In other news, I started working on a Twisted Roots cover song yesterday that I think is coming along well enough that I’ll probably post sometime late-January or February, if those guys don’t mind of course. I’m by no means out of songwriting ideas of my own, but I rather enjoy playing around with other songs that inspire me. Twisted Roots, while having an entirely different sound to my own, inspires me. They represent an important part of my life both musically and personally, plus they’re pretty cool guys too. Definitely check out their music if you get the chance, and expect my version to be slightly… interpreted.

Here’s quick teaser:

See all of you in 2010!

Reflecting back on the past ten years, now that 2010 is rapidly approaching. There’s something weird that happens to time once you get out of high school, like somebody hit the fast-forward button! Still, it’s been a great decade, and I’ve inevitably evolved a ton over the course of it.

Let’s hit the highlights in brief shall we?

• 10 years ago, my son was 3
• 4 years ago, I met the woman that was to become my wife
• 3 years ago, I moved to San Diego
• 1 year ago, I turned 30 (ok, almost two years ago..)
• In April of this year, I began writing my own music..

I’m really content with the way things have turned out so far. Here’s hoping that the next decade is even better! Things certainly do feel brighter!

As some of you know, I decided to do something unique with my new song by debuting it inside of a Virtual World platform called Metaplace. That proved to be an interesting experiment and generated a decent little crowd of 20 or so across the event, with a little help rounding people up thanks to Cuppycake.

While some aspects of doing this were a little cludgy (the fact that I’m holding an acoustic guitar in-world, but not actually playing one in the song, just looks strange.. for example), the actual execution of essentially playing a set of my mp3’s for an audience couldn’t have been easier and for essentially NO real planning-time, I’d still call this event a huge success! I may do this again in the future, possibly in a custom-built world and a bunch of actual planning. We shall see, but in any case it was fun giving it a shot!

Oh, and I had my first virtual-world hecklers too! I’m living the life now.. YEAH! =)

[DOWNLOAD IT NOW!]

Whew! This one was a few months in the making, but I’m very happy to finally get it out the door in a form that I’m very proud of! I hope you like it!

As always feel free to email me with feedback, message me on Twitter, or leave me a comment right here!

Oh, and if you really like it, please by all means tell your friends! There’s nothing I like more than knowing that lots of people are listening to my music, and with any luck, a few of them actually LIKING IT! =)

For those of you who want to hear it sooner, look for an announcement really soon about a chance to hear the song streaming live over at Metaplace. This is something I just decided to do, so there are details to be worked out as to how to setup the event, in which world to host it, etc. You can be prepared to attend ahead of time by making sure you’re signed up with them over at their website, or if you’re using Facebook, then you can get setup with Metaplace via their app at http://app.facebook.com/metaplace. Either way will work just fine..

Why do this you ask? Well, some of the folks behind Metaplace are really cool friends of mine, and it’s one of the places on the internet that I really enjoy thanks to it giving you the ability to create your own world and explore those created by others. Also, somehow premiering a new song in a virtual world just seemed like a cool idea to me… even if only a few people show up.

So let’s start over, shall we? From here on, you’re getting nothing but the raw unadulterated weirdo that is ME. I’m Nick, and I’m just another extraverted-on-the-internet introverted-in-real-life dorky geeky systems engineer-type. I love my wife/son/family, video games (EverQuest II babeh!), M:TG, playing with various technology (I do SCIENCE on it!), analyzing and learning about all sorts of everything, and of course.. making and listening to music! I *am* very proud of the music I’ve managed to put out here so far, as I had NEVER written my own songs before, and I honestly feel like I’m getting better at it each time. Let’s hope that continues!

You know what else? I really love my friends, whether they happen to be fans of my music or not. Also, since you’re reading this, you should know that I also greatly appreciate YOU for taking the time! Really! You didn’t have to, but it’s WAY COOL that you did! So, THANK YOU! In fact, let’s get coffee sometime.. what do you say? Either way, let’s stay in touch, ok? I’m on Twitter you know, “@NickMcLaren”. Nothing like these interwebs for communimicating!

It only took me a few MONTHS to wrap up my newest song, but I’m happy to report that it not only exists, but is written, recorded, and now in the talented hands of Brian Stratman over at Capricorn Studios where he is polishing up the sound and putting the final touches on the track! In fact, I’ve already heard a great sounding version back from the studio and it really sounds awesome!

Not too many people realize that working with a studio in general is a very give and take interaction. I’m also working with them in a bit of a different way than others I would imagine, in that I’m doing all of the recording and tracking myself, then bouncing the individual tracks over to them, along with a mp3 demo with my best mixing attempt to give them some idea as to what kind of sound I’m looking for. With that information, the studio engineer (in this case, Brian), attacks the song full force, twisting and shaping it, trying to get the best sound he can. When he’s got a final mix he’s happy with, he kicks the mp3 over to the artist (or the recording schlub, which would be me) to review. After some careful listening I determine if it sounds great enough to go with or if there are additional specific changes that, in my artistic opinion and along with my “vision” for the song, I would like to see happen before we call it “DONE”.

At this point, that first review has happened. I’m incredibly happy with the sound, but have provided some changes for the studio to make in hopes that it will sound even better, and align a little bit closer to my ultimate “vision”. I don’t expect that to take too long to complete, and I plan on releasing the song shortly thereafter. If you want to know the moment it’s released, make sure you’re following @nickmclaren on Twitter!

Writing songs is hard work, but I’m proud of the work I have done and I can’t WAIT to share the results with you! Soon…

[DOWNLOAD IT NOW!]

This single took a few extra iterations to get it just right, but when you’re working with an all out sonic assault, you’ve got to be very careful! One of my fastest and most powerfully driven songs to date, “Resist” is pretty rockin’!

Thanks for your support and I truly hope you enjoy the new track! Feel free to email me with feedback, message me on Twitter, or leave me a comment on my new MySpace page (http://myspace.com/nickmclaren)!

..and don’t forget to SPREAD THE WORD!