So, back to the music again. Sorry I must seem to go on and on about this but it is a passion and I can't help it. We confirmed this week that our former lead guitarist Jim "Snowflake" Robinson is bowing out due to time pressures and extensive travel involved in his new job. I am sure we will continue to jam together if and as we can but Jim's availability will be limited.

Luckily, and as mentioned in an earlier blog, Doug Bernie, a wicked blues guitarist, joined us earlier in the year and we are very busy writing, arranging and producing original songs for our next CD/project. Doug has played for a number of bands in Canada...Lethbridge and Toronto.

Solle is still our backbone bass player and we continue to jam as often as our schedules allow at his house in Mirdif. We have been working on a number of blues classics including "Coldshot" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Folsum Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash (although we do our own take on it) among others.

 Roy is drummer, guitarist, keyboards, producer and provider of some pretty good coffee and Hobnobs for our 'roycording' sessions at Bolwede studios right next to Dubai mall.

Although we are still developing our sound and style, suffice it to say our new material is substantially different from our first CD. There won't be any jazz on this disc. The music is  edgier and varies from blues to Southern rock in terms of genre. One of our current tracks in progress is arguably blues-funk...which is a neat combination.  Developing original material is so much more entertaining, engaging and rewarding than doing covers. Completely different experience. And the process has been very collaborative...we all bring something to the table and what comes out in the end is a true reflection of our combined efforts.

We scoped out the project a bit last week and went over timelines and steps for music development, production, branding, packaging, promotion and distribution. Best guess is that we will be out with a CD of 10 or more original tracks (and soundcloud channel, facebook, youtube channel and hopeful iTunes account) by end Q1 2015.

As the sound has changed we will be re-branding/renaming the band as well as all of our social media channels. The goal is to come up with a name by end June so we can develop artwork.

In terms of the song list we have 7 songs in various states of readiness and are aiming to get 16-18 in place by fall so we can pick the best 10 or so for final production late in the year.

So far we are encouraged and even pleased with the outcome of our creative process. We are hopeful and optimistic that our friends, family members and broader (to be determined) audiences will be as well.

Finally, we want your ideas for band names. Please comment on Kamazooie or on our facebook page and we will be more than happy consider your creative ideas.

If you haven't heard our music check out our soundcloud channel and this tune:

https://soundcloud.com/stereotypesdubai/dead-shrimp-blues

Signing off for now, thanks for reading!