A Poet's Life


A Poet's Life is the debut solo studio album by American musician Tim Armstrong. It was recorded with The Aggrolites in Los Angeles, California and released on May 22, 2007 via Hellcat Records.
The album was initially released for free as downloads on the internet. Later it was announced that it would be a physical product as well. The album comes with a DVD featuring a video for every song on the album.

History

On August 29, 2006, Armstrong sent out a bulletin over MySpace, the text of which later appeared on Epitaph Records' site that explained his decision to release a solo LP. Unlike most albums, Armstrong said that it would be free and downloadable over the internet, with one song being released at a time. That same day, the first track, "Hold On", appeared as an MP3 and music video on Epitaph's site. Almost two months later, on October 11, 2006, the second track, "Wake Up", was released in the same manner. No more tracks have been released in this manner, but in March 2007, "Into Action" was played on KROQ-FM.
At some point, Epitaph's site listed a release date of February 6, 2007 but it was later changed to June 7. When KROQ started playing the single Into Action the release date was pushed up to May 22. Despite little promotion Into Action peaked on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks at number 39 and stayed on the chart for 2 weeks.
In Epitaph's last newsletter, it was said that they will be releasing the last eight tracks of the album in the coming weeks before it is released. However, they also mentioned that, they won't be telling listeners where. Those wishing to download the album have to find the songs on various websites.

Commercial performance

A Poet's Life peaked at number 59 on the US Billboard 200, number 18 on the Top Rock Albums, number 2 on the Independent Albums, number 7 on the Tastemakers, and number 196 on the Top 200 Albums France. Its lead single, "Into Action", peaked at number 39 on the Alternative Songs.

Track listing

Notes