Mystery - 1998 by The MoonDogs

I was born in 1968, received my first guitar at age 2 (just a toy really) but then by age 9, I had a real guitar and was taking my first guitar lessons.

I have been fascinated by music since I can remember and the acoustic guitar sound specifically.

By my teens (1986) I was writing my own songs under the name 'The Wind'.

By my mid 20's (94-96) I was starting to play out live at coffee houses and in my late 20's I finally started joining bands.

I had met Brian B. in late 1996 and by 1997 we had started a duo called Broken String which evolved into a full band with Joe and Steve called CrossRoads.

By 1998 we had all but broken up and moved on but 1998 turned out to be an extremely fertile year for me songwriting wise.

Brian and I had written a few songs together (which appear in the next album - Blue Motel) and I had learned so much by working with him in 1997.

As 1998 got in to swing, suddenly it was like the flood gates had opened and I had all these songs pouring out and thanks to Brian, I had new tools I never knew existed with which to craft those songs.

I also had a new toy...
A Tascam 488 mkII, which was an 8-track recorder. It still used regular cassettes but now I had 8 tracks to work with (compared to only 4 on all of the stuff by The Wind) plus I had a way to add in effects, compression and noise gates. Add to that a capability to get the tracks into the computer and onto CD and we're talking a whole new world for me.

All songs on Mystery were written in 1998 and recorded in 1999.

Somewhere in 1998 or 1999, Steve, Brian C the drummer. and I joined up with Jim, Simon Tobias, and Craig to create a Beatles cover band.

We called ourselves The MoonDogs.

That band didn't really last but I loved the name.

So when it came time to name this album and the group of players that helped to create the tracks, I decided to just use the MoonDogs name and call the album Mystery after one of the songs.

The cover shot was taken by my wife, Tina, and is, from left to right:
Steve, Simon, Brian C., Jim and myself on the far right.

When I found my software would create an oil painting filter of the picture, I realized the name Mystery would be even more appropriate.

I've always been compelled to write.

Early on it was journaling and poetry, but then that merged with my guitar addiction to become songwriting.

The process was always a bit manic, pressured, as if a large gorilla had stepped into my room, grabbed me by the lapels and said, "I will not let you sleep until you write this idea down." And so for years the gorilla and I danced madly thru the night.

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