Back to the Marathon Records home page!
Pages designed and maintained by Jeff Elbel (jeff@marathonrecords.com)
What we did:
That's right. It's amazing, our album is finally complete. The official release date is Tuesday, July 1st. It has been 4 years in the making. You can pre-order at: www.marathonrecords.com or www.hopescope.org We will be doing a couple of record release shows in July. The first will be at the Elbow Room in Ypsilanti. We will also be playing at the River Community Church presents: the Brighton Street Festival. Check our out our website for details of these shows. Though I apologize for the length of the e-mail, try and check it out to its completion ...
For those of you who want the backstory to our fabulous CD, read on, true believer ...
Who we are:
The hopescope was formed way back in 1994 and the lineup has gone through several personnel overhauls. Currently we have Brian Richardson (vocals, rhythm guitars) Eric Empson (vocals, lead guitars) Wally Segieda (keyboards, vocals) Rob Kandell (bass guitar, keyboards) and John Barber (drums and percussion). Jeff Elbel produced our record with a skill, patience and hard work that transcends the English language. I promise; listen for yourself. The album is a five year journal of Eric's life, from his star-struck move to California, to relationship failure, to living a sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle, to finding purpose and meaning through new love and faith.
As the story goes:
I thought it was time to make a pretentious rock concept album long before I knew what I would write about. But the events of my life unfolded in a way that, to me, made for perfect fodder. I decided upon the working title "Five Year Journal." The album was to document chronologically, song by song, a period in my life that was tumultuous and full of drama. The album has a clear story arc, so I don't want to give too much away. Suffice to say, I am confident that this is a powerful tale, told by a band at the height of its creative power. I implore you to buy this record. We spent $13,000 making it, so you can spend $10 and change buying (Pretty please!).
For the gearheads:
Read on if studio processes and musical gear interest you. We recorded at Perfect Balance Studio in Ann Arbor, and probably spent about 120 hours tracking. Jeff probably doubled that in hourly output in One Take Wonder studio in Lawndale, California (the irony in that name and his effort is inescapable). We tracked to the ADAT format. John recorded on a beautiful Premier drum kit with various Zildjian, Sabian and K cymbals. Rob used a Fender Jazz Bass, a Dean 5-String bass and an Epiphone-Hofner style violin bass; we mic’d his Hartke head and cabinet, and we also ran the bass direct to the board. Eric played a Japanese Fender Stratocaster, an American Standard Fender Strat, an ESP Les Paul, a Epiphone Sorrento hollow-body, and a Seagull acoustic guitar. Eric processed through many layers using a Boss ME-6, Digitech RP-12, a Boss GT-3, and various stomp boxes. His 1969 Fender Super Reverb 4x10, a Marshall JCM900 and a Roland JC90 were mic'd. Our producer Jeff Elbel added additional tracking using a Rickenbacker 360, Rickenbacker Roger McGuinn signature series 12-string, Gibson Les Paul studio model, Paul Reed Smith standard guitar, Maya 12 string acoustic, and Gibson J30 acoustic. Wally added keys on various Wurlitzer and Roland keyboards (they were shiny and looked expensive). Brian brought his priceless vocal chords, and Wally, Jeff and I did our best to match that effort on the mic. On this record "more was definitely more." Each song on the album included in the neighborhood of 40 to 64 individual tracks. Hope you can hear them all! The album clocks in at 55 minutes, with many cinematic interludes to tie the story together. Again, the songs represent a chronological story arc. We had the album mastered by the expert ears of Rev Hillstrom of Creation Station Media in Minneapolis, MN, and it sounds like it SHOULD be on the radio. Joe Mancuso was the ever-patient, ever-helpful, tirelessly enthusiastic engineer on the project. What a guy! We appreciate any and all gear loans from our friends and fans, they were appreciated - you know who you are ...
Thanks:
This is a thank you to the folks that were the major support behind this record. If it is not publicly known, it takes sooooooooo many people to pull this off properly, and it would be impossible to list everyone here. You simply know who you are ... Also, I want to take this opportunity to thank those who helped shape us, from the positive to negative forces, that helped us all to grow personally and as a band. I thank those who have encouraged our work and attended shows. And I want to thank those individuals for the pride and dedication put into this project who worked just as hard in their own way on the project, but will not necessarily get any notoriety for their efforts. (drum techs, engineers, mastering engineers, producers, CD art renderers, photographers, soundpeople, etc.)
Final instructions:
So please, I ask you to buy our record "the hopescope: bring in the sun". It is, I dare say, a truly great classic/modern rock CD with a unified vision, first rate performance, and top flight production. Darken the lights, light a candle, sit back in your favorite chair, put on your best set of headphones, and get swept up in one man's journey. It could be any man's; it just happens to be mine ... Thanks for listening!
Eric Empson
and the hopescope
