I have a new single that drops in 12 days. Check out the cover art below – revealed silently here first. If you are actually here reading this and you see this cover art before I post it everywhere after Thanksgiving and you tell me about it before Thanksgiving I personally will venmo you $5. LMK. Anyway, this is me and Gaby on the cover. To get this shot, I setup a ladder in our living room and duct taped our camera stand to the top of it so it would cantilever out and be some 6′ above the ground. Then Gab and I laid down on the floor on a white sheet under the camera and I had it on delay mode and that was that. A little editing and boom. This song is influenced 100% by Gaby. Excited for you to hear it. Stay tuned – 11/29/2018.

I left off on a brief note about myself and I’m not going to let myself off the hook.  Although I could decide to keep most of this buried and I could point attention to other individuals in high school and college that were much “worse” than I was – but the truth is – I wasn’t all that great. There were many things I had to show for myself on paper and stuff such as all straight A’s, all-league football player and decorated three-sport athlete, attended church, was generally well-liked and had many friends etc. The problem was that my heart wasn’t where it should have been. I was focused on and desired the wrong things. I didn’t drink in high school and I still have never done any drugs, but ya I still wanted all the attention and popularity I could get. I wanted to be with girls and I wanted to chase this “sought after” life I could portray on social media. This started in high school and got worse in college as my music started to buzz as well.  Deep down I knew this wasn’t really what I should be doing, but it was fun and I was enjoying it and letting it happen. It’s something I still fight thinking about wanting to this day especially with the constant temptations surrounding me. All that said now, let’s get back to me and G.

Gabrielle and I were together for less than a year when I went off to college. I remember thinking to myself that summer before I left that maybe we should break up, but I didn’t want to.  I loved her.  I was trying to think realistically for a minute though and determine if it was healthier for us to break up and go our separate ways instead of doing the long distance thing and both of us being 19 and at different colleges. But ya, I didn’t do it because I couldn’t because I did love her. So I went off to college and a month later, she paid me a surprise visit.

We were alone in my dorm room sitting on my bottom bunk and I could tell something really serious was going on and I had a feeling she was going to say what she said.  I had the words in my head that she eventually said, and I really didn’t want to hear them. But I did.  She was pregnant with Pax.

How do I even write this next part? I had to write that sentence because I typed and erased and typed again and erased again the words I was trying to say. I’ll never forget that moment in my dorm room and that day in San Luis Obispo. So much emotion and stirring brain FREAKING out, we were so young and immature it’s crazy to think back to that now. Without a doubt, Paxton is the most amazing thing on this earth to this day to me and the impact he has had on my life can’t even be defined or summarized. But back then at that moment I wasn’t thinking like that – no way – I was thinking what are people going to think of me now? My family… this is going to affect them and what people think of them and they’re going to think I’m the worst thing on the planet.

Story to be continued…

Nocturnal drops in 3 days. Check out the cover art. I personally love it. This is modeled by the one and only Pax Jude. He was on the cover of Heart Wings and Life Tonight, which are my previous two all-original releases. Technically, those two projects were the only ones prior to Nocturnal that were officially released on iTunes and Spotify and stuff as my other albums, The SLO Life and Triple Play were released via my website for download. How times have changed, right? Downloading an mp3 haha wow when is the last time you did that? Anyway, now all my stuff is on all platforms for you to listen to, but back to the point, technically Pax has always been on the cover of my official releases and so the tradition continues. More on the meaning of this cover art later – I’ll do a post on the overall meaning of the album Nocturnal and a background on each of the tracks after you get a chance to listen to them. 3 days!!!

  

I am lucky to be with the most amazing girl. She has been through a lot. We’ve been through a lot (10 years, off and on, and counting). I wrote a song about her, but honestly every song I write is influenced by her in some way… She showed me A Drop in The Ocean years ago and I made Ocean Drop because of that. She has quirks and is tough to figure out and is gorgeous and she’s fun and depressed and she’s insecure and she’s incredibly strong and resilient and she’s an insanely good mother and wife and she is way too unselfish and on and on and on. Her name is Gabrielle (if you didn’t already know).

We met when we were both 17 years old when she moved to Sacramento and attended my high school for both of our senior years only. Her grandmother was sick and she and her mom moved up from LA to be closer. I first saw Gabrielle in September ’07 crossing campus with her head in a book as she walked because she was too shy to look up. I thought she was maybe a freshmen at first because she was pretty small and I had never seen her before. Eventually I found out who she was and my friends showed me her myspace and she became known as the model girl from LA – I had to meet her.
Eventually one of my bold friends walked up to her and said she should meet us all and I remember introducing myself and noticing she was wearing a gold cross necklace and I asked if she went to church and she said that she did in LA. Later I invited her to my church and asked her for her number (in person, not via myspace) and we went that Sunday and had Chipotle after. And so our relationship began…

Gabrielle came from a home without a father – but not like he just wasn’t there very much because her parents split or she only saw him occasionally, literally he didn’t claim that she was his daughter and she never saw him. I came to know her background – from a tough home situation where her mom struggled with addiction and finances and she moved like every year and changed schools like every grade. I came to understand over the years that she didn’t have true guidance or meaningful love and sincere reassurance as a kid/teen. She had older siblings and the rough, ruthless world around her acting as her compass. The 2000s didn’t help, right, with the social media explosion and general progression of girls looking and acting a certain way that was no bueno (and is still getting worse).

By the time I was 18 and especially when I went off to college, I wasn’t making good decisions by any means and although I was a determined and exceptional student, I was totally all about partying and girls.

Story to be continued…

Well. I dropped my first single in like 5 years so I’m celebrating by giving away $100 cuz why not let’s have some fun people. Tune into the new jam and share it and get a little dough. Take it to the next level by doing a dance or something to the song for some style points. Tag me in your post so I see it and I’ll share it!

I created a Spotify playlist.  Check it out.  I’ll update this frequently with past and present music I’m feeling.  There are 2 hours of music on “PJ’s Picks” to start, which gives you a bit of an insight into what influences my sound.

Let’s do it. Shouts to Gabrielle – I love you.

Can’t wait for you all to hear the new jams. Singles drop August 15th and August 22nd. Album drops August 30!  They will be on all platforms.

In 2017 on St. Patty’s Day I dropped a collaboration album with my good buddy Josh AKA Sulvida who also lives in San Diego. He is a talented producer and DJ.  Josh and I went to college together in San Luis Obispo at Cal Poly and he was my DJ during shows I did at this time.  Josh, who has an electronic background, brought all the production on this one and I handled all the lyrics and vocals.  I think we made a cool duo and our two different individual genres/sounds came together to create something unique. We called ourselves Clean/Cut and our debut EP project of six songs was called “The Line”.  Click HERE to go to our website and check out more. Check the video below of our live version of our single “Feel Something”.

I’ve been busy.  I’ve really missed interacting with you all on a daily basis, but it wasn’t without good reason.  I am back just as passionate as I always was, but dare I say a little more mature? I’d like to say wiser. Well we’ll find out.

Since the release of “Life Tonight” in 2014, my solo music took a bit of a back seat to other things in life.  I married Gaby that year and we started a life together in North San Diego.  I’ve lived throughout California my whole life and this is our favorite spot – it is tough to beat. I’ve raised Pax up to age 9 now, coaching him through sports and young boy life.  Gaby and I also had two amazing girls: Emma (almost 3) and Drew (almost 1).  Never a dull, or rather a moment without chaos until about 10pm when they’re all down.  I love them to death and now can’t imagine life without them.

Days are filled with my full time job as an engineering/construction project manager, which I really enjoy. Evenings are filled with family dinners, sports or school stuff, walks to the park/beach, and bath time, story time, and then bed time. Weekends are similar with even more kid action. Late nights or times when the girls are napping and Pax is chilling is when I dive into music.  You may see why the solo music creation hit a bit of a pause for a while as I focused on my family.  Below are a few pics of the fun.

Now that things are settled (and no more kids on the way) albeit still chaotic and my free time is limited, I’m back with a new original album and I think it’s pretty good.  I’m excited.  I hope you check it out and let me know what you think.  Album drops August 30, 2018.