Recording for Album Two Kicks Off (Featuring Members of Zolof and Valencia)!

Recording sessions for our first album, Dedication, had wrapped up all the way back in 2008, so, needless to say, I was ecstatic to finally get back into the studio a couple weeks ago to start recording Kiera Plan: Album Two.

l-r: Daniel Pawlovich, Shawn O'Brien, Vince Ratti

I returned to The Skylight Studio in Fairless Hills with the incomparable Vince Ratti (of Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer) once again handling engineering and production.  This time out, I had the incredible pleasure to be joined by drummer Daniel Pawlovich (of Valencia).  All I can say about the lineup is that when you're starting your new album in collaboration with members of Zolof and Valencia, you know that you're in good hands with Allstate!

Leading up to these sessions, I'd been writing, demoing, and in some cases performing these songs live for a while now, and I want to thank John Collier, J.J. Davis, Tim Zaprala, and Kevin Brown who have already helped to make this collection of music something really special.  John and I had arranged the first album together, and we worked on several album two songs as well.  J.J., Tim, and Kevin have been performing live with me as the Kiera Plan and have all made contributions to the new material.

Vince, Dan, and I came into the studio on a mission to get the drums for all ten Album Two tracks laid down in the two days that we had together.  The sessions were just magic.  Ten tracks is a lot to try to get recorded in such a short window, and other than exchanging some demos via email, we hadn't had much prep time together.  In the end, that didn't really matter.  It was really exciting to be bringing in Vince and Dan's fresh ears to the songs, and Dan's drum work is incredible!

Dan, making the magic happen

I felt really lucky to have him on board for these sessions.  And after an action-packed 48 hours of production and percussion, we came away with the framework for a really great record.  Now we just have to build on that.

I'll be back in with Vince and a number of other collaborators over the course of the summer to continue recording.  I look forward to sharing the experience with you.  I can't wait to have something for you to hear!

For now, thank you so much for your interest.

Shawn

Album Two Update

Cover art for the "Time Flies" single, out now

So, we’re racing towards the finish line in the Battle of the Bands for a spot on the 2011 Warped Tour, and we’re very much in the running.  Kiera Fans can vote once a day until July 14th to help us win.  We really appreciate your continued support.

Other than trying to win our way to Warped, the focus right now is on getting ready to record the follow up to our debut album Dedication.  The official album two recording sessions could begin as early as the end of the summer.  In the meantime, I figured I’d hit you with an update on the pre-production process (a.k.a. everything we do before we actually record an album).

Our new single, “Time Flies,” was released back on February 25^th.  “Time Flies” is available on iTunes and Amazon, and you can hear the full track on our Battle of the Bands page.  The single is an acoustic version of the song we recorded back in late 2010, with engineer/producer Vince Ratti – the man behind the boards on Dedication, who’ll also be back for album two.  John Collier (you’ll remember his ferocious drums) and I have been working up the full band version of “Time Flies” which will appear on album two.

There are also four additional new tracks very likely to appear on the next record that are already in the mix for our live shows.  If you’ve been to any show this year, you’ve heard “Right Now,” another new one which I’ll probably want to rename or subtitle in light of Van Halen’s 90s hit of the same name.  I played two more new songs at the Whole Foods show a couple weeks back.

I feel so strongly about the fifth new song that if we aren’t ready to start the album two sessions at The Skylight Studio in a month or so, I’ll probably go in to record it as another acoustic single just to get another new song out.

There are a handful of other songs contending for a spot on album two, but they’re all still too unfinished in one way or another to count into the tally.  I’ll be demoing and writing a lot in the next few weeks, and so these will quickly start to take shape as full songs.

Long story short, new music is definitely in the works! In the meantime, we appreciate your continued support with the Warped contest.  There is also a pretty decent stockpile of pics and video from the last few shows, so stay tuned for some serious new multimedia in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading,

Shawn

Making History

It's actually one of the first questions I get asked when someone finds out that I'm in a band: "what kind of places do you play?"  This question is tough, because with The Kiera Plan, I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to play in a number of different kinds of places. 

So I'm really excited about the new Kiera Plan Show History we've put together on our website.  It gives the full breakdown for every show we've ever played.  And with some of the notes I've added, a quick browse through the history gives even more of an idea of The Kiera Plan than our bio alone could.

Please check it out if you get a chance.  And if you have any memories from these shows that you'd like to share, we would love to hear them.  Feel free to e-mail us at: tkprock@gmail.com

1/11/11 (Are You Ready?)

TheKieraPlan.com: under construction

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you all had a great holiday season.  For The Kiera Plan, 2011 is a year where we're going to be swinging for the fences.  We're going to step it up in every way possible this year.  Like Diddy always used to say, "We can't stop, 'cause we won't stop."  [Heck yeah!  That's what I'm talking about! 2011-style!]

We'll be starting not stopping with the internet. On January 11th, or the numerically exciting 1/11/11, we're officially launching TheKieraPlan.com.  We'll be bringing you music, videos, pictures, and all kinds of fun and excitement like never before!  So mark your calendar, and get ready for the next level!

But the website isn't the only thing excitedly under construction: on New Year's Eve, I was back at The Skylight Studio with my man (and sonic magician) Vince Ratti, putting the finishing touches on a BRAND NEW SONG!

Shawn in the studio cooking up a new track.

We're well into writing album two, but I couldn't wait for those sessions to bring you some new music.  So, we're just a touch of post-production and the right moment away from the next entry in the soon-to-be epic Kiera Catalog!

There's so much in store for the new year, and having been infected with an exceptionally go-getitive spirit, I'll be back with more news pre-launch.

For now, thanks for ruling!

Shawn

Hello, College Radio!

It's easy for me to fall into the habit of focusing my musical energy exclusively on performing and recording.  But, I know that I need to do more than just play and record, because there is so much that I want to make happen for the Kiera Plan.  So lately, I've been putting a lot of time into the behind-the-scenes business stuff that it's all too easy to neglect.

One big project has been getting the Dedication album to as many college radio stations as possible.  I've had a number of great experiences with college radio in the past -- in fact, West Chester University's WCUR was spinning the album months before it even came out -- so I'm really excited about what I've dubbed the "College Radio Mission."  This could be a big help in introducing new people to the Kiera Plan, and building up buzz as we gear up for the next record.

If you'd like to hear the Kiera Plan on the airwaves in your area, here are a list of stations that currently have our album, and the phone numbers for their request lines:

WKDU, Drexel University / Philadelphia, PA – (215) 895-5917

WDNR, Widener University / Chester, PA - (610) 499-4440

WPRB, Princeton University / Princeton, NJ – (609) 258-1033

WERS, Emerson University / Boston, MA – (617) 482-8890

WICB, Ithaca College / Ithaca, NY – (607) 274-3217

Radio DePaul, DePaul University / Chicago, IL - (773) 325-7308

KEXP, University of Washington / Seattle, WA – (206) 903-5397

WJCU, John Carroll University / Cleveland, OH – (216) 397-4438

KZSC, University of California, Santa Cruz / Santa Cruz, CA – (831) 459-4036

KPSU, Portland State University / Portland, OR – (503) 725-5945

WNYU, New York University / New York, NY – (212) 998-1818

BSR, Brown University / Providence, RI – (401) 863-9277

WBRU, Brown University (Commercial) / Providence, RI – (866) 382-9555

KALX, University of California, Berkeley / Berkeley, CA – (510) 642-5259

KXLU, Loyola Marymount University / Los Angeles, CA – (310) 338-5958

Radio K, University of Minnesota / Minneapolis, MN – (612) 626-4770

WRMC, Middlebury College / Middlebury, VT – (802) 443-6323

CHUO, / Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – (613) 562-5967

CJLO, Concordia University / Montreal, Quebec, Canada – (514) 848-7471

CFUV, University of Victoria / Victoria, British Columbia, Canada – (250) 721-8700

We appreciate all of your support!  And, of course, you can still rock to Kiera Plan Radio on Pandora, or stream the full album at ReverbNation.  What I really want, though, is to be on your iPod, so e-mail the title of your favorite song to tkprock@gmail.com and I'll e-mail you the mp3 for free.

When you realize that you have to have the rest ;), you can download them from iTunes or get the physical CD from Amazon.

Never Underestimate the Value of Kickin’ It Old School

In keeping it old school, here is one of John and Shawn outside the studio way back in 2005

I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of years both lamenting the fall of MySpace, and complaining about the constant frustration of trying to use ill-suited Facebook to promote our band.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not Facebook’s fault.   Facebook was created as a sort of online yearbook for lonely single people, and I assume that it still works well for them today – just not for bands.  The band stuff on Facebook was kind of an afterthought, and the resulting chaos means that a band has to fight the site for every basic thing it would like to do (fact: I would need to scan and upload my driver’s license for permission to upload a KP video directly to Facebook).   MySpace, on the other hand, was created specifically so that any person (let alone a band of people) with enough money to buy a guitar could easily and intuitively bury their friends’ MySpace inboxes in so many requests and event invitations that it would be impossible for those friends not to acknowledge that person’s possession of said guitar.  All you needed was that ax and that MySpace, and you were set.  Having three guitars, you can imagine how happily occupied with self-promotion I was back in the glory days when MySpace was still a thing. 

Back at It / Free Music

l-r: your boys John Collier and Shawn O'Brien

John and I are officially back at it, working on new material for Kiera Plan Album Two.  Right now there are a lot of songs in contention for a spot on this next record, and if you’ve been to any of the last few shows then you’ve heard one or two of these contenders.  We’re still so proud of the Dedication album that it’s that much more exciting to be building up the catalog.

In fact, I was so excited that I couldn’t wait for album readiness to hit the studio.  I popped down to The Skylight Studio a couple weeks ago with our all-star producer Vince Ratti to start work on a new track.  We released a couple of singles while we were working on the last record, and I really liked the way that worked out.  The track I just started recording isn’t finished, but just know that we’ve got new music coming your way sooner than you might think.

Meanwhile, we’re really trying to get some buzz going and introduce more people to The Kiera Plan. So from now until the end of 2010, we’ll be giving out a free MP3 to everyone who wants one.  All eleven songs from Dedication are streaming on our Facebook and ReverbNation pages.  You can check them out, and pick your favorite.  Then just e-mail the name of your favorite TKP song to us at tkprock@gmail.com, and we’ll send you that song for free.

So feel free to get your free MP3 today!  And please let your friends know that we have a free song waiting with their name on it.  We want to spread the love.

Thank you so much for your support!

Shawn