Today I launch myself out into the wide blue yonder with the 'release' (an old-fashioned music industry term which no longer really applies in the terra incognita of the digital age) of my debut solo single, "Own Way Home". It's a weirdly exciting and anti-climactical experience. In the Good Old Days of record companies and a quantifiable music industry, the first single of a new album would 'drop' or go for radio adds on a given day ('street date', the Old Ones called it). Now, songs just quietly appear out of the ether on to peoples' desktops, laptops, cell phones, homepages and inboxes. No fanfare (well, unless you have a dedicated army of Comrades dedicated to The Cause, beavering away on a thousand machines to alert the rabble they will not be able to survive the coming week without THIS new song), no print media, no TV ads, no minions wearing "Available Now!" T-shirts around the city. That's the name of the new game, and for artists like me who are used to the former way of doing things, it's a bit unnerving. But it's ok, I'm cool, I'll get with it. Just a few minutes of regret for the old ways, you know.
Now, whinging over, what about this new song? Well, it's entitled "Own Way Home", as in "Find My", as in "I'm ok, thanks very much, I'll go on without you." The 'you' in question is the subject of many blogs, and we'll get there one day, probably. Until then, I make my first foray into the world as a solo artist with this song. It's a flag-waving statement of intent, and as manifesto's go, it's not a bad way of saying hello world. I've recorded it three times and mixed it 87, so I'm far too close to it to say how I feel about it anymore. I wish it luck as I smash a bottle of cheap champagne over its bow and watch it slide down the slipway into the shallow harbour at the edge of a limitless ocean of ones and zeroes, there to sink or swim. I just hope you like it and it means something to you and you tell your friends about it and buy/ download the full as-yet-untitled album when it's ready in May. That's all a solo guy can ask for, right?
P.S. you can listen to it on mySpace (johnelliscoza) and my facebook fan page, for now. Let me know what you think. Thanks for listening.
