During the recording of downcounting, the last EP from The Waystation, I was fairly convinced it was the last hurrah. My friend & co-founder Nick Fryer left the group, our drummer Alexander moved to NYC, and I moved to San Francisco. Still, after three years of sessions squeezed into trips back to Chicago; the trio of myself, Bob Lovecchio (bass) & Scott Ramsayer (keyboards & engineer) finished the EP.

Although recording downcounting was a painful labor of love, distribution was a snap. Between Discmakers, CD Baby, & iTunes I discovered it is possible to distribute music with relatively low fixed costs. And, once The Waystation machine was rolling again, I started to get excited about the last few remaining tracks from sessions in 2001, which had also formed the basis of downcounting.

Although at the time, the band was so disappointed we scrapped the project, the 2001 sessions at the now-defunct Kingsize Sound Labs Chicago (where Wilco recorded Being There) have proven to be gold. Basic tracks from those sessions live-on in 'Something About You' & 'Miner' from downcounting, and 'Holding Pattern', 'Help Me to Fly' & 'Keep it to Yourself' from the upcoming EP, The Waystation (slight return).

Listening to those tracks is sort of like looking at old pictures of yourself. At the time, it's easy to be critical. But, look at the same pictures ten years later and suddenly you say, "Wow, who is that young, handsome guy?"

Anyway, The Waystation (slight return) is mixed, mastered and being manufactured as we speak, in time for release at our June 14 show at The Stadium in Oxford, OH (to celebrate our 10-year college reunion.) I will write more about recording the new EP in a future post. But, for now, please enjoy the first song from the forthcoming EP, a brand-new song called 'Perfect', which is available at Facebook, iLike, and Garageband.