A Child Of The 80's Vol. 1

The title of this EP describes me. I went to middle school, high school, and college in the 80’s. Everything I learned about being cool, I learned in the 80’s. My taste in music was firmly established in the 80’s. And, most importantly, I began writing and producing my own music in the 80’s. 

I am a child of the 80’s. 

As you know, over the last few years 80’s music has seen a bit of resurgence in popularity. Synthwave has gotten the lion’s share of that attention. So much so that when you say “80’s music”, that’s the immediate sonic reference that people get. I always enjoyed that style, but it isn’t what influenced me. My biggest influence was the funk-pop that came out of Minneapolis in the early 80’s. It shapes my musical tastes to this day and this EP is my tribute to what those cats did back then. 

This EP also has a deeper, more personal significance for me as well. Most of my musical life I have viewed myself exclusively as a producer. Everything I created and/or released during the 90’s and 00’s was done with production and remix work as the endgame. In December of 2016 I decided to make the transition from producer to artist. Mentally, it was a life-changing paradigm shift. The biggest decision I had to make – and am still wrestling with – is “What does Waynebo the artist sound like”? I have always been eclectic in my musical tastes, but when I began creating music in July of 1983, that music was funk. So I decided the world needed some more good ‘ol 80’s funk and I knew I had a ton of it inside of me. Waynebo would be a funk artist! So I thought… 

I recorded and mixed this EP in December of 2016 with the intent of releasing it in the spring of 2017. Unfortunately, my lack of diligence with backing up my computer got exposed. Right after I completed this project, my hard drive crashed. It took several months before I was able to recover any of my files. I lost everything I had been working on since 2013!! I was devastated and angry with myself. I knew better, but I got caught slippin’. After receiving a very poorly executed data restoration - almost miraculously - I was able to wade through over 50,000 wav files and find the 4 files containing these songs.  In the fall of 2017, I started over from scratch creating music. By this time, there were some other things a bit too personal to share here that happened in my life that completely derailed my musical efforts for the rest of that year so the EP was pushed back yet again. 

In early 2018, I released a 3-song EP “2 Stankin’ Minutes (The Prequel)” with the intent to follow it up in the spring with this release. I will spare you the rest of the details about 2018, but this time life blocked my plans in some ways that were beyond my control. Pushed back again… 

In 2019, I released some music under my Electric Maestro and The King Midas Project Monikers but wavered in my commitment to fully embracing the role of an artist. Truth is, I enjoy being a faceless entity that creates music. When you’re an artist you have to really put yourself out there and share who you are. Producing and composing is more natural for me. 

So here we are. I’m finally releasing this EP and opening a new chapter in my musical life. To be honest, I am just as relieved as I am excited. I planned to get this to you a bit earlier this year, but I think it’s fitting that circumstances pushed me into dropping this on my 52nd birthday. It’s a nice birthday present for me and I hope you feel the energy I poured into creating this. 

As the work to develop my sound continues, I’ve decided to take you guys on that journey with me. You can expect to see several singles over the next few months with different types of vibes. Please feel free to hit me up on social media or chime in here with some feedback. 

And let me know if you want to hear Vol. 2. 

Thank you for your support.

p.s. Yes, That's me in 1983 on the cover.

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