Ottawa area songwriter Brock Zeman is excited about his brand new eleventh album “ Pulling Your Sword Out of the Devil’s Back,” as much as he is about closing down this year’s South Country Fair.
“ It is hard to believe it’s number 11,” he said.
he spent the past two years working on it.
“ Its probably my most positive album,” he said.
“I probably started working on it two years ago, but reworked the songs and ended up redoing the whole thing,” he said.
“They just didn’t sound right,” he said, adding he kept the same songs until they matched his vision.
“I didn't want to put out an album I didn’t feel 100 per cent about, because I’ve done that before,” he said.
“ I’m definitely pleased with this record,” he continued, observing it is definitely has the most commercial potential of any of his records.
“ It definitely has a lot of heart. I feel it is really upbeat,” he said.
The CD features Blair Hogan on a variety of instruments, drummer Dylan Roberts, cellist Mike Yates, extra piano from Peter Brown and The Weber Brothers Ryan Weber on upright bass.
Weber is prominently featured on one of the album highlight “ Drop the bucket.
“ I love that one. I wanted to hear some finger picking on it and Ryan Weber plays bass on it.
He is looking forward to playing South Country Fair.
“ It will probably be 80 per cent new songs. With the new album out, I like to play the new songs,but I keep at least one song from each album. It’s cool to be able to do that,” he said.
He is already planning a new album of carnival music.
“ It’s based on a carnival barker. I was listening to all of the things they say and thought there was a lot you could write about,” he said.
“ It started with ‘Come One , Come All and I wrote 16 songs after that,” he observed.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
