by Peter Wolf.

Peter Wolf

After getting a bit more into management issues and giving you my take on some business related topics, I decided to go back to talking about music. We’ve been busy writing new songs since Never Give Up was released a year ago. The album has been doing fine - we’re getting regular downloads and we’re selling a few CDs. It’s the journey, not the destination.

We have six new tracks that are pretty much done as far as recording is concerned. If you’re interested, please go to www.myspace.com/petermanuelwolf and check them out (work in progress for the time being). I guess we’ll be working on another six or seven this year and should be ready to release the new album sometime in 2009. At least that’s my plan. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to Thomas about it too much. We saw each other in Germany on Easter weekend and were even able to record three new tracks ("The Valley," "You" and "Sometimes"). I’ve included two of them below for your listening pleasure. Please don’t hesitate to provide feedback, it’s always greatly appreciated. Please note though that these are not mixes but pre-mixed rough versions of what will end up on the new record.

Listen to "You" and "The Valley"

I’ve been using my Hollowbody II with the PRS Piezo system a lot lately. It’s a fantastic guitar, both for writing songs at home or in the studio as well as for pretty much every recording situation you may get into. I love being able to play it unplugged, bring out its acoustical potential with the convenience of playing electric-gauge string sets that make it easy to bend and try things on this guitar. Also, it is probably the most responsive instrument I’ve owned. It just won’t stop ringing when you pluck a string. I have pretty much stopped playing any other acoustic guitars since I’ve had it.

For all guitar geeks out there, Joe Knaggs and the Private Stock team built my 15-year employee guitar, a Hollowbody I in burnt orange, with a thin satin nitro finish, killer flamed-maple top, mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck, gold hardware and the Piezo system I mentioned. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take it to Germany with the luggage and considering my wife Sylvie and our little boy Damian were traveling with me. I also had a pretty intense schedule in Germany, attending the Frankfurt Messe (the world’s largest trade show for musical instruments and equipment) early March and visiting dealers. I ended up using Tom’s Lakewood acoustic and his Big Baby Taylor for some of the acoustic guitar tracks and a Custom 22 for electric guitar tracks on all three new songs we recorded during this session.

Thomas also played some guitar. For instance, he contributed the clean, funky part in "The Valley" and some lead, distorted overdubs towards the end of the song. The lyrics were written on the spot and while the playback was built, but I had been thinking about the song and its message for several months. The same is true for "Sometimes." I had written and recorded the guitar progression with Marc Quigley at PRS over here in the U.S. and sent the files over to Germany before I left. Thomas built the song in Logic, added bass, keys and drums and then we recorded the vocals in his studio in Germany. I also re-recorded all acoustic and electric guitar tracks on "Sometimes" during my recent trip

"You" is a song Thomas came up with as far as the music is concerned. He went through some difficult emotional times in the past few months and when he originally sent me the mp3 of "You," I had to get it out of him in order to come up with the lyrics. The first version of "You" was a ballad. The version we’re thinking of putting on the record is a more up-beat track with a great chorus. We’ll see what we’ll end up using, they’re both great in my opinion. If you will, the lyrics of "You" are my interpretation of what had been going on in Thomas’ head and heart at the time, based on his cryptic information. He doesn’t really talk much about that sort of stuff so I had to get it out of him…the new tracks are all kind of different in a way but I think they sound like Supernatural and we’re pretty excited about getting the album shaped up and ready to mix.

I’m also getting even more into vocals and singing and really working it as best as I can. Often, I don’t even really think about the guitar parts anymore. Lyrics, melody lines and getting great vocal tracks recorded are consuming most of my time when recording and I’m really enjoying it. I also think that I’m approaching guitar playing differently than I may have in the past due to focusing more on vocals and the song.

We are planning on calling the new album Open Arms, like one of the finished tracks we already have. "Open Arms" happened last year during another trip to Germany and was the first new song we wrote for album # 4. Damian, my little boy, was two years old around the time when I wrote the lyrics and it is literally about him, running towards me with open arms when I get home.

I also think the title fits well into what’s going on around the world right now. People are tired of the bullshit, I think. It’s important to convey positive messages instead of spreading fear. Things won’t get easier for any of us so let’s try ot help each other and be positive. Open Arms sounded like a perfect title to us.

One last thing: I’ve always envisioned that somebody would shoot a video to one of our songs. I have a lot of ideas on how to create visuals to our music, but I would find it very interesting to watch somebody else’s interpretation of one of our songs. So, in case you have access to the appropriate equipment and some time, go ahead and try. We’ll release everything you may come up with on our Myspace pages and on YouTube.

Peter Wolf