Award-winning guitarist and composer Komie has already enjoyed a successful career creating music for hundreds of hit shows including Ozzy Osbourne’s World Detour, The Voice, NASCAR, Dateline, Late Show With Stephen Colbert and The Amazing Race. His music has been featured in advertising campaigns for Diane Von Furstenberg, Bailey’s Irish Creme, Six Flags and Coca-Cola (amongst others) and has won several Emmy Awards for best music, 3 BMI TV Music Awards and 1 Clio nod along the way. But despite all of these accomplishments, Komie desired something more: a project made purely for the art of it. No boundaries except one — it had to express the deepest part of his artistry at the highest level possible.
Thus the concept of Afterglow was born that was released on 8th June.
Afterglow was written and recorded in Komie’s studio in Los Angeles and is comprised of 13 tracks. Along with the album, Komie is in the midst of producing and co-scripting three additional music videos that will feature songs from the album and capture the exciting, inspired feeling of the music within human stories of adventure, fantasy and love.
Recently, Komie released the breathtaking video for Cirrus Flow, the first single from the upcoming album. In announcing the video, Komie shares the story behind the visual and gives his take on the piece. During a trip to the Rockies last summer, he witnessed The Great American Eclipse and the idea for the Cirrus Flow music video was born. Check out Cirrus Flow below!
We managed to catch up with Komie as he talked about his latest release and more!
How has the release of Cirrus Flow gone down with fans so far?
It’s been an amazing experience so far, the support on all the socials has been fantastic. I think we’re up to 250K on Facebook alone. People seem to like the combination of an intergalactic love story with cool rock music.
Can you tell us something about the single no one else knows?
It took 13 revisions to get it right, which means I went back into the recording session and made changes 13 times until I was satisfied with the mix, arrangement and performances. 13 is a lucky number in my book so that’s a good thing!
Afterglow has just been released also, what has been the initial response to this?
Yes, it was just released on June 8th. The initial response is fantastic. There are a few absolutely stellar reviews of the album, to which I’m very grateful. We don’t have any sales or stream numbers cause it’s way too early, but there’s been a big uptick in activity on the socials so that’s a good thing too.
What’s your favourite track from this album?
You know, I’m not a big ‘pick one favorite’ kind of person in general. I always have several favorites and don’t like to pick just one. A few of my favorites from the album (or more specifically the ones I’m most proud of artistically) are Cirrus Flow, Breathe You In, Pieces Of Me and Power Surge.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Any band? Wow, that’s a tough one..Hmm, ok well in my fantasy world I’d love to collaborate with bands/artists like Jeff Beck, Yes, Zeppelin, Chon, Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, Jason Mraz, Keane, Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan (hey it’s a fantasy right?!)
Will you be touring at all this year?
Probably not this year because I’m deeply involved in creating 3 more videos for the album, vocal versions of some of the songs, and Afterglow album promotion. I hope to do some live shows next year though!
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Well, the first concert I ever attended was a local band playing on the beach of Lake Michigan in Chicago. They were playing the Chicago song 25 or 6 to 4 and the guitar solo blew my mind (incidentally that’s a truly great guitar solo on that song!). That was an ‘aha’ moment for me in regards to guitar, I practiced my ass off after seeing that concert and never stopped.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
Lately not much! haha…seriously though I’ve been working harder than ever on every aspect of this album, so I haven’t had much free time at all. But in general, I love to hike, play basketball, explore cool areas and restaurants in LA (always finding cool new spots), and of course go to concerts. In fact, I just saw Steely Dan live and they were exceptional, the musicianship and writing still blows me away.