Thanks so much to everyone for your comments and emails. It’s nice to know someone is paying attention.

I’ve written and recorded more music in the last few months than I have in a long, long time. The end of TFK is in no way a slow-down in my musical involvement. If anything, it’s just the opposite. I’m not going anywhere. There’s lots more music to come. I promise.

The bulk of my recording time over the last six weeks (probably 100 hours) has been spent trying to figure out how to get an $800.oo acoustic guitar recorded with a $500.oo mic to sound like a $2,000.oo guitar recorded with some outrageously expensive mic. I’m still trying. I consider McCartney’s acoustic guitar tone on his song Jenny Wren to be the most amazing acoustic tone I’ve ever heard. There’s a link to the video for that song on this page. Click the “video” link right above the headstock of the guitar. I want that sound. I just can’t afford it. I’ve gotten about as close as I think I’m going to get…which is not all that close really.

Another thing I’ve learned lately is that Martin “Bluegrass” acoustic guitar strings are awesome. Steve Nowels used to swear by those strings and now I know why. He always said they have that “Spraang!” that no other string has. He was right.

My fingers have been so sore and blistered lately that I can barely type. I’ve been working on my finger picking technique and I’m actually getting rather serviceable at it. You’ll be hearing plenty of it on my solo record. Stay tuned.

Since I haven’t posted anything in six weeks I’m not sure if anyone even reads this anymore. I guess we’ll see.

I know some of you already know this and the rest of you may have suspected it but The Formula Kid broke up two months ago. There was no big fight, no building tensions, no irreconcilable differences, no sleeping with each others wives, and no musical differences. There was just a singer who was completely burned out. So I quit back in May. I won’t go into the reasons why we decided to delay the announcement but it was by design, not laziness.

First things first, we are going to release the album. It may be kinda short because we never really finished tracking all of the songs but I think there will be at least seven completely finished tracks. I don’t know what we’ll do with the rest. I will be mixing it myself so I don’t expect it to be done any time soon. I may not be a very good mix engineer but at least I’m incredibly slow at it. When the songs are done we intend to make them available as cheaply as possible…to you and to us. We’ll also probably do one last show to try and take your money.

Everyone is still very much on friendly terms. I know Dino and Nate are working on a recording project together. I talked to Mike a couple of weeks ago and he said he was just taking it easy for now and spending some quality time with his son. Somebody better grab that guy while he’s still available. He’s one of the most talented and wicked bass players I’ve ever known.

I’m working on a solo album that I expect to finish nowhere in the foreseeable future. I’ve been recording nonstop for the past six weeks and have very little to show for it. But I really love what I’ve got so far. Dino will be playing the drums (surprise, surprise) and I’ve already sent him some demos to start working with. I’ve also started recording the album that I’m doing with Brian McClelland and it’s rather cool so far.

I’m not sure what to do about the blog. We’ll see.

Quitting this band was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I don’t regret it but it is sad. I’ve obsessed over this band (in its various incarnations) day and night for the last eight years and it’s not an easy thing to just walk away from it. But as people get older, busier, and family-er it gets exponentially harder and harder to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. This is no one’s fault. It’s just the way it is. And if it were someone’s fault it would be mine.

I love writing and recording music. I like playing live. I mildly enjoy band practice. Now I just want to do what I love. I’m too old, too fat, and too ugly to keep thinking that I’m going to be a big rock star someday. I give up. Uncle! I tried and failed. I’m just not that guy who’s willing to do “whatever it takes” to make it big. I just don’t care that much. Now I only want to concentrate on the things I know I can succeed at: writing and recording good music.

So thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged us over the years. We had some really great times. I’ve been extremely lucky to have played with the caliber of musicians that I have. Speaking of which, Steve Nowels was a huge part of the history of this band. A year ago he left the band. The whole ordeal was extremely ugly and unfortunate. Until about two weeks ago he and I hadn’t spoken since he quit. I called Steve and apologized for betraying our friendship and for my behavior surrounding his departure. Now I feel like the memory of The Drew Johnson Band/The Formula Kid can truly rest in peace.