Welcome to our Wonderland CD extras page...
This CD is a collection of 12 songs written by five different songwriters: John Eyler, Don Howell, Heidi Eyler, Kevin Masterson and Chris Graves. Along with these five performing on this recording project, we have Debra Lawton on bass, Eric Carlson on drums and Don's boy, Jonathan helping us out on Djembe for the song "Reflections." The title song, "Wonderland" is the inspiration for the CD art design. With such a wonderful story line of Alice on her adventures, we just adopted the journey concept for this collection.
Here is a collection of pictures taken in 2012 with members of the group, including many from one of our recording sessions. Many thanks go to Martha Gonzi Photograpy and Jonas Lohr of Now Then Photo Graphs for taking these. If you place your mouse over the large image, you will find captions for each.
Below is the listing of songs on the cd with credits of who wrote and played what as well as links to their lyric pages for those of you who would like to have a peek at them. Songs are listed in CD order: click on the song titles to see the full lyrics.
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Had this basic song kicking around for years. The band worked on it and yet it just wasn't magic enough. Then we fixed the harmonies on the chorus and now the song is what I always hoped it would be - just a beautiful soft rock ditty.  2. Don't Turn Back - by Chris Graves
Chris handed us his "Gossamer" CD, which had his "Don't Turn Back". Heidi had the band listen to it and suggested we come up with our own arrangement, then spring it on him as a surprise. This is our version with Heidi singing lead. We did keep it quiet - one night at rehearsal, we introduced it to him as a "new" song that we wanted him to come up with a bass part for... when he realized it was his song, that moment was priceless! 3. Wonderland - by John Eyler
As I was writing this, a chorus using the word "understand" came to me. That was sort of turning it into a relationship song and I didn't want to waste a nice little rock riff on some relationship tune. So "Wonderland" came to mind and then I knew I had to tell the story. 4. Reflections - by Don Howell
One evening a good friend of mine was being very critical of himself - as we all can be. Once again I realized how much alike we all are and I wrote this song. 5. We Live For Moments - by John Eyler
This song started out as a song about an alarm clock. Now I just want to sell it to a camera company and make millions of dollars... 6. So They Say - by John Eyler
Well I was twenty-one and I felt like I had burned too many bridges. I just felt I needed to get out of my hometown because I didn't like who I was there. So I took a Greyhound south... |
With this song I was just trying to put into words the kind of relationship I wanted. 8. Louisianna Lady - by Kevin Masterson
9. Play On - by John Eyler
I sometimes think this may be my masterpiece. The initial riff and the chord line under the chorus came from a good friend and ex-bandmate Richard Dunlop. I wrote the lyrics and the other musical changes. It is a song about writing songs... 10. It Was the Way - by Don Howell
Trapped on an airplane heading to Maryland, I was reflecting on my life and the feelings I was experiencing. 11. Seven Veils - by Heidi Eyler
One day, while surfing the internet, I ran across some reference about the Dance of the Seven Veils being about a representation of revealing virtues and the veils represented them being covered, blocked or obscured. I found this pretty facinating and came up with this song about discovering various potentially hidden virtues such as imagination, wisdom, truth, courage, reason, passion and so on. And as I often say when Don and John start to chuckle and roll their eyes at me when I explain it to the audience..."That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" 12. Saddle Up - by Don Howell
There have been times where I had to leave situations - some very difficult. This is my attempt at rationalizing. |
Our thanks and gratitude to those who helped make this project happen:
- Financial Contributors: Ronnie Moon, Hilda Erb, Howard Cook - thank you so much for pitching in to speed it along! And to the fans who have tipped us or bought copies of our CDs - thank you for your contributions. Also to the venues that have had us play at their various places of business, the funding or outlet to be heard has also helped towards this.
- Music Supporters: Thank you to Ron Rasmussen for believing in us and pushing us to get heard. For Arturo Ville, you have and continue to encourage us not only on our first album but on this one as well. To Bob Pagano who recorded us, thanks for your advice, your suggestions, your skills and enjoyable stories whenever we have had the pleasure to record with you. Jonas Lohr, simply said... we all love you! And to the little 5-year old girl, who tipped us with crackers at one of our shows and with shyness pointed to them and said, "Those are from me," thank you! I don't think I will ever forget your heart-felt contribution.
- Friends & Family: Last but by no means least are the family members who come to hear us, the spouses of the band mates who come and help where they can and the friends who have helped us with pictures, set-up, take down, website issues, advice, etc. Thanks to Christina Votrian, Donna Carlson, Tim Sullivan, Martha Gonzi, Mark Przybylski, Jonathan Howell and Sheryl Osborne-Friend for the various things you have helped us with, you made it so much easier!