Things are getting WEIRD!

Alright. Fasten your seatbelts for this is going to be an odd blog.

A lot of times I forget that I have my own MySpace account since I primarily run the profile for the band which leads to my forgetting to log in to my personal account from time to time. Today I did. I happened to find an interesting message in my inbox, so let me share this anecdote with you.

I recieved this particular message from a 41 year old woman based out of Pennsylvania. An avid fan of College Basketball, Classical Music, and the Bible, she seems to also be fixated by MTV Reality Shows - in particular The Real World and those MTV Real World/Road Rules Challenge shows where all the former house brats compete at mindless tests of strength, endurance, and smarts for a chance to win obnoxious amounts of money. Oh, and they film all the drama and broadcast it out to people who choose to live vacariously through these twenty-somethings as they learn together the secrets of life, love, and the effects of excessive alcohol consumption.
Throughout the course of the show they all have the opportunity to scheme, lie, cheat, and steal in an effort to vote out the other brats so that they are able to live out their fantasies of having no friends, but being insanely wealthy. There are catfights, sloppy drunken brawls, and F-Bombs going off as if they were weapons of mass destruction. Or in this case, It's white trash kids just being themselves.
The more I think about it, the more brilliant I think this is. Take a bunch of spoiled brats from "different walks of life" stick them all in a house together, add gallons upon gallons of alchohol, a quick sprinkle of lust, drama, and tears... now dangle $500,000 over their heads and let the cameras roll!

Anywho. I got off track there for a minute.
So at one point or another, there was this guy on one of these challenges named Wes.
He looks like this:



He's your typical jocky frat guy who grew up on the mean streets of Nebraska husking corn and wrasslin' pigs for cash. On the weekends he would strap on his beer helmet and cruise from bar to bar trying to get women with his failsafe pickup line: "OH MY GOD I'M SO WASTED!" It would work everytime. Nebraska isn't a big state, so I'm sure he had to venture elsewhere after he'd mistakenly hooked up with all of his cousins.

My name is Wes. This is me:



I'm your typical skinny white guy who grew up on the mean streets of Ohio sitting in my room alone, playing my guitar. I also have a cool hat in that pic, but that is completely unrelated to my main point here.

Do you see any similarities between these two Wes's?
I don't either.
So imagine my surprise when a 41 year old christian woman from Pennsylvania sends me an email thinking that I am the guy from MTV and the Real World Series.
That's right. She thinks that I am that jocky frat guy with the beer helmet.

Let's take a look at the letter that she sent, shall we?

"Hi Wes,
I'm just an ordinary fan, who watched you on the Real World and Fresh Meat. I thought it was great, not that they sent you into Exile every episode, but you kicked ass every time!!!! People said during Fresh Meat that you were conceded, self-absorbled, but I saw it more that you were filled with confidence, there is a difference, wouldn't you agree? I hope to see you on more challenges, they are my favorite shows, and I look so forward to when they are running. You don't seem like some "skinny guy", I found you more one of the most fit guys on Frest Meat. I just loved when you would kick their asses!!!! I can't stand Tina's trap, and I loved the episode when you guys were standing on those logs, and you gave it to her good. I'm not a person full of hate, but Tina really ginded on my nerves. I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt that way.
I hope things are going well with Johanna,forgive me if I spelled it incorrectly. She is a beautiful woman and you two fit together it seems, so I hope that part of your life is great.
Best of luck with your band. Something I didn't know about you until I check out My Space. That's totally awesome, best of luck to you. Take care Wes, and I hope this note finds you well. Sincerely, Danae (last name witheld)"

So, there you have it. My first fan letter and it's not even technically to me. This letter caused me to have a moral dilemma. Do I just ignore the letter? Should I respond and tell her she has the wrong Wes? Or better yet, should I respond as this guy and make her day?
I paused to consider which would be the most fun for me, so I've decided to respond as if I were Wes. The other Wes.
Here's the response I plan on sending:

"Hey Danae!
Thanks for watching The Real World and Fresh Meat! I'm a true attention-whore, so it's nice to know that people were tuned in and noticing me. As far as people calling me conceded or self absorbed, I can understand why they would say that. Mostly because it's true. I'm cocky and won every exile because the others were weak, unintimidating, and drunk half the time. You say it's confidence, and I'm glad you saw that. I'm confident that I'm the man. I'm going to keep coming back for these challenges because it's good money and I don't ever want to have to get a real job. I find that bickering, drinking, and busting heads here and there are the most effective ways to garauntee a paycheck, so I'll keep doing them until I lose an arm or leg. And even then I will still try to participate, because as I said earlier, I am the man.
Thanks for saying that I looked fit on the show, but please remember that the camera adds 60 pounds. I admit, I did some conditioning before the show. One steroid shot in the butt and one snickers bar in the mouth really keeps a guy energized. In fact, that was my secret to winning. Please don't tell anyone. If they know I do steroids they won't invite me back next season and then I won't be on TV, and people will forget about me. I'm the man, remember? How am I supposed to be the man if I'm not being broadcasted into 5 million homes each week. If nothing else, it's a way to make ends meet. I have to pay a steep rent on my studio apartment where I keep my 6 cats and live with my Grandmother. Plus she has this glaucoma problem and counts on me to provide her with the medicine.
I'm glad that you saw through Tina. She really isn't a good person. Nobody liked her and when I was watching the episodes back on MTV, they didn't show the best part. I know you remember when I got her on the logs, but what they didn't show you was when I tied her to a chair in the sun, cut off her eyelids with a scalpel that one of the cutters had, and then fed her an entire bottle of sleeping pills. That was AWESOME! She really learned a lesson there!
Johanna is doing well. We're seeing other people. Well, I'm seeing other people. She doesn't really need to know that. After getting voted off the last challenge she developed a nasty Twinkie habit and is now 95% bedridden. It's sad.
My band is going very well. We're gonna hit it big one day and perform on one of the challenges. It's going to be an event called "EXTREME Name That Tune."
My band will jam out a song, and the other brats will have 30 seconds to guess the name of the song or they get decapitated by a large saw blade spinning around at high speeds. Plus, all we know how to play are foreign underground punk songs, so no one's getting out of the next challenge alive.
Thanks for the all the kind words, and be sure to stay tune to see what happens.
And remember, I'm the man!
Sincerely,
Wes"

There you have it. My response.
Let's take a poll now - am I going to hell?
Guess we'll find out.

Poor gal never knew just what she was getting into.

Reviews, Sweiver.

The shows this weekend were grand.

Saturday in Ocala was fun. Always good to see familiar faces of people who want to see you, as opposed to those familiar faces who always happen to be at the same bars around Orlando. Fans are fun. Wish we had more of them.
We cranked out our new song, "Right Here (With Me)", and surprised the crowd by covering "Waiting" by The Rentals. Probably wasn't the best idea in the world to play two songs in a row that no one knew. Oh well.

Sunday we were briefly at the AKA Lounge in downtown Orlando. We set up, jammed out 5 songs, and took off. It was a Battle of the Bands, or an audition for a TV show, or something. I'm not really sure. But there seems to be money and instant fame involved, so we're waiting to see if we placed/won/whatever.

I got some new and not so new music that I've been listening to lately, so here's some quick reviews:

Ok Go - Oh No
Lots of people at shows and on MySpace have suggested I check out this band. The only thing I'd heard from them was that "Get Over It" song, so I picked this disc up for real cheap and decided to give it a shot. This album has some real catchy tracks on it including the single "Here it Goes Again" along with the tunes "Oh Lately It's So Quiet" and "Crash The Party." Most of the other songs seem pretty interchangeable, and I don't notice when one song ends and another begins. It's definitely a quirky album and I do like that, but not catchy enough that I can't stop listening.
I give it 3 stars out of 5

Angels and Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper
Tom Delonge hyped the crap out of this album. Sure, it was genius marketing because by advertising yourself as the savior of rock n' roll, people are going to listen. I finally got around to listening. There's one word that really sums up this record well: YAWN.
With most songs clocking in around 5 minutes, having the same structures and same buildups, this CD gets the awards for "Most Overhyped Album of 2006" and subsequently "Biggest Letdown of 2006."
If you disagree with my review, then you are wrong.
It's good ambient music. Perfect for work where I can't really listen anyway.
2 out of 5 stars

Sugarcult - Lights Out
I loved the "Start Static" album. I could listen to it beginning to end.
I loved the "Palm Trees & power Lines" album. I could listen to it beginning to end.
I love this album as well. I can listen to it beginning to end.
Congratulations Sugarcult, you have released another solid album and continue to be extremely underrated.
I'm not saying that this album is amazing, as many of the tunes use similar song structures and chords that you make you think you're hearing an older tune, but everything is catchy, fast, and hard hitting.
This one is on repeat in my iPod.
Pick this up if you liked either of their other records. Then track me down and we can argue over which of their CDs is actually the best.
JoAnna says nothing can beat "Start Static," I say that "Lights Out" just did.
4 out of 5 stars

Time to go elsewhere and do other things.

You can't take it with you... or can you?

Van Diesel is ALIVE!

See you soon, Ocala.

BIG NEWS!

For the last few days we've been keeping a big secret, but now we can finally let it out. Our band, this band, the band you secretly like, Early Next Year, has been selected to play the Bamboozle Left Break Contest sponsored by Absolutepunk.net. What is the Bamboozle Left Break Contest?
Let me tell you.

This year, they wanted to give an "unknown" band the chance to play the festival alongside bands such as Brand New, Dashboard Confessional, and tons of other bands that everyone loves. It started as a simple submission process. I read an article on AP.net about accepting submissions for the event. So I sent an email with a link to our MySpace to some dude.
They said they would be holding 16 shows around the USA with up to 4 bands per show. There was only one Florida date to be held downtown at The Social. The best venue in town. So they chose 4 bands from FL to play. We were picked. Awesome.

Out of all 700 submissions, we were one of the 64 bands they chose for the contest, so we'll be playing a show on Wednesday, october 4th at The Social. We'll be sharing the stage with 'Harloe' out of Jacksonville, FL and 2 other locals: 'Fallen From the Sky' on JMB Records who have made quite a buzz locally, and another band, 'Between The Trees' who just released their debut CD, have been featured on AP.net, and even played some dates on Warped Tour.
So in comparison, for a little band like ours to get noticed and get an opportunity like this is unheard of.
We're going to need all the support we can muster for this show. Time, cover, and age limits coming as soon as I get them. Keep an eye on the MySpace.

The show will be judged by representatives from Absolutepunk.net based on categories such as originality, stage presence, and musicianship.
We're kind of the underdog here, but we still intend to go and rock the place to get some exposure and to play this great venue again.

We'll have banners to add to your MySpace in support of this show soon!

In other news, I've been listening to Ok Go's newest album, Oh No and find myself really enjoying it. It's random and quirky. Two adjectives I like to use in describing myself. I've also been iSpinning OutKast's Idlewild. Solid CD, I'd still like to see the movie.

I also began reading a book I've been wanting to for ages. Matthew Good's At Last There is Nothing Left to Say. I broke down and started bringing it to work. It also is random and quirky.

I highly recommend everything I just mentioned. Whatever that may include.

Free Beer, Flying Bodies, Sewer Grates, and Snake Attacks!

What a weekend.
Boy, was it ever.
There's one question that rolled continuously through my mind on both Friday and Saturday night: "Why, oh why, did I forget the video camera?"
Actually, I shouldn't even place the blame on myself. Everyone in the band has a brain and a mouth, anyone could have said something.

Anyway.

Friday night after we all got off work we hopped right into the van since we had a 2.5 hour drive down to Bradenton to play at the venue Rockerfellas. Let's fast forward a bit here... two and a half hours later we arrive in Bradenton and realize that the directions I had printed out from good old Google Maps are completely useless. This was the first time we'd ever come to a fork in the road and both sides of the fork had the same roadname. We ended up having to just drive around for 30 minutes going back and forth trying to find the venue. We called them and they provided absolutely no help. We continued to wander. Eventually Bert and Doug (who had taken up post in the front seats) got so utterly frustrated that we had to stop at a gas station (that we had passed 5 times going both ways) to ask for directions. JoAnna ran in and thankfully, the guy at the counter had some idea of where the bar was and gave us a decent description of which roads to follow. We then went down a nice selection of dark alleyways and back streets until we ran across the venue. We then did our load-in thang and waited a while. Then we soundchecked. Then we waited some more. This is probably a good time to mention that we played first. The crowd was sparse, but receptive, and they seemed to have a good time. People actually came up to the stage while we played. That never happens.
We played our set and life continued as normal.
The local band "Stalling Dawn" played after us and were very good. JoAnna compared them to Thrice. I trust her opinion there because she knows Thrice music very well and probably likes them more than you do.
During the last band whose name escapes me at present, we found out that the venue was not going to pay us the money we had been promised, and instead decided to pay us in drinks. Fantastic. Last time I looked, drinks didn't fill up the van's gas tank. Doug took heavy advantage of getting paid in drinks and became a walking, talking, shell of a human who had nothing interesting to day. Mid-way through that band's set, JoAnna, for some reason unknown to humanity, decided it would be a good idea to tackle Doug in hopes of starting a moshpit. She got some running distance from the other side of the Pool room and collided with Doug at high velocity. I think I heard a break in the sound barrier. As I'm watching, I see JoAnna leap through the air, hit Doug, whose feet also leave the ground and they collapse into a heap on the floor. JoAnna gets up, and runs off in fear of retaliation while Doug lays on the ground wondering what happened. It took everyone in the bar a second to figure out what had just happened, and the band on stage was laughing so hard, the members could barely keep playing. This all brought JoAnna a lot of praise, and we started selling CDs. I think she'll have to do that more often.
Bert stayed sober and drove us home. We made some good time, but didn't make it back to Winter Park til nearly 4am.

Consider this your intermission, as we still have to talk about Saturday night's show at the Liquid Cellar in Orlando.
Go pee, get yourself a snack, whatever, but come back and keep reading soon.

Back?
Awesome.
We'll continue on to night #2.

Saturday evening we pull up the Liquid Cellar. I had driven separately, planning to leave after we played to go visit with my girlfriend. As I was walking into the venue, my cell phone began to ring. On the other line was Doug telling me "Uh Wes, we have a little bit of a situation here."
I headed through the venue and out the back door to see my 3 bandmates crouched down looking under the van. So I'm wondering to myself what they hit, what the van could be dragging, or who might be trapped underneath. Turns out none of the above.
As I walk closer, I see that they aren't looking under the van, but instead at a water drainage grate that the van is parked over. Doug approaches me with a defensive smile to let me know that our van key is no longer in our possession, but down within the depths of this grate. Great.
So with no idea of where the grate leads or how deep it goes we start to put together a battle plan to retrieve it. Bert claimed to have heard the key hit something within, but is unsure as to whether it hit water or something solid. At this point in the evening, the sun had gone away, so there we are in a dark parking lot, the three of us staring into an abyss that holds the key to our transportation. Pun intended. We devise a plan to lift up the grate and attempt to locate it. Bert is the only one manly enough to lift the piece of metal, so JoAnna holds it up against the van while Bert and myself try to locate the keyring. We quickly find out that there is not actually a lot of water in the bottom so I figure we should be able to see it with the naked eye. But remember, it is dark outside. We start waving our cell phones around in the dark, the faint light giving us nothing to work with, instead looking only like the worlds cheapest Rave party.
The pit of doom isn't exactly deep, but it's difficult to reach the bottom without lying flat on our stomaches. I decide it might be a good idea just to jump down in there to look around. So I do.
Within the pit I'm greeted with the stench of trash, dirty water and old cigarette butts. Kinda reminded me of the ENY house, to be honest.
So there I am, waist-deep in this grate waving around two cell phones trying to find our key. I notice a small pipe within the pit running elsewhere. I can only imagine what might be running around down there. After sticking my hand into several of the random puddles, I finally locate the key. Upon pulling it up to ground level, water starts to drain from our electronic keychain which arms/disarms the alarm on the van. Great.
See, our van has this little, incovenient twist to it: While the alarm is engaged, we cannot start up the engine. This comes to our attention as we're all attempting to shower in the venues sink. We head back out to the van, hoping that our biggest fears weren't about to come true. Sadly, the keychain is dead and we cannot disengage the alarm.
At this point we do what everyone else would do and begin to panic. We are so good at panicking. It's quite possible that we're better at panicking than playing music.
We head back into the venue and Bert begins dismantling the keychain in hopes that he can dry it out and bring it back to life. Sadly, those attempts are in vain and the situation has not improved. While all of this is happening, the first band begins to play. We are up second. Luckily, we can still get into the van, though every time we open one of the doors, the alarm goes off causing people to come out back to see just what the heck is going on.
I start calling people to figure out what to do. My father laughs at me, Amanda tells me to check the car's manual, and I rig up a few ideas of my own. Once again, I leave the venue through the back door, preoccupied with my own thoughts and despairs, when all of a sudden I see the ground in front of me begin to move, and I am face to face with a random snake in the middle of the parking lot. We lock eyes. We size each other up, and then I run around it like a little girl. I take perch in the front seat of the van, the alarm blazing, thumbing through the manual to the van. At some point in it's life, I'm assuming that the manual was dropped into a puddle itself because the pages are just tearing out as I turn them. It's at this time that I notice JoAnna coming toward me. I tell her to watch out for the snake. She sees it and also runs away like a girl. She keeps a careful eye on the critter while I continue to scan the manual, finding asbolutely nothing about an alarm system. Apparently it was added in by the previous owner.
I'm reading and accidently ripping out pages while JoAnna gives me a snake update. The enemy has now perched itself under the van, right below where I'm sitting. It had slithered around for a bit even entering and exiting the grate where my skinny non-snake-proof body had been just minutes before.

Alright, let's pause for a minute and re-cap what has occured during the course of the evening, just so you're up to speed: (1) The van keys were dropped into a grate. (2) We cannot disarm the van alarm and it keeps going off. (3) We cannot start the ignition of the van because the alarm is not disabled. And most importantly of all, (4) THERE'S A FREAKING SNAKE TRYING TO GET ME.

Good? Good.

I begin calling Triple-A to see if I can't get some kind of service. Turns out all that they can do is tow it. JoAnna gets numbers for some locksmiths and I collect a few as well. No one can help us. Nobody in the Orlando area deals with keyless entry.
Oh crap, we have to go play a show. Everyone is once again panicking, but this time over the random snake. Bert decides to be proactive and tries to kill...er... tries to move it with a piece of cardboard. It doesn't want to move.
I'm standing a safe distance away from the van on the phone with Triple-A the other 3 are loading our gear into the venue, and I'm doubling as Snake-Watcher. I was supposed to call out if it moved. I'm pretty sure that I was far enough away, parked beside a row of air conditioners that they couldn't have heard me even if I had a megaphone.
So we go in to play the show.
In all honesty, we played pretty well. Not much of a crowd but we had other things on our mind. That may have been the first show where we were so crunched for time that we willing dropped "Girl Like Her" from the setlist.
After playing, we headed back outside. The situation had improved only by the snake wandering off to harass other innocent bystanders.
Prior to playing, JoAnna made arrangements to have her friend Jeremy come to the venue with his gigantic truck to pick up as much of our gear as possible. I called Triple-A for the third time that evening and arranged for a tow. We stuck as much stuff into my car as possible and put everything else in other random cars and trucks. Bert and JoAnna took off to get the gear safely back to the house. Doug and I were left. Left with a two hour wait time. Doug then went off to another bar to drink with an old friend. I was left in the back alley waiting for the tow truck.
Just me waiting in the dark with a broken van and a snake hiding in the shadows.
Around 2:30am, the towing company called to say that they were in the area. Doug had wandered back by this time and we were sitting in my car listening to some tunes.
Luckily, the guy who came to tow the van back to our house was awesome and he built a giant contraption around Van Disel that lifted up the front of the van, and he stuck extra wheels on the back since we couldn't get the thing out of park and into neutral. Around 3am we were on our way home. Finally. Upon arriving back we were greeted by Bert & JoAnna plus a few others. The guy who towed took another 20 minutes to dismantle the monster he had created to lift the van. By 3:45 all was said and done. We were home, the van was home, but the alarm still activated.
If anyone has ANY ideas on how we can possibly fix this situation, please feel free to email them to me immediately.

Now, after reading all of this, I sincerely hope that you can see why I spent these nights wondering to myself: "Why, oh why, did I forget the video camera?"

This is the kind of stuff you only read about on the internet.

All morons hate it when you call them morons.

I've been wanting to write in this thing for a few days now, but couldn't find anything worthwhile to say.

I suppose I could plug our next few shows, but you can see those listed on any of our websites.

I suppose I could talk about how our earlynextyear.com site has been down for almost 2 months, but no one goes there anyway.

I could even talk about how our next album is coming along, but I've made absolutely no progress on that for about 10 months.

I might even talk about future plans, and personal goals... but... well, maybe another time.

This concludes another pointless post which really only served the purpose of killing a few minutes of my monotonous day.

Football is the most worthless invention since...well... anything, I guess.

Last night's show at The Haven was a good time. All the bands were great, and the 10 or so people who stayed for our set were a lot of fun.
We'd never played with any of these bands before, so it was our first time experiencing the band Mysterioso. Holy crap, were they good.

Please cruise on over to www.purevolume.com/mysterioso immediately and listen to their track called "Don't Panic."

They're something like I've never heard and words cannot even begin to describe.

Now, here's something I've been wanting to type for a while, but just found the motivation for.
We get asked a lot...well, at least I get asked... who our influences are. They assume that we're just a Motion City Soundtrack rip-off until they find out we've been around for 3 years, then assume we're trying to be a reincarnation of Saves The Day until they learn that I never really even listened to them until a year or two ago, so as far as my personal influences go, read on to get all the dirt from my music past.

These 5 records shaped who I am as a musician and a person.
Please buy or download them (legally!) immedately if they aren't already part of your collection. They will not disappoint.

1. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
This is one of the first albums I remember being addicted to. Somewhere along the way I picked up a cassette version and would listen to it almost every day in the car when my sister drove me to school. Their hooks were phenomenal and each song was catchier than the next. To this day I have no idea what half of the songs are about, but in the end, who really cares? Go ahead and tell me that songs like "Champagne Supernova" weren't drug-induced pop gems. This tape was later stolen from my sisters car along with the rest of her music. That was a sad day. Thanks to iTunes, it has returned to my collection.

Other suggested listening by this artist: Definitely, Maybe
Their debut CD which is also a concept album about a rock star who is trying to make it within the industry.

2. Green Day - Dookie
What can I say about this album that hasn't been said 100 times in 100 different languages? When I bought my first portable CD player from a friend, he gave me this CD with it. I had no idea who Green Day was, but this album got spun no less than 3 times a day for the first year that I owned it. It definitely taught me that three chords is all you need to put together a great song. I've moved up to using four chords per song. Perhaps I'll upgrade to five one day. It scares me to think what may have happened if my friend had given me a Barbara Streisand CD instead.

Other suggested listening by this artist: ANYTHING
I'll go ahead and push for "American Idiot" since I'm a sucker for concept albums, but "Insomniac" and "Warning" were awesome pop records as well.

3. The Refreshments - Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy
This was actually the second CD I ever purchased. If you were alive back in 1996, then you couldn't escape hearing their radio single "Banditos." In my eyes, this record had three things I loved: Catchy songs, humorous lyrics, and a whole lot of twang. There's not a bad track on this CD and it captures the vibe of driving a broken down car through the Texas desert. Not that I've ever done that, or intend to do so, but you get the idea.

Other suggested listening by this artist: Americano
The Refreshments released one more CD entitled "The Bottle & Fresh Horses" the following year before breaking up. They switched a few members and made a triumphant return as Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. In 2004 they released "Americano" which has a very similar vibe and all around great songs. Our friends in the band Holidaysburg got to open for them when they played in Orlando at The Social. I think we were playing a show the same night and I missed it. Darn.

4. Nirvana - Nevermind
Everyone went through a Nirvana phase right? My best friend growing up hailed Kurt Cobain as the best thing since the best thing and I was forced to listen to them everytime I went to his house. Luckily, the songs grew on me, and I learned that you don't have to be the best singer or musician to sell a bazillion records. Simplicity is key! This record really helped get me through the tough times of Junior High School... wait... looking back, Jr. High School was a cakewalk. But at the time... oh god, the drama!

Other suggested listening by this artist: Incesticide
Equally good songs and lots of them. Just think, if Kurt Cobain was still alive, he'd probably be hanging out with MC Hammer and we wouldn't have the Foo Fighters.

5. Weezer - Weezer (aka The Blue Album)
Yeah, this one was pretty obvious, I know. There was something so comforting in hearing this album and knowing that even though I was the biggest dork in the school, there was still hope for me yet. These songs were some of the deepest pieces of art to ever tingle my eardrums. It still holds up after all these years as a CD I can listen to from start to end and then begin it again once it's finished. Also a great introduction to synthesizers and song structures.

Other suggested listening by this artist: Pinkerton
Weezer's second and last CD, called Pinkerton was very dark and broody but had a raw emotion unlike the first. Each track was full of anguish and clever analogies. I never looked at half-Japanese girls the same way after hearing this. Also, this wasn't Weezer's last CD. Only in my mind. When Matt Sharp left, I LEFT!
Kidding.
Although, there are still some stooges out there who think The Green Album was their first offering. Like any band could break big with "Hash Pipe."

So go get these records and report back to me confirming how right I am about generally everything I say.

91 Acres of Technology and Heat.

Just a few things...

We're playing a lot of shows this month. Hopefully a lot of good shows.
I targeted a lot of venues where we know that we can walk away with some money in our pockets for gas, but mostly because we're trying to get our next line of shirts printed up ASAP. They're kind of pricey.
First off, we know our first shirt was a little blah, and then we found out that it was all too similar to another band's design, and they were black and a bit unflattering. Luckily, the next ones will be colorful and interesting. Trust me.

Last night I tuned in to the "Comes Alive" show on WPRK 91.5 where each Wednesday they showcase a local band. We'll be doing this show on Wednesday, September 27th. I listened because I wasn't sure what exactly to expect out of this. They featured a band called "21st Floor" and pretty much all they did was play songs live for about an hour. So in case you missed our last performance on WPRK, you'll get another shot to hear us live in just a few weeks.

Today I brought leftover cherry pie in to work to enjoy at my leisure, and we have no forks.
This sucks.
Seriously.

Tonight we play at The Haven which is literally about a 3 minute drive from our house.

This blog is stupid but I can't stop.

Listening to Limbeck while hopped up on coffee is always a good time.
Except when the songs get all slow and then I have to switch to something that won't put me to sleep.

If your phone has a "Ringback" then you can pretty much rest assured that I hate you.

Scene Haircuts are stupid... according to people who clearly have scene haircuts.

This weekend was a whirl of shows, driving, and a whole lot of hanging out with friends. Good way to spend a holiday.

Friday night we got off of work, loaded the van as fast as humanly possible and sped (yes, sped) down to Lakeland for our show at Winner's Circle. We were afraid that we would miss load-in due to traffic, but managed to roll into town right at 8pm. We were set to play first, but when we got there, the stage hadn't even been set up, so we ended up having to wait until about 9:30 to play. The crowd itself was definitely not there to see us, and we may as well have played to an empty room. Big thanks to the one fellow who cheered after each song. Glad that one person was paying attention. We stayed for the other bands (MyRage & Madadam) who both played solid sets. They definitely weren't in the same genre, but all good people and very friendly. I like to think we bridge a lot of gaps with our music, but this was a true test to see if we could fit in the the Hard Rock crowd. Turns out that we do better playing alongside Hardcore bands. You live and you learn.

Saturday night saw us in the studios of the local college radio station WPRK 91.5 FM. We did an on-air performance for their annual music marathon (50 bands spread throughout 4 days) and played a 7 song set live on the air. I had a ton of fun doing that, though it was odd not being able to see anyone we performed for. My parents got to listen and had a blast. They've yet to actually see us live (aside from live footage) so it was nice having my parents hear the crazy noise that their son ran off to Orlando to make. Amanda was kind enough to listen and tape it off the radio, so I got to hear it just hours after it aired. I thought we rocked. Thanks to any of our friends/fans who also tuned in. Hope you got to hear everything you wanted to.

Sunday was Relaxation Day. I spent most of it in bed drinking coffee.

Yesterday Doug hosted a Labor Day BBQ at the house, so around 2pm the place filled up with mostly complete strangers. There were burgers, a kiddie pool, and a homemade Slip N'Slide. Our friend Jason stepped on a rusty nail while running to slide and bled everywhere. Nothing a little Duct Tape couldn't fix. I didn't stick around too long, but it was good seeing familiar faces, including Chris, Jordan, and Jeremy from the band Rory.

Today, it was back to work. Thursday we rock the Haven with Snafu and Mysterioso. It's going to be another one of those nights where we try to fit in with a different genre. Both bands are solid and I'm looking forward to the show.

September is looking crazy-busy.
7 shows and 2 radio spots? Yeah, let the good times roll.

Traditional Education?

Just a quick update:

My throat is a mess. Scratchy, burning, and generally ill-tempered. Good thing I have to talk on the phone all day and then go sing at the show tonight AND the radio performance tomorrow.
Speaking of the radio performance.... TUNE IN!
Try the online stream sometime before we play to ensure it works.
www.wprkdj.org.
That's tomorrow at 9pm.
Tonight is the show at Winner's Circle in Lakeland, FL. We have to leave work, load up the van, get our butts on the road and hope that Friday I-4 traffic doesn't leave us in a standstill.

Also, Piebald just announced that they have a new record coming out soon called Accidental Gentlemen.
But you knew that. You read AP.net too.
Speaking of Piebald, they're playing October 20th at HOB Orlando. WITH Say Anything. Bonus.

Listen to Rory.

Lunch time.