You know how once in a while you get totally addicted to certain websites (MySpace excluded since there's some sort of mind control happening on that site)?
I found another webpage that has completely taken over my life... YouTube.com.

Now, I know this isn't a new website or anything. We've all used it for uploading our zany home videos to show our friends and family, however I've realized that I can find videos of virtually any band out there. Why is this good? With the click of a few simple buttons I can find music videos, live videos, home movies, and more from my favorite bands both old and new.
In fact, I just spent two hours surfing that site checking out live Matthew Good videos that I never even knew existed. Sure, they're not amazing quality-wise but having never been to one of his shows it gave me an even deeper appreciation for that man and his music (if that's even possible).

At this point I'm just moving down my iTunes playlist looking up whichever artists grab my attention. It's freakin' sweet.

I'm sure all the tech-savvy kids out there are saying to themselves "Well, duh Wes, I knew about this a long time ago."

Oh! Hey! Awesome! Keep it to yourself.

You crazy kids with your cell phone cameras, iPods, and illegal downloading.
When I was in junior high school we still had computers that only displayed green text on a black background and had to deal with massive floppy disks that had holes in the center big enough to fit your fist through. What was a CD?

For the first time in my life, I feel old.

_Wes

AKA Lounge on Saturday was an absolute blast. I say that a lot. "Absolute Blast." I'm over it now. We played with locals Studio K and Sonic Explosion and Spot Lucy from Clearwater. After loading our gear up the old and rickety flight of stairs and having to park three separate cars, we proceeded to take a lengthy seat on the venues comfy couches, beers in hand, and spent about 30 minutes having an in-depth discussion about absolutely nothing at all while Studio K soundchecked. People started filing in and I was surprised at the turnout. I think that was the most amount of people I'd ever seen in that venue. Most people who've lived in Orlando their entire lives don't even know where the lounge is located.
Studio K took the stage first and delivered a great set full of piano-driven tunes about love, hate, and Mars. At least, that's the impression I got.
We were up second and delivered a 10 song set that left the crowd with melted faces, missing socks, and a nasty case of Tinnitus. That was a clever way of saying that we rocked. Something fierce!

We were totally on top of our game. During the last song of the night "Girl Like Her," I thrashed around so hard that my glasses got some mad air off my face and took a dive onto the stage, landing in the perilous region of JoAnna's constantly moving feet. She had no clue. Luckily she didn't step on them. Around the same time, Doug's guitar decided to break free from the bondage of his strap and face-planted onto the floor. Like a trooper, he continued to play the song while kneeling on the ground. After the song ended, we did our usual dramatic "Feedback, Drums, and Noise Finale" and I hoofed it across the stage to knock Doug over. Poor guy. He retaliated by tossing his guitar into the back of my knee. I didn't get injured, but Doug pretty much destroyed his guitar cable. Was it worth it?

We cleared the stage and made way for Sonic Explosion who fit in really well with the rest of the show and had a very energetic set to deliver. To make room backstage for the rest of the bands, we decided to start loading our gear back down the steep stairs (I wanted to roll everything down, but was outvoted) and then had to go grab all of our three vehicles once again and park illegally while hoping we didn't meet with any Orlando police or Busses since we pretty much took over their lane. Realizing we didn't really have the cash to park our cars again, we took off.

Bert had a friend in town, Doug had to catch a flight to Ohio and needed to be up early, and JoAnna didn't drive herself, so we all went our separate ways for the evening.

Good show. Those Studio K guys are good people. The guys in Spot Lucy were fun as well and I wish I could've seen their set. Next time. There's always a next time. Well, not always, but you know what I mean.

Now I am off to have a hurricane party even though there are no hurricanes around. Figure that one out.

_Wes

In about 2 hours we'll be down at the AKA Lounge in Orlando getting ready for the biggest rock show of the week (if you don't count Cartel playing down the street at The Social) and as usual... it's raining. This is sure to hamper the process of loading and unloading gear. AKA already has a large, old, unforgiving staircase which all of our gear must be carried up (it's a 2nd floor venue), so it's kind of one of those places where we wish we didn't have amplifiers. Plus JoAnna's amp weighs about the same as a small house. We do like AKA though since they have a really good atmosphere and usually give the bands free PBR's. I have a history of never playing sober when we're there. We shall see if history is doomed to repeat itself.

We have next weekend off (unless someone wants to put us on a short-notice show) then we'll hit up Daytona Beach to revisit the Coffee Connection which is always an interesting experience, the week after that we'll play our first show at Will's Pub South in downtown Orlando with some touring bands from Pennsylvania, followed by a gig at Winner's Circle in Lakeland a few days later. It's funny to me that I know so many people and bands from Lakeland and yet we've never actually played a show there. We're playing with our pals From Adam to Atom so it should be a good time. The last week of June we'll head back up to the K&K in Ocala for a romping good time with the Rosedale boys and we'll get to meet and share the stage with New School Records' My Hostage which contains former members of the popular hardcore band Evergreen Terrace. So fun things afoot. Fun things that would be way more fun if we didn't have to take an army of cars. Yeah, there's your van update.

I'm off to brave the storm in my little Geo Prism, or as Amanda would call it... my "broke white boy car."

_Wes

Oops. I may have been a little upset when writing that last entry and made things sound worse then they were. My bad.

Anyway... I'm slowly adding more and more albums to my list of things to check out in 2006. I'm still wanting to get my hands on a copy of the new Damiera album "M(US)IC" which is out, but currently unatainable for me.
I'm still looking forward to the new Inkwell record "These Stars Are Monsters" as well. I've heard 2 tracks from it and I can't wait to get my mind blown all over again.
The new Format Record "Dog Problems" will be out before too long. It's actually available for purchase online, but I'm torn between grabbing it now or waiting for the official street date. Since they released it all on their own, they'll be making the majority of the sales money themselves and they definitely need the support so that they can continue to blow up.
Also added to the list is the upcoming triple disc from The Early November called "The Mother, The Mechanic, & The Path." I've been reading about this more and more and after hearing 3 tracks, I'm actually wanting to hear a lot more. The Early November is one of those bands that I always felt had great songs, but never gained a whole lot of exposure. I own their EP and last full length and will follow them onto this endeavor as well. The other thing which grabs my attention is the fact that this will be a massive concept album and I am a complete sucker for those.
Johnny Cash was always good at writing these, as were The Beach Boys, The Beatles, David Bowie, and The Who, along with modern artists such as Coheed and Cambria, Armor For Sleep, Yellowcard, and even the new record from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

One of my goals through Early Next Year is to at some point or another release an album that actually has a focused story or theme throughout all the songs. In fact, what if I said that's what our next CD will be? Yeah, brace yourselves.

I've always looked at our "Sarcasm" EP as just a collection of random songs, and have since tried to write in a way more focused method.
Almost everything new that we've played at shows lately are part of what will appear on the record including songs like Lifeless, Something That I Miss, and Send A Letter. I'm about halfway through the writing process and hoping to finish everything before the end of the year so we can focus on recording and releasing something that we can truly love every song on.
I know some demos of these songs are available online, and we do want you to hear them, but don't get too attached to them as I'm sure the final versions will be far different than what you're hearing now. In fact, I'm going so far as to make sure that any further demos are not released at all (except at our discretion) in order to maintain some anticipation and surprise once we finally do get to making the next record.
Just keep an open mind and know that we're always pushing to make the music better.

That's what it's about after all. The music.

AKA Lounge in Orlando this Friday with Studio K.

Lastly, happy birthday to Dr. Robert "Bob" Moog.
Though gone, without him, I would not have found the one instrument that I love... and I wouldn't have this wicked tattoo either.
So my hat's off to him.... if I wore a hat.

Okay, I'm done.

_Wes

Alright, so we had our Florida Music Festival showcase this past Saturday at Cafe Annie's. We were the last band of the evening so we knew there probably wouldn't be a huge crowd, and since we totally dropped the ball on promoting the biggest event we've had the opportunity to play, it's totally our fault that barely anyone showed up. It didn't help that we played terribly either.
We did see some familiar faces in the crowd, both friends and people who had seen us at other shows, so it was good to play terribly for people that we actually knew rather than complete strangers or folks who owned major record labels.

Big apology to anyone who had to sit through our 30 minutes of pure hell.

However, I got to see a lot of great bands over the course of the two days I was at the Fest. I caught full sets from Dodger, The Heathens, Rory, and The Attack, all of which were a ton of fun, and I caught bits of Dave Melillo, DC North, Last Winter, and Ten 13 Concept.

Hopefully we'll have ourselves together next year and won't look like it was our first show ever. This is assuming that they even let us play again. Which if they don't, I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever.

For whatever reason, we always play like crap in Orlando. No wonder no one likes us there.

Even great bands have off nights.

_Wes

Remember, tonight is our Florida Music Festival showcase. We'll be playing at 12:30am at Cafe Annie's. Wristbands are $10 at any venue. 18+ welcome.

Anyone listened to Damiera lately? We were fortunate to play with them a while back at O-Zone CD's. They have a new record coming out called "M(US)ic". You can listen to several tracks at absolutepunk.net. It's gonna be good.

Amazing how much stuff can happen in a 24 hour period. I always thought there weren't enough hours in the day, but perhaps the truth is that there are too many.

_W

Ever notice how when someone attempts a backflip in public and lands it perfectly, they become a complete and utter badass, but when someone attempts a backflip in public and lands on their face, they look like the world's biggest idiot for trying?

Now apply that to life.

_Wes

It's Monday. I hate Mondays.
Come to think of it, it always seems to be Monday.
Anyway.

On Saturday we made the trek up to Ocala for a special performance at our friend Hannah's 16th Birthday party. We played a massive 14 song set and even took a break right in the middle of the set and had all the kids gather around "campfire style" to hear acoustic renditions of a few of our tunes. They had a blast, we had a blast, everybody wins. We even enjoyed some free food and beverages before hitting the road back to Orlando.

Just a note: Ocala is the hardest town in the world to navigate. Whenever we play somewhere new in that town we always get lost. Without fail. I think instead of sending people to jail judges should sentence criminals to Ocala with a crappy car and a neverending supply of gasoline. They'll be lost forever and no longer be considered a danger to society.
So we rolled into town at 6pm but didn't actually find the venue until 6:45 and that was after several desperate phone calls.
Once we left, we got equally lost driving 10 miles out of our way in the wrong direction. Big thanks to everyone who helped us get out of dodge via telephone.

We'll be back in Ocala on June 30th to play at the K&K with Rosedale, My Hostage, and My Adalyn. We won't get lost. And hopefully we'll have some new wheels by then.

I was gonna type a lot more but the caffeine is wearing off and I'm starting to craaaash. Boom. There it is.

Done.

_W

In just a couple hours we're loadin' the cars and hittin' the road... and I love it.

Cross your fingers that we can get the dirty old van we have our eye on. We don't care if we travel in style, we just want to be able to travel. We lost some ground over the last couple months because we didn't get as many opportunities to get out there and playing, but we hope to start making up for it soon.

July tour?
Maybe.
Hopefully.
Still under negotiation.
Still in the works.
Keep those fingers crossed.

_Wes

Studio Night #2:
I spent about two hours tracking vocals for Lifeless.
Then we went home.

We shall revisit this song in the near future and maybe you'll hear the new demo. Or maybe you won't. We haven't decided yet.

Is the weekend here yet?

We're trying like crazy to get some more dates up for June, so bear with us.
Want us to play your town? Shoot us an email or MySpace message and tell us where you live!

The hunt for a van continues with new options on the horizon.

I want some Chinese food.

Listen to "Aquemini" by Outkast. Amanda got me hooked on this album and I think it's a great listen. I'm only 6 years behind everyone else.

_Wes
(why do I even bother signing my name on these entries anymore?)

Last evening was our first night in the studio. We had set out to do a full band version of the tune Lifeless since the one that's on MySpace and PureVolume is actually just me singing and playing everything.
Apparently the studio is high stress for some of the bandmates, and that caused a few problems here and there. However, we struggled through for 4 hours and ended up getting all the drums, bass, and guitar parts recorded.
Tonight we head back for an additional 4 hours to track the vocals for the song.
I'm sure that after all is said and done we'll spend some time re-tracking stuff in my home "studio" and then you may get to hear it someday.
Keep in mind... if you've spent a lot of time listening to the demo that we have available now, then you're probably going to hate this latest version, and I'm sure you'll really dislike whatever appears on the next CD, but you'll just have to trust us on this one.

More tomorrow...

_Wes

In an effort to create speculation at lunch tables across the nation, I wanted to let everyone know that come Summer there will be a new addition to the ENY family.

Could I be any more vague? Probably not.

Also, has anyone heard "Louder Now" the new Taking Back Sunday album?
I've gave it a few listens now and I'm really enjoying it. This says a lot considering I pretty much disowned that band after the second CD (and departure of the band members I actually liked who then went on to create a band that has the energy of a geriatric gopher). My only complaint is that each song seems to have the exact same formula. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about writing to formula (I stole all of my song structures from Weezer and Green Day) but when I can predict when both singers will scream at the same time or when they'll echo each other, I guess it loses some of its luster. One of those CDs I can put on at work and not have to listen to.

FMF is next week.
We're excited.
Are you excited?
You should be excited.
Who am I kidding... You won't even be there.

_Wes

Last evening I learned a very valuable lesson: I can never do any band interviews. Ever.

We started filming miscellaneous interviews with the band members since we're hoping to put together an Electronic Press Kit in the near future to use in promotions, bookings, and general entertainment. It's funny how I get extremely camera shy. Or maybe I'm just shy in general.
When it's just the band I'm a constant source of entertainment, I'm loud, obnoxious, and a complete and utter smartass. Head for the hills if Doug and I get going on random tangents. However, as soon as that little red light on the video camera flickers on, or as soon as a fan approaches me I become freakin' Rain Man.
"Four chords.... yep... definitely four chords in that song.... definitely."
I get the nervous twitch, stutter a lot, and try too hard in general to force myself to be normal to the point where I just look like I'm dancing around with a bad case of hemmorhoids.

Pressure sucks. I'm fine around my friends, and on top of my game when on stage, but anywhere else I'm apparently the most boring and uninteresting person this side of the ghetto.

So even though these journal entries are packed with witty one liners and over-exaggerated stories, don't expect me to be that guy in person.

Unless I've been drinking.

Next week we get busy again. It's gonna be fun. We love the studio. Almost as much as we love those cookies with the Hershey Kisses in the middle. (hint hint)

Listen to the new Saves the Day record "Sound the Alarm"

_Wes

News? Sure.

We're heading into the studio next Tuesday and Wednesday to record a song.
I'm sure you've heard it before, but we're eager to put together a nice, polished recording of this particular tune.

Pins and needles, right?

_Wes

Look at that, I don't post anything for a week and I assume everyone gave up on reading this thing. It might be for the best seeing as I have absolutely nothing of interest to say. I'd fill you in on exactly what the band is doing but it would probably bore you to death. Doug's been watching sports, JoAnna's been working a new job, I've been on a mini-vacation, and Bert may or may not have stolen a truck.
Fun stuff, right?

Happy May. Where is the year going?
Since I'm forever on a search for new and interesting music, feel free to send me suggestions via MySpace. I need some new things to listen to. Some new CD's have come out in the last 2 weeks that I really want to get. I need to go on a music shopping spree.
Anyone heard "Merit" by The Progress yet?
Go get it. It's fantastic.
Also on shelves are the new Taking Back Sunday & Thursday albums. I need to listen to those soon.
One thing I love about ENY is that we're always pushing new music on each other, trying to find things that the other members will like. For now, it seems that well has run dry since we're all kind of lurking about, waiting for that next great band to grab our ears. I have yet to hear anything amazing.

Shows? Shows.
Next week we play a Birthday party for a good friend, shortly thereafter followed by Florida Music Fest which will be our first time playing Orlando in 2 months. Am I worried that everyone around here forgot about us? Hell no. Nobody even knew who we were to begin with. Week after that we play Orlando again, and then the books are clear except for a mid-June jaunt up to Ocala.
I whine about our travel situation a lot. Reason being, we cannot strike out from Orlando as much as we had been recently due to rising gas prices and lack of an adequate vehicle to get all of us from Point A to Point B.
Interested in donating money to the "Help ENY get a Van" Fund?
Email me for details.

I meant to write two sentences and accidently droned on way longer. Apologies.

Listen to 80's new wave music.
Was anyone who reads this thing even alive in the 80's?

_Wes