when the time came to shoot a video I was excited that I could reach out to Nathan Corrona again and ask him to direct a video for their song “Close Your Eyes”. My only direction was to have some or all of the video in black & white to keep the marketing consistent with that of the EP cover. The above video is the result and I am extremely proud of it. Ok, time to get off my soapbox.

Download the song at

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Sara and I have been together for over a year now.

Seeing AC/DC for the first time…which included a full size locomotive engine on stage.

LOST on Wednesday nights with Sara, the McNeely’s, and Adam.

A trip to Chicago in March with Sara to see the Jimmy Eat World “Clarity 10 Tour”.

Signing Abandon Kansas to Gotee.

My first show at the Ryman…Death Cab for Cutie.

A trip to Maui in May with Sara and her family…which included a day trip to Oahu to see filming locations for LOST.

My niece Eva Sephora was born on July 25 to my brother Brandon and sister in-law Samantha.

Holding Eva for the first time on August 8.

Carnton Plantation concerts from SixtyFour and an Eagles cover band.

Seeing Metallica for the first time…which included an encore with Lemmy from Motorhead.

Taking Sara to her first Penn State football game (a white out)…even though I was sick, it rained, and we loss.

Seeing Them Crooked Vultures…which included legendary bassist John Paul Jones.

A trip to FL in October with Sara to see U2 for my first time and go to Universal Studios.

Road trips with Sara that included visiting wineries off the Natchez Trace and Fall Creek Falls.

Seeing Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen for the first time…a 3 hour set from the Boss included the entire “Born to Run” album.

Witnessing THE Titans win of the year at LP Field with a 99 yard drive and a 4th down last second touchdown pass.

Seeing SixtyFour go from a performance at a housing clubhouse in January to an electric show at 12th & Porter in December.

Spending Christmas in Indio/La Quinta, CA with Sara and her family that included a day at DisnleyLand, my first ostrich burger and date & banana shake, and evenings in the pool with 2 Buck Chuck.

Ending the year in PA with the Moist family.

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(L-R: Brad Foster (guitar) of AK, Nick Patrick (bass) of AK, Jared Fox (producer assistant), Mark Lee Townsend (producer), Jeremy Spring (vocals, guitar) of AK, yours truly, and Brian Scheideman (drums) of AK) Photo by Ethan Luck

I am proud to announce that the newest artist to join the Gotee family is ABANDON KANSAS. Since my return to Gotee in December I helped finish a deal with this band. It’s hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that I saw them for the first time and now we’re announcing their signing and the release of a brand new EP. It’s been a blast getting to know these guys. Not only are they great musicians but their hearts are in the right place as men and as artists. We recorded the 6 song EP at the end of May with producer Mark Lee Townsend. I was then lucky have enough to have JR McNeely mix the EP. This is the same team that has help create albums such as Relient K’s “mmhmm”, House of Heroes “The End Is Not The End”, Jennifer Knapp “Live”, and The Wedding “Polarity”. So sonically it sounds kick ass. I then had Ethan Luck take some photos and  BoerHaus.com design the cover and packaging. In all 4 of my best friends helped the band and I create what I think looks classic and sounds famous. I am extremely proud of it and maybe it’s because it marks the first true piece of new music that I have A&R’d from the ground up since my return. So do yourself a favor and check out a few of their tunes, read the bio, and dive into the world that is Abandon Kansas.

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Not many bands can pull off covers of Beatles songs. Only Bono’s versions on the “Across the Universe” soundtrack and almost all the songs covered on the “I Am Sam” soundtrack have excited me.  So I am proud to say that one of the other few that I feel can is a band I A&R at Gotee Records called House of Heroes. These guys are true fans, not scene kids who only wear “Let It Be” t-shirts saying their fans. Their producer, Mark Lee Townsend, even helms a Beatles cover band called SixtyFour. And not only was the bands producer a Beatles fan/historian but the band themselves pull off a sound that pays homage to the Fab Four on all levels especially vocally. Even their song selection (“Can’t Buy Me Love”, “It Won’t Be Long” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”) show the band picked the perfect songs for who they are but also leaves their fans wanting more. So do yourself a favor and pick up this digital only 3 song EP release at iTunes for $1.99 or AmazonMP3.com for $1.89. The only disappointment will be you’ll be left wanting more…I promise!

PS – A big thanks to Jeremy from ThisIsHeroic.com for providing a classic design that also pays homage.

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Here’s a little bit of background into this video. I say all of this because I love the song, the video, and how it all came to be.

Since being back at Gotee I’ve had the privilege of working with an artist named Flynn Adam. I’ve known the guy for a few years since he was also in a group called LA Symphony that was on Gotee as well. Before I came on the board the label decided to take a new approach with Flynn’s music by releasing a A-side/B-side digital single/EP every few months for a total of 3. The first, “Such A Time”, was already finished and released shortly after  I arrived. But then came time for the second. We decided to go with a song called “Dishes” as the A-side. The demo form of the song was the first new batch of solo material I heard from Flynn a few years ago and I instantly fell in love with the song. The label had shot a video for the first single “Such A Time” and included it with the single/EP bundle at iTunes. So I thought, why not do the same for the next two. But this time I wanted to go ahead and plan out the third single/EP and see if I could shoot 2 videos at once. After looking around for directors I remembered that a guy named Nathan Corrona, aka Dust of the the hip-hop duo Mars ILL that also released albums on Gotee, who had shot his own video to one of their songs called “When Heaven Scraped The Pavement” and all of us at the label loved it. To my surprise the only contact info I had for him still worked and we connected. The treatments were simple but I trusted that Nathan could pull off 2 videos that were kick ass. Plus Flynn and Nathan knew each other so there was a trust there as well. So we flew Flynn into Atlanta for a few days to shoot videos for the above as well as a song called “Adios”. The result, well you can see for yourself, is a killer video done very indie by a guy who puts a lot of love into his work. Nathan is an artist so he understands the song and how a video needs to flow and how it needs to be edited. I’m stoked on the content we have for Flynn Adam. The songs are great. The videos are great. The digital bundles are great. So if you’re intrigued, please do yourself a favor and check out the “Such A Time” and “Dishes” single/EP’s at iTunes. Plus they’re cheap and include some other bonuses. 

And lastly. I’m just plain stoked to be working with Nathan. If you work in the music industry please hire him. You won’t be disappointed. And not only is there another Flynn video done and on the way soon but also a video for Ayiesha Woods. With almost no treatment but a whole lot of trust, we flew Nathan into Corpus Cristi, TX to meet up with Ayiesha a few days before one of her shows. Because of a prior engagement I couldn’t be there, hence the trust I have in Nathan. I wanted a video on the beach, something bright and sunny that matches her album cover . And I feel we got exactly that. Plus we got something visual done for an artist that we have never had a video with before. But more on that later. 

Anyways, enough of my bragging on Nathan or Flynn for that matter. Their work speaks for itself. I’m just glad to be back in the biz, working on songs, album covers, and music videos with artists, designers, and directors.

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My staff picks were as followed.

Favorite Albums:
House of Heroes – The End Is Not The End
John Mark McMillan – The Medicine
Corey Crowder – Gold & The Sand
Verra Cruz – Innocence
The Showdown – Back Breaker

Favorite Live Show: Underoath
Favorite  Indie/Unsigned Artist: John Mark McMillan

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