On 09/22/22, Aaron was interviewed on Captain Phil’s Planet.  In the interview, Aaron talked about the music from ACE’s upcoming 4th album, “The Age of Misinformation” and the pre-order campaign for the album.  Check out the recording of the interview below:

  1. Captain Phil's Planet 2022-09-22 35:26

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Hey, ACE fans!  Aaron here.  I’m excited to tell you the biggest Aaron Clift Experiment news of the year:

Our 4th album is coming out on January 6, 2023!

The album is called “The Age of Misinformation” and is a conceptual work about the destructive power of lies and the search for truth in the face of overwhelming odds.

During the COVID lockdown of 2020 – 2021, my friends, colleagues, and country went through an incredibly challenging time, and I knew that I had to say something about it.  “The Age of Misinformation” is The Aaron Clift Experiment’s document of that era.

The music has been in the works for a while, and I can’t wait for you to hear it soon.  I know that I say this with every album, but I truly believe that this our best music yet and is going to blow your mind!

Speaking of amazing work, check out the front cover artwork by Fumihito Sugawara:

"The Age of Misinformation" album front cover

Pretty cool art, huh?!  I hope you’re ready for the music!

The worldwide release of “The Age of Misinformation” is January 6, 2023, but if you want to own the album months before everyone else and get some really awesome ACE merchandise and limited edition prizes, check out our pre-order campaign on Indiegogo.

Our pre-order campaign runs from September 16 – October 28

Click the photo below to visit our campaign or go to www.aaronclift.com/preorder to make your contribution today!

Hey, guess what? We’re making a new album! Today, we entered Antimatter Studios to record our 4th album. This music has been in the works for a while, and we’re so excited to release it later this year. Thank you all for your support over the years to help bring us to this point.

Happy 2022!  We hope that your 2021 was an improvement over 2020.  For us, it definitely was.  In 2021, we finally got back to in-person rehearsals and a lot of activities that we had to put on hold in 2020 due social distancing requirements. 

So, in the spirit of catching you up on where we are, we’re excited to bring you a long-overdue announcement about the next chapter of The Aaron Clift Experiment:

Mathew Aboujaoude decided to leave the band to pursue his musical career outside of Austin, and Chase Ozment has decided to pursue a different musical direction.  We wish Mathew and Chase the best of luck with their musical pursuits and thank them for the excellent contributions to the band over the last 3 years.

Changing a band lineup is never easy, especially in the middle of a pandemic that has disrupted the whole music industry.  However, we at ACE are all about meeting challenges, and we’re happy to announce two new band members who are ready to take our sound to the next level.  Please welcome Anthony Basini (guitar) and Pablo Ranlett-López (drums).

An alum of Berklee College of Music, Anthony Basini brings a wealth of guitar, vocal, and songwriting knowledge to The Aaron Clift Experiment.  You can hear his diverse sound in his work with a wide variety of artists, including: The Bret Michaels Band, Apocalyptica, and Austin rockers, The Holy Child, and Hanna Barakat.

Anthony joined us in early 2020, and his mature sound and easy-going demeanor have made working with him a dream!  We’re excited to finally let you know about him.

Hailing from Vieques, Puerto Rico by way of Florida and Mississippi, drummer Pablo Ranlett-López has been playing drums and percussion from a young age in a variety of styles – from rock, jazz, funk, and latin.  A student of legendary drummer, Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa, Allan Holdsworth, Steven Wilson), Pablo brings incredible technique and flair to The Aaron Clift Experiment.

Pablo joined us in late 2021 but has already made a huge impact on our sound.  His chops, tenacity, and wicked sense of humor have all made our rehearsals a lot of fun.

Anthony and Pablo bring a lot of depth, maturity, and excitement to The Aaron Clift Experiment, and we’re proud to have them as part of our family!

In the next few months, we’re going to continue to rehearse and arrange our new songs in the hopes of recording and releasing a 4th ACE album this year!  Please stay tuned for new announcements on that front, and in the meantime, please give a big welcome to Anthony and Pablo!

Happy 2021! It’s time once again for my annual year-end review, and well . . . I’m not going to mince words: 2020 sucked. Every week, I’d hear a sad story about a beloved venue or festival closing its doors and saw colleagues and friends lose their livelihoods as too many of our elected leaders showed no regard for the people they claimed to represent.

Some days, I was fine, while on other days, I’d alternate between feeling beaten down by the constant onslaught of bad news or enraged by the injustices happening around me. Then, there were times where I felt like I was in an absurdist play. When I look back at the words that I wrote on January 1 last year, that The Aaron Clift Experiment planned to “take a few months off from live performing in order to work on new songs,” I can’t help but laugh at the irony of how those few months turned into a whole year that’s still going.

But, you know what? – we made it to this moment and have to help each other carry on. I think back to songs I’ve written over the years like “Eye of the Storm” and “If All Goes Wrong” to remind myself that even in the worst of times, there’s always hope in tragedy; light in darkness.

2020-05-24 Beat Route Radio Festival 010

So, in the spirit of better times, let me fill you in on a few of the good things that happened in 2020 and what The Aaron Clift Experiment has in store for 2021.

While all of us in the band were social distancing in 2020 and weren’t able to bring you traditional live shows, I did manage to perform a few solo vocal + piano livestreams thanks to the amazing sponsorship of Beat Route Radio and Progstock.

Aaron Clift performing at Beat Route Radio Virtual Festival

Livestreams aren’t the same as a performance in front of a live audience, but I got to meet and interact with many of you during these festivals performances, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

Another highlight of performing in this format was not only playing ACE songs that we hadn’t performed live before, such as “Back to the Water,” but also premiering new songs.

Aaron Clift playing keyboard at progstock

That’s right – we’ve got new music! If you followed us closely on Instagram and Facebook this year, we shared snippets of demos of some of our new songs (for example: go check out our IGTV and Facebook video series on new song, “The Color of Flight”).

So, what lies ahead? If all goes right (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!), we’ll be heading into the studio later this year to record our 4th album and will release it soon after! We have a lot more exciting news that’s currently under wraps, but we’ll be filling you in on it in the coming months.

Thank you for your continuing support for me, The Aaron Clift Experiment, and for being there for each other in 2020. It was a tough year, but 2021 is going be better!

–Aaron

Happy 2020, ACE fans!  2019 was a year of growth for The Aaron Clift Experiment, so I thought that I’d look back at some of the highlights before we head into the new decade:

We began the year with a series of great shows in Austin, covering highlights from our career so far with a special emphasis on songs from “If All Goes Wrong.”

In April, we introduced our new rhythm section: drummer, Chase Ozment, and bassist, Clif Warren.  As you can see, they’re great at drum stick dueling!  But, in all serious, Chase and Clif are amazing players and have helped take our live sound to the next level.

Speaking of our live sound, in June, we recorded our second live album, “Live at One-2-One Bar,” which we released in August along with a series of videos of this incredible show.

We capped off 2019 with a series of local concerts, culminating in the Holiday Charity Rocktacular for Austin Pets Alive in December.  This charity concert featured many of our favorite Austin bands and ended up raising hundreds of dollars for Austin Pets Alive!

So, what lies ahead for us?  We’ve been hard at work on a lot of new songs, which we hope to debut in 2020.  While we plan to take a few months off from live performing in order to work on these songs, I know that when we come back, you’ll know that the wait was worth it.

Thank you all for making 2019 a great year for the band, and here’s to a great 2020!

–Aaron

Wow – are we really at the end of the 2010’s?! I still remember when The Aaron Clift Experiment began with a concept and a few demos of piano, voice, and drums in late 2009. This past decade has really been an incredible time for us: 3 studio albums and 2 live albums (pictured here), 2 major prog festivals performed, and a lot of great shows along the way. More than anything, I want to thank you, the fans, for being with us for this journey. Your support means the world to us! Happy new year, and get ready for some new ACE music next year!

–Aaron