Coyote in the Graveyard, the latest LP from Thanatos, is now temporarily up at Bandcamp (until January 18, 2017).

Let me state right off the bat this isn't the actual cover. This  is a photo of a background on a painting I took that turned IN to the cover. I just needed an image for here. You will notice that  I wrote lyrics on various layers that were ultimately painted over. This is sort of appropriate for this record--obscured ideas and intentions all over the place

The recording is now done and it is also mastered. It is up on Bandcamp HERE. The release is $10.

This record has taken years to record and there were many reasons for this--my malaise, the fact my initial idea was to involve a number of other people in the recording (ultimately it is myself, Tim Larson and my son Boyd Ogle II).

It is unique sonically from my other records and I am sure that it will perplex some folks with a preconceived notion of what my music should sound like. But I hope they, and you, like it anyway.

This is Thanatos' sixth full length reccord and a physical release will be out soon.

I want to encourage folks who are planning to attend to call or visit online to reserve a table for the show. It is a small room and there are a limited number of tables.....it will also let the kind people at Uncommon Ground know that people will, indeed, be coming to the show.

Starting at 7 pm!....I promise there will be no length dawdling here we are gonna get to playing!

Being honest, earlier in the year I said I was going to play a bunch of shows and maybe do band shows in 2018.....That is about as likely now as me being elected Pope. I'd love to do it but it is more trouble than I am willing to go to. Id be shocked if I play again anytime soon.....hell I am shocked when I play at all.

I am dead solid certain only playing under circumstances I consider ideal....and I am dead solid certain not seeking out shows.

Thanatos will be playing another solo show at 7 p.m. Sunday, December 17 at Uncommon Ground (3800 N. Clark St., Chicago). The show will feature sets from Patrick Ogle (Thanatos) and Tim Larson.

Thanatos shows are as rare as Unicorns. There was one recent short set in Portland with the previous show (a full band show) taking place in August, 2014. You can contact and reserve a table at Uncommon Ground in advance of the show. The capacity of the venue is 50 so it wouldn't be a bad idea to book early. The price is $8.

Thanatos will play some old songs, some never before heard songs. Larson ? Who knows what he will pull out of his hat....something old new, borrowed and blue most likely.

There may even be some Christmas songs played. Tell your friends, tell your enemies.

Hello! So yes, seven of eleven songs are pretty much done so far as recording is concerned; another four need minor additions (stuff like backing vocals and bass parts being the most important).

A week tops before the recording is completely finished.

To the left are my  notes for tonight with the songs that need a few things circled. I even started trying to figure out a song order below that. You can tell I am nearing finished when I start worrying about song order.

And yes, my handwriting looks like I am a lunatic.

I did notice tonight that this is a pretty weird record. It isn't anything like any of the other Thanatos records.  To me? That is a good thing? Who wants to do the same damned thing for 25 years or more? Only someone who is boring and I hope I am not that JUST yet.

The next stuff I will post here should be some paintings that I plan to use for the cover and new show announcements. Possibilities are popping up and leaping about. Keep an eye open for news. Always feel free to get in touch via patrick at thanatos dot biz.

Thanatos is playing a solo show opening for Devoured by Flowers at 8 p.m., Thursday, October 19, 2017 at Lovecraft Bar (421 SE Grand Ave., Portland, Oregon).

This is the first time I've played west of Texas and I am thrilled to be playing with Ashkelon Sain (Trance to the Sun)'s new band. I am playing solo but I hesitate to call it "acoustic" since I am thinking of playing my electric. I usually only play this with a band but it is the very same guitar I used on most of my early records where I played an electric. Oddly....given the acoustic nature of the first two records I didn't own an acoustic guitar until after the first two Thanatos LPs were finished.

But enough boring history! This will be a fun show. I am opening for a band that I am thrilled to be playing with. I am doing this show, in part, so I get a chance to see them. Click on their name to check out their music.

So the Thanatos record now has all the songs that are going to be included in SOME form of completion. Some need more work than others but the pace is accelerating. I have some parts I want to add to some songs that may take time to sort out (people I want to add stuff are not in town) but the end is much closer.

I recorded a new cover of Tim Larson's A New Deal....a song that is both appropriate for our time and for me personally....I abandoned (for this record) a cover of Goddamn the Sun by Swans but I may come back to it for other projects I am planning in the not TOO distant future. This record is quite different from the Thanatos records of the past--as different as you are likely to get from a project I am writing anyway!

Right now there are 11 songs, as noted. They include:  A New Deal, Ghosts,  Something to Tell You, Hallelujah, Wade in the Water, Chockoloskee, Sleeping in An Art Free Environment, Every Dark Corner, A Prayer To Everyone (Unanswered), The Coyote in the Graveyard and The Night Visitor.

For those keeping track the new Thanatos record  is moving along at breakneck speed (yes, yes it has only been in the works for 2 years).  The new direction the record has taken has been based, in part on basing songs off simple, small pieces of music that are then completed by juxtaposing sounds and samples against that simple piece of music.

There were a few inspirations for this--two were live shows.  I am not mentioning the bands because what Tim Larson, Eric Polcyn and myself are doing are totally different from these bands musically. I have found that if you put an idea in peoples heads they run with it....like if I wrote "It sounds like Beyonce" people would then judge it based on that and either think it did or complain it didn't. Suffice it to say that I was inspired by bands building great songs around simple pieces of music (or samples).

Another thing we discovered today was three "lost" cover songs: Love Minus Zero No Limit (Bob Dylan), Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) and The Price I Pay (BillyBragg). None of these are likely to find their way onto the final record but they will likely find their way out into the world someway.

A few years back I did a Kickstarter for a new Thanatos LP,  Coyote in the Graveyard.  My idea was, in part, that I would be inspired to work on new material if I did that; it worked up to a point.

BUT, for the first time in my life, the first group of songs I recorded? I just didn't think they were worth releasing (to prove this I briefly put two mediocre tunes up on Bandcamp.....they have now been assigned to the garbage heap of history).  It wasn't the recordings or the performances. They just were not good songs. No matter how you record a bad song? It remains a bad song.

Not all the songs recorded up to that point were BAD. We did get one good song out of that session and one before. Two songs, however, isn't much of an LP. Part of the problem maybe was my boxing myself in with a "positive vibe" theme. I confess that my idea of what is cheerful differs from most people. I think the movie The Seventh Seal is cheerful for instance (the Knight saves the family for fuck's sake...AND everyone else who dies wants to die or is a jerk).

My idea was to be uplifting in a broader sense which is, perhaps, not what I do best.

In any case in recent times we've slowly but surely started moving in the direction of producing solid music (in my opinion anyway).  Today, as I post this, we brought in Thanatos bassist, Eric Polcyn, to lay down bass on a cover and a new song that has been lurking around in my head. As usual in recent years Tim Larson was the one doing the recording.

Part of my recent realizations is that, instead of getting more complicated in the foundation of my songs--which as usual is the acoustic guitar--I decided to get simpler and to add complexity later. I had an art teacher who told the class to "squint your eyes" at what you were painting and therein see the background color that you laid down first. That is sort of what we are doing.

I am very conscious of trying to avoid slick here too...This isn't always easy in our digital world. More on this soon for people who care to read! You can check out two current songs--the title track and The Night Visitor on our Bandcamp page. These are not final mixes.