October 21, 2014 in News, Releases

Brian Details New Collaborative EP

Hey everyone, Brian here with some details about the new EP, I’ll Believe It When I See It, that features myself alongside our main attraction, Jeff Fiedler.

Jeff sings lead, and plays drums and rhythm guitar throughout the EP. I play lead guitar and bass, and I sing backup. Jeff also insisted that I play saxophone on the final track, “Stutter Step,” which – for all you longtime fans out there – is a song that dates way back to 2006, when The Paper Jets were calling themselves The Invisible Solid. Minus one song (which I’ll get to), Jeff and I co-wrote and co-produced the entire thing!

Here’s the track-listing:

1. Mick Jagger Said It’s Okay – Jeff is primarily thought of as a piano-tickling balladeer but it’s hard to argue his skill as a rock vocalist when you hear this one. I actually don’t play guitar like a complete buffoon on this one, so there’s that.

2. Dress Down – This one dates back to my first-ever batch of songs written in 2004! Jeff always liked it and asked to rework and record it for this release. I wholeheartedly agreed to it! Frank Lettieri took over engineering for this track while I spent some time in Alaska. When I got back, Frank had put down some awesome lead guitar work of his own!

3. Sometimes Letters – Our old guitar-player Bill Lambusta called this our Hall & Oates song. I’d like to think of it as Hall & Oates via Don’t Tell a Soul-era Replacements. I deliberately tried to play a guitar solo that I thought Bill might have done.

4. What Else – Written by Drew Novelli (who also plays bass on the track), “What Else,” was – technically speaking – the final Invisible Solid song ever! Drew, Bill, and I cut a live demo of the song in December 2006, just weeks before the group’s breakup. The demo was recorded at the Darrah Lane House, where Bill and I took up residence (along with one-time bandmate Tim Ryan). It was a huge house (eight housemates in all) and friends seemed to always be coming and going. “What Else,” despite its themes of sadness and isolation, takes me back to that time at Darrah Lane.

5. Stutter Step – Of all the songs here, this is the only one we ever performed live! The Invisible Solid took this song on the road in the Spring of 2006, playing it exactly twice. The Paper Jets actually resurrected the song in March 2011 at a Binghamton University show. Since then, however, it has remained in the vaults…until now! It was Jeff’s idea to throw the saxophones on at the end; one which I enthusiastically approved of!

Credits:
Jeff Fiedler – vocals, rhythm guitar, drums
Brian E – backing vocals, lead guitar, bass, keyboard, saxophone
Drew Novelli – bass on “What Else”
Frank Lettieri Jr – lead guitar on “Dress Down”

Written, Recorded, Performed & Produced by Fiedler/Erickson except, “What Else,” written by Drew Novelli. Additional engineering and production by Frank Lettieri Jr.

So there’s our EP! Believe it, because it drops next week!!!

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