Well, it’s the end of another December, so it’s time for the annual sheepish apology post.
This time last year, we really did think you’d be listening to the project right now. What happened? Not enough and too much, to be honest. We got three songs fully recorded and had a good head of steam in late spring, and we were still looking at a November 2015 release. Then we both hit real-life delays — I bought a house, Jude had another child, and we were both swamped with our real-world jobs. (As a reminder, Jude is a research scientist who often has to travel to do science, and I work at a videogame company on a title that puts out new DLC every single week.) So “I’m going to work on some music this weekend” is a great thing to say but not easy to actually do. And this is taking priority for what little time is available; for instance, Dan’s podcast with his wife is on hiatus until this project is finished.
We realize that while we are musicians and we really only care about making the songs sound good, that’s not how people consume comedy online. If you don’t have a video for your song that people can pass around, you don’t get exposure — weirdly, if you don’t give people video, they don’t listen to your audio. So we realize that video of some sort simply has to be part of the process; we need these songs to debut as videos. One of the things we did this year was reach out to friends who know more than we do, and they helped us reach out to potential partners to help us create those videos. We do have some interest, but it’s all still vague because we haven’t finished the music. Justifiably, when you’re asking someone to put their time, money, and resources into your idea, it’s riskier for them to commit if your idea is not complete and tangible. So, it still comes back to what we already knew: We need to get the music done first, even if that means not releasing it immediately, while our partners build on it and make it something far more attractive. We want the total package.
We know we’ve been inactive for too long. We love hearing from people who say the songs we’ve done still bring them joy and they sing our lyrics when the originals come on the radio. We know all seven of our fans are out there, and we really are grateful for your patience. But doing this right is far more important to us than doing this fast. Just yesterday we talked on the phone and agreed to push the schedule back as long as it needs to be pushed, and realistically, that might mean it doesn’t even come out in 2016. Our musical deadlines are all still next year, and we’re trying to find both the right partner and the right opportunity to release what we really think is going to be the best thing we’ve ever done.
It shouldn’t take this long…but it is. This project is ambitious, scary, and time-consumning — but it’s not impossible, and we really do think it’s going to be worth the wait.
Happy new year?
— Dan