We did it!

Despite two of the band members uprooting their lives to move to Dublin, Ireland in a week (me and Tom), we managed to write and record 11 new songs and mail it to “RPM Headquarters“. Over 2000 indie musicians participated this year. Not sure how many managed to finish, but then it’s really not a contest (and it doesn’t matter: it’s an exercise in creativity and motivation).

The album we mailed in is entitled “So Much To Rock About” based on a line in the song, “Hello Guitar (We’ve Got So Much To Rock About”). It seemed fitting, especially since this will become our 21st album when it officially gets released next year.

As with RPM albums we’ve done in years past, we’ll be posting all the songs up at TheSongOfTheDay.com in the next week or so. Also, while we finished the album for RPM purposes, we’ll do our usual and write some more songs and work on the album over the year. We still need to get last year’s album out — “When I Was Your Age” — and the ever-forthcoming “The Best Of TheSongOfTheDay.com” (which is a double album, so, you know, it’s twice the work).

So, there’s a lot more music coming from Beatnik Turtle…even if two of us guys are relocating to Dublin for the time-being.

It’s that time of the year again.

Our band is gearing up for our 4th RPMChallenge. That’s where we make up and record an entire new album of original material in 28 days.

This is our 4th one, so we’re excited as ever. But the pre-challenge to the challenge for us is coming up with a theme for the album. Something that can guide all the individual songwriters in the band and help us focus on a coherent whole.

As many of you know, our 3 prior RPM albums have been based on:

- Writing an album looking back to when we were kids which produced songs like My Cereal (which features friends, fans, and many other RPMers on the “Coco Chorus” )!

- Updating traditional Irish pub songs and cranking them to “11″ which produced songs like Tell Me Ma which was featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered Second Stage.

- Writing an album about work and technology which produced songs like Mason Rocket (Spy Extraordinaire).

Now the question becomes, what will we end up creating this year?

We’re working on it!

Now, if you’re a musician that follows us because of IndieGuide.com and our books The Indie Band Survival Guide, and/or The DIY Music Manual, then we strongly encourage you to sign up at RPMChallenge and give it a shot.

RPM is not a contest. There’s no prizes. It’s completely a motivational thing. 1000s of musicians worldwide signup. Many make it to the end. But the community is amazing throughout the process as everyone works to complete their album. It’s a great reason to get the creative juices flowing, make an album of new material, and get some helpful feedback along the way by other musicians.

And honestly, what would you be doing in February anyways? It’s a crappy month. The weather blows…at least it does here in Chicago.