A lot of you, I'm sure, have been wondering when the followup to 2010's "Piece by Piece" will be finished. The answer to that requires a bit of an explanation as to what I've been up to for the past 4 years.

After quitting my job and taking time to finish writing and record Piece by Piece, I returned to school to complete a Master's degree at Queen's University in my home town of Kingston, Ontario. During that time, a band I used to play in got back together and started gigging again. The only role they hadn't filled yet was that of the bass player.

Back around 2006 is when I first played bass with Basalisk. It was meant to be a temp position until they found someone permanent, but the band dissolved shortly thereafter. It wasn't until 2011 that long time friend, and Basalisk front-man, James Wartman got the band up on its feet again. Their first show back on the scene was with Devin Townsend: I took notice hopped back in, re-adopting my roll as resident bass player a few gigs later.

Early in 2012 we entered Longshot Records and cut our first record, aptly titled "EP", with Matt Baetz as recording engineer. Over the past two years Basalisk has played upawards of 50 shows all over the province. Between studio time, regularly gigging and two mini-tours, most of my musical energy (and most of my free time) has been dedicated to Basalisk.

I have to say that I have really been enjoying my time in the band. The recording of Piece by Piece really took my bass playing and writing to another level, so it has been nice to be able to use that skill in a new pantheon. The response I get at shows from other bass players (and some non-musicians) has been overwhelmingly positive.

With our second mini-tour just finished, we plan on spending the fall and winter of this year writing and recording a new album. I have to say that I am very excited to get back to working on new material with this band. In addition to Basalisk's album, I plan on dedicating the time to bringing my second album to life. I have been working on material (admittedly slowly) since Piece by Piece was released, and the coming months will be spent boiling it all down.

So, in 2015, keep an eye out for a new Basalisk record and possibly even a new Greg Shier release.