Kickstarter for John Paul Dove

[Yesspaz]

Hey, everyone. This is a little different and not about prog, but there is an Aural Moon connection, so I ask for your grace. If you'll bear with me for this post, I'd appreciate it.

Intro and Kickstarter

One of my two best friends in the world is John Paul Dove. He just finished an EP called "My Son, the Brawler." It's been recorded, mixed, and mastered. He just needs to raise $1,000 to print it. There will also be a digital release.

There's a Kickstarter to raise money to press the album that I'd like you to consider funding in exchange for the EP on compact disc.

Now, I'd never ask you to blindly (what's the aural equivalent of that? deafly?) fund something without hearing a sample. Below you'll find a link to the Electronic Press Kit (EPK), but first, some history.

History and Aural Moon Connection

Some of you have been listening to John Paul Dove for a while and didn't know it. He's on Aural Moon as the guitarist and lead vocalist of Bellador, an emo band with proggish tendencies.

The first band John Paul Dove was in was called Ransom Tree. They were a really good post-punk-pop rock band from around 1999-2001. They were young college kids just rocking out and having fun. They recorded one low-budget DIY album. They made one even-lower-budget-DIY video for a song from the album, totally for fun. That song is called "Selfish Starlight." John Paul is the lead guitarist but was not the lead singer at that time. If you watch that video, he's the one in the light brown shirt with the so-90's hair playing the harmonics and wicked lead licks in the bridge and break.

Their sound matured from pop-punk to a sophisticated emo sound, and they changed their name to Bellador. They recorded an album with professional producer Matt Goldman in 2003. All but one song from the Bellador album, The Day's Intent, is on Aural Moon. John Paul is the lead guitarist and lead singer. He wrote multiple interlocking guitar parts and multitracked them. Joel played rhythm guitar and added great keyboard textures on the album as well, including a legitimate mellotron on a few tunes. For the record, Tony is a great drummer and Scott a great bassist. Here are a few songs to sample: The Day's Intent, An Instrumental, and TV Night.

My Son, the Brawler

Now 12 years later, John Paul Dove has recorded an amazing solo EP. I've heard it a few times now, and take it from Yesspaz, IT IS FANTASTIC. It's folk and Americana at its core, with touches of subtle electric guitar, dobro, mandolin, ukelele, pedal steel, haunting vocals, and mind-bogglingly poetic, mature songwriting. Just look at this line:

"They don't love you like me,
and the devil, he is gentle as a lamb;
Liars are all such gentlemen.
They'll tell you things that make your knees go weak,
but, honey, that ain't what it means to love your enemies."

You may recognize that bit about loving your enemies as coming from Jesus. In full disclosure, John Paul is a Christian, as am I, and the EP reflects that, but for those of you that that might scare away, the songs are very diary-like meditations on life, rather than evangelical praise songs. Lyrically, the songs are much in the vein of Jackson Browne songs like "The Pretender."

Here's the actual release I'm hoping you'll fund. He had a professional EPK made while recording it in Jackson. The EPK gives you a taste of the EP.

As I said at the start of this post, I know this EP isn't prog, but for those of you who listen to lots of things, I'm telling you it's very, very good. You won't be dissappointed. If any of you choose to support it and buy it, John Paul would appreciate it, and so would I. Thanks.

Spaz out.