Album Notes

Abandoned steel mills, factories, and skyscrapers provide the images of what once was, and what might be, in a city saturated with heartbreak yet luminous with a kind of poetic beauty. Smokestacks and graveyards sift through the desperate eyes of kids dreaming for something more. The relentless courage siphoned from the generations before is reserved and placed in the hands of the ones that will document the lives, the stories, and the places that will soon outlive the darkness. This is my love, tired but restless, unable to lie down and forever refusing to give in to the minds of the broken and bitter.
Jesse Payne, born and raised in Birmingham, absorbed the desperation for something larger and has remained determined to rise above the confines of what is expected to achieve the desirable. Songwriting began at a young age, as he kept himself busy broadening his talents through learning the piano, guitar, and drums. Most of the time he would remain quiet, observing life as it happened around him. Love, loss, and regret in his own life only provided fuel for the fire.
In the latter part of 2003, Jesse started to piece together a band to take into the studio to record songs that would soon become his debut album. Anthony Powell, a friend and former drummer, was the first to come aboard. Over the next few months the two would work on solidifying the arrangements and rhythms of a catalog four times an album length. Shawn Avery, also a friend and former band member, joined to provide the bass guitar and aid in culling the list of forty songs down to the fourteen that would appear on the album.
The summer heat and the humidity of the South were the back drop for what was to come in the days ahead. Synchromesh Studios was deemed Jesse's home for the month of June in 2004. The unremitting work hours that were put in by everyone who worked on the album gave life to the storylines that could have easily passed away through the pages of a lost notebook.
Awaiting the release in November and teaming up with Clint Wells, a local guitarist, grueling rehearsals became a way of life. Jesse began promoting the product and securing local stores with the album. On the 2nd of November, "Humming the Tunes of Luxury" was released.
From a garage to the stage is the goal for any aspiring musician. Anticipation is what keeps the heart hungry and the eyes looking ahead. As the first show was placed on the evening of November 24, Jesse Payne, Anthony Powell, Shawn Avery, and Clint Wells were unsure of the future but were aware of the work they had done. The band understood that if reaching the stage were to be easy than the stage would be crowded.
A smoke filled room and conversation gave warmth to a cold November night in Birmingham. An American flag filled the back wall behind the stage as a lone spotlight shined on the center microphone. The band took the stage as the voice that rang through the speakers uttered, "Good Evening"..........