THE RUMORS ARE TRUE

Last night I went up to DJ Metal Mistress’ studio to do another live radio show. While we did the usual witty banter back and forth, cracked lots of bad jokes, and talked about the usual topics, I kept something under my imaginary hat for a month. Wasn’t easy but when I said it, I thought Metal Mistress was going to burst into tears.

I announced working on my 10th album.

When the words “I started pre-production on my 10th album, and Mike Sabatini is on drums again”, I thought to myself, “Did I just utter that out loud?!” Even I was taken by surprise. This was on par with when I announced last September about the TM Stevens benefit show with Living Colour. I am very good at keeping secrets but some almost made feel like I was about to explode (spot the reference).

As some of you know, I had been brooding about the last album for various reasons. Instead of hanging onto grudges and disappointments, it was time to let go and say “Shit happens, move on!” And while it took some time to move forward, it happened. I had been writing demos since 2023, and up until very recently, I narrowed down the songs that I felt worked best. But what about musicians? I honestly debated using drum programs like I did on LAYERS OF TIME but that was so tedious. I reached out to some people but nothing happened.

One phone call changed things.

Mike and I talked on the phone about how our lives seemed to have transformed in various ways. I won’t speak for him but I can tell all of you that I’ve seriously leveled up over time rather quickly. And he sounded like he moved into a new realm as well. So I asked him up-front, “May I send you two demos to check out?” and he responded with “Yes definitely!” He is also busy playing drums with a couple of other bands on their albums so I said “Take your time with my stuff, as you’re busy with other projects.” The next day or so, he told me that the tunes were really good and that if my schedule allowed it, that we can get together and try them out.

We met up on October 1st (how fitting!) and it’s like we never stopped playing together. Musically, it works. Period. He told me that he loves the challenges and that he can be creative with my music. I am all for freedom of expression and that we agreed that this album needs to have “layers of guitar” and “never mind the live shows”. Well, thankfully for him and a lot of other people, I have NO desire to perform my own songs live anymore. That ship sailed. I only want to make a new album, with nine new songs (that can change, who knows?) and say that I finally made a tenth album. I’ve said this before but I didn’t expect to make two albums, let alone ten. And while it’s too early to tell, if this truly is going to be my final opus, I want it to be a grand statement, one that speaks louder than anything before.

We have worked on four demos so far and the tunes range from full-on heavy metal to funky stuff to one tune that I admit was supposed to channel Rush but it came out more like 5150-era Van Halen. It works, so I got out of the way. I write what feels good, and will continue to say that forever.

And now that I announced album 10 is in the baby stages, it’s time to roll our sleeves up and really put the pedal to the metal. There’s no deadline, no rushing things, but at the same time, everything has been so relaxed that things are flowing amazingly. This is how my last album should have been, but the gods decided “Nah, this one will be more of a joy to make.”

Got that right!