I hope you all have a great New Year! I thought it would be fun to do a 2011 Crankshaft year end review, here goes:
January 2011:
Finished recording the album "Junkyard Rhythm" after four months of collaboration with 14 local musicians.
February 2011:
Finished the album cover art for the new release.
March 2011:
Threw a CD listening party where Crankshaft fans chose three singles for the radio promotion campaign.
Directed and co-shot the music video "Neighbor Boys," one of the singles chosen from the new CD.
April 2011:
Pressed 2000 copies of "Junkyard Rhythm," as well as 250 promo copies.
Mailed over 100 copies of the new album to college and independent radio stations nationwide.
May 2011:
Released "Junkyard Rhythm" at Lee's Liquor Lounge, and despite tornado warnings, I-94 being closed downtown, and competition from Art-A-Whirl that weekend, over 150 people attended!
June 2011:
Junkyard received play on over 25 FM radio stations nationwide.
Started booking a 30-day national tour.
Recorded every Sunday show during this month for a new CD, "Lubricated, Live, and Loud."
July 2011:
Crankshaft fans raised nearly $4,000 towards a national tour bus at CRANKFEST!
August 2011:
Ran a request bomb 89.3 The Current campaign.
September 2011:
The single "Neighbor Boys" was featured on The Local Show on 89.3 The Current! Yes, it worked... don't try this at home.
Left MN on a 26-show national tour!
October 2011:
Opened for Bob Log III in Chicago, IL.
Met Cy Taggart and John L. Venable, who was a road manager for Atlantic signed bands for 20+ years in Richmond, VA.
Played with Nick Savage in Gainesville, Florida (Bo Diddley's Sax Player from '88 to '08)
Met Red Morgan, who is a staple in the New Orleans Jazz community.
November 2011:
Released the limited edition "Lubricated, Live, and Loud" CD (500 pressed).
Wrote, recorded, mastered, and released the single "Louisiana Bayou Santa."
December 2011:
"Louisiana Bayou Santa" was played on 90.3 KFAI, 88.1 KVSC, 89.3 The Current, and it received over 700 plays on SoundCloud!
"Motorcycle Woman" was used as a bumper track on NPR's Car Talk, this was our first ever nationally syndicated play!
Ran a canned food drive that earned $222 for the Anoka Food Shelf plus a boatload of food.
Played my last Sunday show at the River City Saloon (and last show of 2011), thanks for the awesome year and a half we had together there!
What's in store for 2012? I have a new house gig at the Eagles Nest Lounge in Robbinsdale (4106 Lakeland Ave N--on the corner of 41st and W Broadway), I will be playing there every Thursday at 8:30pm starting January 5th. A lot of folks are wondering if I'll be playing any shows in the Anoka area and I can assure you that I will! Tanner's in Andover has picked me up on a 6-week rotation starting in March! I will continue to play some out-of-state events in the coming months as well. In April I will be going to Clarksdale, MS, to play and hopefully make some good national connections at the Juke Joint Festival. Locally I'm booked for Rumble Fest in Amherst, WI this summer as well as the Bayfront Blues Fest in Duluth. There are a few monumental things that I'm working on as far as booking goes too (I'm talking overseas!), but nothing is solid yet. I do plan on recording another album this year, I'm not sure if the release will be in 2012 or 2013 though, that depends on how many copies of Junkyard Rhythm are left come the end of summer. I can say, if 2012 is even half as productive as 2011, you can look forward to a bunch of awesome music and art from Crankshaft in the year ahead! Thanks again for all your support this year, I hope you have a great 2012!
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