Dear Friends and Fans of Barenaked Ladies, On June 21st, I will be releasing The Vanity Project, a self-titled album under my new nom de side-project. It's an album I recorded at home over a period of the last six years with my friend and sometime co-writer, Stephen Duffy (he and I wrote "Jane", "Call and Answer", "Alcohol", "Baby Seat", "I Live With It Everyday" and other Barenaked Ladies songs you probably know). It's exciting and nerve-wracking releasing a record without my BNL compadres; On one hand I feel naked, releasing such a personal and emotionally raw album without any bandmates to hide behind, but on the other hand I feel privileged to be able to put out this record, it's been a long time in the works, and I hope it finds people who will like it. If you are one of those people, this email is for you. In the United States, it is being released by the new indie label, Flagship Recordings (run by a longtime friend of mine and BNL's), and in Canada, my old friends at Warner Music Canada will be taking care of me. It will also be available from my new website, www.vanity-project.com, and on most iTunes stores around the world. If you just can't wait until June 21st, Amazon.com will allow you to pre-order the CD here click here And, as a bonus, you can stream the audio from their site as soon as you order it. Or, if you'd like to snag an autographed copy, Tower Records will let you pre-order it and the first few hundred to do so will get an autographed copy. Autographed by me. Sorry, US residents only. Just click here click here Of course, the obvious question is "what about Barenaked Ladies? Is this the beginning of the end?" to which I respond a hearty "no". We are actually writing feverishly right now, and will record our next proper studio album in September. The less obvious question is "boxers or briefs?" to which I also offer a hearty "no". That settles that, then, doesn't it? This summer, I will be setting out on a whirlwind tour of American record shops and radio stations (call your favourite station now to request "That's All, That's All" or "Wilted Rose" by The Vanity Project!), with dates set already in Mountain View, CA (Tower Records, July 26), Portland, OR (Music Millennium, July 27), Seattle, WA (Easy Street, July 28) and NYC (Borders, August 1), and more to be added. First, however, I will be in Boston at Newbury Comics on Newbury St. on June 21st, the day the album is released. Hopefully my path will cross with yours sometime in the next few months. I am sure that when you signed up for this list, possibly years and years ago, you were signing up for Barenaked Ladies news, and I want to respect that by starting a new list for Vanity Project-only news. If you'd like info, tour dates, audio samples, free stuff, and more thinly-veiled groveling from me, please visit my brand new website, www.vanity-project.com, and take a second to sign up. If not, I hope to see you next time Barenaked Ladies tour. And if this is my mother reading this, I'm sorry it's so impersonal. I'll call later. |