Hi there, it's a rainy Thursday morning in L.A. and the second single from my album just landed: the title track “That's the Price of Loving Me” along with a new video directed by Matthew James-Wilson. We filmed this over the holidays in and around Echo Park. Matthew and I thought for this romantic but contemplative song it would be fun to shoot me doing some romantic activities but all my myself, so here I am, shopping for books, taking a paddle boat ride in the Echo Park lake, eating a cheeseburger. The burger joint, by the way, was the iconic Patra Burger on Sunset Blvd, a local lunch spot since the 1970s which sadly closed down for good just a few days after we filmed. And if you are fan of the band Automatic, you might notice a cameo by bassist Halle Saxon who sells me a copy of Death In Venice and Other Stories.

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This is a song about touring life, and I used to think that was a cliché but hopefully this goes beyond. We're out of canticles to learn / out of melodies to burn / out of silk and out of suede / out of cities to invade. The first verse I'm dreaming about our friend Kiko, who drove a Sprinter, not of chrome, but red with red leopard upholstery, and picked us up at the train station near King's Cross, which I rhymed with Veronica Voss, a fictional character. If you knew Kiko it makes sense. The song features a Moog solo by Kramer.

The whole album was recorded right here in Los Angeles. Kramer flew out here from his home in Asheville, North Carolina, and stayed in our spare room. Each day we took the Ventura Freeway to Lucy's Meat Market, a recording studio in Eagle Rock. We tracked ten songs in two days, and spent another four days overdubbing vocals and other instruments. Kramer insisted that I must play all the guitars on this record. Bass guitar and vocals by Britta. Drums were played by both Roger Brogan and Anthony LaMarca (five songs each). Kramer played piano, synthesizer, a real vintage Celeste and a pump organ, and Gabe Noel played cello. 

And a reminder, I am hitting the road in April with a full band (with Britta of course), we just announced shows in Los Angeles, Ojai, Joshua Tree, San Francisco, Hipnic Festival (Big Sur), Baker City, Portland and Seattle, and added a date at Austin Psychfest too. TOUR DATES HERE

Peace,
Dean

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photo by Laura Moreau