ChasingLilly.net

Yet another post about Will’s new album, In Flight!

Last post I talked about the design of the booklet and such. After that, however, came an even more annoying problem: printing them. We didn’t need hundreds of copies, but we still didn’t want to use our home printer ink (for obvious reasons). So I went to Staples and got some estimates on how much printing 50 booklets would cost (that’s 150 pages front and back, fyi). If we had used their paper, it would have been over $200. Thankfully, Mel got some high-quality “great for CD booklet” paper. Using her paper it was something like $145, which is a lot, but not since Will is selling the booklet editions anyways.

So a few nights ago we went and got them all printed at Staples. Too bad they got them ALL WRONG. The woman who “helped” us, while nice, was rather incompetent about anything relating to printing, and printed nearly every every page off-center. Some of the pages were even diagonal on one side! I mean, seriously, how does that even happen!? Since we couldn’t use any of it, we went back the next morning (when we knew there would be a new shift of people at the printing station), and the woman there kindly reprinted all 150 for free. She even let us keep the original batch.

We spent the rest of the day stapling, cutting, smooshing, and inserting the booklets into the jewel cases. And they turned out GREAT. In fact, I think they look awesome. So if you can get one from Will, get it. Of course, I guess you could also get it for the music on it… heh heh.

In other quick news, I’m helping out with our church’s Vacation Bible School this Summer, which starts today. I’m doing drama, playing the part of a homesick, classic english butler in Egypt. It’s gonna be epic.

OH, and I’m seeing Arcade Fire tonight in Philadelphia. So expect some news from that!

Happy Trails,
Sam.

My best bud Will McCarry is just now releasing his long-awaited debut solo album, In Flight. He’s been working on it for quite a while, and it really shows. It’s an awesome selection of songs, and you should all definitely pick it up. Yours truly even makes an appearance on at least one song. Right now the only way to get the whole album is from him, though I’m working with him on a way to put it up online for free. Maybe I’ll even host it here on ChasingLilly.net! You can, however, check out some of the songs at either his Facebook Fan Page or his Myspace. And while you’re over on Facebook, be sure to become a fan!

In preparation for the album, our quite good friends Mel Kobran and Nathaniel Tonelli worked on an album cover for the CD. You can see the finished back cover/cover (respectively) for the album below. They did a really great job, and Mel did a great job putting it all together in Photoshop. All the elements are real, from the hand drawn planes to the coffee stain (which is actually an orange juice stain, but who needs to know?). As always, click to enlarge and by doing so, enjoy.

While they worked on the cover, I simultaneously worked on designing the inside of the album booklet. I finally finished yesterday at 4 AM, and figured I could share a few of the pages with you. But I won’t share them all, some surprises should be left for when you get your hands on a copy of the album!

In Flight booklet pages 1 & 2

In Flight booklet pages 5 & 6

I think it turned out quite well, but then again I am a bit biased. So far the response has been positive, though, so that’s a good sign. Regardless it was a lot of fun branching out into the design of album art. The awesome photos from the booklet were taken by Mel as well. She’s a photography major at VCU, so go over to her flickr or some place and support her. Another friend of mine, Billy Bacci, is also releasing an album soon (he claims next week) and has asked me to do something for him. I can smell another late-night-team-album-art-creating venture coming! Where’s my album? It’s coming…

So go pick up a copy of In Flight from Will, and I’ll keep everyone else updated on where they can download a copy of the album on the interwebz. Soon, very soon. In fact by tomorrow. No joke. I know, it’s crazy how much I’m suddenly blogging. And yes, I realize I’m just having a conversation with myself at the computer.



Happy Trails,
Sam.