Perseverance …

noun

Synonyms: persistence, tenacity, determination, staying power, indefatigability, steadfastness, purposefulness; patience, endurance, application, diligence, dedication, commitment, doggedness, assiduity, tirelessness, stamina; intransigence, obstinacy; informal – stick-to-it-iveness; formal – pertinacity

Recently, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on this word: “perseverance”. I breathed a sigh of relief this morning as I signed over final approval for the Trevor Dick Band | NEW WORLD CD Project to go to press at Ball Media Corporation.  This is a culmination of three years of persevering through writing; arranging; orchestrating; rehearsing; recording (bed tracks at Noble Street Studios and overdubs in our home studios); editing; mastering with George Seara; coordinating the photo shoot (including renting old world “Steampunk” costumes); pulling together the text and content for the CD; working with Shane Drever  from HOThouse Design on the artwork; submitting copyright and payment to CMRRA;  and finally sending the final masters off to press and print at Ball Media Group.

Honestly, this has been the most ambitious project we have undertaken as a band – a total of 15 stylistically diverse, technically demanding songs. I built a brand new pedal board for this project. I also purchased and performed a new MIDI electric violin on a few songs for new tonal possibilities (youtube clip below).  We have certainly entered a new musical World. The CD description says it well:

NEW WORLD, a collaboration of the Trevor Dick Band, freely explores and reinterprets a diverse collection of global music styles. This instrumental offering strives to convey the wonder, beauty/ugliness, sanctity, mystery and complexity of life on earth. The music is a culmination of all that has inspired us – a gift to our fellow sojourners.

What we thought was going to take a little over a year ended up taking almost three. We ended up pushing off the release date on the CD several times.  We kept reminding each other that the process is just as important as the outcome – a process that truly stretched us as a band. It has taken real patience, dedication and determination to dig deep every step of the way. It has also required a lot of humility as we have had to go back to the “drawing board” several times to re-track parts that were just not sitting right or quite stylistically correct. I personally re-recorded three songs.  At several times during this project I honestly felt like throwing in the towel, but I have pressed on. The vision for this project however has only become that much clearer as we have persevered.

I want to thank each band member for their dedication and commitment over these three years: Steve Heathcote (drums & percussion); Will Jarvis (electric and acoustic bass); Tony Lind (acoustic and electric guitar) and Brad Toews (piano and keyboards). We also want to thank Richard Cleaver (engineer) for his wonderful work mixing, editing and assisting in the production. Read more about his perspective here as we submitted the Masters to go to print earlier this week.

Until next time. T

Tracking “Perpetuum” on the new Cantini MIDI electric violin

Tracking “East of Sinai – Prelude” on my NS 5-String electric violin