D. Rogers – New albums An Undefined Number & Kicking The Tracers 2013 Most double albums have their roots in egotism, overblown creative vision and coc*ine abuse. Ex-Klinger songwriter D. Rogers’ new releases An Undefined Number and Kicking the Tracers were born from the ashes of an acrimonious creative partnership. After releasing and touring critically-acclaimed (but commercially ignored) 4th album Natural Disasters in 2011, Rogers started writing songs for what would become An Undefined Number. Opting to change the routine of self-producing, long-time musical colleague John Palmer (ex-The Raylenes) was brought on to co-produce. “John and I worked closely on The Raylenes’ album back in 2007. We were really good friends, we got along really well, and we’d always talked about doing an album together,” Rogers says. But the cracks began to show almost immediately. Palmer listened to the new batch of songs and heard a full blown rock record under the acoustic guitars. Work started immediately. Tim Coghill (Georgia Fields, Matt Corby) was brought in on the drums with Rogers and Palmer handling the rest of the instruments. Palmer imbued the songs with distorted guitars, feedback and a focus on tough sounds. “He deleted all the acoustic guitars when I was out of the studio, and was difficult about me from re-recording them. There’s not a single acoustic guitar on the album,” says Rogers. The mixing process was even more fraught. Decisions on sounds and mixing became drawn-out arguments with either side refusing to back down. Rogers felt that Palmer had lost the original intention of the songs; Palmer felt that Rogers lacked the conviction to make a different sounding record. “Eventually, we stopped talking and just emailed mixes back and forth to each other,” says Rogers. “We couldn’t really stand to be in the same room. It never came to a fist fight, but I’m pretty sure he pissed on my shoes. ” Unable to handle the constant fighting, Rogers took an impromptu holiday to Japan. “You can’t be creative when you’re constantly on the defence,” he says. Freed from the destructive atmosphere in Melbourne, Rogers’ muse returned. In his twelve days overseas, he wrote new 16 new songs. Upon returning home, he realised that he had another album of songs ready. The following few months were spent in the studio finishing and mixing the recordings with drummer Dave Kleynjans and arranger Amy Bennett. The album, Kicking The Tracers, is made up of acoustic and electronic sounds, contrasting the rock palette used in An Undefined Number. “When I heard them side-by-side, I realised it was perfect. I just needed a little bit of light to balance out the dark, a little bit of quiet to balance out the loud. Some brains to balance out the balls. They ended up being ideal companion pieces.” An Undefined Number and Kicking The Tracers will be released through Crying Ninja Records on October 1st, 2013. The releases are albums 5 & 6 for D. Rogers and will be available as a download-only release. Limited-edition Double Album Lego sets will be available at the launch, which will be held at the Northcote Social Club on October 13th with support from Duke Batavia and The Glorious. The D. Rogers live band includes Amy Bennett, Kate Goldby (The Wellingtons) and Dave Kleynjans. Bridges have been mended sufficiently that John Palmer will also be part of the lineup. Following the release and tour for the album, Rogers will be retiring the D. Rogers moniker to work on other musical projects including new band, The Shops.