Collin Michaels

DEMO LOVE

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ATOMOSPHERE

...I’ve always been a songwriter….

Ever since I first sat down in front of my grandma's piano at age 8,

I’ve always heard songs, but with a bigger picture in mind:

Where do the drums live in this song?
What kind of beat does it breathe with?
What kind of instrumentation are we looking at?
What’s the bass line…. the melody…. the lyric….

I wanted to produce everything….

The creative process is where I would spend all of my waking hours if I could.

So.... I wrote a lot of songs that sucked….

I recorded even more that I thought were cool….

And then I heard them and realized that….

…well…

they were in fact NOT that cool.

But the past 6 years of my life have been a roller coaster unlike any other time before it.

—Marriage.
—A daughter.
—And the exit from my brothers in the band I always wanted, and the professional life I never imagined I would leave...don't let this attempt at a clever landing page to announce my musical rebirth fool you.... I miss being an active member in the tyler rich band dearly, and daily.

but! .....Somewhere in the middle of all that…

I found myself taking the craft of songwriting far more seriously…. and far more humbly.

I began approaching it with new eyes.

But also with a certain degree of “screw it.”

I stopped trying to force songs into bubbles…. categories…. expectations….

And instead, I simply started writing songs that I loved….

Songs I wanted to hear.

Songs that told stories I hoped people could connect to, relate to, and most of all….

FEEL.

….so eventually I found myself sitting on 20 songs….

But with full time work, the challenge of learning how to be a dad, and a husband....

and most importantly, i had sold off a ton of gear

---Namely my recording rig-----

so tracking anything on my own wasn't possible.

So, rather than give up, the outsourcing began.

old friends from my crazytown/shifty binzer days in Los Angeles, stepped up big to help bring these songs to life. I had the guitars, and bass parts done....

but:

Strings….
Programming….
Percussion….
Drums….

And most of all….

Vocals.

The songs called for strength in multiple genres….

Emo….
Hard rock….
Folk / Indie….
Rock-country….

And I wanted someone who could cover all of that ground sonically, and what was best for eacH Song.

Even though, if I’m honest….

letting go of the reins and not singing them myself was harder than I expected.

But,

I couldn’t be happier with how these turned out….

And yet….n the end….