LINER NOTES:
In the summer of 2010, I ruptured my Achilles Tendon immediately following my fortieth birthday. I don’t know if it was fate’s way of telling me, ‘No, I ain’t no spring chicken’, but I heeded the warning and decided to renew my lease on life. Part of this lease was writing a bunch of songs on guitar & piano. Within 8 weeks of surgery, most the songs were written and guide tracks recorded. Clint Sargent took over during the late summer and formal recording sessions began.
The title track was somewhat inspired by The Byrds cut, ‘8 Miles High’. In our efforts to create a David Gilmour-Stanley Kubrick universe, this song is sort of the launching pad of the journey. It was long decided “8 Weeks From Mars” would be a concept album about a man on a mission to the Red Planet. We eventually decided this could make a wonderful short film in the near future. Possibly even for the stage or theater?
Anyway...
ComRad Fantastic was the first guest Peasant to join us. As a member of his band National Rockombo during the 90’s, I always knew the great range ComRad had with his voice and an innate ability to really punctuate certain words. With Clint Sargent coaxing him all the way, I ended up blown away by his vocal performances. The track “Skyline” is one of my personal favorites!
Somewhere during the onset of winter, we were fortunate enough to uncover the Revolutionary David Farrell for an evening session. It took a little work, but before all was said & done, we had continued our galactic journey with a very theatrical and operatic performance by Mr. Farrell on “Meteorite Close Call”. I wrote this one after watching a documentary on Ian Curtis and the Joy Division.
Finally, after a fair share of editing, we brought in the missing piece to the puzzle; our college dormitory guitar hero, Dr. Thomas Gilberts. Always a pleasure to jam with, we were able to obtain masterful bass work and beautiful cello from Tom on several tracks. Our space tale concludes with his Walrus-like cello on the epic “Peasant Eulogy”. If you listen closely, rumor has it that even the legendary Steven Cebula dropped by to add a backing vocal.
This, along with the preceding track “The Landing” were both co-written with Clint Sargent. In fact, I don’t really remember doing much more than singing on “The Landing”. Beautiful production techniques by Clint on this one.
In conclusion, we’re all very proud to release this Darge Records concept album--best listened to in chronological order.
Thank you for stopping by and please enjoy the journey!
--- Jeff Dodge, Founder / Guitarist & Vocalist
The S.S. Monmouth is on its final mission to the International Recharging Station of Mars. Operated by a 3 man crew, on behalf of the Tarsus International Corporation, trouble ensues when the robot crew creates critical mischief. If the S.S. Monmouth ever makes it to the Red Planet, who will survive?!
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