I've been waiting a long time to write this blog. After much hard work, time, money, and stress we are FINALLY ready to release some NEW MUSIC! We have about 15 songs to be released as part of a series of EPs and singles. The first single “Armed & Dangerous” will be released at the end of this month on May 26th, followed by the first band EP released at Anthem Brewing Company at the end of June, then a Joel T. Mosman solo EP at the end of August, and finally, a second band EP released in November.
You're probably saying ‘wow, that's a lot of releases in a short time!’ Very true. For a long time we have gone back and forth about releasing multiple EPs or a single album and after taking a few things into consideration, we decided multiple releases would work the best. Here's a few reasons why…
Whether you're a fan or performer, it's difficult to ignore the rapidly changing music industry. Fan's are consuming music faster and cheaper than ever. There could be as many as 35 million songs on iTunes alone- a plethora of music to bury oneself in. With shorter attention spans, high competition, and a barrage of social media posts, it's difficult to to get music from the studio to the listener. In this musical climate, smaller doses of music would help us get ‘out there’ a little easier.
As a self funded, locally based artist, ‘getting out there’ can be very tricky when you don't have a million dollars to throw at a project. Sure, there's crowd funding, and we're not above that. We just figured that self funding these EPs would be a more honest way of debuting music that most people have never heard. After all, why would anyone want to invest in a band that hadn't proven themselves in the studio? These EPs are simply and economical means by which we can prove ourselves as competent, local musicians. That way, when we launch a crowdfunding campaign in the future, our friends and fans might be more willing to help us out (wink, wink)
The changing musical landscape, and rite of passage are only a couple reasons we chose the multiple EP release route. The budget of a ‘self-funded local band’ plays a huge role in our thinking.
The fact is, the cost of mixing and mastering is a lot easier to pay for when the releases are spread out. We could have dusted off the old cassette tape recorder and churned out a couple of tunes, but that just wouldn't be right, would it? We wanted to make some QUALITY recordings for our good friends, family, and fans who have supported us. We wanted something we could be proud of and without the aforementioned one million dollars to foot the bill, we were fortunate enough to rely on some high quality home recording gear at our respective residences, and the help of a tenured studio master and his pro studio.
None of these releases would have been possible without the help of Travis Hodge. I’ve been making music with Travis since we jammed out to Sabbath’s Planet Caravan when we were 14 years old. Since then Travis has invested lots of time, money, and energy into a full fledged, state of the art, professional recording studio called the T. Hodge Lodge in Shawnee. Travis has done us many favors for these recordings and I owe him my spleen. Check him out at thodgelodge.com
These releases will be spread out over the next several months and for each song I plan to do a blog about why I wrote the song and how it was recorded. I’ll also do my best at getting lyric videos up for each song.
In addition to new music releases, we also have a new website to be published soon, an online store, some new t-shirts, koozies, and stickers. We’re working with some other visual artists for some cool content and I’ve also just booked a bunch of band, solo, and live stream shows for the next several months. So, if you’re feeling underwhelmed by Joel T. Mosman & Oklahoma Uprising, just sit tight because we’re about to be all up in ya business!
For more information, music, booking, videos, blogs, and much more check us out at OklahomaUprising.com!
