Album Notes

UPDATE:

On the Drift topped the Celtic Charts on CDBaby in 2006 ( http://www.celticmp3s.com/magazine/2007/02/top-40-celtic-cds-of-2006-on-cdbaby.shtml )

Also, it was named "Best Album of 2006" ( http://www.renaissancefestivalmusic.com/awards/ )

And "Best Folk Recording of 2006" ( http://www.celticmp3s.com/awards/ )

Finally, there's a new review that has some nice things to say about it: http://www.lethaldeath.com/Crimson/Archives/ResidentDVDvil/Archives/RD_DonetheImpossible.php


BROWNCOATS: Our first shipment of On the Drift sold out in mere minutes.

Or second (bigger) shipment sold out in a day.

So we stashed a bunch of cargo into the nooks and crannies of our smuggling ship, and now there is plenty of bright'n'shiny stock here at CDBaby. In fact, now that we have plenty on hand, we're offering a 10% discount on orders of two or more, which is just good insurance against your friends "borrowing" your copy.

In the meantime, please enjoy these FREE mp3-postcards:
Ballad of Joss: http://mp3postcards.com/listen?888
Big Damn Triology: http://mp3postcards.com/listen?1010

Also, check out some of our recent interviews:
Serenity Stuff:
http://www.serenitystuff.com/2006/02/21/interview-the-bedlam-bards/
The Signal:
http://www.serenityfirefly.com
The Renaissance Festival Podcast:
http://www.renaissancefestivalmusic.com

And finally, while you're here, take a glance at our other albums:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bedlambards2
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bedlambards3

Also, if you like this music, you should check out the Done the Impossible Soundtrack, available at http://cdbaby.com/cd/donetheimpossible
--Cedric


About the album:

People often come up to me and ask questions like, "Hey, Cedric, why did you decide to record an album about Firefly?" or "Hey, Cedric, where do you get off writing music about a canceled TV show, anyway?" or "Hey, Cedric, are you gonna eat that?"

Well, there's more information to answer two of those three questions at http://www.bedlambards.com/Browncoats.html

But don't go running off. I'll try to answer some of those questions right here, right now.

(By the way, for those who don't know, a "Browncoat" is a fan of the short-lived but much-loved television show Firefly and the movie that grew out of it, Serenity, both created by Joss Whedon, the mind behind such media hits as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Toy Story. You can read all about it at http://www.scifi.com/firefly/ )

Hawke and I decided to record an album of music inspired by Firefly and Serenity because we thought it was a sound business proposition. *snort* Whoo, if you believe that one, you're an easier mark than Simon Tam. I've got a land deal on Shadow for you . . .

Nah, the truth is that my muse became a Browncoat. Despite my best efforts, I just kept writing songs about Joss Whedon's genius. And then it snowballed. Hawke suggested I write a song about Wash called "Leaf on the Wind." A fan suggested the name "On the Drift" for one of the songs, and Hawke said it should be the name of the album, too. So we bought some plastic dinosaurs to perch on top of Tree's antiquated--um, I mean, vintage--recording gear, and set our minds to making an album.

It wasn't easy. During the summer, we had to wait until midnightish for the studio to be cool enough to record. When family illnesses ramped our schedule into overdrive, I opted to walk to the studio in the middle of a December ice-storm, rather than miss a critical mix-down session. The roads were too icy to drive on, and I actually had ice sheets caked onto my rain poncho when I got to Tree's place.

And one night, when it all seemed a bit too much, I was beginning to think that making this album was a really bad idea. I staggered home after a particularly harrowing session, and I decided to stare at my email before going to bed. There inside my inbox were three waves from the big damn 'verse telling me I was on the right track.

The first came from Joshua Horner, the fan who had named "On the Drift" for us. On his own, he decided to design a jing-chai album cover; you can see it at the top of this page. (He's working on some tee-shirt designs for us now. I'll let you know when they're finished.) The second came from Les Howard at The Signal Podcast, asking us to grant an interview; there's no more definite way to know you've arrived than to be on The Signal. And the third email was from Brandon Klassen, a Browncoat I've still never met, offering us a song he wrote. If you click on "Sail the Sky" over to your left, you'll see why we were eager to record it.

Of course, lots of other folks helped out a bunch. Scott Boswell took a break from his own recording to lay down some licks. Laura Leom added some sweet harmonies to Brandon's song. Tree Leom, our sound engineer and percussionist, shepherded the whole project from beginning to end. Jeremy Neish and Brian Wiser decided to use a lot of this album in their documentary about Firefly fans (www.DoneTheImpossible.com). Marc Gunn gave us excellent marketing advice. Susan Hazelmann generously provided financial backing with a thick slice of moral support. Hawke nobly pushed his own solo project to the back burner to make this a reality for the band; I can't talk enough about how much I appreciate him. And literally thousands of Browncoats downloaded samples, listened to interviews, cut and paste lyrics, transcribed lyrics (if they didn't know you could cut and paste them), sang our songs at press screenings, said mighty nice things about us on fireflyfans.net, and generally made us proud to do our part for the Browncoat Revolution.

It ain't over, folks . . .

WE WILL RISE AGAIN!

( http://www.browncoatsriseagain.com/ )