Marc M Cogman

I know many of you are expecting the release of my fourth album, Albatross soon.  I too hope to get that record out to the public as soon as possible.  The hold-up has to do with financing.  The record is just about all tracked, but in order to have the album mixed, mastered, and released, I'm going to need to raise some money.

Now, I know lots of other people have gone in for "Kickstarter" style campaigns, but that's not me.  I'm not going to ask you to donate money for the purpose of me doing what I love to do.  I appreciate the idea of it all, but it's just not something I'm particularly interested in.  So how do I reconcile the lack of funds with my desire to continue to release new music to you the fans, and to release in my preferred format, which is to "name your own price"?

I'm hoping this will help.  I've released today in my bandcamp store a rarities record.  It's 19 songs of previously unreleased material.  Some are solo or full-band demos, some are live tracks, and there are even a handful of songs you've never heard before in any form.  I combed through the vault of recordings from 2006 to 2009 (ie: the years in which my first three albums were written and recorded) and I only selected tracks that I feel are interesting or unique in one way or another. 

If you think you'd be interested in this record, AND you'd like to push me toward my goal of mixing, mastering, and releasing my fourth full-length LP, please consider going to marcmcogman.bandcamp.com and downloading your copy.  I have listed the price as $5.00, a helluva deal for 19 tracks.  I've also enabled the option to give more than $5 if you'd like, and if you enjoy the rarities record, I hope you will.

The nineteen tracks are available for download along with a beautiful deluxe booklet in PDF form.  The booklet has short essays about each track, explaining what makes it unique and why I chose it for the collection.  Alongside these essays are some lovely black and white photos taken over the years of me and my band. 

If you're a fan, I think you'll like it.

So, I invite you to check out my new release: Kill the Messenger: Live & Rarities (2006-2009).

It's music for you to enjoy, and a chance for you to help me get my fourth LP out as soon as possible.  Every dollar earned from the sale of this rarities collection will go straight to the mixing & mastering fund for the next album.

Thanks for listening,

Marc

Hey kids: I'm happy to announce that you no longer have to go to four different places if you want to go shopping for my wares.  All three albums, Welcome to the Danger Show (2007), Beneath a Balcony (2009), and Anthems (2012) are all now available for Name-Your-Own-Price download at the bandcamp store, and you can even stream selections prior to purchasing.  For those of you who still like to have the physical copy in your hands, you can still purchase the first two albums from the store and have them mailed to you.  

Finally, the t-shirts are also for sale in the store.  There are a limited number left, so go take a look at the photos and get one.

That's at marcmcogman.bandcamp.com or just CLICK HERE

I had a great week in Los Angeles from July 27th thru August 1st, laying down more tracks for my upcoming album, Albatross. This will be my fourth album since becoming a solo artist in 2006.  But in many ways, this will be my first new record in quite a while.

Technically, my first album came out in 2007, my second in 2009, and my third only a few months ago, in March of 2012.  But these release dates actually belie when the records themselves were written and recorded.  After my debut Welcome to the Danger Show came out in March of 2007, the songs for my second and third albums were all written and recorded simultaneously over the course of 2007 and 2008, with a few other recordings coming later.

So while I only just released a record less than 6 months ago, it wasn’t really “new” to me. In fact, Albatross will showcase all the songs I wrote in 2009, 2010, and 2012.  You could say it’s the first album of a new era, and thusly, I wanted to work a little differently than in the past.

While there will be some familiar names on Albatross, there are plenty of new ones as well.  As I’ve previously reported, drums and percussion were recorded in Boston this past April/May with Patrick Hanlin.  He’s an old friend, but this is his first appearance on one of my albums. He also will provide accordion on a handful of songs.  And when I traveled to Los Angeles this past month, I once again sought out a mixture of the old and the new.

The first stop was the beautiful Beach Studio in Hermosa owned and operated by Eddie Jackson, a very talented producer, engineer, and drummer.  I knew I could trust Eddie to get amazing vocal and acoustic guitar sounds - the all-too-important basis for every one of my songs.  Eddie engineered a few sessions on my second album, Beneath a Balcony, joining in on the percussion ho-down in “Blessing in Disguise” and later mixed and mastered the album.  

He also mastered my third album, Anthems and also logged a few shows with the Dead Messengers as a fill-in on drums. On Friday July 27th, I traveled to Hermosa Beach and cut all of the lead vocals for Albatross in one go. Towards the end of the session, another familiar face dropped by, Kellianne Noftle, to sing backup vocals.  She can be heard on both my first and third albums, and she added her voice to three of the songs on my new record.

The next day, we knocked out the entirety of the album’s bass tracks.  Having only used one bass player since I was 18 years old, it was quite a departure for me to have someone other than Frogs playing bass.  Nevertheless, we lucked out with Andrew Perusi, a great kid from the east coast who nailed all ten songs.  He was even able to keep up with my frenetic recording pace, an essential for playing on a Marc M Cogman record.

With bass and vocals added to the drums and percussion, I put on the acoustic guitar and wrapped up my two days with Eddie by recording all of the acoustic tracks.  This is often my least favorite part of making a record (as I’m a lousy guitarist and prone to f—kups) but having a skilled engineer like Eddie allowed for everything to come out sounding great.

The next morning was Sunday, July 29th, and I moved camp from Beach Studio to the Octagon House atop Topanga Canyon.  It was here that I sat down with Dead Messengers veteran Steve McDonald to crank out some electric guitars.  I first met Steve when he came to record on Welcome to the Danger Show over 5 years ago.  Since then, we’ve played countless shows together and he’s become my de facto electric guitarist. In the past, I often made use of Steve’s warbling leads and excellent slide guitar work for my big country-rock tunes like ”Incurable Blues”.  But this new record is a little bit different, and so Steve got to flex the muscles he earned as a guitarist in Bay-Area punk bands long before we met.  Add in the fact that Steve built his own Leslie rotating speaker cabinet from scratch and we mic’d it up, and the results were awesome.

Monday morning, July 30th, I went to work with someone I’d met before but never made music with - Kyle Frederickson.  Best known as a member of the Boston (now L.A.) band the Everyday Visuals, Kyle is a whiz with anything you can strum, from guitar, to banjo, to mandolin.  I went to his home studio in Atwater Village to get all three on Albatross, as well as lap steel guitar.  I won’t go into much detail about the session, just know this: Kyle will be appearing on many Marc M Cogman records.

I flew back home to Oklahoma City a few days later.  There’s still some piano and organ to record, as well as fiddle/violin and even a trumpet track.  Those will hopefully be done in the coming weeks/months. But I can say this: the record’s more finished than it isn’t, and that’s pretty exciting.

More updates to come.

After over a year, I'm returning to Los Angeles with a show at the Dragonfly (Santa Monica Blvd. @ Wilcox in Hollywood).

I hope you'll be there for this rare event!

Greetings from Boston, MA (for another day or two).  As I mentioned last week, the long, slow process of recording my 4th album, Albatross has officially begun.  As many of you know, the wife-to-be and I are moving again, this time Oklahoma City.  Before I blew town, I wanted to set the recording process in motion with one of my good friends (and all-time favorite drummers), Patrick Hanlin.  Pat is a talented multi-instrumentalist originally hailing from Indiana who’s been entrenched in the Boston music scene for some time now.  

He’s probably best known as the drummer of Kid:nap:kin, a jaw-dropping power trio of aggro-prog-metal awesomeness (click HERE if you think I’m lying), but he’s also played as a hired gun in a number of other bands, rocked the VANS Warp Tour, and develops/produces local talent.  

I first met him in 2003, tried unsuccessfully to recruit him to be the drummer in the Neon Calm back in 2005, and have been able to share the stage with him many times.  He even appeared as the Dead Messengers drummer in the music video for “I Can’t Fix It”.  Nevertheless, I’ve never had him record on any of my material until now.  

At Pat’s suggestion, we spent two Fridays in a row at the studio of Producer/Engineer extraordinaire Scott Riebling.  Scott first found fame as the bassist for the band Letters to Cleo, and has since become a go-to guy for great sounding records. He’s worked with a ton of artists (Butch Walker, Metro Station, the Von Bondies, Fall Out Boy, Dropkick Murphys and more) and produced one of my favorite local Boston records of all time, A Girl’s Name Here by Rocketscience. 

But enough about all that. These are two awesome guys and they’ve helped insure that my fourth album will be awesome as well.  Pat also added hand percussion and accordion parts. And Scott also made us homemade pizza.  So the tracks we’ve begun so far:

1. If I Stop Singing, Check My Pulse

2. Still Running

3. The Long List of Names

4. The Wedding Party

5. No Show Tonight

6. That’s Mine, This is Yours

7. You’ll Never Work in This Town Again

8. Tender Venom

9. Elizabeth Murphy & the Albatross

10. The Road Home

More updates soon.

The Anthems FAQ

THE 10 MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ANTHEMS

Available now at www.marcmcogman.bandcamp.com

Q:         What the hell took so long?

A:         I know, I know.  I thought this record would be out by 2009, and then 2010, etc, etc, etc.  I had some tough times in there.  Some crazy crap went down. If you’d been there, you wouldn’t be surprised that I fell a little behind with regard to record releases. But fear not: Anthems is here, and my next record is nearly finished being written. So don’t plan on having to wait another three years before the next one comes out.

Q:         Why no CDs this time?  You’ve always had physical copies as well as digital downloads available…

A:         I do love CDs, but in addition to the fact that everyone listens to music on computers and iPods now, it was a matter of cost.  I’ve had all of my recording expenses from the last five years funded by record labels, but finding the cash for the mixing, mastering and printing of Anthems has been the biggest hurdle in the record being released – because once I was out of my deal(s), these became out-of-pocket expenses.  Printing CDs is expensive, so going solely digital meant the album could finally be released without the help of outside funding. The last piece of the puzzle was realizing I could include a deluxe digital booklet with all the photos, lyrics, and credits that would usually accompany a physical CD.  Once I knew that was possible, I felt I could live with a digital-only release.

Q:         You’re right about digital downloads; they’re the way to go, but why isn’t Anthems on iTunes?

A:         Well, although iTunes put the digital music store on the map, it’s simply not as artist-friendly as other digital retailers, like Bandcamp.  I’ve chosen to use Bandcamp as my music distributor for a few reasons, but the two most important are:

1.) I could offer the digital booklet as an easy download along with the music, and

2.) I could allow fans to NAME THEIR OWN PRICE when purchasing the album.

This last element is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and with Bandcamp, it’s really easy.  The fan downloads the record, pays $10 or $1 or $5 or whatever they want, and everybody wins.  So that’s the way I plan to release records from now on.

Q:         I’m a bit of a collector. Will there ever be an actual CD of Anthems to sit on my collector’s shelf next to the first two albums?

A:         I hope so, but I can’t say for sure.  There’s a very limited chance that one day I could do a special-edition short run, just for posterity’s sake. I’d also love to do vinyl editions of all of my records at some point, if the demand exists and the funds are available.

Q:         I saw you on tour in (Spokane / Omaha / Atlanta) and you played a new song about (a car crash / worms / Tyler’s sister) and it was one of my favorites.   Why don’t I see that song here on Anthems?

A:         Yeah, those will be on the next one.  As you know I’ve been doing a lot more writing and touring for the last few years than making records.  So I’m a bit behind.  Those songs will definitely be on the next record, Albatross, which I’m nearly done writing.  Sometime in the coming year I’ll start looking to record it and hopefully it’ll be out in 2013.

Q:         It says David Lowery produced and plays bass on two songs.  You mean David Lowery, the lead singer from Cracker?

A:         Indeed, it’s that David Lowery.  We were introduced back in 2009 and he graciously invited me to his home-base of Richmond, VA to record at Sound of Music Studios with him and the excellent house-band there. “The Rest of My Life” and “Oh Lily” came out of those sessions, and the talents of John Morand, Craig Harmon, Hugo Haggie, Alan Weatherhead and Miguel Urbizitano are also on display. They’re a great bunch of guys and excellent musicians. 

Q:         Why do the backup vocals sound so awesome? Is Kelli back?  Could this really be true?

A:         Yes, after being conspicuously absent from Beneath a Balcony, original Dead Messengers member Kellianne Noftle is on Anthems singing backup vocals.  I hesitate to say, “she’s back where she belongs” because she’s actually been right where she belongs this whole time: putting out her own excellent solo records and promoting the publication of her award-winning book of poetry.  But let’s just say we all missed her, and she’s a Dead Messenger once again. Hopefully she always will be, for many records to come.

Q:         Tell us about the artwork. Please?

A:         Edward C. Simon came up with the signature motif of the typewriter and Polaroids for the album cover way back in 2009, long before the record was finished.  Eddie is a multi-talented artist and musician from New Orleans, and one of my best friends for several years now.  He’s one of the many people who gave a lot of time and energy to seeing this record become a reality, and for his special contributions over the years and his friendship and support, I’ve dedicated the record to him.

Q:         I’m OG and went to the CD release shows for both Welcome to the Danger Show and Beneath a Balcony. So when/where is the Anthems release show?

A:         It pains me to say that a “release show” (at least in the sense of what I’ve done for my last two records) is not in the cards this time.  I’ve moved to new states twice in the last year, and I’m more than likely moving to yet another state in the next few months. This, among other things (like the untimely death of my car), has made fly-back shows difficult and touring impossible.  I hope to be playing live again soon in all my favorite places, but performing has had to take a back seat to getting the new album out. Maybe in the next few months we’ll get some celebratory shows in places like Boston, New York, L.A. and/or New Orleans.

Q:         Well if you just put out a record and you’re not about to start touring, what’s next?

A:         Well, I’m getting married. And moving. And in addition to spot dates in support of Anthems, I hope to roll out a few music videos and then focus on a bunch of exciting stuff coming down the road. This includes a long-lost Dead Messengers live record from 2009, a documentary film about me and Ben De La Cour from one of our 2010 tours, and recording plans for my fourth record, Albatross. For now though, please enjoy Anthems.  It’s the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people, nearly all of whom contributed their time and talents for nothing more than their love of this music.  I’m extremely proud of this record and I’m sorry it took so long to release it.

Thanks for reading!  If you haven’t already, please get your copy of Anthems for whatever price you choose at: www.marcmcogman.bandcamp.com

Find the fourth and final Anthems trailer below. The record will be released this coming Tuesday, March 6th.  I'm offering the record as a NAME-YOUR-OWN-PRICE download at Bandcamp.com. Why Bandcamp?  Well look for my Anthems FAQ post tomorrow and all your questions will no doubt be answered.

Enjoy:

Last week, #3 of the 4 "trailers" for Anthems went up.  This one features a snippet from track 2, "The Rest of My Life".  Now that we're less than two weeks away from the record's release, I'm getting very excited.  I've been waiting a long time to release this record to the world, and I hope it'll end up being worth the wait.  

There's one more trailer yet, which we'll see in a few days, but also be on the lookout for some new content related to Anthems to show up soon.  I'll try to get the lyrics for the new record posted up, as well as entries for the "Songs & Stories" section of the site.  Also, expect to see an "Anthems FAQ" to arrive  

Here's trailer #3 if you haven't caught it on YouTube or the Tumblr:

As promised, here is the second in a series of video trailers I've made to help promote the release of my third record, Anthems. While the first video featured some band footage and an instrumental recording of the new song "Oh Lily", this video features a bunch of the polaroids we used to snap of party-goers at Dangerland, our long-lost house in the hills above Los Angeles.  The music you're hearing in this video is from another song off the new record, entitled "Understudy".  

In addition to the new video, I'm happy to announce I've got a release date for you: Tuesday, March 6th, 2012.  There will be more videos, more news, and more information about the record release to come, but mark your calendars.  In a little over a month, it'll be yours for the listening.

Check back soon for more updates.

After much ado, and years and years and years of record industry crap, personal crises, financial troubles, neglect, and good old fashioned procrastination, I am extremely excited to announce that very soon, my third full-length record Anthems will finally be released. I know, I know, you've heard it before...but in truth, my longtime bass player, collaborator and good buddy Frogs is at work mixing the record at this very moment*, leaving only mastering before the record's arrival.

[* - note, Frogs might not actually be mixing "at this very moment".  There's actually a good chance that at this very moment he's doing something else, such as feeding his cats, trimming his mohawk, watching Battlestar Gallactica reruns, or eating Otter Pops.  The point is, he's mixing the record and soon it'll be done.]

As many of you know, the original plan WAAAY back in 2008 was to make my two follow-up records to Welcome to the Danger Show and release them more less together (as much as six months apart), those being my Americana record, Beneath a Balcony, and then its rock n roll cousin, Anthems.  It did not come to pass.  Some delays were my fault, and many others weren't, but suffice to say, once Beneath a Balcony arrived in 2009, it took two years for it to be widely available online, and Anthems never arrived at all.  This is why I'm so excited that you'll all soon be able to hear the record, which contains many of the best songs I've ever written (in my humble opinion.)  If you lived in Los Angeles between 2007 and 2009, and caught any of the Dead Messengers' live shows at Bordello, the Mint, Hotel Cafe, or elsewhere, there's a chance you know and love many of these songs.  "Typewriter" and "Song For E" especially were staples of the live set during those days with the band.  Both appear on Anthems as well as a slew of other songs which will be new to you, but which I'm sure you'll love.

Also, for the occasion of the record's release, I took the liberty of making several "Teaser-Trailer" style videos to spread the word about the release of the record.  There's a good chance that the release of one or more of these videos are what led you here to this post in the first place.  The first trailer, using the music from a new track off Anthems entitled "Oh Lily" hit the internet today. Enjoy, and stay tuned for news and updates, including but not limited to: the official release date of Anthems, more teaser-trailer videos, the debut of the first music video for a track off Anthems, and information on shows.  Thanks for listening.

Hello all.  If you haven't been down to the Youtube or the Tumblr lately, today's a good day. I've just posted the music video for "Bullet" off of Beneath a Balcony, and it's a beautiful little piece directed by Roham Rahmanian. This was shot on a 35mm Panavision relic in a soundstage near Downtown L.A.  The result is quite nice I think.  You should go have a look yourself, in any regard.

I'm not quite ready to reveal what is purportedly big news, but I will say that such news will be delivered soon, right here, as well as the Twitter, the Tumblr, the YouTube, etc.  Become a follower/subscriber to any or all, and you'll be the first to know.

Happy Holidays,

Marc

Hey there folks:

After much hemming and hawing, my second record, Beneath a Balcony is finally available via the internet merchants such as CD Baby.  ITunes will have it soon as well.  As you may know, since Beneath a Balcony arrived in the summer of 2009, it has only been available off the stage at one of my shows.  I understand this has been a source of frustration for many of you, especially those who live outside the United States. 

Well the wait is over.  Please go HERE to get your copy.  

I hope to have a similar announcement soon for my third record, Anthems.  You'll be the first to know when that is available as well.

I've been taking some time off to spend with my girlfriend and our dog up in Buffalo, NY, and to remember how to be a somewhat functional human after my year of living like a nomad on the road.  But fear not, I plan on hitting the road again in support of Anthems, hopefully sometime this fall.

Thanks for listening.

Hi there folks, I've been decidedly under the radar the past few months, getting settled in my new home of Buffalo, NY, working on an old house, and generally decompressing from 25,000 miles of touring last year.  While I do hope to be back at there singing for you soon, the next few months are going to be for some writing and recording, mainly.  I still hope to release my third record Anthems sometime this year, and book a tour in support of it, but we're still a little ways off.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you all about two very special events coming in the next month.  On April 9th, I turn 30 years old, and I've decided to celebrate with a big show in New York City at The Living Room.  If you've never been to this venue, it's excellent - perhaps the single best venue to see me play a solo show in the whole country.  That's on Saturday, April 9th at 8pm, with complete info to to be found in the "TOUR" section.

Well once I posted the birthday show, I heard from a few disgruntled Los Angeles folks about how my big blow-out is in New York City and they haven't gotten a show since August and "WTF?".  So I decided I better throw a little West Coast shindig as well.  It's technically 20 days after my birthday, but what the hell, let's call it a (slightly belated) 30th Birthday Extravaganza. That will be Friday, April 29th at the Trip in Santa Monica. The show is at 9PM and more detailed info can be found in the "TOUR" section.

Aside from that, there have been a few new music videos posted on the You Tube page, for "This Won't Last" and "Run Like Hell".  A video for "Complete" will be up in the next few weeks as well.  

See you soon I hope, and thanks for listening,

Marc

Hello there.  Please start off by reading this blog post regarding my year of touring, including some heartfelt thanks:

------

Every time anyone puts an album out, they always try to have a lengthy “Thanks” section to everyone who helped make an album possible.  Of course there is a huge cast of characters that help an album come to fruition, but I’d argue that even more love and generosity is needed for successful tours to happen - ESPECIALLY when they’re of the DIY variety.

I sincerely hope to get my third album, Anthems released in 2011, but I didn’t want 2010 to expire without giving some appreciation to some of the folks who helped me survive on tour for 4 of the 12 months this year.  So please take a moment and read my sincere TOUR thanks for the time I’ve spent on the road this past year:

Thanks to:

Ben De La Cour, Mika Revell, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Amza Moglan, Jason Krangel, Shay Godwin, Thai Long Ly, Larry Cohen, Misty & David in Oklahoma, Marc Nuttle, Sylvia (& Chacho) in San Antonio, Chet & Cindy Harum, Jeff & Judy Harum, Rob & Sarah Leifer and Justin Siegel (who housed me for my 6 weeks back in L.A. with nowhere to live), Bert DiViterbo, Ryan Dishen, Michelle Martello & Joe Galanek, Mike & Michelle Schoenholtz, Michael & Rachel King, Anne, Tracy, The entire Olsen Family (of Logan,UT and beyond), Amelia (for the bgv), Brock DeShane, Driftwood, Emerick, Mimi & Harold, Roni Page, Colleen Doherty, Kristin Flammio, Gina Flammio (& esteemed roommates), Madani, Al Hubbard, Mitch Daniels, Luke Hanlin, Cheryl & Benny, Jonathan Bender, The Royce Family (of Cincinnati), Patrick Wilson, Pat Hanlin (for always making Boston great), Jugghead Band, The Shills, Sidehatch Entertainment, Ben Maitland-Lewis, Chris at Spice Street, Casey Stone, Val & Gary Basciano Sr., Clay & Ashley, Gary Jr., Alecia, Bill Villany, Shawn Sugrue, Brian Moskin, Giulio Carmassi & the rest of the NYC/CT gang,  Stacy, Vito Basciano (& esteemed roommates), The Ethnographers, my faithful booking agent Alanna McKeever, my manager Adham Hunt, Morgan & Jeff Zuehlke, The Bell Family, The Vincent Family, Phil Schrieber, Fox Ellipsis, Eddie Simon & Christina Ballstaedt, Tyler Hicks (for coming through again and again as booking agent, promoter and friend), the whole Shreveport family, Caroline, my dad, and my mom (who personally designed AND silk-screened the handsome t-shirts I sold on tour.)

A special thanks to Mandy, who saw more shows than anyone while I was on my fall tour (4 in all) and Alexis, who traveled to shows in MD, PA, and TN, Kate & Britton Carr for hosting a house concert in MD, and Abby for keeping me alive & mostly sane through an inspiring but often difficult September/October/November of touring.

Of course thanks to EVERYONE who saw the shows, bought CDs, books, and T-shirts, and filled tip jars and made this year possible.

Lastly, to the fans - many friends but many strangers - who made a point to come up to me at shows, share their stories and their scars and tell me how important my music is to them: I cannot say you are all the reason why I got into this business, but I can promise that YOU are the reason I don’t quit.  Your support means everything and I humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart.

------------

Okay, still with me?  Great!

In 2011, I'm hoping to keep the momentum of 2010 going.  On January 9th, I'm planning to kick off another tour across the country with dates in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.  A bit later in the year, I hope to FINALLY release the album I've been wanting to unleash for nearly 3 years now, Anthems.  I've been able to get involved with some projects recently that will earn me enough cash to make this happen sometime in 2010.  Of course I'll let everyone know when that will occur, and a big national tour all over the country will no doubt follow.

In the meantime, here's another little treat.  Now, many of you who've followed my career further back than 2007 and Welcome to the Danger Show know that before I rasped out songs on acoustic guitar, I made music of the louder variety.  While I feel 100% about the changes I made to my musical life, I do like to make some noise every now and again.  So, in September, i got together with a few close friends and formed a side-project with a VERY different musical flavor than my solo records.  With Rob Leifer (The Neon Calm, Thomas Nicholas Band), Frogs (The Neon Calm, City (Comma) State, the L33T STR33T Boys, The Dead Messengers) and Drew Langan (City (Comma) State, Betawolf), I formed a band called Love Song at the Apocalypse.  Our debut EP, entitled Martyrs with Megaphones will be available on iTunes in the coming weeks, but for a preview, you can stream all four tracks here: (www.lovesongattheapocalypse.com).

To any of my fans who like my records but decidedly do NOT enjoy loud, fast, abrasive music, I'll give a warning that this band may not be for you.  And don't worry, I'm still committed to doing what I've done the last 4 years, including getting Anthems released, working on a new record, and of course continuing to tour in support of my first two records, Welcome to the Danger Show and Beneath a Balcony.

I hope to see you all soon!

-Marc

Hi there. I realized I'd blogged a bit and tweeted a lot, but not actually given a News update in quite some time. 

TOUR

I spent the summer on the road, opening at first for the Thomas Ian Nicholas Band on dates all the way from L.A. to Traverse City, Michigan and back again. After those three weeks, I didn't even make it home before my own tour began with Ben De La Cour supporting.  That went through the south, with dates as far east as Shreveport and New Orleans.  All in all it was a great summer full of shows, new friends and a ton of highway miles.

I've only been back in Venice since the end of July, and I'm only here another 3-4 weeks before my fall tour starts - a tour which, by comparison, makes the summer of touring look small.  Starting with September 17th in San Francisco and ending with November 20th in New Orleans, I'll be out there on the road for over two solid months.  We're talking 60+ shows in 40 states, and I'm doing it all alone.  But then again, I won't ever be TRULY alone, because I'll be seeing so many friendly faces, old and new, while I'm out there.  I want yours to be one of them, so be sure to check the TOUR page and see when I'm coming to your area.  Odds are, I'll be there at some point in September, October, or November.  Folks in Alaska and Hawaii and North Dakota and a few other places will just have to wait.

MERCH

The STORE page of the website is in the midst of undergoing some changes.  The main reason?  I've got merch!  Finally.   Those of you who caught one my shows on the summer tours knows that I'm now selling a copy of my book, Dangerous Music off the merch table as well as some Beneath a Balcony t-shirts.  Those both sold out mid-tour, and I'll have more for the fall tours - but I'm also going to start offering the book, the t-shirts and some brand-new Welcome to the Danger Show t-shirts for sale right HERE at cogman.com. 

All the shirts are home-made silk-screened jobs.  Think LIMITED EDITION, because it's the truth.  And both t-shirts were designed by my mom.  So that's cool too.  In fact, I loved the new logo for the Danger Show shirt so much, I had it tattoed on my forearm last week (sorry, Mom). 

I'm hoping to have even more goodies up there for sale later, but expect the shirts and the books to be ready for shipping by next week.  Again: that's on the STORE page.

L.A. "FAREWELL (FOR NOW)" SHOW

Finally, I wanted to make special mention of the show coming up in just a few days at The Mint in Los Angeles on Monday, August 23rd at 9pm.  As the tour will take me out of town until the end of 2010, this is a farewell of sorts.  The truth is, I'm on the road so much now, that I no longer keep a place to live in L.A.  I've spent the break between the summer & fall tours couching it at friends' places.  So, in short, I'm leaving L.A. for quite a while and I can't say for certain when I'll be back.  Maybe December.  Maybe 2011.  Maybe later?  I don't know. 

This show at the Mint was planned, in part to be a sort of "end of an era" celebration.  There's a couple guys, namely Steve McDonald and Frogs, who've been members of my backing band, the Dead Messengers, for over 3 years now.  I'd love to take them on tour with me, but it's just not in the realm of possibility right now.  So this is a bit of a goodbye.  At the Mint on Monday, they'll join me with two other Dead Messengers, Justin Siegel on drums (who's logged many hours as a member of the band), and a gorgeous fresh face on keys and background vocals, Heather Fogarty. 

If you want to see me with the band, be there!  Because it'll be solo shows for quite a while from here on out.

Monday, 8/23/10 @ The Mint - Pico & Crescent Heights in L.A. - 9pm.  I hope to see you.

That's all for now.  Thanks for listening.

A quick note to promote a charity event I'm playing this Friday night, June 4th in West Hollywood.  A good friend of mine took a trip to Kenya that changed her life.  By the time she'd returned, she'd started a great organization for girls in one of the many AIDS orphanages.  There's more info on the Tour page.  It's a short set, but it'll be my last in Los Angeles for awhile.  If you're available, come on down!

The West Coast tour was awesome. Thanks to all who made it so.  With the new album in a bit of a holding pattern for the time being, the focus for the summer of 2010 is on shows, shows, shows.

First off, there's a unique show coming up in a few days at Trip in Santa Monica.  This is a "songwriters in the round" show on Sunday, April 25th at 8:15pm.  This show is a "Storytellers" event, so you'll not only get to hear a bunch of great songs, but also the STORIES behind them (here's hint: they're about girls).

Then on May 5th, I'll be performing full-band with the Dead Messengers in support of my good friend Thom Nicholas.  This is the CD Release event for Thom's band.  Come down for Cinco-De-Drinko at Molly Malone's on Fairfax.  That's Wednesday, May 5th, with more details on the Shows page.

Just three days later, I'll be playing a solo acoustic date in Huntington Beach at Gallagher's Pub, again in support of the Thomas Nicholas Band.  I'll be kicking the show off at 9, and if you come for my set (or anytime before 10pm, you'll get in FREE OF CHARGE.  Again, more details on the SHOWS page.

In mid May, there's talk of a couple of Portland, Oregon area shows being booked.  This trip may or may not happen, but if it does, you'll find the details here at www.cogman.com  The dates would most likely be the weekend of May 15th-17th.

In June, I'll be heading up to the Bay area again with my favorite touring buddy, Ben De La Cour.  We'll be playing three dates.  Friday June 11, at Last Stage West in Atascadero, Saturday, June 12 at the Velo Rouge in San Francisco and finally Sunday, June 13 at the San Francisco Free Folk Festival.  This will be a lot of fun, so if you're a Bay-Area local, be sure to come down.  And yes there's more info at......the Shows page!

Finally, I'm most excited to announce my first comprehensive tour of the great Southwest.  Ben De La Cour and I will be hitting the road for two weeks, and stops are planned in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.  I'll be posting the dates as they're confirmed, but they'll more than likely occur between July 9 - July 24th.  We're really excited, and you should be too.

More news soon!

Hello everyone: 

Thanks to everyone who supported at the Bordello, Cafe Muse, and surprise Bloomingdales shows.  With those out of the way, I'd like to make another announcement about my upcoming tour with Ben De La Cour.  In less than a week, we'll head up the coast for shows in California, Oregon and Washington, and we'd love to see you there.  Info at the shows page, and below:

2010 WEST COAST TOUR (w/ Ben De La Cour)

Wed. 3/24/10 - Cafe Cordiale - Sherman Oaks, CA - 9:30pm (Marc only)

Fri. 3/26/10 - The Red Vic Peace Cafe - San Francisco, CA - 7pm (Ben only)

Sat. 3/27/10 - Velo Rouge Cafe - San Francisco, CA - 7pm

Mon. 3/29/10 - The Inn Between - Welches, OR - 5pm

Tue. 3/30/10 - Tost Lounge - Seattle, WA - 10pm

Thurs. 4/1/10 - Mama Buzz Cafe - Oakland, CA - 6:30pm

Fri. 4/2/10 - The Red Vic Peace Cafe - San Francisco, CA - 7pm (Marc only)

Sat. 4/3/10 - Last Stage West BBQ - Atascadero, CA - 6pm

COME CHECK OUT THE TOUR AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TOO!!!

Thanks to everyone who made Feb. 21st at Good Hurt a special night.  It was great to have the Dead Messengers on stage together again.  We'll look to do some more full band shows later in the year.  In the meantime, there are tons of new dates on the calendar all along the west coast. 

First, I'm doing two events in early March you should know about.  March 7th I'm playing a fundraiser for my alma mater, the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC.  The show is at one of my favorite venues in town, Bordello in Downtown LA.  My good friend Ben De La Cour will be opening. 

Then on Friday evening, March 12, I'm playing the most intimate of shows with another great friend, Elena, at Cafe Muse in Hollywood.  If you came to the Feb. 21st show you'll remember Elena singing a few songs with Giulio just prior to my set.  This is my first time playing down at Cafe Muse and I'm looking forward to it.

Later in the month, I'll be teaming up with the good folks at Hollowbody L.A. to a do a show at Cafe Cordiale in Sherman Oaks on March 24th.  This is a famed musician hangout and jam spot right on Ventura Blvd. with free parking and NO COVER.  Definitely come check this show out.

Finally the biggest news is my west coast tour with the aformentioned Ben De La Cour.  Ben and I met at our show at Trip in Santa Monica on January 3rd, and we immediately clicked.  We decided to throw together a week's worth of west coast dates, and I'm happy to say it's been booked.  There will no doubt be lots of promotion of the tour itself that will pop up over the next month, but I'll go ahead and give you the official schedule now as well:

Saturday, March 27 - Velo Rouge Cafe - San Francisco, CA

Monday, March 29 - Muddywaters - Portland, OR

Tuesday, March 30 - Tost Lounge - Seattle, WA

Thursday, April 1 - Mama Buzz Cafe - Oakland, CA

Friday, April 2 - The Red Vic Peace Cafe - San Francisco, CA

Saturday, April 3 - Last Stage West - Atascadero, CA

We hope to see you in one of these cities!  I'll keep you posted on all the events as they come closer, as well as more tour news. 

One night only!  My old keyboardist and original Dead Messenger Giulio Carmassi will be back in town from Brooklyn and we've decided to throw a big show for his 29th birthday on Sunday, Feb. 21.  Another band lamenting the loss of Giulio these past few months is Vermouth, so naturally they'll get things rocking in the 9pm slot.  (for those of you who aren't familiar with Vermouth's unique music, we've often shared the stage, and share ANOTHER member as well, guitarist Steve McDonald.)  I'll take the stage with my reunited Dead Messengers in the 10pm slot.  They'll be other special guests as well.

Who knows when we'll have Giulio around again so come down and join the fun and wish him a happy birthday.

Also, lots more shows have been posted for L.A., including a great event coming up in March with my good friend Elena, a show for my alma mater USC for the benefit of their poetry publication, a free show at Cafe Cordiale, a special STORYTELLERS night at Trip, plus COMING SOON - dates for SXSW, a West Coast tour with Ben De La Cour, and even my first shows in New York City and Boston in over two years.

Lookout!  It's 2010! It's rolling along! And it can't be STOPPED!

Thursday, Jan 28th, I'm performing alongside four terrific artists in the “Green Room”, the downstairs lounge at the world famous Viper Room on the strip in W. Hollywood.
These shows are incredibly intimate. They are ideal for taking in every note and lyric.The Green Room bar offers serious drink specials for its guests. Jim Beam, Tanqueray Gin, all flavors of Sky Vodka, Wine and many other premium brands are only $5. Pabst cans are only $4. These amazing drink specials are only good for those who ASK for the happy hour specials (proving you've caught wind of our promo efforts, otherwise it's full price!)  Free street parking is easy for the early shows.  Yellow, loading zones are safe parking after 6pm, as are any green curbs. Otherwise there's a lot on property, which is only $5 after 11pm. 21+, $8 w/ flyer.

Guests will have access to the entire venue. Come early and find a good spot
(parking and seating). 8852 W. Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069

8:00 Marc Cogman          www.cogman.com
8:45 Mike Srour        
9:30  Ryan Shields           www.myspace.com/ryanshieldsandthejanks 
10:15 Petrina Foley          www.petrnafoley.bandcamp.com
11:00 Sam Hooper Group  www.myspace.com/samhoopergroup

Hi there, two new shows have been added to the calendar, one at Green Room, the small downstairs room at Viper Room, on Thursday January 28th at 8pm sharp, and one at Cafe Muse in Hollywood on Friday, March 12th at 10:30pm.  

The Viper Room show will have a discount flyer, which I'll post right here as soon as I get it.

There may be some February events as well, but for now there's these two events.  Check back for more updates including SXSW dates.

Hey kids, download a flyer here and get reduced admission for my Sunday, January 3rd show at Trip in Santa Monica.  In fact, if you have a blackberry or iphone and actually just download the jpeg, you can flash the picture to the girl (or guy) working the door and get your discount that way too.  

I hope to see you all there tomorrow night!

Happy New Year!

I've booked a solo acoustic show on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 8PM.  The show is at The TRIP in Santa Monica.  More info in the SHOWS section.

The brand new website is still....well...brand new. We apologize for the dust. Hopefully we'll get more and more content going here as time goes on. Stay tuned!