Over the past 10 months or so I’ve been involved with what has become the most awesome project I’ve ever worked on. It’s actually been dozens of different projects but they all had one common theme - the new newsboys album, Born Again. Newsboys have long been one of my favorite bands… and this is one of their best albums ever.

I’ve worked on two newsboys albums in the past but this time around I was given a bit more creative freedom. Newsboys were working with a few new writers on this album - Juan Otero and Seth Mosley (The Write Brothers) who are both so nice and amazingly talented. I’m so thrilled I got to be a part of this project from it’s infancy when we were listening to Write Brothers demos at Inpop. I had the pleasure of going to a recording session at The Write Brother’s studio when they were tracking vocals for Born Again with Mike Tait way back in September of last year. Then around December of last year I started on the packaging, was involved in the cover shoot with my friend David Molnar (who is a crazy talented photographer) and then began the whirlwind press onslaught… I’m pretty sure I made over 100 banner ads, print ads, website splash pages, email templates and more to advertise the album.

Around early May I believe is when we finally finished packaging… which ended up almost exactly how I wanted it to look, which is rare. I also got to use a bunch of my live photos of newsboys from the 2 festivals they brought me to in Europe in the inside packaging. I love it when I get to use my own photos in my design work.

The album finally released last week to rave reviews and the best newsboys street week ever - 45,311 units. It was #4 on the Billboard overall chart, beneath only Sting, Eminem and MIA.

Right before we hit street date, July 13th, Juan Otero contacted me to do a website for the Write Brothers so they would have something online once the album dropped. I was thrilled to get to work with him yet again, and a few days ago we launched WriteBrosMusic.com. Check it out to hear some of The Write Brothers amazing work and keep up with their projects… you won’t want to miss anything that they work on!

So that cat is finally out of the bag. I’m moving to Los Angeles with my twin sister Ally after she graduates from UCF in May. We’ve actually sort-of been planning this move for years. I just always assumed after moving to TN a few years back that it was an impossibility unless I quit my dream job that I worked for so many years to get. Then I realized that there is absolutely no reason I can’t do that job from California. A lot of fun perks like being on the set of music videos and getting to go in the studio for the recording process I have to give up - but I’ll still be doing what I love, and I’ll have a lot more time to pursue other passions of mine that I haven’t had the time for… like mission trips. So after 2 1/2 years in Nashville I will be saying goodbye.

I’ll miss Nashville terribly… I usually complained about the less-than-perfect weather, the cold, and there being no beach or Disney World… but overall it’s been an amazing place to live. The culture is one-of-a-kind and it still amazes me how almost everyone you meet is a musician or songwriter.. or they work in the industry… this truly is “music city” … what better place for a person as obsessed with music as myself?

Anyways… I’ve been getting a lot of the same questions from people and I thought I’d address a few of them here.

Q: Do you have a job out in LA?
A: No. I’m going to be freelancing full-time in the fields of photography, graphic design, web design, videography and video editing, illustration and hopefully doing gallery shows with my paintings and photography… and hopefully even some music/acting.

Q: Are you quitting Inpop?
A: Not really. I won’t be a full-time in-house employee, but I’ll still be doing contracted freelance work for them. My roll and job description are changing but I’ll most likely continue to do the work I’m currently doing for them from California.

Q: When are you leaving?
A: My last official day in Nashville will be the 12th of April as the following day I’ll be going to Haiti for a week, then I’ll be moving back to FL for a few weeks to spend some time with my family and attend my sister’s graduation on May 7th. We’re then moving on the 10th-15th of May. I’ll be stopping in Nashville on that drive (10th-11th) to clear out the rest of my stuff, so this will be the last day I’ll get to say goodbye to anyone if I haven’t already. The official move-in day in Cali will be the 14th of May.

Working for a record label is quite strange. For one, the inner workings of a record label are not glamorous, despite everyone expecting them to be. I sit in a windowless office with plain walls that is very cold. If you had to guess from walking in off the street what I did upon inspection of my office, you’d probably think I was a poorly dressed accountant (creatives are allowed to come to work looking like  homeless bums, right?).

This is where I spend roughly half the year doing random things like fixing the printer, setting up free download pages, updating our newsletter server… all stuff that is super exciting. Then December hits. We go from 0 to 60 in 1 second flat. Inpop tells to me that we have 4 new releases coming out around roughly the same time - late spring/summer. I’ll be doing the photography for some and full packaging and everything else for the rest of them.

In early December we immediately start work arranging the photoshoots. I’m working on finding locations for Jimmy Needham and after hours of driving around, googling and planning we spend an entire day doing nothing but taking photos (see my previous post for those!) It’s fun, but exhausting. The next few weeks I spend editing and organizing those photos and then I start on album cover comps. We meet with Jimmy and his manager to discuss ideas, and after a few weeks I submit some comps. Weeks and weeks of revisions and scrapped comps later, we arrive on a final. Here is a peek at just some of the comps we went through to get the final: http://gallery.me.com/breezy421#100159 (don’t distribute these, please!).

Amid all the Jimmy Needham chaos, we have the newsboys AND Article One photoshoots. Both in the first weeks of January. I did the Article One shoot with just me and the guys down by the river in downtown Nashville. It was probably the best photoshoot I’ve ever done because I’ve done so many shoots with these guys we’re so comfortable with each other now that we knock it out of the park right away. It was super fast and simple and everyone was happy.

Here are some of those pics:

Then came the newsboys shoot. I got to assist a photographer I’ve long admired on this shoot - Mr. David Molnar. My main contribution was getting catering. When I brought it all back I realized that the dude at the burger joint didn’t label any of the 16 different meals so everybody just started eating everybody else’s food… we were way to hungry to care.

After that I began newsboys cover comps. First for the EP, then the full album. All the while doing Article One EP comps and packaging and Jimmy Needham comps. Oh not to mention a big load of freelance projects on the side, like this photoshoot for Alissa… she’s an extremely talented artist that the one and only Paul Colman is working with & producing.

All of February was a huge blur. I finished the newsboys EP and Article One EP packaging and I really liked how they turned out.

Then it was time to work on Superchick packaging. Which I did in one night. Over at Max & Shara’s house. We started at 5pm. Ended at midnight. Max had already completed the cover which is 1/2 the battle. Early that week I think is when we finally settled on the final newsboys and Jimmy covers. I’m getting my time all screwed up but that’s what happens when you don’t really know what day it is to begin with because you go to bed at 4 or 5am every night and wake up the same day a few hours later. It also really throws you off to sleep for an hour on your lunch break which I do regularly. Ha. I love my life, I really do.