Chawn Cook, guitarist, started recording songs that were written or co-written by himself after the demise of his band, Circus 51.Circus 51 started recieving airplay on several internet radio stations nationwide with their self titled CD. Thats where it caught the attention of The Rocky Mountain Music Group, an independent label in Denver. Circus 51 was signed to the label. Their self titled EP wa
s released in June of 2009. Gaining worldwide airplay and great reviews, the band was ready to hit the road, but that seemed more difficult that planned. Between illness, bass player auditions that didnt pan out, divorce, and a slew of other "spinal tap" moments, the band did one show on their home turf. Even that show turned out to be disastrous. Months went by and the remaining members decided to pack up the tents. The Circus left town in February 2010 and the contract with the label expired 4 months later. Thats when Chawn went on a recording spree trying to develop a new sound. "Red Dirt" was a sound and style that was becoming very popular in Texas and Oklahoma and Chawn decided to find his Texas roots and start over. But he didnt stop there. Mixing Red Dirt and Texas music styles similar to Randy Rogers and Cross Canadian Ragweed with some Americana like John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, college alternative like Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket, commercial appeal such as Journey and Bon Jovi, and keeping with the Circus' own metal/hard rock sound similar to Motley Crue and Ratt, he developed a sound that couldve went either way. It couldve worked beautifully or it couldve blown up in his face! Luckily, it worked perfect....
Now what to do with it?! He had 15 songs, old and new, and so many ways to decide how to arrange them for release. Thats when the "EP" concept came into play. While in Circus 51, the band had a theory about the music business returning to the days of selling singles as opposed to full albums. With the start of the digital download service like i-Tunes and Amazon, this theory proved true. So the songs would be grouped into 5-song EPs starting with "DIRT". "DIRT II" and "DIRT III" soon will follow. Chawn is also planning to book some acoustic shows to promote the CDs. www.reverbnation.com/chawncook www.facebook.com/songwriterchawn
