“Disappearing World” by Fair, Thursday, April 20, 2021

 

In the story of Tooth & Nail Records, which became the definitive Christian Rock label in the early ‘00s, Aaron Sprinkle became the main producer for record after record for the label. Sprinkle is not only responsible for producing records, he also stylized bands and artists who would have otherwise been nothing alike. So, when he we wasn’t busy launching successful bands into the scene, what was he doing in his free time? Sprinkle recorded a number of solo records and two with his band, Fair. Sprinkle’s solo efforts were never as successful as the bands he recorded, and life in the studio took a toll on the musical genius.

WHERE IS IT THAT YOUR PEACE COMES FROM? "Disappearing World" was the only hit from this 2010 album named after the title track.. Whenever Fair--three of Sprinkle's friends from his previous band, Poor Old Lu--put out a project, it was a limited release. One single to Christian radio, maybe a video, maybe a couple of local shows. And then it's back to the studio for Sprinkle. On Season 1 of Labeled (now behind a paywall), Sprinkle talked about how destructive the studio life was for him. He worked around the clock on Tooth & Nail albums. This was the time when Tooth & Nail was signing everyone and sending slightly more than half of the bands to record an album with Aaron. This led to alcohol addiction and burnout. What's more is that the crash of the music industry forced Sprinkle to work on smaller budgets and reduce the size of his team. He had to make the same great record on a fraction of the budget. Sprinkle broke with Tooth & Nail and retreated to Nashville to pursue other areas in the music industry, producing only records he chose to produce--Anberlin, Acceptance, New Found Glory, Story of the Year, are just a few of his passion projects. As for his own music, he turned to composition. His instrumental series inspired by the Northeast coast is quite nice. 

I FOUND IT IN A DISAPPEARING WORLD. Every year the earth seems to spin a little faster. I think about Brandon Ebel and Aaron Sprinkle and all who saw the rise and fall of the music industry. They recorded on cassettes and then CDs. There they promoted bands at big festivals and tours and sold tons of merch. Then everything went online to streaming and customers stopped buying music. A couple months ago, I was listening to Taylor Swift's Evermore and one song got me to thinking, "What if Aaron Sprinkle produced this album? What would he do differently?" Sadly, what could have been an upward trajectory for Sprinkle ended tragically with the death of rock music. What mainstream music could sound like with the talents of Aaron Sprinkle producing it? It truly is a disappearing world. 







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