from the digital desk of The Cocker Spaniels:
‘The cover of Plays Well with Others is a picture that my wife Erica took of me playing with my stepson Nate.
As hard as it may be to believe, C.Spaniels wasn’t originally intended to be a solo project; it merely became one due to circumstance.
That changed in the beginning of 2012, when guitarist Stephen Pierce and drummer Alan Lauer, both members of the brilliant band Zest of Yore, invited me to join them as their bassist. As a longtime ZOY fan AND a musician with a good memory, I learned their songs so quickly that we ended up having leftover time during our practices. As a result, Alan suggested that Stephen and I trade instruments midway through our practices, so that I could teach them my own songs as well.
From that point forward, we performed regularly around Austin, TX as Zest of Yore AND the Cocker Spaniels. I taught Alan and Stephen songs from both of my previous albums, as well as new songs that I’d been working on over the last four years. They became not only my band mates, but also two of my closest friends.
When I decided to relocate to Charlotte, NC to be closer to Erica and Nate, I insisted that Alan, Stephen and I record some C.Spaniels songs together, while we still lived in the same city. On July 7th, 2014, two days before I moved, we hunkered down in our practice space for four hours to record this EP.
I wanted Plays Well with Others to be as representative of our live shows as possible – one voice, one guitar, one bass, and one drum kit – so I avoided further layering. If you attended a full-band C.Spaniels show, this is what we sounded like, minus the long tuning breaks and awkward stage banter.
Alan, Stephen, and I will make more music together in the future but, for now, please accept and enjoy this souvenir of our friendship and musical chemistry. Don’t forget to also check out Zest of Yore!’
-chief
Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice 