Ghostlight Releases THINGS TO RUIN – The Songs of Joe Iconis 9/24

Ghostlight Records continues their exciting Fall season with the announcement of the September 21st double-CD digital release of their Original Cast Recording of 'THINGS TO RUIN - The Songs of Joe Iconis.' Listen to audio samples, here: http://www.sethcohenpr.com/player/thingstoruin/. A CD release party has been confirmed for 9/24, 8-10:30pm, at Sardi's in New York City. Visit http://sh-k-boom.com/thingstoruin.shtml for additional details about the OCR, audio samples of multiple tracks and more.

Things To Ruin is an incendiary collection of songs by Kleban and Larson Award Winner Joe Iconis (writer of the rock musical The Black Suits and the new musical Bloodsong of Love, which opened at Ars Nova last April). Directed by John Simpkins, Things To Ruin is a theatrical rock concert about human beings who are messy, emotional, drugged up, knocked down, inspired, electric and who don't have nearly enough time to cause the kind of commotion they so desperately need to. Performed by a cast of viciously talented young singers and a highly flammable four-piece band led by Joe himself, Things To Ruin rocks with an occasionally profane and always heartfelt explosion of music and high drama. Things To Ruin has been seen at the Second Stage Theatre, The Zipper Factory, Joe's Pub and Ars Nova.

Kurt Deutsch, President of Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records, had this to say: "Joe Iconis is one of the most exciting new voices in musical theatre. The first time I heard the song "I Was Born This Morning," I thought it screamed with vitality and raw human emotion. Here was a new guy in town fusing rock, pop and musical theatre in a way I hadn't heard before. Things to Ruin is raw, passionate and about people dealing with their stuff in a real way. His songs speak especially to the generation growing up right now, and I envision young performers hearing this album and wanting to do the concert in their theatre companies and schools, sing the songs in their own concerts and in auditions, and keep spreading Joe's music. I encourage that and can't wait to see the Things to Ruin movement grow."

"Humorous, vital music that kicks 1960's-style pop tunefulness with hard post-punk beats. Joe Iconis recalls the excitement that that surrounded Marc Shaiman, Jonathan Larson and Jason Robert Brown. I would call 'Things To Ruin' the beginning of something, except that it is already well underway." - The New York Times

"Iconis seems hell-bent on finding all The Commonly shared emotional moments that nobody else has yet set to music. It's so much fun that it's a little overwhelming - 'transporting' is probably the best word!" - Variety

"This bold and prolific musical theater writer, Joe Iconis isn't just hot; he's boiling. Things to Ruin is a revue of his bawdy and profane - and sometimes very poignant - songs." - TheaterMania

CD CREDITS:
Produced by Ian Kagey and Joe Iconis
Album Executive Producers: Kurt Deutsch and Sara Katz
Co-Producers: Noah Cornman, Matt Hinkley and John Simpkins
Associate Producer: Steve Norman
Mixed by Ian Kagey
Engineered by Alex Venguer
Mastered by Oscar Zambrano, Zampol Productions
Recorded at MSR Studios, NYC; Mixed at Sh-K-Boom Records

CAST (alphabetical):
Nick Blaemire, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Badia Farha, Sarah Glendening, ERIC William Morris, Lance Rubin, JASON "Sweet Tooth" WILLIAMS

BAND:
Joe Iconis - piano; Ian Kagey - bass; Mike Pettry - guitars;
Brent Stranathan - drums/percussion
recording conductor/musical supervisor: Matt Hinkley

Directed by John Simpkins
Things to Ruin ran at The Zipper Theater in NYC from Oct. 31 - Nov. 28, 2008 & at Second Stage from May 8th - May 18th 2009

Track Listing for THINGS TO RUIN:
DISC 1:

1. I WAS BORN THIS MORNING
(THE CICADA SONG) (Company)
2. MAMMA, CUT ME DEEPER! (Eric William Morris)
3. NERD LOVE (Jason "Sweet Tooth" Williams)
4. THE WAR SONG (Lance Rubin)
5. GOOD FOR YOU (Sarah Glendening)
6. ASLEEP ON MY ARM (Nick Blaemire)
7. EVERYBODY'S AT THE BAR
(WITHOUT ME) (Badia Farha, Company)
8. THE GUIDE TO SUCCESS (Joe Iconis)
9. HEAD SHOT (Sarah Glendening, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Badia Farha)
10. THE WHISKEY SONG (Company)

DISC 2:
1. SON OF A GUN (Eric William Morris)
2. DODGE BALL (Jason "Sweet Tooth" Williams)
3. ALBUQUERQUE ANYWAY (Lance Rubin)
4. JUST MEANS (Badia Farha)
5. HELEN (Jason "Sweet Tooth" Williams, Company)
6. HONEY (Nick Blaemire, Women)
7. THE BAR SONG (Jason "Sweet Tooth" Williams, Joe Iconis, Company)
8. ALMOST THERE (Katrina Rose Dideriksen)
9. NEVER HEARD NOTHING (Company)
10. I WAS BORN THIS MORNING
(REPRISE) (Company)

Liner notes by Joe Iconis:
A NOTE FROM JOE
I need to remember to thank my mother in these liner notes. I wrote that so I remember to do so. But first, I need to explain what you're listening to. When people ask me what Things To Ruin is I say: "It's a theater version of a concept album that doesn't exist." Now that the album's been made, I can't really say that anymore. Shit. So now I'm left pondering what is Things To Ruin, really? It's not a song cycle, I know that for sure. And even though it's definitely theatrical, I don't think it's a musical. So, I guess I don't know what the hell this God Damned Thing is. However, I do know what it's about. It's about people who are on the verge of something huge and who are chomping at the bit to make the leap. It's about people with a lot to prove and not enough time to prove it in. It's about people who are restless and fired up and hell bent on destruction and creation and forging their place in the world, regardless of the consequences. So, in essence, I guess it's about humans. I bet that smart Theater-savy people (ya know, British People) might even call these humans "characters." And you know what? Those Brits would be correct. Come to think of it, all of the songs are character pieces. And I'd even like to think that these characters learn something. I'd like to think that the dude who sings "Asleep On My Arm," grows a pair and is able to express his feelings a little better in "Honey." I'd like to think that the girls of "Head Shot" make some choices about their life and end up on a road trip of self discovery... or in porn. So, yes. There are characters. And there's even some drama... or at least, I hope there is. I want people to be chomping at the bit to find out if the little bastard in "Dodge Ball" is going to get picked for the team. I want people to be shocked when the woman in "Everybody's At The Bar" descends into madness and crushed when the kid's friend moves away in "Albuquerque Anyway." So I've got characters, drama... could T2R be a song cycle or a musical after all? Am I just deluding myself into thinking that this show is something more unique than it is? Nah. I will stand firm that while T2R might have musical theater tendencies, a musical it is not. "Well, what is it?!," ask the Theater-Savy Brits. "You've got to give it a label, you daft sod! You know what they call things without a label? Garbage!" Shut up, Brits. I'm proud it doesn't have a label. In fact, I think that T2R revels in its stubbornness to not be categorized. It's messy and all over the place and fired up and won't be tied down... (wait for it)... Much Like The Human Beings Who Inhabit It.

I think what I've come to understand is that Things To Ruin is whatever you think it is. I could give a damn. The only thing I know for certain is that this show doesn't apologize for itself. It's here. Love it or Fuck Off.

So, kindly play this album loudly and disruptively. Sing the songs at home, at work, in the car, in church. Go to a Broadway musical and jump on the stage and start belting out "Never Heard Nothing" at the top of your lungs. Take the actual CD and use it to carve your name on a show poster in Shubert Alley. Go to the most hardcore rock club you know clutching the album and proclaiming: "Showtunes are where it's at!" Just don't have T2R playing in the background. Myself and the great people who made this thing (read all of their names ten times please) are a family. And we're a family that Cares. We care deeply about the art we're making. We feel and we believe and we bleed and we ask that you do the same. Confront the music. Meet it in the middle. Let's all get riled up together and change the world. And not apologize for nothing.

Thanks, mom.

-Joe Iconis
August 2nd, 2010 Dunkin Donuts, Manhattan, New York

Liner notes from John Simpkins
A NOTE FROM JOHN
I grew up thinking that the people who wrote musicals must have loved creating imaginary worlds. Places where there were princesses and dragons, talking cats, dancing furniture, things like that. So as a director, I used to take great pains to imagine those fantastic, but unrealistic, worlds. I would then try to create them on a stage.

And then I met Joe Iconis. I knew him first at NYU - where he was "the writer and piano player who played too loud," the faculty would say. We crossed paths in the hallways, worked on a production of Godspell together...but I never really knew what he was all about. Until...

Joe came to me with a project. He was "looking for a director for the thing" and asked if I was interested. He gave me a few CD's of his songs and away we went. We didn't exactly know how to begin pulling it all together, so we started talking about people. People who have dreams of all the things they want to do in their lives but feel like they have no time in which to do them - or nobody who takes those dreams seriously. People who have a hard time putting their feelings into words. People who take a stand for what they believe in no matter what the negative outcome may bring. People who have voices in their heads of others who tell them that they will never succeed. People who want to fight those very voices and yearn to tell them to dig it or fuck off. People who long for a community of friends to laugh with, cry with, and get drunk with.

I started to see that Joe writes in a voice that I had never seen before. He is actually writing in (pardon the simplicity) "real life." He is writing lyrics that talk like people actually talk - not just like heroes who are singing songs in order to get the girl that we already know they will get. He is writing music that, when it deals with something emotionally devastating, is so loud that you can feel it in every bone in your body and your ears ring from the volume. He is writing melodies that are sometimes deliberately set just outside of the top of someone's vocal range - so that an actor actually has to work and sweat to even achieve it. All of this adds up to a reality that I had never seen in the theatre and to which I was immediately drawn.

As we started rehearsals for Things to Ruin, I noticed that I wasn't really "directing a musical" or even "staging a concert." I was just asking our incredibly talented cast questions about behavior and feelings and dreams and fears and about how these songs relate to them and their own lives. We had conversations about how, while the material may have slightly different circumstances, The Situations Joe writes about are so familiar. So painful. So joyful. So frustrating. So real. We found ourselves drawn to a surprisingly elusive thing for writers, directors, designers and actors - the ability to be human. It may seem strange, but the task of actually capturing and portraying reality is next to impossible.

Things to Ruin was put in front of audiences. I have never to this day seen people respond with such raw emotion to a piece of theatre. The crowds weren't just clapping along. They were yelling and screaming and drinking and crying and thinking and loving. Sometimes it was messy - and sometimes it was happening all at the same time! And they were connecting to it as humans. Not just audience members. They were participating in a shared experience about things that most people don't dare talk (or even think) about.

A couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama was welcoming Broadway to the White House for a concert. As part of his introduction, he said that musicals "teach us a little bit of something about ourselves." I now believe this in a way that I never could have when I thought musicals were those princess and dragon-filled imaginary worlds.

So get to a computer or a CD player or an iPod or your car. Just make sure that you get listening to this shit right now! Cause it will get inside you and take hold. As a human. I know it has for everyone who has experienced Things to Ruin before you. Welcome to our T2R family!

Stay here for a while. Cuz it's nice. Cuz it's holy.
Laugh and drink and smile. Give advice. Take it slowly.
Life goes by so fast. But it's still when you're with me, here.

-John Simpkins
August 2010

More about Ghostlight Records:
Ghostlight was created by and for the Broadway community. The label has since emerged as the standard bearer on the Broadway music scene. Their releases of the OCRs for Tony winners In The Heights and Passing Strange, as well as their single release featuring the winner of MTV's Legally Blonde The Musical competition, have brought them acclaim for their innovative marketing techniques and their efforts to reach the next generation of Broadway music fans via iTunes, music videos and more. The label (and President Kurt Deutsch) recently earned their first ever GRAMMY AWARD for In The Heights. Coverage has ranged from Rolling Stone to USA TODAY to The New York Times, from Blender Magazine to Playbill to Billboard, from AP Radio to Entertainment Weekly, from New York Magazine to Variety to NY-1 TV, from Time Out NY to Paper Magazine to The Advocate and much more. Other current releases include the double CD collector's edition of 'Reefer Madness' and 'Patti LuPone at Les Mouches,' which received expansive and wildly favorable media overage. Their release of Sutton Foster's solo CD, 'Wish', garnered coverage including two USA TODAY 'Listen Up Music Picks', an appearance on NBC-TV Weekend Today Show, and a debut on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart. Their releases of 'HAIR,' 'Next to Normal' and 'Everyday Rapture' garnered national coverage as well.
. This fall, Ghostlight Records will release the Original Cast recording of 'Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson' (opening on Broadway October 13), 'Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward,' (The 2-time Tony winner's 3rd album on the label), and the Original Cast Recording of 'Ordinary Days.' The label celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year.

Photo credit: Monica Simoes