My albums up until now have been mostly solo undertakings where I do all the writing and 99% of the playing and recording. But this time for my fifth full-length LP, I’d like to do something more elaborate. 

What I want to do

For well over a decade I’ve been lucky to have an extremely talented group of musicians (and all around great guys) who play with me live: guitarist and keyboardist Benjamin Mullin, drummer Justin Purvis and bassist Steve Gaw. If you’ve been to a live show, you know they always make me sound better than I deserve to. 

For this next album, I’d like to take advantage of that and record more of a full band production. Not a live album, but a well-produced Brad Sucks record with more playing and contributions by the band. I’m used to doing things DIY-style but I’d love to try focusing more on the songwriting and recording and work on playing and singing my own parts well rather than trying to pull it all off with zero budget. 

The songs

If you’re a member of the Brad Sucks Patreon you’ve probably heard demos of all of these — we’ve also played some of them at live shows for a long time but haven’t released them. Here’s a little teaser of the demos in consideration: 

How it’ll get done

The plan is to develop and revise the songs over the next few months, hire engineer Glenn Forrester to record the rhythm tracks and then Ben and I will work on overdubbing and tracking our parts, producing the songs into final versions. Mixing will be handled by myself and long time collaborator Rob Cosh who’s worked with me on the last three Brad Sucks albums. 

We’ll finalize the track list, graphic design and title of the album before it’s finally sent into production & digital distribution and finally out into your hands and ears. I’ll also be figuring out how to promote it, lyric videos for singles, etc, etc.

It’ll be a lot of work! The process of making an album is always uncertain and messy for me, but I think it’ll be really cool to put it together and I'm excited to get good versions of these songs in the books along with performances from this excellent band. I don’t have a firm release date, but I expect the project to be complete and in your hands & ears in the summer of 2024.

What you can get

$12 - Digital Download
$20 - Digital download + behind the scenes documentary
$25 - Signed poster
$30 - Limited Edition Vinyl
$45 - Full band signed vinyl
$60 - Signed Vinyl and 12x12 signed poster 
$100 - Name in the credits on the poster & documentary
$150 - Signed Test Pressing
$500 - Custom cover song

Also, if we reach the budget goal I’ll be hiring help to film the process, giving you more of a look behind the scenes than anyone probably would ever want so you’ll be able to follow along with a production diary as well as behind the scenes footage and clips on YouTube and social media.

Let me step aside here and let Ben take over so you can...

Meet the Band

Hello, hi, I’m Ben… We three cool dudes - all university-level musicians - have been playing together as a unit for over 20 years. (Steve and Justin go even further back!) We’ve been involved in multiple original projects over the years, and we released an album in 2012 under the name Barn (Spotify, Apple Music), with Steve & myself sharing the songwriting and vocal duties.

Ben Mullin: guitar/keys/backup vocals, Justin Purvis: drums/percussion, Steve Gaw: bass guitar

We’ve also served as a backing band for multiple artists under the name The Dirty Hustle, becoming known in the Ottawa area for our super-tight rhythm section and fantastic groove.

I snuck my way into playing with Brad in ’07 when I recognized him coming into the guitar shop where I was working at the time. I was a fan of his, and had no idea that we lived in the same town. I later spotted him at a local bar, so (like a 5th grader) I got my buddy to go over to tell him that I was an awesome guitarist and he should totally consider me for his band. Brad fell for the bait… He agreed to jam, we clicked, and the beginning of our ongoing musical relationship/collab/etc. was formed. (We’re also buds outside of music too!)

After playing a pile of duo shows with backing tracks providing the rhythm section, we decided that real-life drums would likely improve things. I gave Justin the call, and the three of us immediately gelled musically. After a few 3-piece shows, it just kinda made sense that we would bring Steve into the mix on bass, and of course the chemistry was there. This completed the lineup, and it’s remained the same ever since.

On behalf of Steve and Justin, I can assure you that all three of us absolutely love serving as Brad’s live band, and we are extremely psyched to be working with him for the first time as musical collaborators for his upcoming album.

Thank you!

Brad again: Thank you so much for considering backing this project! I’m really excited about recording an album like a “real” band and trying for a bit of a different sound with this group of songs. As always, I wouldn’t be able to put this project together without your support, so I really appreciate it.

Feel free to message me with any questions or comments. Can't wait to get moving on this project! All the best,

Brad