It’s an exciting new music day today, as my brother’s band IKARI release their first album, Shapes & Sounds

You can buy it from their website, or find it on all the usual major suspects like Spotify, iTunes, etc. If you like heavy and melodic rock, then give it a listen (I’m sure there’s a proper genre term, but I’m a bit too old to know ;).

It’s a huge achievement for the guys (Tris, Kris, Chris, and by no means least, Chris): they’ve worked very hard over the last 18 months to make this band into something and go straight to a full album as they had so much material to work with, pushing on despite the setbacks along the way to get here, and all self funded via themselves and their kickstarter fans.

It’s also a first for me too: the first album that has an Electric Flapjack guitar on it, which is somewhat mind blowing. Still the most proudest career moment I’ve ever had, of anything I’ve ever made, was when I went to see IKARI play King Tut’s and I got to see a guitar I made be a small part of a room of people having an amazing evening.

That night has lead in a large part to this weird state I find myself in these days trying to juggle building guitars and guitar related things alongside other ways of generating income. This is not the most profitable lifestyle, but it certainly is rewarding knowing that something you’ve made is going on to have a multiplicative effect of making people happy via people making music for themselves or others.

Which I imagine is why the IKARI crew have soldiered on this last 18 months to get out an album that they can be proud of and know will entertain many, many people now and in years to come. Well done guys!