GOGOLAK - Rising EP

 

Artwork by ADRIAN

Great news everybody!

The GOGOLAK - Rising EP is available, as of today, April 1, 2021. 

You can buy, stream or listen to the album on all music hosting platforms, including Spotify, iTunes, Apple Tunes, etc. 

You can find all the links in one place: https://gogolak.hearnow.com

And I know what you're thinking: who the hell is GOGOLAK??

Who and what is GOGOLAK?

It started with a text:

ADRIAN: "I came up with a cool band name, GOGOLAK."

ME: "That's a pretty good name! I actually wrote a song today that would work with that name."

ADRIAN: "Oh, cool."

ME: "Actually, I think I could come up with enough material for a 3 song EP."

I wrote/recorded a song a day, on my days off from work, and completed the bones of the album in three days.

I still don't know what a GOGOLAK is?

It's a modern psychedelic rock band, started with a text between two old friends.

How do you pronounce the name?

I don't know. I've never spoken it out loud. 

After starting the album, what happened next?

I worked really hard and was extremely happy with the results. But, I thought to myself: I could make this even better, if I brought in more people, to add more flavor to the overall sound.

Someone actually collaborated with you??

In the past, trying to get people to collaborate with me was like pulling teeth, from a rabid dog, with a mouth full of roast beef. Impossible. The first thing the album needed was lead guitar. Yes, I can do an OK job doing leads, but I wanted someone who could take the album to a whole new level, and after some thinking, I thought of GREG. I had met GREG through TLR (The Last Ride) skate crew. We jammed together once, with another rider, GMT, and I had been blown away by the fact that GREG played solo's over made up music for a couple hours, just riffing away. So, I contacted him, expecting my usual: no thanks. To my surprise, he was down to play on the album.

And you were happy with the results?

It took a couple weeks to find a time to get him over to the Living Room Studio, but once he got there, he absolutely ripped. He would run through a song once, play some crazy stuff, then ask me what I thought. I'd say: that's perfect, let's go to the next song. This means that all the solo's and leads were mostly done in one take. On the spot. Doesn't seem so crazy now, but once you hear what he did, you should be blown away like I was.

So, then you finished the album?

Well, that was the plan. Then after listening to the results on repeat, I decided it was still missing something. Or, more specifically, someone: ROBIN. For those who don't know, ROBIN and I perform as an acoustic duo, mostly at the Moonshine Cafe, in Oakville, but we've played other places and she is unquestionably the best singer and harmonizer I've ever performed with. I knew she had to be on the album. So, I gently harassed her for a couple weeks to please come sing on the album, and she did.

Then the album was finished?

I did a bunch of mixes, sending them to ADRIAN for approval until we were happy with the results. Then all we had to do was wait on the artwork from ADRIAN. For those who don't know ADRIAN, we've been friends since high school, connecting over a love of disturbing things. He's an amazing, talented tattoo artist who lives in Ottawa, and was the one who came up with the idea of the band in the first place. He is the art director, I'm the music producer.

So, the 3 song EP was complete?

Well, a funny thing happened. After GREG had agreed to play on the album, it occurred to me that I had another tune sitting around doing nothing, so I sent it to him to see if he liked it. He did, and we added it to the album. So, it's a 3 song EP with a bonus track.

I'm tired of hearing about this. Anything else to add?

The album wouldn't have happened without ADRIAN, GREG and ROBIN. I'm so grateful they helped out. They did amazing work and I look forward to working on the next EP with them.

Wait! There's another album coming? I thought this was a one-off?

Well, nothing ever happens as you expect. In this case, it was supposed to be a short little EP by a nobody band, and that would be it. But, because both GREG and ROBIN said they'd perform on more tunes, that inspired me to start writing a second EP, which is well under way. No timeline on this one, I've actually got an audio book called The Pineapple Girl, which will come out first. Then I'll start gently harassing ADRIAN, GREG and ROBIN again.

Anything else?

The album was mixed as one long track, but was seperated into four sections, because, that's what ADRIAN and I decided on. I'll post it as a single track on a couple platforms not supported by the digital distributor I used, so people can hear the album as it was originally created.

Thanks to everyone for supporting my "career" up to this point. Big thanks goes out to ADRIAN, GREG and ROBIN, they made the album what it is and I am truly thankful for their hard work.

https://gogolak.hearnow.com

And remember: every time you stream one of our songs on Spotify or Apple Tunes, we receive $0.005.

So, stream it a 1000x and we will make $5. As someone once said: Don't quit your day job!

Cheers,

Studio Mike, the Hellhound, the Hellcat and Sweet Tito