Runaway Snail: The India Sessions

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I have had many lifetimes in one life. You see, there was this one where I considered myself a sensitive singer-songwriter. I wrote introspective lyrics about complex feelings and such. Even though I perform some of the songs at the live show, I am certain that after people listen to this record, I will likely get requests to sing it "just like on the record.". I can't make any promises but we can all rest sure in the knowledge that at one time, I traveled to far away lands and stayed for a time, along the shore of the Arabian sea in a thatched hut near a coconut grove, populated by wild pigs and stray chickens, and I made a record about Love.

I met my brother Mashti at the a roll up resort on Mandrem Beach in Goa. A loose assortment of huts and tables looking out on the ocean. By roll up, I mean that everything rolls up for monsoon season, lumber, thatch, kitchen and all. When the rains come, it all disappears into a big pile underneath a tarp in the sand dunes. But it was Springtime and the weather could not have been more beautiful. I knew I liked this bald Norwegian guy from Denmark when one of our companions, a guru of sorts, announces that we should all go down to the beach for Kirtan, a form of spiritual hindu singing. I wasn't feeling it, and stayed behind as the hippy travelers skipped towards the beach, drums and finger cymbals in hand, preparing for a massive Kirtan. Bewildered, Mashti leans over the table and asks me, "Why are they going to clip coupons on the beach?"

"Coupons?"

"Yeh, I heard someone say lets go to the beach for 'coupons' and they all followed the coupon lady!"

"Coupons" were much funnier than "Kirtans" and we both burst into laughter and that is how this record got started.

Later that year I hitchhiked almost 1,000 miles from a music festival in Bulgaria to Mashti's house in Denmark where we recorded the preliminary tracks for Runaway Snail on a less than expensive microphone and GarageBand. The following year, we returned to the Arabian Sea, hardware and software slightly upgraded, among the coconut grove on Mandrem Beach with the wild pigs and stray chickens. The result is "Runaway Snail." True to its name, It has taken 12 years to arrive. I hope you like it.