January 2016 Newsletter

January 10, 2016 RyanByrne

January 2016 Newsletter
(Reintroductory Issue)

Ryan Byrne News

Hello friends! Thank you for taking a moment to peruse the January 2016 Reintroductory Issue of the Ryan Byrne Music Newsletter! Those of you that have been following my escapades long enough may remember that I did a newsletter for a short time in late 2009. I’ve missed writing it and always planned on starting it back up again, but I never thought it would take six years . . . time goes by so fast. So, since this is my first newsletter in a long time, this “Reintroductory Issue” will be a year-end recap of news from the last quarter of 2015. I hope you enjoy reading my newsletters as much as I love creating them!

Stephen Cochran Project News

EXCLUSIVE FACEBOOK-ONLY RELEASE OF NEW MUSIC VIDEO ON NEW YEAR’S EVE: The 2016 New Year’s Celebration started off with a bang as the much anticipated new music video for “She’ll Thank Me Later” was released exclusively on the SCP Facebook Page at approximately 3:00pm on December 31st. Initially it was released via an expiring post, scheduled to live only 35 hours online, and was set to disappear at 2:00am on January 2nd. But in only 24 hours time, the post had an organic reach of approximately 30,000 Facebook users and was shared over 100 times, garnering over 6,000 actual video views. At that point the decision was made to cancel the expiration and allow the post/video to live out it’s life on the timeline.

“She’ll Thank Me Later” is the second video in which Cochran partnered with film producer / photographer Sergio Valenzuela and his company, Silver Phoenix Pictures (The first of which was the lyric video for “Whiskey Lies”, as seen below), and is his 5th official music video overall (not including the lyric video below). Of course, I would be remiss to not mention the sponsors of the video shoot, Beach Whiskey and Heroes Vodka, as well as the all-volunteer crew of military vets and SCP cuzins that helped with all of the behind the scenes work. This video would not have been possible without you!
(To view video, click link below)
www.facebook.com/StephenCochranMusic/videos/10153200508316767/.

LYRIC VIDEO FOR “WHISKEY LIES” RELEASED: Since this is the first issue of the Ryan Byrne Music Newsletter in 6 years, I’m taking a few minutes to catch you all up on a few things from previous months. Back in November, the lyric video for “Whiskey Lies” was released on the SCP Facebook Page as well as the Silver Phoenix Pictures Youtube Page.

Nostalgic Distortion News

NOSTALGIC DISTORTION PERFORMS 21st ANNIVERSARY REUNION SHOW: My old NH indie-rock band, Nostalgic Distortion (which was my primary band for 10 years before I moved to Nashville in 2004), played a 21st-Anniversary Reunion Show in mid-October at the Lucky Dog Tavern and Grill in Plymouth, NH. It was the third year in a row that we’ve done a reunion show, and like the previous two years, 50% of the cover charge proceeds are being donated to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) on behalf of the Andy’s Army walk team at the upcoming annual JDRF One Walk in Concord, NH in September.

Other News

Those of you that know me, know that I live, eat, sleep, and breathe music . . . whether I’m listening to it, reading or writing about it, promoting it, practicing it, performing it, recording it, composing it, teaching it, or continuing to learn new things about it – my life revolves around music. This section of the newsletter is a chance for me to talk about music-related events in my life outside of my bass duties with the Stephen Cochran Project or Nostalgic Distortion.

Before I moved to Nashville, I was a full-time public school music teacher. Although the majority of my time at that point was devoted to teaching music, I still enjoyed performing and recording whenever the time allowed. But after I moved to Nashville, things changed places. Although the majority of my time now is devoted to my music industry pursuits, I still enjoy the chance to be involved with music education whenever the time allows. During my early years in Nashville, I spent nearly three years as a substitute teacher for MNPS (Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools), subbing mostly music classes at about 14 of Nashville’s 38 middle schools. Substitute teaching meant that I could be available for gigging/touring opportunities whenever they arose, but could continue to pick up substitute teaching jobs on a day-by-day basis when I wasn’t on the road. Subbing allowed me to still be connected to the world of music education. But by 2009 I was quite busy with touring/gigging and eventually “fell off” the active sub list because I didn’t work the minimum number of days necessary to remain active with MNPS. However, in January 2015, I took advantage of another opportunity to be involved in music education again. I started substitute teaching for Knoxville Academy of Music, East Tennessee’s largest independent music school. They also trained me to work the front office so that I could sub for office staff as well. After a while the academy director learned that I am also a freelance web designer, and I was contracted to build two new websites for the school. This eventually led to my current position with the academy as digital media coordinator, taking care of all the regular updates for the school’s websites and social media accounts (and also the reason you tend to see me sharing social media posts from the academy on my personal profiles from time to time). The fact that I can work remotely from a laptop to take care of my digital media commitments for the academy means that I am still able to travel and perform. Likewise, when I’m not on the road, I can also substitute teach. It is the best of both worlds!