Garett popped in on the Caedmon’s Call Board [as he is wont to do of late ... which I find awesome] and filled us in on a lot of things relating to Caedmon’s being independent. I’ll post highlights below.
On ending the deal with Essential:
To sum up…no drama with Essential. We were nearing the end of our contract with Essential, had one more record, or “option” meaning that the label would have to agree to do another record. Some how it wound up in our favor to make a move. We were pretty much ready a while ago to be on our own again so we took this opportunity to do that. Essential was into another record but we just felt like its not in the best interest of our future to do that. We have appreciated Essential and all they did for the years past, and still love everybody there. Just business, nothing big. We are also growing in a direction that is very important to all of us…one that has changed our lives and our view of what the band is about.
That’s pretty much what Bryan and I had figured was the case, but dumb us, we’d never asked the question to confirm.
On Share the Well and the future of the band:
As most of you know, Share the Well was not just an album, it was the beginning of another chapter. It was and is the start of a Foundation and a new partnership with Dalit Freedom Network and other groups that are aggressively promoting the exposure and relief of oppression around the world…especially, for us, India. These themes are the result of God’s call on our gifts at this point. If you ask me, through Caedmon;s entire career, this is what it was all for. So, that said, Share the Well is not the last album. Or…ITCOA II was not the last album. whatever.
As far as what to expect…
The years go by, we were all young college kids or just graduated when the band started. We played like kids, thought like kids, dressed like kids, but now…we are grown with wives and childeren, still kids … just kids with greying hair and well, yeah, still dressing like kids! The music changes, because we can’t think or play like we did then, we don’t write about the same things, (since they are no longer relevent to our lives, and we always try to write from a true, current perspective) and we cant exactly tour the same way we used to due to our familiy responsibilities and the fact that those years of constant touring really took its toll on us! HA…were old now and my back hurts! Kidding, but some truth, when you spend that many years on the road pretty much year round, you grow into the home life more and more as time goes on. But, that is not to say we are not going to tour. We are currently working on a plan to contimue to be able to play and sustain the business, its just another phase, and we have to adapt to it. The future is exciting! We have SO much freedom to continue where we feel God is leading us, to do all we can for the Dalits, and ourselves doing it!
To add to Garett’s comments here, Cliff told me when I saw the band last Sunday that the band will be gathering together in late June for a retreat to help chart out where they go from here. As you probably know, half the band lives in Texas and half lives in and around Nashville, so getting together for them and not having to play a show is always a great thing. [Which isn't to say that playing shows isn't fun for them, because it certainly is ... they had a lot of fun in Atlanta on Sunday.]
Garett posted more information dealing with his personal work as a musician, etc. He corrected the impression I’ve been leaving folks with that he’s not a full-time musician, for which I apologize. For some reason, we always talk about other stuff and not what it is he does. Glad to read, though, that he’s done with school. Going back to school after time away is hard.
All of Garett’s update is definitely worth reading.
Go BABE!!!! Speak your heart out.