American Aquarium is officially heading to the studio to record their 9th studio album called Chicamacomico.
Needless to say, I can’t WAIT.
They shared the news in a lengthy post on Instagram earlier, citing that the entire record will be recorded at the famous Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas with Bradley Cook producing it, and will be 100% crowd funded.
The post detailed that all of the money from preorders of the new record will solely go towards everything it takes to write, record, market and distribute an album.
Here’s the entire post with all the details and a look at what is likely the album cover:
“So happy to announce that we are going back into the studio this November to record our ninth studio album, CHICAMACOMICO.
We will be heading down to the legendary Sonic Ranch just outside of El Paso,TX and the mighty Bradley Cook (‘Wolves,’ ‘Rockingham’) will once again be at the production helm. We have funded our last six records through advanced preorders and plan to do the same with this album.
All (and I mean 100%) of the money from your preorder will go towards the recording, mixing, mastering, production and promotion of the record. Special incentives include signed, limited edition, alternate cover, colored vinyl (think the murdered out copies of ‘Things Change’ and ‘Lamentations’), signed CD’s, preorder only T-shirt’s, handwritten lyrics, your name in the liner notes, executive producer credits and even a few acoustic/full band house shows.
Everyone who preorders will receive monthly update emails with live videos, pictures from the studio and even acoustic demos of the songs from the next album. We have the best fans in the entire world and we want you to be as much a part of the process as possible.
Your preorder allows us the opportunity to make the record that we want to make, on our own terms, and for that we are forever grateful. We will only be offering these special preorder incentives through November 1st so if you’d like to be part of this album from the beginning, head on over to www.americanaquarium.com, click the preorder link and choose your package.
Thank you in advance for bringing this album to life and as always, thanks for supporting the music that we make. Here’s to the next chapter and thanks for taking this crazy ride with us. americanaquarium.com/Chicamacomico”
He also noted in the post that, even if you preorder now (which you should), anything in your order will not be shipped until the Summer of 2022 when the record is released:
“***please remember that this is a preorder and that these packages will not be shipped until Summer 2022. If you would like to order ANYTHING other than a preorder package, please make it a separate order. If you don’t, any other items ordered will not be shipped until Summer 2022.***”
And, for a little context on where the inspiration for this new album comes from, Chicamacomico is a reference to the small settlement that was on Hatteras Island, off the coast of North Carolina at the Outer Banks.
It was a heavily wooded and dense forest that was actually home to Native American settlers for hundreds (potentially thousands) of years. Eventually, as more British settlers began to arrive in the 1700s and 1800s and the groups began to mix and marry, it became three separate villages known as Rodanthe (yes, from the Nicholas Sparks movie) Waves, and Salvo.
And don’t worry, frontman BJ Barham responded to a comment on the post with a pronunciation lesson for the title:
“Pronounced with no long “I” sounds, and a long “O” at the end, as in “Chick-cah-mah-com-a-co.”
I’m already so intrigued by this concept, and as evidenced in their most recent studio album Lamentations, BJ is so good at working his personal life and background through every story of every single song.
Seeing as he’s a native of North Carolina, I have a feeling this record will be no different in terms of his impeccable songwriting and personal life experience. How am I going to make it to next summer to hear all of this new music now?
BJ also confirmed recently that not only will we be getting a new record of originals we now know as Chicamacomico within the year, but he also has Volume Two of the incredible 90’s country cover album Slappers, Banger & Certified Twanger’s coming soon:
How ’bout a little “John Deere Green” from Volume One:
