We are off the road 'til at least July 25th with a band emergency. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks. We'll keep you all updated as we know more.
- Aaron

The tour has begun. My six-piece band and I are out on the road for the next four months.

We're in Denver tonight. Glacier National Park the night before last, Spokane WA the night before that. We'll be in the Ozarks on Saturday. The bus complains in the mid-day heat, and the brakes smoke when we push it up and down mountain passes, but it's been stalwart.

We still have conspicuous holes in our tour schedule, and we'd like to ask for help in filling in the open dates. Our booking agent just broke his arm and is somewhat incapacitated at the moment, so we could use your input. Please take a look at the dates we have booked so far. If you can offer advice or a referral to a house concert, venue, or opening slot with another band that would seem to be good opportunity for us, please send a message letting us know. This includes opportunities even as right-around-the-corner as _next_week,_ when we'll be in the Midwest and, unfortunately, currently have a stretch of six days without a gig.

We'd also be interest in having fans shoot photographs, video, or audio of any of our shows - if this sounds like fun to you, please be in touch and let us know.

Finally, we'd appreciate assistance with promotion. Know anyone in the local media - print media, electronic media, radio - who might be able to help get the word out about an upcoming show? Please refer them our way, or give us contact info with a "tell 'em I sent ya".

Thanks.

So, the shows so far have been _wild._ Entertaining an audience isn't always just about performing your songs as best as you're able: it's about being responsive to what that particular audience needs in that moment. Do they want to dance? Do they want to rock? Do they want you to tell a story? Our first show was next door to a punk club that was holding a twelve-hour marathon festival; we adjusted by playing our louder, faster stuff during the breaks in between that club's sets, and managed to pull in some of the mingling crowd. Our second show was in Glacier National Park, which had just opened for its summer tourist season. So the crowd was full of young people from all over the country who were a long ways from home and a long ways from civilization....and ready to dance and drink. So, after a tight, high-energy first set of my own material was met with a luke-warm response, we turned the second half of the show into a dance jam, featuring some of my more danceable tunes and a lot of stuff that we simply made up on the spot. This shift in tactics was an extraordinary success: the crowd was hopping and howling for the rest of the night. I am very fortunate to be playing with such amazing musicians, folks who are able to respond quickly and easily to the changing demands of each night's show.

That's the news from on the road. Please be in touch if you are able to help this grass-roots effort to blossom and bear fruit as we approach mid-summer.

- Aaron & Co.

In honor of April, I've posted our rendition of 'April Come She Will' on our myspace page. In Seattle, it's been feeling like January, so perhaps this'll help get speed things along towards Spring.

This track features Joel and Kate from The Aaron English Band. Come catch us live with us this summer....when and if summer finally arrives, of course.

Plans for the summer/fall US tour are proceeding apace. The tour calendar is now up on the homepage here. Watch for your city (or general neck-of-the-woods) to show up on that calendar. When it does, that means that the sextet known as The Aaron English Band is about to roll into your sleepy, unsuspecting 'burb, liberate your domesticated animals, spike your municipal water supply, and swap the street names on every signpost in town. Oh, and then play some music.

A new development: the AE Band is now touring with, and appearing as a double-bill with, the Denver-based rock act Xiren.

There are plenty more details to follow - mounting this expedition is, as you can probably imagine, a big task.

There are six new reviews of Marriage in the 'Reviews & Interviews' section of this website, including a 3-and-a-half star rating (out of five) from that industry monolith, All Music Guide. Also in that section of the site, you'll find a new, meandering interview in which Aaron reveals the first album he ever bought. Ever. Well, besides The Smurfs' All-Star Show.

In other news: two Aaron English compositions were in the running for the Best Song award in a December competition at ourstage.com. The grand prize was a one-on-one career consultation with Curt Smith, one-half of the duo Tears for Fears, who just happen to have been Aaron's childhood heroes. Whoo hoo!...

...Well, Aaron's songs placed second - in both categories. The runner-up prizes? Two Amazon gift cards.

Oh well. It's since occurred to us that, if Curt Smith really knew that much about 'making it' in the 21st-Century music business, he probably wouldn't be touring the casino circuit, trotting out his 25-year-old hits. It still would've been fun to meet him, though. Thanks for the Amazon gift cards anyway, Curt!

The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon was named among the 'Best Albums of 2007' in two American music blogs: first, the indie music community known as The Pop League, and, second, Ryan's Smashing Life, a rock music blog that is frequently featured in the electronic edition of the Boston Globe (Ryan also asked his award-winners, along with other music industry folks, to name their picks for Best of 2007. Surf on over to the blog to find out what Aaron English's answer was!).

This recognition for Marriage is well timed, as the album is finally being released nationwide in January 2008, with heavy promotion via national print and electronic media, as well as college and non-commercial radio. And, then, in June, The Aaron English Band heads out on another U.S. tour, also in support of the new album.

All this means that 2008 will be a big year for Aaron English and The AE Band. Keep checking back for monthly updates, or sign up on our myspace page to receive the quarterly e-newsletter.

'Like Smoke' is now featured in the Rock/Pop/Alt channel at Music4ipods.com - a website that streams podcasts that are exactly one song long. In other words, these "podcasts" are actually free mp3s of individual songs from independent artists. What's the catch? There isn't one: artists give away one song from their catalog in hopes that subscribers to the podcast will like what they hear...and go purchase that artist's music. Head over to Music4ipods.com for more details, or to subscribe.

Another Aaron English feature hits the podcasting world, this time at eclecticmix.com. No Aaron English interview this time, just an in-depth look at AE's music, courtesy of the podcast's host, George Smyth. Click here to listen to Eclectic Mix Episode #127.

There's a new upload on the Aaron English myspace page:

- it's Aaron's, uh, 'lounge-hop' version of "Silent Night"...in honor of a certain approaching holiday (to the smart-ass in the back of the class who whispered "Kwanzaa", you're absolutely wrong: it's actually Veterans' Day). Click here to listen.

Fall 2007, so far, has been spent gearing up for musical activity in 2008. The Aaron English Band is planning recording for the Winter and Spring, and extended US tours for the Summer and Fall. Send us good wishes and good vibes (or good peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, which would achieve much the same effect)....

Radio may be "dead," but its Internet equivalents continue to flourish - as evidenced by the ever-expanding variety of podcasts, live streaming radio, audio blogs, etc. We don't have to depend on radio DJs to introduce us to new music anymore, especially since the Internet?s methods for connecting us with new music are only getting more sophisticated, more individualized, and more interactive.

Aaron English music is now featured on two particularly impressive music sites that allow listeners to interact with each other, or with artificial intelligence software, to help them discover new music...or just help them dial up a mix of familiar favorites on command.

pandora.com is an "intelligent" radio station, built around a patented algorithmic process that analyzes millions of songs, then creates unique playlists customized to your individual musical tastes. Surf over to their homepage, enter the name of an artist or song you like, and the website queues up a mix of songs that it considers to be "musically similar". As you click "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" on each new song it offers you, the website's software "learns" what you like, and refines its results accordingly. For example, enter "Aaron English", and the website responds by generating a mix of songs from artists that are considered to be "similar" to Aaron's repertoire: established acts such as Duncan Sheik, Mutemath, and The Shins, and independent/underground artists such as Jim Bryson, The Rain Band, and Public Symphony. Also, like a real-live DJ, the artificial intelligence software even attempts to connect songs lyrically and thematically. For example: on several occasions, Aaron's song "The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon" was followed by "The Sun & the Moon, The Moon & The Sea", a track from the shoegazer duo People Noise. Not in the mood for exploring new music? Type in, say, "Men at Work", and up comes a mix featuring guitar-based '80s New Wave favorites. The advertising on the website is limited to banner ads, which means you don't have to sit through any commercials in between songs. The artificial intelligence sometimes throws you a curveball, but, overall, the site is highly recommended as a place to discover new music, for free.

amiestreet.com is itunes with a "stock market" twist. Yet another download site for independent music, Amiestreet sets itself apart from the competition by allowing the price of each downloadable track to fluctuate, from zero cents to a dollar, depending on that track's popularity on the site. In addition, like the stock market, Amiestreet allows listeners to "buy shares" in the future popularity of a track. If you download a track and its value increases, you earn credits that can be used to purchase more music on the site. Sound promising? It certainly did to Amazon, which made a highly publicized investment in AmieStreet in August.

Aaron English was the featured artist - and special guest - on two recent podcasts:
Audio Gumshoe, based in Dayton, OH, and The Rogues' Gallery, based in Seattle, WA. To stream or download either show, click on the links below:

Audio Gumshoe 07/09/07

The Rogues' Gallery 01/18/07

Now that we have your attention: Aaron English will be the flagship artist for the new free-download site, freesongclub.com. Music fans who sign up for the service get free, downloadable mp3s from great new independent artists in their favorite genres - no strings attached. Aaron English will be the doe-eyed poster-boy for the launch of the new service, and 'Like Smoke' is on tap to be the first download in the 'Rock' category. Interested in learning more? Check it out here: freesongclub.com

I am excited about all the attention the new album has been getting.

The "radioplay" and "reviews/interviews" pages on aaronenglish.com are being updated constantly as this album receives attention from radio stations (both terrestrial and Internet-based) and periodicals (both in print and on the Web).

I would like to shout-out several stations/podcasts that have been truly extraordinary advocates of the new album...and Aaron English music in general. They also happen to be terrific stations - I would highly recommend them to anyone wanting to discover great new music:

radioparadise.com
Radio Paradise, a listener-supported Internet station in California. Eclectic, intelligent Triple-A rock.

wlso.fm
WLSO, "The Longtown Sound", a podcasting station in South Carolina. Indie rock/folk rock.

thedividingline.com/rg.html
The Rogue's Gallery, a streaming Internet and podcasting station in Washington State. New progressive rock.

wholewheatradio.org
Whole Wheat Radio, a streaming Internet station in Alaska. Singer-songwriters/folk rock/folk.

The new album is selling well on iTunes and CDBaby, as well as direct from aaronenglish.com. My early impressions:

- It's a download planet! Who's buying CDs anymore? Me, but I seem to be in the minority. Most folks prefer to buy the album from iTunes. People tend to buy CDs at live gigs - otherwise, apparently, y'all would rather have mp3s.

- It's not terribly surprising that the biggest-selling download track from the new album has been my cover of "Message in a Bottle." My guess is that many of the people buying it had never heard of Aaron English until they stumbled across my version of the classic song. If that's true, then "Message" has been an invaluable promotional tool for the new album. The fact that The Police are launching a reunion tour this summer probably helps, but that's a lucky coincidence. My cover of "Message" actually predates their long-awaited reunion by quite a few years: I first demo'd it at the same time I was writing "Animals Like Us," during pre-production for my first album.

A related story: I was travelling in Thailand, years ago, and my friend Rick and I tried to turn some Thai kids on to Western rock music. To accomplish this, we bought a few pirated cassette copies of classic albums from the night market in Chiang Mai. I got a huge kick out of the consistently mistranslated song titles on the j-card inserts. For example: U2's "MLK" became "Milk", and "Message in a Bottle" somehow became "Message in a Bootie".

(As it turned out, the kids didn't particularly like any of the music we shared with them. But, then, we didn't care much for the sugary Thai pop music that they, so enthusiastically, shared with us.)

After the initial release on aaronenglish.com, the release schedule for the album is as follows:

CDBaby.com: Album available February 10th, 2007
itunes.com, rhapsody.com, yahoomusic.com: Album available for download March 1st, 2007
Amazon.com: Album available March 15th, 2007

...it'd look like Seattle did on December 14th.

I picked up the master copy of the album that day, which made it a good day, a glorious day, a day to remember. Then I stepped out of the mastering studio into two feet of running water. Madison Park had turned into a lake. The winds were just getting started: I slogged back to my car as a light-pole snapped and, in a blue flash, fell over a block away from me. As I opened my car door, the water level on the sidewalk was high enough that rainwater poured onto the floor below the driver's seat. I finally managed to get my car to higher ground without having to row...and then, for reasons completely unrelated to the storm, my car completely died. Kaput.

Oh, and did I mention it was my birthday?

A fine day it was, though, all considered, 'cause I did manage to pick up the master of the album. That album is now on its way to the duplication company, and should be back to me in 7-10 days. Then I shoot a bunch of copies off to CDBaby, who get their online system ready to take orders for the album. That takes another 7-10 days. So, whaddya think: Does January 10th sound like a reasonable estimation for date-of-release for this fine new record? Yes, I think so. Fingers are crossed.

I leave this morning for a retreat: ten days of silent meditation. I don't know much about it, I don't know what to expect. But it'll be quite a shift after this scramble to get the album together....and trying to revive my dead car....and recovering from the storm(s) (there's another on its way tonight)! I have a hunch that sitting quiet for ten days will be welcome in my heart and head; This month's been quite a ride.

I'm back January 1st, hopefully to discover a bunch of boxes of freshly-pressed CDs on my doorstep...

The album will be available in compact disc and download formats.