[97X-LP PREVIEW] Chapter One: The Idea

Where to begin? Let’s start with a Friday afternoon of bowling and drinking Whisky. You see, sometimes we like to unwind after a long week and Dwyer and I thought of the perfect way. After beating him in two of three games, we decided to call it a day.

While sipping some Jameson 12-Year Special Reserve and discussing the performance from Eleven Fifty-Two on that morning’s show, we came to the realization that in the past few years we had the privilege to record some great musicians on our show. As we were going down the list of performances (Great White, Devil City Angels, Damon Johnson and Ricky Warwick from Black Star Riders, 3 Years Hollow, The Zealots, Jake McVey, Lexi Parr, and Eleven Fifty-Two, just to name a few.) we came to the conclusion that we had enough songs to actually make an album.

I remember saying something to Dwyer about how I wish we could do more with the performances we have. Having the videos on YouTube is great and all, but it’d be cool to do something really special, and that’s when it happened. We both looked at each other almost in unison and thought of the 97X-LP.

A listener had just dropped off a copy of 1982’s 97X-LP Vol 2 to us so it was fresh in both of our minds. We discussed how cool it would be to make another, and since we have all these recordings it should be super easy to just turn these audio files into a new vinyl album. I told Dwyer that night that I would go home and do some research and see what we could do.

I wasted no time in getting to work. I messaged all six of the vinyl manufacturers in the U.S. and while I waited for responses, I called up my friend Justin Farley at Skylark Recording. I gave him a rundown of what we were looking at doing and while he thought it was a great idea, there was only one problem. We recorded all the other performances in the wrong format, and there was no way we could transfer these songs into a vinyl medium and have them sound even remotely good.

So there we were, dead in the water before we even started. I still didn’t want to give up hope. It just felt like too good of an idea to just let go. Dwyer said something to me about getting all the details. “Know the project inside and out, and maybe it’ll come to the surface again someday.” So, that’s exactly what I did.

To Be Continued...