It's 2024, the start of a new year and I wanted to take a moment to lay out the status of Dommin, the music, touring -
NEW ALBUM
First, the aspect I'm most excited about is the recording of the next Dommin album (Dommin 4 or 5 depending on how you count the releases). I'm at the tail-end of the last bit of guitar work before I start recording vocals - then to the mixing process and mastering, followed by artwork, photos, videos, promo and the like. The album will be pretty standard stylistically for Dommin and the 5 singles I have released in 2018/2019 will be included. It will have an additional 10 tracks for a total of 15 songs.
I can't be sure about a release date yet as I'm moving at a pretty leisurely pace but I hope it's this year. I'm not opposed to working with a label in its release or distribution, but I may release it independently.
THE BAND
Now to the band. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that while Dommin has always been “my thing,” I've always looked at it as a rock BAND with members that contribute in their own ways, even if it not always musically. And I recognize that the majority of our current listeners discovered Dommin when we were heavily touring more than a decade ago and have always associated Dommin with being a four-member band. However, over the years, each member has left their roles in the band at different times for their own reasons. Billy bowed out not long after our last time on stage together back in January of 2016, though did me the favor of coming back at the end of 2016 for Beautiful Crutch photos and promo. Konstantine informally left in 2018. Cameron departed the project in mid-2023. There were no arguments or bad endings. Each band member left to pursue the other things in their lives.
When you're young and in a band trying to “make it,” there is a united vision and a clear goal and everyone works and sacrifices to get to that place. However, when a band takes some pretty hard hits and the goals don't seem as clear any more and the sacrifices don't make as much sense, then people need to put their focus elsewhere - work, relationships, family, business. There were no hard feelings from my end. I genuinely love each member of Dommin and treasure their individual personalities. We worked as a band not just because of our musicianship but because our temperaments were so similar and I'm happy that we still keep in touch once in a while. I look forward to being on stage or making music with any of the guys in the future, even if only for fun, should the opportunity arise.
BRANDING & DIRECTION
So…Dommin is now and once again, a solo venture.
When I moved to Australia in 2016 and recorded an Americana Rock album with my friends in The Oztones, I did so under “Kristofer Dommin” out of respect for the last remaining band member of Dommin. It felt unfair to call it Dommin & The Oztones at the time. Now that Dommin is just me, I have changed the name of that project from Kristofer Dommin & The Oztones to Dommin & The Oztones. Likewise, any singles I have released under Kristofer Dommin will be renamed/rebranded/re-recorded as Dommin songs. There will also be songs on the new Dommin album that will also preview the direction I'm looking to go. I'm looking forward to evolving the sound to something that makes more sense with where I am today. So while I'm excited to get this album out, I'm equally excited to get to the rest of the music released now that I have a clear musical vision of the future.
TOURING
If you were fortunate enough to see the band perform live from 2009-2016, you know that the band had a solid live sound and great stage presence. This wasn't an accident but was rather the result of constant self-critiquing and adjusting. That said, while I am actively looking for performers that can help me realize the music in a live setting, I won't settle for anything less than spectacular. It would be easy to hire a couple of local musicians to play the parts, but that's not what a live Dommin show is about and I wouldn't want anyone to pay or travel to see a subpar performance. Not finding the right people may delay or even prevent me from performing live again. I hope not.
In an ideal world, I'd find either a new band or find the right people in different territories that would make touring much more feasible and possible. I'd love to find a backing band or two in America and a band in the U.K., that could fill those shoes.
Touring is very expensive and it would be much easier to make that happen if I only had to fly/travel myself to various places with a band that was local and stage-ready. The search is on…
That's the update for now. I appreciate everyone's continued support and look forward to connecting with you soon!