The Champagne Saints

Hello all, this is just a little update on the Champagne Saints. I hope to provide more updates and provide people with a little window into the songwriting and recording process. I have started writing for the next record already, and have submitted 10-11 demos to the rest of the band. We’ll see how many, if any, make it onto a formal album. I put that songwriting part of my brain on hold for a good year and a half, and so it’s busting with ideas…some good, some not so much.

I always think that each record will be my last, but the bug is always there and I constantly want to improve my songwriting. This will be my 4^th album, which is really quite amazing. Most people get to do one if they’re lucky.

We’ve done the traditional recording route with Austin Road Love Songs and we really went full out bore on Throwing Hail Marys. We couldn’t be happier with the result. We continue to get really positive feedback. Now that the band is even more scattered across the country, however, with Tadas moving to Nebraska to pursue a graduate degree, recording this next record will become even more of a challenge. It turns into high pressure situations as we try to get as much accomplished in a short amount of time sometimes months apart. So this time around, we will be approaching this project with a more piecemeal approach. We may dribble out songs in lieu of, or in addition to releasing a formal album.

I’m still in love with the album as a format for releasing music, but today’s landscape places more emphasis on singles, and with the attention span of the listener ever decreasing, the era of 45 minute albums is all but done. That is not to say we won’t release another album. I love the album format for the way it is able to sustain a mood and able to explore nuances of that mood over the course of 11 songs. You just can’t get that in a three and a half minute record. The middle ground might be releasing a series of EPs, but those always struck me as half hearted attempts at something worthwhile, and I can’t think of many EPs that have stuck with me.  REM’s Chronic Town and Radiohead’s Airbag/How Am I Driving? come immediately to mind.  If nothing else, an LP gives you twice as many chances to connect with the listener.  It’s just an increased number of at-bats.

As for the demos themselves, it’s hard to tell what works and what won’t. We are definitely going in a new direction this time around. What direction that is necessarily isn’t clear this early in the process, but I can see us moving away from the grunge-influenced alternative rock into something a little more…um, modern. Of course, everything I put before the rest of the band can get shot down.  I figure it’s my job to get them excited about the music as it is to get other people excited about it.  I am awaiting their comments and feedback and we’ll go from there.

I will try to keep updating you guys with the progress of the band. However, like any romantic relationship (and let’s admit it this is a romantic relationship with music and the songwriting process), it’s best to keep some things private. You know, like the dirty, dark and sexy parts. Hahaha.

Until then, thanks for your continued support and we will touch base soon.

Saulius