I’ll make the first post of 2008 a great one!

I had a chance to sit down with Peter Mathews and ask him a ton of questions about his project, Far From Haggersville.

We cover everything from the themes of the story as well as the various ways that Peter is giving you to interact with this creative project. We also discuss dreams, the challenges of being an independent musician and film maker, and his recommendations for overcoming those challenges.

You can download the complete interview with Peter Mathews here.

You can open the interview with Peter Mathews in iTunes here.

The complete conversation is just under 20 minutes, including music clips and some sound clips from the short films that are a part of the project. A full download of the MustardCast is about 18mb.

You can learn more about Peter Mathews and Far From Haggersville at www.haggersville.com.

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Ha! And you thought I was gone forever, didn’t you? Oh ye of little faith. . .

I had a new dishwasher installed a couple weeks ago (apparently the model we replaced has started on fire in numerous homes - cool). The new one’s a Bosch, because, as we know, I’m a Germanphile (and it was rated well by Consumer Reports). The cool thing about our dishwasher is that the guy installing it is an aspiring musician. Of course, I had a lot of questions for him.

It’s not everyday I get to meet people who are really going after it. This guy is working to build out a recording studio, has an album finished and wants to keep going. He’s cranking away at his day job to support his musical dreams. Impressive.

You can listen to Patrick Bodell’s music at www.patrickbodell.com.

We may even connect and do some recording together.

Nice surprise in a dishwasher install I would say. (and, weeks later, I have clean dishes too!)

PS If you haven’t yet purchased Peter Mathew’s “Far From Haggersville,” go to www.haggersville.com and do it now!

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I’ve had a great last couple of weeks far from my computer (more about that later). Now I want to tell you about a new CD called, Far From Haggersville. It’s a unique project that tells the story of a young musician via song, film, and other media. I helped with some of the drumming, some of the film shoots, and just general overall project assistance.

Peter Mathews, the musician/songwriter/director, is a great friend of mine and I would encourage any of you reading this to learn more via any of his websites. I’ll probably work up a podcast with Peter in the future.

Brit Rice, who I interviewed in my last MustardCast (I know, it’s been a while), produced the music.

If you like art, music, or life (I think I’ve covered you all!), you should be listening to this. . .

Here are some links and more information I recently got from Peter:

It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of the music album Far from Haggersville. We are also happy to announce the release of select scenes from the film Far from Haggersville available on the Enhanced CD.

We have been working on this project for several years and have finally come to its completion. You can find more about the album and film at www.haggersville.com or www.petermathews.com. The CD includes 9 songs many with sound scenes that preclude the music tracks as well as the Enhanced CD content (for your computer) such as scenes from the film, wallpapers, mp3 songs, artist promotional music and more.

Please feel free to download the QuickTime file of the Far from Haggersville Trailer and distribute and post it as you desire or link to a low quality version of it on Youtube. You can find the links on the www.haggersville.com homepage.

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I really enjoyed listening to this interview as I edited it. I know you will enjoy it and learn from it as well. This is not just for musicians, but for anyone seeking to make their passions a bigger part of their life. I’ve broken the interview into two MustardCasts and used a less “high fidelity” setting to make the file sizes a bit more manageable. I hope you audiophiles will be ok with that.

Part I (MustardCast 3a)
Length: 16:27

Play or Download MustardCast 3a
Play MustardCast #3a, interview with Brit Rice, in iTunes

Download the .mp3 file of MustardCast 3a, interview with Brit Rice (5.6mb)

• Intro / How did you get into the music business?
• 3:30 How did you crack into the studio scene?
• 5:20 What’s your favorite part? Playing, producing, songwriting? What’s the role of the producer?
• 7:55 Do you feel that the concept of album/cd is a lost art? Is there still an audience for the album?
• 10:35 What do you feel is essential for great music?
• 13:00 What do you feel structure does to the ability to deliver emotion in a song?

Brit’s recommended listening:

• The New Congress
• Chris Coza

Part II of the MustardCast (3b)
Length: Approx. 19 Minutes

Play or Download MustardCast 3b
Play MustardCast #3b, interview with Brit Rice, in iTunes

Download the .mp3 file of MustardCast 3b, interview with Brit Rice (6.6mb)

• 16:45 Talk about some of the sacrifices you’ve had to make to do the things you love.
• 21:10 What do you struggle with as someone trying to work your passion?
• 22:20 Would you share your mom’s philosophy of drumming?
• 23:10 How important is it to you to have your parents support what you are going after?
• 27:27 What do you fear the most as a musician?
• 30:08 What encouragement could you give to people who want to move towards doing something they are passionate about?

Learn More About Polydream
Listen to samples and buy Polydream music at iTunes
Polydream’s MySpace site
Polydream’s Website

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I promised an MP3 of a song many moons ago in my MustardCast with Ben Delzer of the band, standing mavis.

It has taken me too long to get this out to you, and I apologize for the imperfections of it. It was played live and mixed down by me, a non-engineer. (This is what you get when you let a drummer behind the board!)

I promised my wife I’d do the dishes tonight before midnight, and then I went into final mixdown of this and. . .whoops. . .looks like another late night. (I will do the dishes, though.)

This month has been crazy, but I am so excited by the music I’ve been able to be a part of.

As I finished this track up, I thought about Ben and Matt, who make up the other 2/3rds of standing mavis. I would do anything for these guys. They are so great.

Jim Collins in his business research (visit his link in my blogroll) often talks about “getting the right people on the bus” in your company. (Read Good to Great to understand this.) It’s a lost art in terms of bands.

I cannot think of two people I’d rather be on the bus with than Ben Delzer and Matt Rodgers. Two fantastic musicians. Two fantastic people.

Here’s the song, Steel. (4.3mb .mp3)

I’ll also upload it at http://www.myspace.com/standingmavis.

MustardCast Number 3 with Brit Rice is next on the list…before Christmas? Oh man, I don’t know. . .

Thanks for visiting!

PS If you didn’t catch the interview with Ben, you might want to. Learn more here.

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Ben Delzer is a singer/songwriter/guitarist and leader of the indie band (with which I also play), standing mavis. I took a couple minutes to ask the following questions of him. Give this first MustardCast (aka Podcast) a listen. I hope his striving to make more of his passions will encourage you to make more of yours.

Length of the MustardCast:
13 min 41 sec

If you have iTunes, you can play the MustardCast now.

Otherwise, you can Download MustardCast #1 Featuring Ben Delzer of standing mavis (7.8 mb)

Features:
Some clips from standing mavis as well as interesting discussion around the following topics:

• Ultimately, do you feel this is your calling?
• What is the purpose of music to you?
• How do you balance that with responsibilities of family?
• What do you need from your spouse to help you stay motivated to create?
• How are you most often misunderstood?
• Discuss your approach to songwriting (i.e., music first, lyrics first, etc.)

I’m in the process of mixing down one of the songs highlighted in this MustardCast. I’ll post a link when that is ready for download.

You can learn a bit more about standing mavis and listen to a few studio and live tracks at their MySpace site: www.myspace.com/standingmavis.

BTW, please tell me what you think of these. I have a nice line up of interviews set up and I really want to make these as beneficial as possible to you.

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