Happy New Year!

The title of the new Ben Kuzay cd is Stream Of Consciousness! I have been in the studio since November, 2016 recording this album. We have mixed about half of the cd, though there are a couple of tracks that have not begun to be tracked yet; so, all-in-all, I'd say that we're about 2/3 of the way finished with the tracking and mixing. The reason it is taking so long is that I have been performing live and/or in the studio in several other projects (a couple of which have not yet been announced) during this time, as well. Yes, 2017 was an action-packed year for me!

2017 saw me singing publicly for the first time both on a cd release and in live performances, in Cognition!

It also saw me playing in the first cover band I've ever played in. Unbeknownst to me for the first two months I was in the band, the guitarist had not played a show in 8 1/2 years, so he was not in a mindset to perform live; thus, we only played two shows. Those were great experiences for me, though.

I got to play in a project with Matt Thompson of King Diamond!

I did two mini-tours of my one-man instrumental show of my namesake, as has become tradition for me. These were very successful, as always. I also performed quite a few local instrumental shows.

Realm Of Glass' debut album 'Reveries From The Haunted' will be released on January 17th!

Ben Kuzay Stream Of Consciousness will be released in spring or summer!

Musically,

Ben Kuzay

I arrived home from tour on Monday. The jaunt was fun and successful, and as always I am refreshed and exhilarated. The years of practice, toil, and hardship that I have put into my music career really are paying off, as some of the venue owners have real personal appreciation for me as an artist. Most musicians never experience being treated as anything more meaningful than a statistic in a venue's revenue calculations, so I am very happy with what I've achieved on that count. My reputation is growing with the fans at some of these venues I've played over and over, too. I saw some familiar faces this time around. Everyone was real happy to see me again.
Of the seven shows that were scheduled, I played six. Little Angie's in Duluth tried pulling a fast one on me, and they flopped on their belly. You see, the one time I played there previously (last spring), the booker handed me my paycheck, and then later on after I performed, the bartender told me that they weren't able to make me my check, but that they will mail it out to me the next day. I thought "You moron, if I hadn't been given my check and you said that, the only way you would be able to get me to leave tonight is to have the police tell me to leave." I said "The booker already handed me my paycheck." The bartender, appearing baffled and a bit nervous, said "That's weird." Weird, huh? So, fast-forward to this fall. About fifteen minutes after I walked into the venue, a woman who identified herself as the supervisor who's acting as the manager that night, informed me that the manager, on her way out, nonchalantly mentioned in passing that they don't have my check for me, but that I can come in the next day and get it. So, I ordered up my free meal, texted the booker who replied that he'd mail me the check the next day himself, then I walked back into the venue and told them that I'm not playing. I left, happy to have had them prepare a meal for nothing. It's the least I could do to them for having a scam going where they tell musicians that they don't have their check for them. Lee Harrison (Monstrosity's founding member) taught me by example on the tour I did playing for them in 2008- he sucked up loss after loss of hundreds of dollars spent on gas getting to this or that venue, rather than stick around and play the show and give in, just to recoup some money and keep it cool with the fans. Lee's attitude was "Let the fans express their dissatisfaction to the venue in whatever ways they choose, and teach the promoter a lesson about what happens when they commit fraud on us." Those experiences helped shape my way of conducting this aspect of my solo tours.

BW & BK    Blabbermouth

I arrived home from tour on Friday night.  Thank you to all of the wonderful venues that hosted me this time around, and to the bands that shared bills with me.

Production for the film 'A Celebration Of Life' has been postponed indefinitely. The method I am using to create this film is collecting video footage from the internet and editing its duration in such a way that creates a visual accompaniment to the music on the album. I am not a film producer, so the process is very difficult; yet I am not giving up, and intend to resume the project at some point in the future.

Happy New Year!

2017 is slated to be an exciting time for my fans around the world, as I have several projects to announce!

First up is my debut at film production!    A Celebration Of Life is the name of the mini-movie, which is slated for an early spring release.  Though it's not a production in the full sense, I am compiling pre-recorded footage and using my own editing techniques to create an audio-visual experience, the soundtrack of which is my solo album of the very same name.  This project was conceptualized back in 2014, but I had zero video-editing skill at that time.  Over the past couple of years, I have learned basic editing techniques, and though I openly declare that the methods used are basic and simplistic, I also assert that this film will make an artistic statement.  The production of A Celebration Of Life began in December, 2016.  The film will be released on my YouTube channel for free viewing; I have not yet decided whether to also make a physical copy for commercial release.

Second up is my vocal debut!  The band name is Cognition, and is currently a one-man project, though I may assemble a band in the future.  The debut e.p. Separation Anxiety is slated for a late spring release.  Recording began in April, 2016, and is almost complete.  Mixing began in December, 2016.  Several engineers have contributed to the recording of the music and programming of the drums, and the project is being mixed by Spencer Fox at No Passenger Studio, a mobile recording facility based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Third is the Realm Of Glass debut album!  I recorded my bass parts for this cd from November, 2014 through December, 2015.  After being sent off to mixing, it was determined that all of the vocal tracks had to be re-recorded, due to an engineering error that had afflicted all of the original vocal recordings.  These songs were all re-sung from October, 2016 through December, 2016.  Spencer Fox is mixing this album, which is slated for a summer release.

Fourth is my fifth instrumental solo album!  As yet untitled, the recording of this album began in November, 2016.  It features a plethora of colorful guests, and is slated for a late 2017 release.  Spencer Fox is recording and mixing the album, and Joel Wanasek will master it at JTW Studio.

In addition to my creative projects, my music lesson business is booming!  I have started several brand-new students in the past month.  Some are guitar students, and some are bass students.  Things are so good, in fact, that I am increasing my rate, as of New Year's Day!  Already-enrolled students are grandfathered in at the old rate.

Thank you to everyone who has purchased my music and contributed to and shared my musical journey with me so far!  This is just the beginning!

​Ben Kuzay