I was hoping to start releasing songs sometime in the spring but it seems I've underestimated the amount of work necessary for such a simple project. I spent some significant time getting a good sound from my guitar and my amp, and then tried a few different methods of recording myself that sound half-decent. I know how to do it properly, I'm looking for a quicker/dirtier solution. The aim is to record songs being played live, well, in a practice space, but one take, and therein lies the rub. I'd spent the last few months practicing as many of my 50 songs as I could, so as not to forget them, to work them in, and to stay interested. I'm not good with practicing the same thing over and over. The result is that everything was getting a little better, a little at a time. So approximately 1,792 things were all slowly improving. I was having fun, but didn't see much tangible progress. So I narrowed the selection to 13 songs. It should have been 12, a year's worth of releases, but 13 squeezed in. So for the last few weeks I've been practicing only those, and surprise, have seen significant improvement. Now I'm starting to learn other aspects of performing like how do I manage when I'm tired, when I don't feel like it, when it's cold, when I spill my tea, etc. I'm becoming a much better guitar player, much better singer, and my feel and song performance is getting good, it's exciting.
I don't see the point of releasing less than good material. I've heard "done is better than good", or some b.s. like that. No, it isn't. There's WAY TOO MUCH content at the moment, and people just pumping out kind ok stuff every freakin day. We don't need that. They don't need that. You spend so much time and effort to get someone to listen to your song or watch your video, show them respect by making it good. Or another, "perfect is the enemy of good". Sure, what is perfect anyway? You do have to decide something is finished, you have to know that line, but it should be good, like real good, like impressive. You need to impress people. No one listens to a band and says, "I should check back with these guys in a few years, they sound like they're gonna be good."
Anyway, I'll be on holiday for all of July, I hope to be ready to start releasing after that, but I'm not setting any deadline. Fortunately I don't have to at the moment, it's ready when it's ready, when it's good.