Cadiz is a small coal mining town in East Ohio, a town which has seen it's share of hardship and economic fallout. Cadiz is also a town where I spent many weekends of my youth climbing trees, sifting through treasures in a coal-dusted basement and shooting out barn windows with my brothers. The town was tinted black from the many years of coal dust whipping through it's hilly landscape, but underneath that soot was a colorful cast of characters to inspire. It's not to say that this record is a concept record in any sense of the word, but it was a tapping in my foot during the writing of these songs. I learned a while back to write what you know. Well, Cadiz was a good start.

I wrote these songs over the span of a year. The band I was in, King Lear Jet, had disbanded and I was looking forward to writing some songs on my own. I had no idea what the result would be. I proceeded to sit in front of my little four track tape machine and sift through melodies and lyrics. Just me and my old Gibson acoustic.

Well, I pretty much finished up the very rough demo and contacted Adam Lasus (Helium, Clem Snide, Mark Mulchahy, Versus) who produced the King Lear Jet record. During that recording, we became good friends and shared common musical influences. He was game to make a record. It was a chance to record with a talented producer as well as hang out in Brooklyn for a few weeks with a good friend.

Adam and I gathered up some very talented friends: Anders Parker (Varnaline), J. P. Jones (Lynnfield Pioneers), Joe McGinty (Ryan Adams), Scott Porter and old bandmate Chris Rowell (Warm in the Wake) to come in and lay down some music with us, each bringing in their own unique style. The songs might have been written in my bedroom but were realized in an old fire house in "Redhook" Brooklyn, NY.