Pat Tierney aka Pat Tato

I sat down (in person!) with musician Pat Tierney at Beer Belly Deli & Pub to talk about his new album and other endeavors. It was nice to get out but strange to think about things going back to the way they were. Everyone has handled quarantine in their own way. In March, Tierney had three jobs on top of his music. He is a union sound engineer, gives lessons at Guitar Center, plays in Vaporeyes and hosted an open mic at Beer Belly. He had recently gotten a puppy, was in a new relationship… then Corona hit. He and his bandmates in Vaporeyes have lived and played together with weekly Friday night Facebook live streams. They feel blessed to have this time to focus on music. Tierney performs solo as Pat Tato each Saturday at Thornden Park Amphitheater from noon til two. He’s also been consistently participating in the peaceful Black Lives Matter protests. He acknowledged many of these things would not have been possible with his previous work schedule.

“It’s all in midi – I could manipulate everything. I think I over mix. Jeremy Johnston did the final mix and polished it up. I was really happy with it. It was like hearing my own music for the first time. He put that kind of shine on it. Jeremy is an inspiration.”

Tierney wrote all of the songs doing looping with Sean Cadley. He took ideas from looping and tried to produce them on the album. For example, there’s a double bass with a bow sound. It is  a concept album. “Good Grief”  travels the stages of grief as you listen along. There’s denial then transition to anger, bargaining, depression into acceptance. It’s short on purpose. It’s 27 minutes and meant to be listened to in order. There are 8 tracks that flow togther. It’s about going through a break up. “Music has helped me through issues. I want to make music that can help people.”

Track List: