Strangers In The Night.

I have no clue when I last posted a good long blog, but I know it's at least been over a week and a half...

So here we go.

I've been in Florida since last last Saturday (the 10th).

I was in Destin the 10th through the 14th.

And I was in Orlando the 15th through the 17th.

I went to Destin for just a bit of a vacation with some good friends of mine.

And basically, it was just a grand 'ol time.

(Here's what my luggage for the trip looked like.)

(Ha, Yeah, I packed 24 shirts for a week long trip, so what?)

(Yours truly on the beach, talking about bullshit probably.)

In Destin I basically did a bunch of nothing.

We all went to the beach every day (played volleyball, frisbee, you know, the usual beach stuff).

I saw Iron Man one day during that part, it was suprisingly awesome.

I also managed to buy the new Death Cab For Cutie and Jason Mraz albums (and a new Frank Sinatra collections album).... all are great, except the Death Cab album is just plain phenomenal.

On Thursday I headed down to Orlando for the 2008 Florida Music Festival.

My showcase wasn't until Saturday, so me and usual merch guy, Garrett had a couple of days to do basically more of nothing.

Then, on Saturday, Magic found its way to our lives...

as one of our superawesome Orlando friends took us to damn Disney World!

(In front of Cinderella's badass castle.)

(Yeah, Mickey and I go way back.)

So Disney World was amazing as always (this was my third time going).

The only thing that sucked is that we had to leave by 5 so I could get to my showcase check-in on time.

However, we did manage to get our asses through three parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios) before we had to go.

So anyways.

Backseat Goodbye news?

Yeah, there's a lot of it...

and it's really really really great stuff...

but I can't share it with you quite yet.

I can let you know that soon I will be able to tell you every date of the first part of my Summer tour, and I'll also be able to let you know when my new album will actually be available in a store near you (and also when it will be available on iTunes)   :)

Other than that there's really not much to tell as of late.

Right now I'm just getting things ready for the upcoming tour and the album in-store release.

OH!

I almost forgot since it's been so long.

But the weekend before I left I just happened to get about 75% of the music video for "Technicolor Eyes" shot.

There are still a couple of scenes to go... 

then editing won't take long and so hopefully I'll have that video ready for you by the end of this week.

But yeah, that's pretty much it...

nothing too exciting since I was gone for a week.

I'll leave you with some more photos now.

(My Steamboat Mickey figure I bought at Disney World.)

(My new baby. BlackBerry 8830. I love it oh so much.)

(I have a good bit of unpacking and cleaning to do now.)

So, good day to you and yours.

- Chad

Two post-it notes.

So it's a week before my new album is released...

Needless to say, I'm a busy kid right now.

However, beyond the busy parts of my day, it feels sooooooo good to know that every bit of the album is done, and the first pressing is being made right now, and in a matter of days I'll be getting a visit from the UPS man and then my room will be full of boxes and boxes and boxes of my new album. It's hard to describe the feeling I get when I open up the first box of a new album...

it's just so.... so.....amazing. I really don't what to say other than pour your heart out into something for months on end and then one day you hear a knock on the door and moments later you're opening a box with your finished work in a pretty package.... just waiting to go out to the ears of others. Ahhh, I LOVE it.

So yeah, I'm excited about recieveing that first shipment this week :)

As far as busy goes...

Today I finally started the storyboard for the first actual Backseat Goodbye music video.

(Storyboard. And my To-Do List for today)

If all goes well I hope to get it shot and wrapped up over this coming weekend... and then have the video ready by the 29th.

Ha.

On a side note.

If you're a close friend of mine you know this, but a lot of people don't...

I'm quite the forgetful person... I mean, I'm reaaaaaally good at accidentally forgetting things...

and for the longest time I've been meaning to make BG business cards, and I finally got those made today. Now this really doesn't matter to anyone but me, ha, but I'm just so happy that I finally made some so that I don't feel like a dumbass when people as me for a card.

(Simple and sweet.)

On a personal note.

I bought the most awesome Audrey Hepburn photograph (I've had a crush on that legendary lady for quite some time now) for my wall a couple of days ago.

And now that I'm done recording Dressed Up Like Dreams I was able to rearrange my bedroom so that I can actually manuever around my room, so that's exciting to me as well. Don't worry, I know I'm lame :)

(A bit of my new bedroom layout.)

That's pretty much all I've got for right now.

I'll be posting all of the lyrics from the new album sometime within the next day or two...

I'll also be posting a new song tomorrow on Myspace, I think I'm going to post "The Future Is A Masterpiece" I haven't decided for sure yet...

so be on the lookout for all that if you're interested.

- Chad

And I'll go lie down in the middle of the road.

I didn't realize until about 5 minutes ago that my new album will be released in just a matter of a few days now. 

And wow, to be honest with you I was scared about this album.

See, I've been working on it for the longest I've ever worked on an album, and it's truely evolved from so many different forms. Originally it was going to just be a collection of old songs I've released on previous EPs. Then I decided I didn't like that, I just couldn't cope with making people pay money for an album with songs they already had or could already get on past cds of mine. So then I decided to make half of the album have new songs and half be old songs... then I didn't like that and decided to have most of the album be new songs with just a few old songs.

It was then that the album had 16 tracks, 9 of which were new, and seven that were old.

And in the last two weeks I didn't like that, (and actually this is my first time announcing this) so I decided to put 17 songs on the album, 12 of which are brand new, and 5 that are old.

So now I give you the 110% final tracklisting for my new album, Dressed Up Like Dreams.

1. Swallow The Sun

2. Dressed Up Like Dreams

3. Summer Drive Song

4. Bottom Lips And Fingertips

5. Hello Yellow

6. Song For Audrey

7. Technicolor Eyes

8. Hey (New Version)

9. 32 Ways To Make You Smile (New Version)

10. Calico Kitten

11. Envy The Living

12. Boys, Girls, Sing!

13. Sidewalk Sing Along

14. The Future Is A Masterpiece

15. Reactions Over Resolutions (Acoustic)

16. An Attempt To Forget

17. I Think I Might Change My Name To Tomorrow

And I mentioned a second ago about being "scared" about this album...

well, see... I kind of haven't really let anyone hear the new songs or the new versions of them at all (except for literally 3 people). 

And I can just assure you that some of them are....well...."different" from things I've done before... 

but really, I think that's the most exciting thing about this album for me.

The fact that I'm going out on a limb and trying to really let my music grow is really freeing for me on a personal level.

But yeah, until last night I hadn't really put all the songs together and listened to them as a group, and I think that's what was scaring me the most,.... just the fact that I didn't see how these were going work together on the same album.

But after getting them all together for mastering I can gladly say that I don't know what the fuck I was so scared of. I could NOT be more glad to call this my debut full-length album.

I've never had one of my albums flow this well, these songs all just feel so right together.

I have NEVER been 100% happy with any of my previous releases (for various reasons)...

but with this one I am actually fully comfortable with it.

I could gladly hand the album to anyone and proudly say "Yeah, this is my music, my life."

And I'm not saying this album is perfect at all...

because it's really not...

if you listen close enough in some parts you will definitely be able to hear flaws in guitar riffs or flaws in my voice...

but I'm so so so sooooo fine with that fact.... because this album is an expression of me, my life, my loves, my desires, my hopes, my shortcomings, my hates, my everything.

But yeah, that's all I'll say about that right now, I'm sure I'll pour out a lengthy blog on the release date about my feelings about the about the album and what it means to me and what I hope it will represent for you....

for now, just know that I'm excited for you all to hear it.

Also, you may have noticed (New Version) beside "Hey" and "32 Ways To Make You Smile" in the tracklisting...

if you're a fan of the original versions of those songs don't worry....

these versions aren't far from the originals, I just wanted better recordings of them.

The new version of "Hey" is literally almost exactly the same as the originial, I just redid it to how I've always played it live, which it's just a tiny tiny bit faster, and the guitar riff is a bit different in parts. But I promise, the new version is much prettier and really how I wanted the song to be originally, so I hope you'll take in the new one nicely.

And the new version of "32 Ways To Make You Smile" is exactly the same as the original except I added a nice little "oldies style" solo to it in one part.

Let's see, what else....

Today I'm finishing up Mastering all the songs.

What's Mastering?.... you might ask.

Well, it's basically where you mess with the song's overall volume and frequencies to make sure it will sound good when it comes out of your iPods, laptops, and car speakers.

So yeah, after today the songs will literally be 100% done and ready for your ears.

I plan on making sure you get to hear a good bit of the new songs before the album actually comes out to, so just be on the lookout, because in the next two weeks I'll be posting new song previews like crazy.

Speaking of, if you didn't know, you can hear "Swallow The Sun" now on my myspace (www.myspace.com/backseatgoodbye)

What else...

hmm...

Oh, just a small warning, there's a chance the album's release on iTunes will be a bit delayed (probably just by a week).

I'm still working all that stuff out with the super awesome people at The Militia Group, and we're all just trying to make sure it gets released in the best way possible.

As far as the physical album goes, it will still be available beginning April 29th.

And if you preorder it then your copy will be sent early sometime the week before :)

By the way, you can preorder it now and get a free signed poster and sticker, all for just $8 at my online store at www.downtownrivals.com/store/BackseatGoodbye

That's all I've really got to blog about right now,

I've been too busy working on the post-production of the album for anything super interesting to post now.... 

but the fun stuff (including videos, finally!) and photos and new merch and new songs and all the exciting things that come with releasing a new album will be coming in new blog posts soon!

- Chad

P.S. - I'll be posting ALL of the lyrics from the album soon

P.P.S. - Don't forget to check out the new song "Swallow The Sun" and tell me what you think of it!

I wasn't born to be a skeleton.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

- From Semisonic's "Closing Time"

We were sitting in a bar in downtown Nashville when that line really hit me for the first time.

The song mentioned above has been one of my favorites of all-time for years now,

but I suppose it just really takes some perspective for certain lines to really hit you.

The funny thing though, is that the line doesn't pertain to me at all right now.

It instead involves two of my closest friends (which is the "We" I referred to earlier).

But that's all I'll say about that subject, if by chance either of them read this I just hope they know that they'll both be alright, no matter how much their mind fucks with them and tells them they won't be. I love you both, and think you both have grown from what you shared over the last couple of years. And to be honest, I think it's going to make you both even more amazing human beings with time.

So anyways.

I ended up alone at The Weakerthans concert in Nashville last night.

And actually, I wasn't sour about being alone at all, despite what my company with me thought as they left. There was really no reason for either of them to say sorry to me, if there's one person that understands the complexity of human relationships and personal needs, it's me.

But yeah, so here's what happened...

I'm standing there in the Exit/In with my 16oz "Champagne of Beer" listening to the open band.

They finish, and I for some reason I felt the need to wash my hands.

So I go to the restroom and do so.

(Keep in mind, that at this point in time I'm a tad bit drunk)

And then I decide to go outside (for what reason, i have no idea)...

and I start walking for a second, and have a sudden realization...

I look down at my hand (where at the beginning of the night the cool doorman gave me a stamp as he took my ticket to get into the show) and sure enough, my dumbass had accidentally washed it off completely.

I hated myself for a minute, decided I was too drunk to stay and wait for The Weakerthans to go on anyway, and headed off to my car.

Ha. So that's my story about how I didn't see The Weakerthans last night.

It's now my favorite, I was a drunk dumbass one time, story.

And here's to many more :)

Anyways.

It's almost April now.

The weather's getting warmer and the Earth is getting brighter again.

It's going to be a great Spring.

(I think it may be time for me to do some laundry.)

It took about a week's worth of listening,

but I finally really really really like the new Panic At The Disco album.

So if you went out and bought it, and didn't like it at first,

please give it a chance, because yeah it's weird not hearing every song be a fast distorted pop song... but once you get over that and just listen to it for what it is you'll realize it's a great album.

And I just have to mention the fact that Counting Crows' new album "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings" is my favorite of the year so far. I love it.

Business talk?

Yeah, I've got some business talk now. 

I've finally started making the marketing plans for BG, as well as promotional and street team ideas. I've also been trying to come up with some really interesting contests as well for the new album.

So far I've got a lot of ideas and I'm just filtering through them all now to figure which are good and which are definitely not.

I've also gotten some more work for my book done as well and if you've been keeping up with that on myspace or chadsugg.com then you'll be seeing a ton of new info, previews, and other stuff on that this week.

I'm pretty sure that this April is going to be the busiest month of my life thus far...

and I couldn't be more excited about that.

By the way, in case you didn't know...

I have a daily "blog" now that you can find and follow at chadsblog.tumblr.com

And that is now my newest obsession, and I definitely suggest you get one at Tumblr.com

- Chad

P.S. - By the way...

(Here's the newest BG poster, available now HERE)

The rest will come when it comes along.

Well well well...

so as you may (or may not) know,

this past weekend I played my first shows of 2008.

The first was in Memphis,

I now officially love that town and the people in it.

That was a fucking great show to kick off a year full of shows with.

A big thanks goes out to Won't Look Back Booking, Taylor and Ryan, you guys 'effing rock.

I'm definitely looking forward to heading back down there on tour later this year.

The second was in my hometown, Clarksville....

and it was a house show where I saw a ton of old friends and made some awesome new ones.

A little note to the music industry...

Hi, sorry but music isn't dead, over the weekend I played in two completely different settings in which every person was there simply because they love a little thing called music.

If you think that independent music is dead, then you had better open your eyes, because it's alive as it's ever been and I can assure you that it's all growing in every aspect no matter what your damn internet headlines read.

So to all of you that are skeptic about the state of the music industry today all I have to say is this...

Music is a living and breathing thing,

the people making it are the heart,

the people singing along are the lungs,

we're all still alive and well in perfect harmony and it's a beautiful thing.

So if you think it's all in a decline, then you need to take a step outside of your bedroom door and open your ears, because I'm here to tell you that there are concert halls and living room walls singing louder than they ever have right now.

Ha, hopefully that doesn't sound too bitter,

I'm just tired of hearing so many people say that the future of music is fucked,...

when in all reality it's not fucked, it's just that the people saying that aren't doing it right (or even for the right reasons for that matter).

So, anywayssssssss!

This week I will be completely wrapping up all work on Dressed Up Like Dreams!

I've still got a bit of post production work to do on some songs and a good bit of the artwork to finish, but after Wednesday it will all be done, and then it will be time to get this baby pressed and ready for your eyes and ears :)

Tomorrow a photographer will be coming to my apartment for a quick photoshoot to go along with a feature interview that's going to be in a Nashville paper that I thought I would never ever ever ever ever be featured in, so I'm excited beyond belief to say the least.

Let's see,...What else?

I don't think I have anything that's actually cool to talk about right this second...

but I'll be posting another blog on here later this week, because I'll finally have a bunch of stuff about the new album to share with you all....

so this blog might actually get a bit interesting this week ;)

Au Revior,

Chad

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Wow.

It's already March 11th?

Where have the first two months of this year gone to?

The weather here in TN is finally starting to lean toward the warmer side,...

thank fucking goodness for that!

I've gotten in a good habit of cleaning my room and keeping it clean over the last week or so,

hopefully I can keep that up, because usually (especially when I'm recording like I am now) my floor is covered with microphone cables, guitar picks, headphones, mic stands, amps, assorted instruments, and of course... more and more cables.

I've started really practicing for my live shows coming up (I've got a big gig in Memphis on Friday and then on Sunday I'm playing a little house show in my hometown)...

and things feel different...

I don't know how to explain it, but I think after being locked up recording for the last four months with no shows I've grown really really comfortable with just the overall aspect of my music and the guitar and my own voice and just everything involving BG in the musical sense.

That probably doesn't make sense, but let's just say that I think the upcoming tours are going to be quite interesting, because I'm pretty sure I've finally figured out how to let the music lead the way instead of me leading it. So basically, I'm just ready to play some fucking shows and do my best to blow your damn minds (now, whether or not I will succeed in blowing your minds is still to be determined, ha)... and I'm not saying I'm some amazing new person/musician, I'm still the same in that sense, but I'm just really ready to do my best to make sure everyone in the room at my shows feels as alive as ever while I'm on stage.

Speaking of tours,

seriously, get ready for a ton of shows all over the US, I know I keep putting off the Spring Tour announcement, but that's simply because it's not ready yet, when it's ready you will literally see weeks and weeks worth of tour dates all over :)

And speaking of that Memphis show I mentioned above...

my set is going to be right before Kris Roe's of The Ataris.

It hit me at the weirdest time last night, all of sudden I was just in my bedroom watching tv and realized, "Holy shit, I'm playing a show with Kris Roe in a few days, wow!"

I mean, I listened to "So Long, Astoria" on repeat for months while I was in high school.

I dunno, it's just weird when I actualy realize I'm playing shows with people I've looked up to for years. Weird Weird Weird. I mean, it's awesome, it blows my mind!... but it's just weird :)

Sorry this is such a short entry, and not to mention that there are no photos or little extras I can share with you... I've had a busy week and the coming weeks are only going to get busier...

BUT the coming weeks also mean I'm going to be able to share a lot more videos, songs, art and more from Dressed Up Like Dreams with you :)

And to wrap this one up I'll leave you with a little snippet of lyrics from a song "The Future Is A Masterpiece" off of the upcoming album :)

"The Future Is A Masterpiece"

Fuck love, I'm gonna keep my day job.

Celebrate the life that I've already got.

With a bottle of something that'll make this day less relevant.

Fuck life, I'm gonna put up a fight.

From what I hear the trend is that we're all gonna die.

So if I'm gonna fuck it up then I might as well fuck it up right.

Until next week,

Chad

P.S. - Go listen to a song called "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"... and really listen to the lyrics, they're life changing.

Color and Hue.

This week is weird.

It's Spring Break for the college here, so the town is pretty much desolate.

The parking lot at the apartments I live at is the saddest thing you'll see right now.

The cars look so lonely when there are tons of empty spaces around them (usually the lot is full).

And I don't know why, but it feels like it's just the slowest week ever.

I feel like I'm not getting anything done at all, but I look down at my "To-Do" notebook and I have even more things scratched out and done already than usual.

(Me, in full blog typing form)

I'm still trying to get used to wearing these glasses, it's still kind of weird for the first few minutes of putting them on.... but it is quite nice to be able to see whenever I'm reading.

Now, let's see, what all has happened in the last week?...

Well, there's now a big pile of letters and packages (for the thing where you can write me and get your name included in my new album's artwork) in my floor that's been growing steadily since last week. I've read through about maybe a third or fourth of them so far (I'd say there's about maybe three or four hundred right now).

Also, the presale for my new album started too, and I've been freaking out (in a very very good way) because it's already pre-sold 3/4 as many copies in just 4 days than of all of my other albums did in their whole time being available for pre-order. So I'm very very excited about that.

I've also finally taken some more steps toward getting my book released. I'm finally getting the final drafts of the poems together, and also decided to maybe put a small bit of artwork in it as well.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

I was reading an email the other day a fan had sent, I definitely realized that my show on March 14th in Memphis, is just a week away. And I thought about for a second and also realized that not only will it be my first show of 2008, but it's also the first show I've played since November of 2007. And to be honest, I didn't notice until then how long I've been "behind the scenes" working on new music without actually playing live.... and wow, I couldn't be more excited to get back on the road. Fuck, really, I can't wait to be able to actually sing to you all face to face again! And I can assure you, for those of you that have been asking, that my Spring tour dates ARE being worked on and as soon as they're all ready I'll be announcing them in one big lovely batch :)

Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened.

My tattoo started itching like a whore a couple of days ago, but that finally subsided.

And I still love it as much as ever,...ha, I kind of just lay in bed and stare at it when I'm falling asleep.

And one more thing, a note to the weather of Tennessee:

Please go back to the way it was yesterday and bring Spring here soon,

I didn't realize how much I missed the sunny warm weather until that preview you brought Sunday and Monday.

That's all for now.

Au Revior,

Chad

P.S. - Here's a small preview of lyrics from a new song from Dressed Up Like Dreams

"Calico Kitten"

If my life had a soundtrack it would be acoustic.

With songs about the way I laugh at my ability to love things that I can't have.

If my life were a movie.

It would be black and white with still-frames in color and hue.

The credits would say a simple phrase,

like "You aren't what you say or what you do, so don't worry so much, just get on with a life that you love."