SECRET BEACH
NEWS CAPSULE
www.secret-beach.com

September 2001
Volume 1 - Issue 1

Eric Roth, Editor
eric@secret-beach.com

Table of Contents:

GREETINGS and welcome to the premiere issue of the Secret Beach Newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and taking the time to check out the website.

Secret Beach is an original and experimental music project. It is a work in progress and is the culmination of many years of training and dedication. The website and this newsletter are the latest entries in its continuing development. They are a way for us to stay in touch while this project continues to grow. I look forward to sharing with you the origins of Secret Beach, the people involved, and of course, all about the music.

The name "Secret Beach," originated during high school when my friends and I discovered a particular "out-of-the-way" beach one night. We would often have low-key campfire gatherings on this beach, and midnight adventures would end as the sun was coming up. These clandestine activities continued through my college years on a regular basis and have made for some great memories.

As I look back, there were many reasons why I enjoyed the Secret Beach, became so attached to it, and decided to name my music project after it. Like any beach, it offers fresh air, warm sand, and the constant rush of the waves. The fact that the beach has few visitors makes it very intimate, and at night, being there with friends while the rest of the world is asleep is incredible.

SUBURBAN ENNUI? Rebellious adolescents?
Pretty universal if you ask me.

I enjoyed that "jazzed feeling" I would get when walking around the beach and ravines under the stars. I noticed that I developed a confidence in my new and wild surroundings. Other visitors were unsure of themselves, afraid they would fall off the side of a ravine or get lost in the darkness. While some found this uncertainty a cause for retreat to the safety of the streetlights, I felt empowered. What I discovered, and what I enjoy, is that my auditory senses became even more focused, and my night vision sharpened and exhibited a heightened spatial sense. It is quite exhilarating. A catharsis?

There is a lot to be said for the good times my friends and I would have late at night at the beach. We would build our small bonfire from the plentiful driftwood and fallen tree branches. Sitting around the beach and drinking soon took on a larger-than- life rustic quality, such as you might find in a vintage magazine ad for Old Milwaukee. But for me, there was also an underlying layer, some kind of a transcendental quality to the whole experience.

The heightened feelings and numerous experiences put me in a creative mood and inspired my musical output. I began to visit the beach during the day on my own and I would try to distill and capture the essence of the beach in a song  (and get a tan at the same time).

The tone of the beach during the day was equally tranquil. I could spend hours there without seeing another face. It was ideal, getting lost in nature, daydreams, lyrics. The waves provide a nice meditative state and I would just noodle around with my guitar, brainstorm, and be incredibly creative. So far, I have filled roughly five 1-inch binders with my songs, lyrics, and pieces of musical flesh.
My job now is to get that music to you.

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