Smooth and sincere indie-acoustic songs that whisper in dark blues & vibrant shades of white.

9 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Acoustic, FOLK: Free-folk



Details:
Ollerton's self-titled debut is not what you would expect a teenage kid to create and produce while still in the middle of high school. While his peers were interested in normal teenage activities, Russell Ollerton nurtured a growing obsession for songwriting and the eventual goal of releasing an album starting at the age of 16. Not knowing anything about how such a thing was done, he began studying books and asking questions, working afterschools at an electronics store on minimum wage and expirementing. Starting out with a cheap electric guitar and a 4-track recorder, his knowledge and equipment list grew to a decent digital recording set-up and a plethora of instruments ranging from the standard accoustic guitar to the not-so-standard accordion to a cheap violin he bought for twenty dollars. Mixing guitars, vocals, grand piano and quite a few other instruments into his songs, he created a full-length album right in his livingroom.

"It wasn't quite that simple," he recalls. "Some of the album was recorded in a dentist office garage and some of it in my bedroom. I also had no decent speakers or a decent room to listen to my mixes in, so I would mix my songs on headphones, then check the mix in my Honda Civic. I still have the nearly foot-high stack of CDR's."

After recording, mixing, and creating the artwork for his album, Russell sent off his work to be manufactured.

"The whole project took about two years," Russell says, "from the idea and learning to the recording, to all the many mistakes I had to fix throughout the entire thing. When I got all my CD's pressed, I realized the cover turned out purple. I was devastated. I had to unwrap all the hundreds of CD's, take out the purple inserts, get new ones printed for lots of money, and put the new ones in myself. I just couldn't live with a purple album, it was meant to be blue. Blue has always been my color. Mind you I had school and a job to juggle at the same time throughout all of this. It was all quite frustrating."

Ollerton released his album this spring, packing the home-town venue "Cameron's" and being featured in his city's newspaper within weeks. Now 18, Ollerton continues to promote his album, playing around northern California and connecting with his fans on a regular basis.