The Truth/Changes

 Greetings! I just want to take a second and say thank you to everyone who has been supporting The Heart Project, checking out the music, and staying up with what's been going on. It really does mean the world to me, i cannot stress that enough. Now that i have gotten over some personal hurdles and made some changes, i wanted to update you guys because this is NOT what some of you might have thought it was going to be anymore so i want to be very clear about what The Heart Project is from this point on. The original idea was me and the music...thats it. A couple lights, a tree, gear, and the music....stripped down, designed to let YOU feel whatever the music makes you feel, nothing else. Just me, a few chords, and the truth. Well, as the possibilities grew, so did the idea. The Heart Project grew into a multimedai art, theatre, dance, and music...thing...that would have been absolutely amazing to pull off, but the truth is...as awesome as that sounded....it diluted the purity of my vison, and i had to take a step back and get back on the ground a little. Using all of that stuff to tell some kind of story would totally negate the point of letting the music do the talking, which is the entire essence of the original idea. So, i came to the decision to TRULY go it alone, and strip The Heart Project back down to its essence. Just me, the music, and a few lights...gotta have a LITTLE bit of a visual element, set a mood, carry some ambience. Laura Shull did an amazing job on the logo, and Mita Beach is a production genius and will still be helping with lighting and web stuff)...but the time came to get back to the roots of what The Heart Project means to me. So, the real good news is that this means i can bring this to the stage ALOT sooner than i orininally thought. Just gotta get all the ducks in a row. I'll have the finished album soon, then it has to be copywritten, registered, duplicated, and into my hands. We'll have the preview party on May 28th (which will be invite only, we have extremely limited space for this one), and then i will be rehearsing religiously and getting ready to start booking for fall if all goes the way i'd like it to!
So there you go, that's everything up to this point. Wanna help? Spread the word, tell your friends, suggest us around on Facebook. In a band? Dig the music? I am open to any and all shows, i'll play on the street if i have to...so if you and your band dig what i'm doing (i'm talking to YOU Atlanta), feel free to contact me anytime about shows. And if you book a venue, i will be in touch soon!
I hope that served to make everything crystal clear and bring everyone up to speed. Keep up the support, without it this is nothing! One day closer.
aaron

STUDIO UPDATE 1

Well, so far so good! The studio last Saturday went FANTASTIC and please be sure to stop by Facebook and check out The Unirocn Room Recording Studio's page. My good friend Maq Brown is doing a killer job with The Heart Project and he will do the same for you. I can't say enough good stuff about him and the 2 of us are going to be working very closely in the future. We got about 75% of the basic tracking done but due to the nature of my music (lots of layers, loops, etc.) we are going to reconvene in The Unicorn Room for another marathon day of tracking on Saturday (1/29)...and THEN tracking should be finished. from there, mixing, mastering, and then to your ears! Online sales will most likely be first, but all of that is still in the planning phase of things, so...one thing at a time! First this beast must get finished! I was going to try to post updates and maybe even video from the studio but i am too much of a workaholis for that crap, i'd rather be recording. Besides, you guys don't really want to hear every inane detail of what we're up to in there, and i would much rather spend the time making The Heart Project's first recording as absolutely amazing as i can. So, thats what i shall do! I'll update again once tracking finishes.

Continua tratando, amigos.

aaron

ON MY OWN

Next weekend i am going into the studio for the first time as a solo artist to record MY OWN music on MY OWN terms, no compromises and no drama. I can't quite describe the feeling, but i can say this...it feels amazing. To finally be doing precisely what i have always wanted to do is such a great feeling, and i'm just ready to get in there and do this. I say "on my own" but i don't want to discount the hard work of the other 2/3 of The Heart Project...Laura Shull and Mita Beach. Laura is my artist/photographer/web designer/etc. and she is an absolutely massive talent. Next time i log in i'll post a link to her personal site so you guys can check out some of her other work, it will blow you away. The photos, logo, artwork, etc. are all her, and she has an uncanny ability to take ideas from my crazy head and turn them into beautiful reality. She's an A+ all the way. Mita is listed on our sites as "the impossible" because he can truly do the impossible, period. Mitas expertise is on the production/theater side of things and most of everything you will see at our shows, events, etc. is his work. He runs an AV/Production company called Pro Meeting Rentals based in Marietta (again, a link is coming) and its pretty much his business to make the impossible happen on a daily basis. I just wanted to make sure i mentioned them because i feel like a dickhead when i say "on my own", cause i'm just the jerk with the guitar. ;)

That said, the music coming out of me right now is the best i have ever made, and its only getting better from here. It's like a switch went off in my head when i decided to go for it, and it broke off, never to be switched back again. Full steam ahead. Maybe it's because i finally let go of the deluded dreams of years past, of playing in a band and being a "rock star". Maybe its because it's taken me this long to figure it out, maybe all my mistakes and bad decisions of the past truly built the knowledge i needed to do this the RIGHT way. Maybe i'm just meant to do this, and no amount of questioning or analyzing will find a good answer, it just IS. Im so proud of where The Heart Project is, and where it's going...again, it is really hard to describe but believe me, i am VERY proud. I am also extremely proud to be able to say that The Heart Project is 100% DIY. No outside help, no bigwigs, no gladhands, just us and the art we make. Do i have goals and aspirations for The Heart Project? Abso-freakin'-lutely, i do. But everything we do, we will do on our own, on our own terms, from the ground up. I am very proud of that, maybe it's the punk rock in my blood.

If you know me you know that music has always been my life, we have just had kind of a f'ed up relationship over the years. I loved being in band, but i think my younger self liked the TRAPPINGS of being in a band more. I just never quite fit in in ANY band i was in, cause i have always had such a clear vision of what i wanted to do, and i guess i compromised it to chase down what i thought was what i wanted. It seems so clear now, but i guess thats usually how it goes when the older and more sober version of yourself looks back on years past. Well, at any rate...no more of that shit, no way, not ever. It has taken me a LONG time to get even to this beginning stage of The Heart Project and i am not looking back, only forward. Setting goals, meeting goals, surpassing even my OWN expectations. No limits, no over-thinking, just DOING. Period.

So, thanks for your support, whether it be reading my wordy blogs, Liking our Facebook page, checking out the music, or telling a friend...without you i'm REALLY just a jerk with a guitar, and thats no good to anyone. There is ALOT to come in 2011, and it's no guts no glory for The Heart Project...and we got guts to spare (just check out our photos.)! Glad to have you on board, this weekend our complete first photo shoot will be up and our official website will be fully functional and live! I'll be doing more of these from the studio next weekend. Til then, continua tratando amigos. One day closer.

aaron

The Heart Project blog

Greetings! In an effort to expand our online presence and become as much of a nuisance as possible, The Heart Project has entered the blog universe! If you check out the profile you know most of the basics about what The Heart Project is so i won't waste your time with get-to-know-you stuff here. I am in the studio next Friday-Sunday January 21st-23rd recording The Heart Project and i'll be posting the track listing and updates from the studio here, may as well get some productive use out of this thing. The Heart Project is recording at The Unicorn Room with my good friend Maq Brown, and i'm stoked out of my mind to finally get these songs into the studio. THIS weekend our official website will be live (http://www.theheartprojectonline.com/ ), and we will have brand new photos from last weeks shoot up wherever we can post them (Facebook, Twitter, here of course). Lots more to come, so stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

aaron