💌 Our 50th and Last Written Interaction of 2023!

Hey,

I hope you’re well! We’re already here: the 50th Club Missive of the year! My second year in a row to accomplish such an incredible milestone! It’s Saturday morning, 11:30, and I’m on the third floor of Alex’s home in Virginia, listening to the Damo Suzuki ØSC album! Alex gave me his new book titled I am Damo Suzuki a few days ago, so I decided to listen to every album and project he released — something I’ve never done before — and I’m discovering some very fascinating songs, vibes and a very unique way for a singer to share his mind, that’s for sure! What a character and what a great artist! 

I’m not sad to walk into the last few days of the really hard year that 2023 has been, and as I’m looking back at everything we went through versus everything we accomplished, shared, and built, I’m honestly proud and very grateful to be precisely where we’re at today. I love comparing with where we were at the exact same time last year, and hopefully beat everything we planned and envisioned on every possible level. Alex and I both have a very competitive state of mind and the thing we hate the most is losing, or not accomplishing something we initially planned, and this regardless of the reasons, even the most valuable ones, usually. 

But this year, we simply had to see things a little differently and put our competitive spirits within a pretty overwhelming context! Even though Alex’s recovery took 100 times longer than we initially expected and were told, even though we canceled our last summer festivals and fall headline tour, even though we didn’t release new music, we accomplished a lot of great things that we’re very proud of! The first thing is that Alex is above and beyond healthy and ready to dive into new musical and artistic horizons! 

I’m going to share a personal culture that I have established for the past decade or so, something I have never done before with anyone, as this is a very personal thing, a “Me Versus Me” year-on-year kind of culture, and as I was thinking about 2023, and reading all of what I had initially planned and wished for, I was amazed to realize how far we’ve been in despite the unique and unknown context we encountered for the very first time. 

Being a DIY artist since 2006, I realize more and more over the years how much I really love Christmas time, since it’s the only time of the year when I can turn the switch off for at least 10 days without being too worried about missing out, since pretty much everyone in our industry is doing the very same thing all at the same time…! So, being someone who can’t do nothing for more than a few seconds in a row, I’m always trying to catch up on reading books, reading articles I always said I wanted to read but never took the time to do so, and, something I really like to do, is to establish a list of things I would like to do and see happen in the upcoming year, and to compare it with the one I did the year before. 

I call this list “Better Get This Done”! And… For the first time ever, I decided I would share it with you, as I feel we got much closer throughout the year, and I want to bring this level of proximity to a brand-new level as we’ll navigate through 2024! To be honest with you, I obviously removed a few personal things from it, but left everything publicly shareable! 

Here’s my 2023 wish list. Feel free to share yours and let me know if you have any questions! 

2023 "BETTER GET THIS DONE" LIST  

AHF 

❌    PERFORM ON 10 EU/UK FESTIVALS (Alex’s surgery came in the way) 

❌    HEADLINE TOUR IN NEW TERRITORIES (Alex’s surgery came in the way) 

❌    RELEASE TWO NEW MUSICAL PROJECTS (Alex’s surgery came in the way) 

✅    RELEASE REMAINING LATHE-CUT SINGLES (The Pain That Bonds &The Love That Moves) (So thankful!!!) 

✅    RECORD 20 GREAT SONGS DEMOS (Can’t wait to share those with you!!!) 

✅    FIND OUR RECORD PRODUCER (I’m impatient to let you know who that is!) 

✅    FIND MANAGEMENT (The best there is in the business)
 

THE CLUB 

✅    ANSWER EVERY EMAIL RECEIVED (Not an easy thing for me!) 

✅    WRITE 50 CLUB MISSIVES (So proud!!!) 

✅    ADD A VINYL TO THE OLD SCHOOL MEMBERSHIP PACKAGE (Very first time we do it around a never-released song) 

✅    WORK WITH A JAPANESE ARTIST FOR THE YEARLY THEME (This year’s design was so soulful and original!) 

✅    LAUNCH A MOBILE APP (Something I’ve been working on since 2020) 

✅    INTEGRATE THE OPEN CONVERSATION CONCEPT WITH ALEX (This is just the beginning! We’ll do it live with an audience next year!) 
 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

❌    OPEN THE VINYL PRESSING PLANT IN SUMMER (It opened in November) 

✅    EXPAND OUR ACTIVITIES IN TANGIER (I’ll let you know about this in 2024! It took us more than a year to achieve!) 

✅    GET INVOLVED IN A CHARITY CAMPAIGN (Thank you for the Hope for Morocco initiative! $5K!!!!) 

✅    ATTEND 5 MUSIC CONFERENCES (I attended 9!!!!) 

 

PERSONAL 

❌    LEARN A NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENT (I’ve been more into reinventing myself as an artist this year!) 

❌    VISIT A NEW COUNTRY (this one is a hard one to swallow...!) 

✅    EAT SOMETHING I HAD NEVER TRIED BEFORE (Our management team invited us to one of the best sushi restaurants there is in New York City and 75% of what I tried was a first for me!) 

✅    GO ON VACATIONS (This is the hardest thing for me, and even more for Alex to do! We spent two weeks on a beach last June and it was so necessary!!!) 

✅    BRING 5 NEW PEOPLE I KNOW TO VISIT TANGIER (I’m very proud of this one! It’s always such a wonderful thing to see this city through the eyes of the people I know when they step foot there for the first time! Magical!!!!) 

✅    ATTEND A SPORTS GAME IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY (I’ve been to the FC St Pauli game in Hamburg! Will never forget this incredible vibe! I also attended the opening ceremony of the FIFA Club World Cup in Tangier — unforgettable as well!)

✅    ATTEND A SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS GAME (Our management owns season tickets at the Yankee Stadium in New York, and they invited us to the opening week-end back in April and it was against the Giants! So many things all at once! I’ll never forget this incredible moment!) 

✅    MAKE 1 NEW FRIEND (By this, I mean a true friend, not an Instagram follower! As you now know, to me, friendship is the most precious thing there is on this planet, so, this is not something I take lightly.) 

✅    READ 5 BOOKS (This is something I’m always very proud of accomplishing! 1. Chris Blackwell founder of Island Records // 2. Animal Farm // 3. Philipp Glass // 4. Endless Endless // 5. Tangier - From Romans to the Rolling Stones)

✅    DISCOVER A NEW SCOTCH WHISKY BRAND (Ben bought a bottle of Talisker Storm for us to celebrate the new musical project you’ll be hearing about in January)

ADVENT CALENDAR

I’ve been doing daily videos in The Club mobile app! I’m so thankful to read your comments and share this incredible musical journey with you all! Thanks for watching! 

If you missed it, make sure you keep The Club mobile app close to your thumbs! We’ll have such a great December daily musical adventure! If you’re new to The Club, here’s how to get the app:
 

See you tomorrow on the app! Let’s be great to one another! 

Your Host and Friend, 
Jeff