New Album Update

Dave Hoskins Becomes LYRE With a Debut Album in the Pipeline

I feel the need to interrupt my London posts and write a small piece to explain a little more about the name LYRE and what's been going on with the new album.

Firstly LYRE is the band name I'm going to be playing under from now on whether I play a solo show or with other musicians - eventually leading to a full band. I chose the name because I think of the lyre as a kind of small harp like by David who wrote the psalms of scripture played. The connection is not that I'm named David, but rather that, according to the story, young David played for Israel's king Saul when he was tormented by demons and the music drove the spirits away.

My vision is to create music that not only entertains, but also helps people live positive and fulfilling lives. I write songs that encourage, illuminate, strengthen, and otherwise help people in the struggle to get the best out of life. This is the light in me flows out through the music. My elevator pitch goes something like this:

"Many people glimpse a vision or purpose that leads straight to their fulfillment in life, but as they travel the road toward it things get hard and they doubt or they get sidetracked and soon they're no longer heading toward the life of their dreams. LYRE creates music that inspires, encourages, and helps us remember what passion feels like. LYRE gives a soundtrack for the journey."

So that's why I'm making the transition from playing under my own name into LYRE. It'll probably be just me for a little while longer and then others will be added to the band. I will also be moving into a new website by the fall when we get www.lyre.tv up and running.

And that brings me to the new album. I've been recording new songs written specifically for LYRE for the past 6-8 weeks now. I'm about half done with the recording but things are also going faster than at the beginning so I plan to have LYRE's debut album mixed and mastered; album art and show posters designed, t-shirt designs finished and the whole lot of it off for replication and printing by mid-August. 

This means I'll have the finished products in hand by the third week in September. I'm really working to make this deadline for several reasons but if I feel it needs pushed back to keep the production quality high I will do that. I'd rather have high quality products to sell a few weeks late than get inferior stuff out on time.

So that's where I am right now. I'm trying to get out this week and make connections for a fall tour in London and then next week while in Lisbon I may get to some mixing and recording keyboards unless it looks like I should also be networking with venue bookers there too. Once back in the US I'll hit recording hard again and get this project back up to speed.

More to come.

Cheers,

Dave