College Rock by FKA Zach Promesa

Hey hey hey thanks for listening. If you'd like to read more abt this thing, smash the "more..." link right down there in the bottom-right. See it? That's the one.
Or, just listen to the album see if ya like it! Either way, thanks for visiting my page and giving my music a shot. Hope you enjoy!
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Hi, and welcome! It’s with a swell of pride and a recently un-chipped shoulder that I present to you “College Rock,” aka my undergrad dissertation aka Izotope Alloy 2 on every track aka a star vehicle for that awful blue Talman guitar I used to own. The finishing of this album is, I feel, especially significant considering how long it waned in a state of incompletion. You know those projects that you at some point love so dearly, that you put stock into, but that never actually see the finish line? Because you’re grappling with the passage of time, and with each passing year your artistic sensibilities drift further from where they were when you started?? And before you know it, everything “sounds bad???” This is that kind of album. And the end product, at least in the case of “College Rock,” is something which has changed in its intended trajectory and purpose, but is nevertheless a sincere source of relief and fulfillment in its completion.

Let me start with some preamble, and some context around how this album came to be.

At the beginning of the year, I was driving from Santa Fe to Albuquerque with my very close friend {Casey Andersen} (who’s featured all over this album). We had an hour to kill, so on a lark, we put on “College Rock.” I don’t think I had listened to the thing front to back for several years; I’m not sure Casey had ever heard the whole thing. It had been 6-some years since he and I and Colin McDaniel went to L.A. to begin tracking, to lay the basics down on 10 songs that I had written during and were ostensibly about: you guessed it, college.

But the album hadn’t been touched since the end of summer 2015. The last person to do anything with it was my dear friend {Max Sink}, who had generously agreed to take on editing/producing/mixing the tracks. About 9 months into his role as a collaborator, I put the kibosh on the whole project. It didn’t sound right. I was wanting to make changes without understanding what those changes would even be. I was bumping up against a visceral fear that the tracks were lacking, that they wouldn’t be a competent reflection of my own musicality (which I’d learn later is the exact WRONG reason to make music in the first place). Some combo of ego and immaturity on my end was getting in the way. I’m sure there were all sorts of external factors that I’m not even remembering. In any case, the call was made, and College Rock sat in external hard drive stasis for years.

When we finished listening to the album, Casey said something along the lines of, “you should go upload that today.”
I didn’t do that. But I knew after about a month (which turned into 5 months) of reassembling and de-cobbwebbing and mix-tweaking, it would be time to finally finish this thing. So what changed?

I really don’t like this phrase, but it is very accurate: this album is a love letter to college. To the musical zeitgeist of the time (see indie rock exploding in Brooklyn, NY cir. 2009); to the distinctive, bizarre environment that was Berklee College of Music; to the weird, still-developing person that I was, who feels largely unrecognizable now. Some of the musical ideas here still check out as things I would try today, while others are like “who tf wrote this and why.” A lot- A LOT- of the lyrics feel very cringy to me. I guess that comes with the territory of reading old, old diary entries. There was ample room for reimagining and redacting- the same brand of second-guessing that waylaid finishing the album in the first place. This record may have been completely different and still unfinished if I had gone down that road. But now, 7 years removed from the recording (and 10 from the writing) of these tunes, the intention behind College Rock has changed. It’s no longer about trying to make something sound perfect, or dazzle the listener into thinking I’m special. For all my misgivings about the songwriting, or the narrative, or the exaggerated character I portray on this album, I’m now able to enjoy it for what it is: an unfiltered, candid time capsule of a part of my life that I’ll never get back, and ultimately never would have changed.

So the core premise (that extended my refurbishing by an extra 4 months) was to make the album sound "good but unchanged." The sweetest part of doing so was, far and away, remembering just how many friends make appearances on the songs; if nothing else, I’m proud of the fact that a reflection of my time in college is represented by the very people I met along the way. So as not to clutter up this whole spiel (it’s a lot of guests), I’ll tagged most of y’all in the corresponding social media blasts. Some of you I still see on the regular, while others I’ve kinda fallen out of touch with. And seeing as it’s been 7 years, and the overdubbing process was so run-and-gun to begin with, some of you may not even remember tracking on these songs! But just know that if you were a part of it, I’m extremely grateful for you lending your time and talent lo those many years ago. I’ve been listening to your voices and/or instruments all summer, and any time a guest shines through on the album is when I feel the happiest in listening back.

Continuing with that train of thought, there are some folks that I’ll take the liberty of shouting-out more specifically. Firstly {Aubrey Fisch} is responsible for the album art. I love Aubrey’s illustrations, and working with her remotely was effortlessly fluid; she pretty much produced exactly what I imagined in my head, and it’s a unique satisfaction to see that fully rendered. In the producer/engineer corner, I wanna circle back to Max’s contributions- the first month of embarking on this album’s reface was just trying to preserve what Max did (while getting it to comport with 2021 software). Without him laying the groundwork and adding his own sensibilities to these mixes, I don’t think I would have even wanted to finish them. In a role that he’s played for me time and time again, Dalton Harts is the person I can rely on to demystify audio. His consultation on how to get these tracks past the finish line was critical, and I respect him as a friend and as a man. And lastly, a huge dose of gratitude is due to Colin McDaniel, who contributed drums to the majority of the tracks. IMHO, the drums are what tie all of these songs together; it’s the instrument that propels the whole thing, and the centerpiece that I always feel I’m utterly incapable of reproducing by myself. Colin, on the other hand, is my favorite living drummer, and someone I am profoundly fortunate to have on this album. He’s been the ringer-drummer for so many way-too-complex projects of my mine, so many that haven’t seen the light of day- and he’s just down every time. Between ability and attitude, I couldn’t ask for a better colleague, or a more reliable friend.

So, in wrapping up this one last academic essay, lemme reiterate that I’m abundantly appreciative towards my friends who helped make this record, and so so so so glad that it’s finally done. If you’ve listened to it and got something out of it (or, alternatively think it sucks), then I deeply appreciate you, too. Onward to the next path, whatever the hell that may be. I hope that you’re all happy and well, and finding your own fulfillment in finishing those long-lost, ever-loved ideas.
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Last thing (I swear). Since the onset of this project, I’ve wanted to make it a dedication to my two brothers, Ted and Daniel. As one of you enters college, and one exits onward to that post-collegiate life, I hope you remember to believe in yourselves. Believe in the lives that you’re making. This album sat unheard because I didn’t believe in it, when I really should have. So don’t be like me. Trust that you can do it, whatever that “it” may be- because you can.

<3
-{Zach}

the fonk ain't dead!