Happy Anniversary! Now go home.

Well hello!

My apologies for being a lazy blogger. It happens from time to time.
Anyway.
Along the line here, we missed some anniversaries.

July 5th, 2006 marked the one year anniversary of our Sarcasm is Your Friend EP being released. Yeah, it's been out for a year, and we still have hundreds of them in our living room. Do us a favor and buy one already?

July 7th, 2006 (which is today) marks the 3 year anniversary of Early Next Year being a band. To be completely honest, we don't remember when Doug and myself got the ball rolling on this whole project, so I just count the day that we met. And I don't know the date we met because I'm all girly and senitmental, I remember it because it was the day we started college.

So now that our CD has been out for a year, that really means that we have 365 days to write, record, and release a new disc, right? I mean, that's how it works.

Yeah, we're getting to that. We have maybe three... four... five new songs? Something like that. More coming.

Enjoy your weekends.

_Wes

Is 110% even possible?

Alright, so I'm not 100% sure how all of this happened, but due to laziness, rain, and total and utter lack of motivation, I have yet to completely move into the ENY house. I'd say I'm a good 55% moved at this point. So as things stand at the moment, I'm spending my time at either my apartment where my clothes are located, the house where my bed is located, or at Amanda's where my girlfriend is located. On any given day I'm not entirely sure where the things I need even are. I need to just suck it up and get my clothes, computer, and tv over to the house where I can maintain some sort of presence. Plus, the sooner I get out of the apartment, the sooner I can clean that sucker and get my security deposit back. Although, as all of my visitors have told me, this is a lost cause. That apartment is a 3 year wreck in progress.
Moving sucks. It rained every time I tried to take initiative. Crap, it's even raining right now. I'm going to drink my coffee and surf the net.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Blow some crap up.
Amanda bought a small load of fireworks over the weekend which Bert detonated in the backyard. He's such a pyro.

If anyone needs me, there are now 3 locations to search. Have a blast with that.

I think we're show-free for a while, which could be nice since we have some work to do.
Work? Psh. What's that?

_Wes

Don't Mess with Bob Barker.

As I layed in bed this morning with my semi-conscious girlfriend I decided to take on some giant waves and channel surf the unknown that is Brighthouse Networks. I quickly ran across a showing of The Price is Right. Stopping briefly at reflect on the fact that I had not seen this show in at least 15 years, I decided to take a peek and see how Bob Barker is holding up.

Turns out he's not doing so well.

Bob Barker has turned into an old, bitter man and may in fact be Satan himself.
For instance... during one of the bidding wars, the contestants failed to even come close to guessing the price of a patio space heater. The first lady, bless her heart, gave a reasonable bid of $1,000 which of course put her fellow players into a frenzy since they had seen the same space heater at a Wal-Mart bargain bin just weeks prior but still didn't want to bid low and look like a jackass. Their answer was to bid incredulous amounts of money in order to overcompensate for having their national television debut be on The Price is Right. After all the bids were locked in, it was revealed that they had all overbid by amounts of money that would cause riots in third world countries. He tells them to bid again. First lady (whose name I have forgotten even though she wore it on a giant name tag... because Bob is blind) lowers her bid to a cool $600 and once again sends the others into a bidding frenzy. For a second time they all overbid. He deletes the bids, players calls new prices. Once again, no one is even close. Bob flips out.
He momentarily stops the show to chastise the players for not being entertaining (I'm assuming that he means entertaining to the older folks who are killing time by watching TV before the early bird special begins). He tells them "it's moments like this on game shows that cause the general public to get up and change the dial...er... channel on the remote."
Nice save, Bob.

After regaining his composure, Bob proceeded to fart a gaseous dust cloud and the show continued as normal.
He once again asks for bids. The first three players enter theirs without even stopping to think of what is coming out of their mouths. They're all too terrified of Bob to even think rationally. Or breathe. Or blink for that matter. The young gal who is to bid last then pulls the ultimate punk move and bids one dollar. When people bid a dollar on the show, I believe they should be tranquilized, tied up, and then the other contestants should be able to choose between a variety of sharp weapons and blunt objects with which to exact their revenge.
So of course this chump of a human being wins with her $1 bid and goes on to win a car or some crap. I don't remember. I was too busy watching Bob try to trip the guests with that microphone cord of his that apparently stretches all the way to Jupiter.

It's days like this where I wish I had that fancy DVR stuff so I could have recorded that episode and watched on repeat the moment that Bob Barker loses it on the contestants. You could almost smell their fear. The couldn't look him in the eyes, perspiration accumulated on their brows, and Bob's outrage may have even caused a case of uncontrollable urination in one lady. Maybe it was just because she was old? I don't know, I'm not a doctor.
It was all so priceless.

Way to keep it real, Bob.

I just have to assume that one day when he's finally forced into the wonderful world of fruit cups and sponge baths that we call the Nursing Home, he'll be sitting around watching old reruns of the show, wondering how he managed to never kill one. He'll retaliate by randomly striking out at the next nurse who walks by.

And remember, please get your pets spayed or neutered.

Lakeland has Lakes.

Friday at the Winner's Circle in Lakeland was a good time. We played with Isaac and the Cou (a local acoustic act) as well as From Adam to Atom from Orlando. We were sandwiched in the middle of the set, and I felt like we played very well. The crowd was sparse aside from the regular bar attendees, so it wasn't our target demographic. Everyone we met was very nice and we do hope to return to Lakeland in the near future.
We killed some time playing pool, which is quickly becoming a favorite activity for us in bars, and I sifted through 3,000 albums on their digital jukebox and couldn't find anything worth spending money on.
From Adam to Atom put on a great show. Always good to see those guys. Be sure to give them a listen at www.myspace.com/fromadamtoatom. If you like us, you'll dig them too.

This Friday we make another triumphant return to Ocala where people actually know the words to our songs. Should be a good time. Hopefully K&K isn't so bloody hot this time around. Yeah, right. We're playing with our pals Rosedale and Orlando's My Adalyn with a fourth band TBA.

Keep it real.

_Wes

Lesson Learned.

Things I've Learned in the Last Seven Days:

1. Will's Pub South now has an in-house bidet.
2. ... and a decent jukebox.
3. Warm Pepsi cannot be swallowed.
4. If there's extra room in the van, we really are forgetting something.
5. Cat puke on your pillow first thing in the morning can ruin your entire day.
6. Amanda and I cannot remove a broken door knob to save our lives.
7. The people at Brighthouse Cable love to give you broken stuff.
8. Everyone in my apartment complex has been stealing my internet.
9. Working the late shift interferes with my ability to go to good shows.
10. Booking a tour is hard and stressful.

Winner's Circle on Friday in Lakeland, FL.

We need more shows for early July.
Help?

_Wes

Will's Bidet.

Yesterday: The Show That Almost Happened.

Will's Pub South... that place was a DIVE!
But I liked it. We got to the venue around 4:30 for a 6pm show (we were afraid of getting lost, okay?) because we like to be fashionably early. Looks good on the resume`. We were the first of anyone to show up and killed some time by drinking some cold beers.

It was brought to our attention that a pipe was broken in the men's restroom and and the room was filling up with water. It was shooting out everyone. Basically, the toilet had become a bidet. You know, one of those french things that shoots water up your butt. After a while, a steady stream of water started coming out from under the door. This is bad for several reasons.
A.) Bathroom water is gross
B.) Loose water is never good when you're going to have amps and mics set up in the near vicinity.

The bartender told us that she was attempting to get ahold of the bar manager to see if there was anything that they could do. To distract ourselves, Doug and I attempted to play a game of pool on the world's most dilapidated pool table and kept losing balls. It was not a lot of fun.
After losing the cue ball we called it a draw and I tackled the house jukebox which actually had a decent selection of tunes. I created an awesome seven song playlist to fuel the next game of pool. The jukebox started spouting out the tunes which included songs from The Pixies, Modest Mouse, Old 97's, The Beach Boys, and Journey. Yes, Journey.

Eventually one of the touring bands, Dear Stardom, made their way into the venue followed by the locals, Kiteline.

At this point the bartender told us that all they could do was shut off the water for the whole bar and by doing that, they would have to close for the night. So after we were herded outside, people were calling venues trying to get the show moved with no luck. We hung out with some members of Dear Stardom for a while talking about their tour so far and then we got back in Van Diesel and headed for home.
Maybe it's better that the show got cancelled since we accidently forgot our merch at the house. And we wondered why there was so much more room in the back of the van...

Doh.

We'll see how the show in Lakeland goes. It's on Friday. From Adam to Atom is playing too. Should be cool.

_Wes

Tour, pics, moving, etc....

So we're trying to book a tour. It's hard. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Out of 9 dates we've gotten 1 positive confirmation and 1 maybe. Hold your breath for our sake.

We're trying to get a bit more professional, so we decided we need to get some new promotional photos done. We're hoping to take care of that next week sometime. Tomorrow we're gonna go shopping and try to find some sweet threads to wear since normally all we wear are band shirts and jeans. I don't think we need to give free promo to any bands in our pics. The focus is supposed to be on our ugly mugs, right?

Phase one of moving into ENY-HQ will happen on Saturday.

Guess that's it.

Moo.

_Wes

No Hula Girls to call our own.

Have I really not written since Wednesday? Well crap.

I had a busy weekend.

Friday afternoon we loaded up Van Diesel and headed out to Daytona Beach for another romp at the Seabreeze Coffee Connection. We were relieved that all of our gear actually fit into the van, as there were some concerns early on, but not only did everthing fit, but we could still see out the rear window!
Yeah, I get excited over the little things in life.

Anyway... I took the command chair for the duration of the ride to the venue and did my best not to panic whilst driving on I-4 (that's a really crazy highway for all of you non-Florida peoples). I managed to get us all the way to Daytona without doing anything foolish but had to have Bert take over the reins when it came to parallel parking in front of the venue. Upon arrival we met one of the other bands called "In Plain Language" who were on the road for the weekend. They gave us the bad news that the only local band on the bill had cancelled so the show consisted of us from Orlando and 2 bands from Lakeland, FL. Not exactly what you like to hear when playing out of town shows. We had a few faithful fans make the trip to see us for which we are very grateful. Since the show start time got pushed back from 7 to 8pm we had some time to kill so JoAnna, Bert, and myself headed down to the beach a few blocks away to breath in some of that ocean air. It was nice. On the way back to the venue we stopped into a corner shop full of knick-knacks to see if we couldn't find a dancing hula girl for the dashboard of the van. Turns out that they had everything in the world except what we were looking for. Just our luck.

We headed back to the venue and were confused further to find out that we were up last on the lineup for the evening. After the first band played, they left to head home, taking half the audience with them which was kind of a bummer, but whatever. Playing second was a band called "Awesome You" who played with some good energy in the stlye of a Blink 182/Green Day lovechild.
We finished out the night for a small crowd, but everyone seemed to have a good time. There was dancing, singing, and police. Oh yeah, the police came in while we played our encore. Yes, we got an encore. I don't know why they stopped in, but they seemed to enjoy themselves for the few minutes they loitered about. We were playing our song "Window" at the time but they left before I could get them to clap along during the chorus.

Oh yeah: Doug wants me to mention that JoAnna hit him in the face with a water bottle. I didn't see it. Apparently it was hilarious.

We loaded out, shook hands, said our thank yous, and Bert climbed behind the wheel for the drive back to O-Town. We didn't go anywhere immediately though. I sat in the passenger seat exhausted and waiting for Doug and JoAnna to join us. We almost left them there. Almost. Fine, not really.

THE NEXT DAY...

On Saturday we got a house.
First a van, now a house.
That's how we roll.
So we officially have an ENY-HQ where the four of us will be living in tight quarters and probably making music from time to time.
We haven't moved yet, but that should happen over the next few weeks.
It should be interesting. We'll have stories. They may not be all that exciting, but they will be stories nonetheless.

Today I went to work at 6am. Cut me some slack on the apathetic entry that has taken me almost 15 minutes to hammer out due to me having to make everything sound way more interesting than it really is, was, or will be.

Yeah, so I'm getting kind of bored with this.

We're playing in Orlando on Sunday at Will's Pub South.
I've never been there. I guess that's gonna change really soon.

Doug and I are under the impression that Gary Coleman lives in the bushes outside of my apartment.
You don't think so?
Well, have you seen him anywhere else lately?
FACE!

_Wes

It feels like we haven't played a show in months when in reality it's only been about 2 weeks. That seems too long. Luckily we have lots of fun stuff coming up here in June starting with Friday's show in Daytona Beach.

One of the things I love about playing in other towns is seeing how the kids act at shows.
For instance, Daytona kids aren't as rowdy as Ocala kids.
Ocala kids will dance, laugh, and sing along.
Daytona kids stand in front of you while you play with their arms crossed and if they're into it, you might get them nodding to the beat.
Ocala kids talk to you after the show.
Daytona kids ignore you.
Ocala kids bring you cookies and good stories.
Daytona kids ignore you.
Ocala kids are right up front while their favorite band plays.
Daytona kids stand outside.

Sure there are exceptions to the rule, and this doesn't mean I dislike playing in Daytona Beach, I just think the kids could be more welcoming and inviting, y'know?

Moving on...

On Monday night ENY hit up dollar Bowling night at one of the local lanes. We went to meet up with some friends and got to bowl several games with Chris and Jeremy of the Orlando-based band called Rory (www.myspace.com/rory) who are on the Orlando record label called 111 Records, home of other bands such as Mashlin, Inkwell, and This Day & Age.
Rory has a new CD coming out in September called "We're Up to No Good, We're Up to No Good." Please pick up a copy of that when it's released. I got to hear one of the new songs a while back and it was a great tune. They had several tracks produced by Mark Hoppus. Always cool, right? So yeah. Listen and love. They're fantastic.

Friday. Coffee Connection. Daytona Beach. 7pm. $5. Early Next Year. + additional bands.

Rock.

_Wes

Hello there, faithful readers of the ENYBlog!

It's currently a busy time here in ENY land.
First off, we finally got ourselves a Van. About time, right? I'll be the first to admit that it's been a pain taking 2-3 cars everywhere for the last few months. It was hampering our ability to play out of town shows, but I'm really hoping that's all behind us now. I found an ad for the van online on Friday, made some calls and Doug, JoAnna, and myself went to check it out. It fit into our price range and size requirements, so the next day we grabbed that sucker.

It's big. It's green. It's name? VAN DIESEL!!
We'll be test running it to Daytona Beach on Friday.

Second section of big news:
Now that we have a set of "Wheels" we can finally get that touring started.
We've blocked out a week at the end of July/beginning of August, and we're trying to fill up the dates ASAP.

Here's the itinerary so far of where we hope to be:

Friday, July 28 - Gainesville, FL
Saturday, July 29 - Jacksonville, FL
Sunday, July 30 - Atlanta, GA
Monday, July 31 - Athens, GA
Tuesday, Agust 1 - Auburn, AL
Wednesday, August 2 - Tallahassee, FL
Thursday, August 3 - Tampa, FL
Friday, August 4 - Orlando, FL
Saturday, August 5 - Ocala, FL

If you or any of your friends might be able to help us with any of these dates, hit us up on the old MySpace.

In July not only do we celebrate 3 years of being a band, but we get to celebrate the one year anniversary of "Sarcasm Is Your Friend" being released.
How embarassing is that? We're touring to support the record a year after it was released.
Better late than never.

Peace and hair grease.

_Wes

Another day, another van to look at.
Please, please, please let this be the one.
It's blue. Not that I care.

Details sooner or later.
Probably later.

_Wes

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

Dear Ocala, as usual... you were awesome. You all showed us so much energy and support. Thanks to everyone who bought the CD, bought tshirts, said nice things to us, or brought us baked goods. We cannot wait to come back. Keep an eye on our shows calendar. You should see some good news very very soon.

Big thanks to Holidaysburg and Rosedale for playing a great show as well. We had an absolute blast. We've all stopped sweating. Finally.

_Wes

Dear Ocala,
Do you have the lyrics to our EP "Sarcasm is Your Friend" memorized yet?
You'd better get on that. Singing along is required at the show on Saturday. In fact, I'm not going to sing at all and really could use some people there who can pick up the slack.

This was supposed to be way more interesting but once I started typing I realized how un-funny my original blog idea was. Sorry about that. They can't all be winners.

And now I have officially wasted three minutes of your time.

We're picking up a few more shows for April and May, so keep an eye on the calendar for upcoming additions to our itinerary. We'll be all over the place.

Make that four minutes.

Okay, I'm walking away now.

_Wes

I'm a little late here on our Daytona Show breakdown, so here goes.

We arrived in Daytona a little after 5pm, pulled up the the venue, Doug grabbed an awesome load-in spot right outside the Coffee Connection with minimal parallel parking needed. There were already people all over the place and doors weren't scheduled to open for another 45 minutes or so. The show, which had 5 bands scheduled to play was quite full. The touring act Sleepaway never showed up and yet somehow I think 6 bands ended up playing. After sitting through an acoustic duo and some younger rockers, we took the stage a bit after 8pm and played to a pretty packed house. It was nice to see some fans and plenty of ENY shirts drifting around the audience. I even saw people singing along that I'd never met before.
Aside from the fact that I could never seem to get my amplifier loud enough and most of my synth lines went unheard, we delivered an energetic show on the oddly built 3-tier stage which caused JoAnna to trip and fall at one point. She's fine. We checked.
Pathway to Providence and My Getaway played after us and closed out the night with plenty of energy and catchy songs.

My only complaint about Daytona is that I find the kids to be a little rude at times. For instance, since the venue is a small coffee house, there's not a whole lot of room. Since so many people were at the show, the front row of the crowd was literally about a foot in front of me. I could hear several kids just holding random conversation while we were playing.
In fact, to the girl who was whining about failing her english class - I'm sorry to hear it, but that wasn't the time or the place to discuss your poor work ethic and lack of self application towards school. There were people who wanted to be in the front, where you were taking up space, to enjoy the band they came to see.
Last time we played Daytona, I complained that everyone stood outside the venue during the show. This time I wish that small group of kids had been somewhere else.

Regardless of all that, we did have a really good time, saw old friends, drove a lot, ate greasy food, drank cheap beer, and made fun of the scene kids.

We'll be back over there soon. But for now, we have really have to get our songs up to par for the Ocala kids.
Quite excited for that one.

_Wes

Who's ready for some good news?
We finally got a confirmation on the 4th band who will be joining us at the K&K in Ocala on Saturday, April 22nd.
Who could it be?

It's my favorite Orlando band Holidaysburg! Since this show is already quite diverse in it's musical stylings, I figured they'd be a good fit to round things out and I'm glad that the venue agreed to have them play. Check them out at www.myspace.com/holidaysburg. They mix country music and rock and roll like nobody's business.
Needless to say, we're even more excited about this show now.
We made quick friends with the guys in Central Vine at the last show, we've known Josh from Rosedale for ages, and now we get a great band and some good pals added onto the bill.
Prepare to get your socks rocked off.

Oh wait, we have to make it through the Daytona Beach show first.

Always getting so ahead of myself. We have to make it through tonight's practice too. I hope I can remember all the lyrics, I hope Bert hasn't lost his amazing drummer stamina, I hope JoAnna doesn't make too much fun of my new haircut, and hopefully Doug will remember how to play his instrument.

I want to get a shirt made for tomorrow that says "Life's a Daytona Beach."
I am ever so clever.

_Wes

Due to work, social life, and deep ponderous thoughts, ENY is going to play their first notes together in two weeks on Thursday. We decided a practice was utterly necessary if we want people to keep appreciating us as a band.
Dear Daytona Beachians... we'll try not to suck. Really. We're gonna do our best to melt your faces off. If all goes according to plan it's gonna be like that scene out of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark where they open the Ark and people melt, explode, and are generally inconvenienced by getting impaled by religious energy. Except we're gonna skip the exploding, impaling, and the religion. Due to the popularity and number of bands playing we're expecting a pretty big turnout, so get there early if you don't want to be stuck standing outside. Oh who am I kidding, people always stand outside when we play.
We'll have CDs this time. I promise.
It wasn't my fault we forgot them last time... I'm just the only one willing to take blame for anything.

Our transportation situation has not improved.

I'm just keeping it real.

Ocalians... you'll have your turn soon.

_Wes

Time to answer some ENY fanmail:

Dear Early Next Year,
I've noticed that you have a lot of photos on your website and myspace, but they're rather boring and amateur looking. Have you thought of maybe going to a real photographer to get some promo pics done?

-Kelly

Dear Kelly,
We're not photogenic at all. We also find you to be boring and amateur looking.

-Early Next Year



Okay, so that wasn't a real piece of fanmail, but it should explain some things.

_Wes

Since today is my 22nd birthday I'm really planning to milk it for all of it's worth. It's like when old people use their senility to get away with dancing in spilled milk at a grocery store while wearing a sun dress. You don't think "Hey, that's not right!" you just think "Aww, he's old and happy."
So if I offend you, push you into traffic, or generally don't do the things you expect me to do on a daily basis.... it's my birthday. Keep that in mind. In fact, I may just go make a sandwich board to wear all day that gives fair warning.

Today was destined to be different from the moment I woke up.

Figure 1-A:

I awoke at 8am this morning to find myself on the receiving end of a full on cockroach onslaught. This sucker was obviously armed with an unquenchable thirst for my blood and it was quickly becoming apparent that no amount of flailing and girlish shrieking was going to stop it.
Since I wasn't wearing my glasses, therefore making me legally blind in 3 states, I had to first identify the blurry threat before I could create a strategy on how to deal with the attacker. Was it a mouse? Nope, too small. Was it a spider? Nope, not enough legs. Was it my Uncle? Doubt it, I haven't seen him in years. I could make out just enough legs and antenna to correctly identify it as the Periplaneta Americana, which when translated into English means "the last insect I want frolicking across my chest when I wake up after 3 hours of sleep."
After calming myself with visions of miniature Snickers and former high school classmates on fire, I collected my thoughts and proceeded to strip 70% of the sheets and blankets from the bed in an attempt to locate the critter and watched angrily as it took cover underneath some nearby furniture. After about ten minutes of trying to coax it out from the depths of the dresser-turned-makeshift-insect-fallout-shelter, I had almost given up hope. Then that's when the creature made a fatal misake by rearing it's ugly head for a split second in an attempt to taunt me a second time, I acted instinctively, forgoing the can of Raid I had on hand, and instead haphazardly slammed that sucker into oblivion with my shoe.
Normally I don't get an ego about things, but since I was now a certified badass I threw my hands in the air in a style that would have made Rocky feel lazy. Cleanup tissue in one hand, roach-coated shoe in the other, I knew at that moment what it must be like to play a rock show for ten thousand people. For that split second I was bigger than The Beatles. For that moment in time... I was the Walrus. I was Wes "Roachslayer" Locher. All roaches within a two mile radius quivered with fear and lost control of their bowels.
One harsh dive back into reality later I realized it was time put the shoe down and get ready for work, but as I washed away the grime of a vicious assassination with a hot shower, I uttered to myself 'Yeah, it's gonna be a good day.'

_Wes

I was on top of this thing for a few days. I wonder what happened.

Last week was absolutely crazy. I did something every single day and had a blast doing so. The hang outs, the game nights, and the shows were all spectacular. Having a social life has even made me more attractive. Okay, so that last part isn't true.

Speaking of roast pig, the Limbeck shows were crazy good. I've been a huge fan for a couple years now and then got Doug hooked, so he and I went to the Park Ave CD's in-store performance and got to see the guys play a few tunes really stripped down. The bass player Justin sat out and watched with the rest of the crowd which consisted of about 20 or so people.
We then headed to the real show at the Social in downtown Orlando, grabbed a drink at the Irish Pub across from the venue while we waited for the doors to open and then went inside. Luckily there were only 2 bands on the bill, so Limbeck opened and got some extra stage time. They played about 45 minutes and covered a lot of new and old stuff. They did a mean cover of "Mr. Spaceman" by The Byrds and played a retooled version of the song "Albatross and Ivy" that melted everyone's faces. After the show I walked my faceless self over to the Merch booth to meet their tour manager John Cheese (who's also toured with Piebald). That man is absolutely insane. Insanely nice. He tried to show me magic tricks but should definitely spend some additional time perfecting the art. If you see Limbeck on this tour and are a fan, I recommend you pick up a copy of the Tour EP they're selling to make some extra cash. It's got re-recorded versions of some songs off of "Let Me Come Home" plus a brand new song and their Byrds cover. As usual, they played amazingly well. It was great hearing some of the new songs live especially "Sin City" which completely blew me away.

As far as the ENY? The shows are a bit scarce at the moment April is a really busy month for us but the 2 we have scheduled right now should be awesome. We're having a few transportation issues, but hopefully we can get those worked out ASAP.

On Friday, Doug and I did the unthinkable... we brought an old ENY song back from the dead and actually made it good. We have a handful of tunes we just sort of stopped playing, but since this one actually had potential, we reworked it and have been getting a demo together. You probably won't hear it for a long time. We might play it live sometime. Who knows. It's fun.

Today is Bert's 21st birthday. Leave him some love on the band MySpace or his personal one. He loves you all. He's probably blasted right now. Blasted somewhere in Indianapolis. I think that's where he is. Okay, seriously, has anyone seen Bert lately?

Tomorrow is my birthday. I think I'll get a hair cut to celebrate.

Time to work.

_Wes

Last night at the Social I experienced an odd show. The Courtneys, Maria Taylor, and Mates of State. Quite the lineup. Every band was way different, some good, some bad.
The Courtneys (an Orlando local) were up first. They could only be described as the bastard child of Tegan & Sara and Le Tigre. You think that sounds cool? Think again. The vocals left something to be desired (think Mickey Mouse screaming incoherently) and while one gal did have a stack of synths on the stage, the sound patches she was using were downright painful. I really wanted to step up on stage tweak the MicroKorg so it would be listenable. Eh, whatever.
I'm sure they appeal to.... someone. Just not me. Who cares, I'm sure they'd hate my band.

Up second was Maria Taylor. I'd heard some of her tunes online and really enjoyed them. Her band consisted of herself and five other people. The music was rather mellow and everyone on stage just stood there. They looked bored and miserable. Perhaps they should change their name to "Maria Taylor and her Army of Mannequins". Amanda suggested they add a seventh member to the band who just stands on stage and dances.

Up last was Mates of State who were absolutely amazing. They were so tight as a band and sounded exactly like their CDs. Every song was killer. I'm not a diehard fan but I heard a lot of songs I recognized. They rocked out for an hour and had an amazing stage presence for just two people. Maria Taylor's band should watch them more and take notes. Great audience participation and they were really cool about letting the crowd yell out songs for them to play.

Overall a good show, but I would have appreciated a better opening act.
Can't win 'em all.

Tonight: Limbeck.
Twice.

_Wes

I'm drooling on myself.



That is all.

_Wes

My week just got way cool.

In store for tonight is a crazy game night with the band, tomorrow I'll be headed downtown to the Social to see Mates of State with Amanda, and on Thursday evening Doug and I had planned to head over to Park Ave CD's to see Limbeck's in-store performance. But to top it all off, I just got 2 free tickets to the actual Limbeck show at the Social for that same night. It's been about a year since I've seen those guys live so I'm hoping they'll be just as fantastic as they were the last time around (where I was one of 5 people in the crowd).

About time some good luck came my way. I hear the scratch off tickets calling my name...

_Wes

Hey friends, we made it back from Sarasota alive!

We hit the road Saturday afternoon, sat in extensive traffic on I-4 and then regrouped at a gas station in Lakeland after we all got separated in the chaos. We took a whopping three vehicles for this journey as our good friend Tiffany decided to make the trek to come have some fun as well. Doug and I have always joked about taking $5 after every show and spending it on scratch off lottery tickets in an attempt to double our money. Since we were 10 miles ahead of everyone else, we did just that. Since I have the worst luck in the entire world, I really shouldn't have been the one to scratch them, but that's just the way it goes. Out of 5 tickets, all I won was a free ticket. From that free ticket I won a dollar. When I went back into the gas station to redeem it, the aged lady naturally assumed I had a gambling problem and rather than give me the dollar, she gave me another ticket which quickly proved a bad decision since I didn't win anything. Better luck next time.

Once we finally made it Sarasota we checked into a Best Western hotel near the venue grabbed some food and then headed over to the venue which was completely empty and blasting booty-shakin' tunes. I grabbed a beer and chilled out with everyone else and waited for the sound guy to set up the stage. We were told we were opening the night, so we quickly loaded in and started soundchecking. In the middle of the line check, some girl ran up to me to say that she had spent a dollar on the jukebox and we had played over both her songs. She suggested we play the songs she had paid for as compensation. We didn't know the songs so I jokingly dedicated our set to her. I never did see her again. Perhaps she was offended.

We played a good 30 minute set on the tiny stage (and played well) then took some chairs for the second band called aNDY who were really quite good. They mixed some good old rock and roll with some unintentional stand up comedy. Good times. aNDY are good people and we hope to play some shows with them again in the near future. During their set, their energetic guitar player was jumping around like a mad man eventually losing his balance and crashing into his guitar amp and coming close to crashing through a window. Good times.

We were tired and looking forward to a good party so we cut out midway through the 3rd bands set (Sorry guys, we normally don't do that) and headed back to the hotel where we quickly realized that every plan we had to supplement fun was shot down. Couldn't hook up our videogames to the hotel TV, couldn't get any decent television stations, and the one dollar deck of playing cars JoAnna had purchased earlier in the evening turned out be made specifically for Pinochle and only had a quarter of the deck necessary to play any other game ever invented. We entertained oursevles with silly conversation, terrible jokes, and general mischeif which we won't get into just in case a representative from that Best Western happens to come by this blog. Bert had to work early in the morning the following day so took off for Orlando around 2am.

The night was plagued by a temperamental car alarm and sharing a bed with Doug didn't help me to fall asleep any quicker.

I awoke to find Douglas gone, and no money on the nightstand so I hunted him down via telephone only to find out he was just outside the door. Crafty fellow. After a quick breakfast stop at Bob Evan's we hopped back on the road to Orlando.
The high point of the drive home was pulling up behind a van that read "Jumbo: The Magic Clown" and upon pulling up alongside the vehicle we were greeted with a disgruntled looking fellow actually dressed up in clown garb. I'm telling you, it doesn't get much weirder than that.
Got home. Slept. All in all, a great experience. I'm sure you guys will see some crazy video from it all one day.



Next stop: Daytona Beach on Friday, April 14th.

_Wes

We'll be on the road to Sarasota in just a few hours now, so hopefully it's a smooth trip and no one gets too crazy from being stuck in the car for an extended period of time.

At recent shows people have been telling me more and more that they read this crazy blog of ours. So thanks for taking a peek inside our minds. Scary place, eh?
Now that I can use this as a forum to reach more people I wanted to ask a favor of everyone. If you own a copy of our EP "Sarcasm is Your Friend" what would really help us out is if you could take a few minutes and write a review of the disc for iTunes, cdbaby.com, or both.
That would be helpful to us, so we know what you think, but also for people who are thinking of maybe purchasing the CD. It only takes a few minutes and we'd love it if you helped us out with this.

Have a great weekend.
After we're done rocking at The Clubhouse Tavern tonight, we'll be shacking up in a hotel near the beach enjoying cold beverages, crazy antics, and terribly lame jokes.

All the best.

_Wes

This Sunday Moog Music will be unveiling their new analog Synthesizer. It'll be the first instrument released by the company since Dr. Moog's death. For the last 3 weeks there has been speculation on what it could be, but now the tech specs have been released.
It's gonna be freakin' sweet.
I'm counting the pennies.
Expect to see me rocking out on one as soon as they are released and sounding better than ever.

I'm such a dork.

_wes

As much as I hate doing so, I'll admit when I'm wrong.

If you're a frequent reader of this blog then you know that Doug and I like to talk up certain bands. In the past, I've made mention of a spectacular band from Cherry Hill, New Jersey known as The Progress. We first met them at a festival we played in Ocala, Florida at the end of 2004. They were amazing. I picked up a copy of the 5 song EP they were supporting called "Golden State".

Clocking in around 15 minutes, it was such a solid disc but always left me wanting more. A few months later, I ordered of a copy of their very first (and now out of print) self titled EP. It was also solid. When I saw that they were planning a summer tour in July of 2005 I was quick to help them out with a Florida show that sadly didn't go off so well. However since the guys are super nice we offered them a place to stay for the night and Bert and myself stayed up most the evening just talking to them and picking their brains about the life of a touring band. They had just signed to the label Negative Progression and were soon going to be recording their debut LP.

It's now about 7 months later and their LP entitled "Merit" is going to be hitting stores all over the country on April 25th. They've been releasing a song a week on PureVolume to preview the album. When I initially started listening to these tracks when they started posting them a month or so ago I was not impressed. Golden State was full of hooks and clever lyrics whereas these newer tunes didn't grab me on the first listen like the previous albums. However (this is the part where I admit that I am wrong) after listening to the songs each night after work, they have officially grown on me and now I am eagerly anticipating the release of the album.

If you are not familiar with the band, please check them out on MySpace (www.myspace.com/theprogress) to familiarize yourself with 2 of their older tracks that initially reeled me in, then cruise over to www.purevolume.com/theprogress and preview half of the tracks on Merit.

Please please please support this band. Next time they venture through Florida, we hope we will be sharing the stage with them again. Great guys, great music, great things ahead.

Thanks!

_wes

Craziness all over the place.

First, Doug chops off most of his hair. Next, we find out that Bert has to work at 6am Sunday morning and we're playing in Sarasota the night before. We had a hotel room rented out to have an after show party extraordinaire, but it looks like we'll be having it Bert-less. His birthday is coming up so we'll make it up to him then. Of course, he'll be out of town for his birthday, so we'll make it up to him eventually. Come to think of it, my birthday is coming up in just 2 weeks.
Interesting ENY tidbit: Bert has a birthday the day before mine (he's April 3rd, I'm April 4th), however he is one year younger, so for one day each year, we're the same age. That's pretty cool, right? ....Right?

Bert is turning the big old 21. He's gonna get a new lease on life. I sure did when I turned 21. You actually feel like a human being. A registered member of society. You get a free membership to the Blackout Club. Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on him so that he doesn't get too crazy.
I'm turning 22. Finally, age no longer matters, I can now coast through the rest of my days and look forward to the depression I will likely suffer when I turn 50.

And the best news of all? I've got pieces of 4 new songs that I'm currently messing around with. Based on past experience, it's likely that none of them will ever become finished product, let alone demos, so don't hold your breath. I think it's funny how I really draw a lot of song material from personal experience, but then when I actually have a lot of stuff happening I can't actually focus enough to write about it. It always ends up with me looking back and writing retrospecively. That works just as well in my opinion.

We're trying to design new tshirts. Got any ideas? JoAnna has a design that's pretty killer and will hopefully appear on mobile apparel as soon as we work out the kinks.

We've played every weekend for about the last month. It's almost like we're a real band or something.
Anyone selling a van? This 2 car thing is getting ridiculous.

I always take personal shots at people in my blogs. Not this time. I've above that. And no bad jokes either. Not until I get some new material.

MySpace is the ultimate time waster. I've never read so much stuff I didn't care about until I discovered that website. I don't think I need that window into my friends minds. I feel like I'm spying in. I might as well just sit in the tree outside their windows with a microphone aimed at their window. At least there's a challenge that way.

So, who's getting sick of our EP? No one? Good. That thing's gotta last you a while.

Ever have a cell phone against your head for so long that your ear starts to burn? As long as the conversation's good, you never feel it until you hang up.
I can talk for hours about nothing and everything all at once.

_Wes

Yesterday we packed up the cars and took a trip over to Edgewater near Daytona to play a show at a birthday party. Yes, we do parties. Our friend Tiffany's brother, Mike, who is a big ENY fan is in the military and will be headed back to Germany before his actual birthday so we decided to crash it so he'd actually be able to see us play.
We played on a big deck beside a canal for his friends and family and had a blast.
I almost didn't make it on time since someone didn't bother to make sure I was awake when the alarm went off :)
Regardless, I got to the meeting point on 3 hours of sleep and we took the hour and a half drive (not 30 minutes like we were originally told) out towards the coast.

Their family took great care of us, supplied plenty of food and drinks and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Hopefully Mike won't soon forget his 20th birthday.



That's how far we're willing to go for our friends.

Speaking of friends, ever notice how sometimes you tend to torture and aggravate the people you love the most? I'm pretty much the master at that. I never mean to do it, and never realize it until I've gone too far. Then I have to backpedal and hope that the damage isn't permanent. Just remember, never let the little stuff get in the way of the big picture. Focus on the positive. Solve your own issues and don't try to blame them on anyone else.

And on that prudent note, have a spectacular week. See you in Sarasota.

-Wes

I'm sitting at work with nothing to do so I figured this might kill 5 minutes.

Here's what's happening...
Next Saturday, March 25 we'll be headed down to Sarasota, FL for the first time. If you live in that area let us know. Chances are that we'll be spending the night down there after the show at The Clubhouse Tavern and need to know where to go to have a good time.

Attention Daytona friends and fans... We'll be headed back our your way on Friday, April 14th to play at the Coffee Connection for a show on the My Getaway/Sleepaway tour. Pathway to Providence will also be playing. You wanted us back, so we're coming back. Please don't miss out.

Attention Ocala friends and fans... we'll be back at the K&K Concert Hall on Saturday, April 22nd. Also appearing on stage will be Rosedale and Central vine, so it's almost the exact same show as last time, and that's fine with us. So, you know, come say hello and bring some friends (and Doug requests more edibles). We need all the support possible at this show. Mark it on the calendar. Tell a friend. Tell two friends. Bring your parents. Whatever you have to do, we just have to make this great.

More dates coming for April. Keep an eye on the old MySpace.

Speaking of MySpace, I used to think it was the most evil website ever created by man, but now I spend way too much time on it. From a band's perspective, it's probably the best internet resource ever created.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I think that's all I need to say about that.

On Saturday I believe we're playing a party somewhere in in the vicinity of Edgewater, FL. We'll see how that goes.

Last night Doug and I hashed out the route for our summer tour and hunted down lots of cool venues. Come July, Southeast USA is in for a real treat. More on that as it develops.

Listen to Words Now Heard

Over and outsies.

-Wes

There's a reason that we always say Ocala rocks and last night was proof.
To any of you Ocala kids who may be reading this... You guys & gals are amazing. A big hug with words to everyone who came out to support us 8 months after our last show there. To everyone who brought us cookies, said nice things to us, clapped, sang along, and danced liked there was no tomorrow, we can't thank you enough.

We'll be back soon. No more long periods of waiting. We'll return and have another amazing time. Hit up the Slocala boards and request us back. That'll help us tons. Tell your friends, send them links, wear those shirts. We're basically planning to just take over your town. But that's okay, right?

The 'Sarcasm' CD's sold in large quantities last night so we hope to see even more people the next time around. If anyone has pics or video from the show, send them our way. That's one show we want to keep in our memories for years to come.

Kudos to the other bands who played as well. Good show all around.

Despite the bad traffic and getting lost on the way to the venue it was the most fun I've had at a show in a long time.

Special thanks to the Wendy's crew. You know who you are.

-Wes

Hey peeps.

Remember when I used to write in this all the time? Yeah. I got busy. Oops.
I actually just wanted to talk a little about the show we played this past Satruday at the Island Oasis in Winter Park. First off, it was our first time playing that venue, and I actually kind of like it. For whatever reason, I always enjoy playing in dive bars. This was a dive.
Once in a blue moon we play shows where all of the bands are amazing. This was one of those shows. I definitely would've liked to have seen more familiar faces, but the small group we had was quite supportive. We kicked off the night after waiting and waiting for the sound guy whose car broke down on the way to the venue. After us, The Starrs took the stage and sounded amazing. Bert picked up a copy of their CD "Silhouette" and I've really been enjoying it. Up second were The 1985 Bears who were also fantastic. Closing out the show was Orlando's own Words Now Heard. WNH is a one man show featuring the talents of Chris Martin who was a very energetic and outgoing guy. He's a lot of fun.
When it was his turn to take the stage he got up there with an acoustic guitar and I was holding my breath hoping not to hear another Dashboard knockoff. However, even though he played everything acoustic, he put on a great show. The man has an amazing stage presence and even though he was the only one on stage, it felt like I was watching a full band show.
I'm really hoping we get a chance to share the stage with him again in the near future. If he plays near you, please go see him. I picked up a copy of his new CD called "Loud and Clear". Highly recommended.

We met so many people that night, and all of them were super nice. We've played with local bands that were complete ego maniacs, but we've always had pretty good luck when it comes to playing with touring bands that have an overall great attitude.

Ocala this weekend. Playing K&K. I'm really looking forward to this one.
Our Tampa show got cancelled.
My car needs an oil change.
Currently enduring a headache.

Apologies, awkwardness, and taking a stand have been the themes for the week.

Listen to that one band I talked about that one time.

-Wes

Hey all, just writing to let you know of a couple cool shows coming up.
Saves the Day at the Social March 23rd
Alkaline Trio at House of Blues April 9th.


Just kidding. Actually we're playing with some cool bands this coming Saturday March 4th at Island Oasis here in Orlando. Joining us will be Words Now Heard (who I think is the only artist to have played with EVERYONE), and a couple cool bands from the great white north The Starrs and the 1985 Bears (guess where they are from). So if you aren't doing anything on Saturday at 5pm come check us out for a drunken sex fest. Actually it will be a good, clean night of wholesome All Ages type entertainment, but since it's an early show you'll still have time for your drunken sex fests. So come get the best of both worlds Saturday night and hear some great music in the process.

The jury has come in on the Rhett Miller album "The Believer" and the verdict is it's at least half awesome (10 points to anyone who knows the band I referenced there).

Doug

Dear Port Orange,
Thanks for being a ton of fun and for not raining on us.
We hope to see you again next year.

To everyone who talked to, hung out with, or photographed us on Saturday.... THANK YOU! Hopefully you'll all enjoy those shirts, and I apologize once again that some idiot left all the CDs in Orlando.

We had a blast. It was a great way to end our weekend. We couldn't have asked for more. Well, we could have, but we didn't want to be diva's.

I always thought that one day people would throw things at me while I'm singing, but I never thought it would come from my own bandmates.

The jury is still out on new Rhett Miller CD.

Winter Park this weekend. All Ages. Good times.

-Wes

I'm so behind on this thing. It's ridiculous. As usual.

As I'm typing this, I'm listening to Rhett Miller's new album called "The Believer" which is the follow up to his first solo CD called "The Instigator."
You can listen to it too at www.myspace.com/rhettmiller. It's the perfect background music for reading this posting. Rhett also sings for a little band called the Old 97's. I was hoping my pre-order of the album would get here before the weekend, but I'm looking forward to having the physical copy in my mailbox on Monday.

A quick rundown of the shows we've played so far: They've been crazy. The good, the bad, the ugly... it's all been there.
Thursday night we played Will's Pub in Orlando with Chris Metz, Time & Distance, and Big City Dreams. We were expecting to play second in an opening slot, however we ended up playing last. We played for our fans and the bands, really. I don't know why people didn't stick around. It was barely 10pm when we played. Regardless, it was almost like a little private show.
Dave from the band formerly known as Hawkeye graced us with his presence. Hadn't seen that character in ages. During the downtime we played one handed Fooseball where you have to be holding a beer in one hand at all times.
After the show the touring bands took off, and the few remaining people in the venue just sat around shooting the breeze. Good times.

Last night we were scheduled to play at Apopka High School. Upon arrival we were told we were next so we just loaded right onto the stage, set up as fast as humanly possible. As usual, we had planned to open with one of the Moog-powered songs. On my attempt to tune the beast to prepare for the song, I was getting no sound whatsoever. I immediately started panicking, but since we were so pressed for time we just played 5 or 6 of our straight ahead rock songs. The audience was good, they seemed to enjoy it. We were playing in a "Cafetorium" so there was crazy reverb everywhere. I could hear my voice bouncing off the walls. It made it sound like the audience was singing along. Were they? Nope.
Big thanks to all the kids who bought CDs. I always feel awkward when people ask us to sign them because I feel like I'm defacing our own disc. We did sign a napkin though. That was a first. Me and my awesome 3 letter autograph.

The rest of the band should be here soon and we'll be on our way out to Port Orange for Spring Music Fest 2006, of which we are a part. I believe we're playing around 3:45... third band to play. This should be a fun one since we have to fill about 45 minutes. We'll be playing almost our entire catalog. We also have a few people making the drive from surrounding towns to see us. I think that's amazing.

This is our third day playing in a row, so this has to be the good show, right?
The Moog has been coaxed back to life, the guitar strings have been changed, and I'm ready to hit the road.

Have a great Saturday.

-Wes

Oh...uh... This past Saturday we played at The Haven in Winter Park.
The set went by so quickly that I don't remember most of it. I played sloppily. Sorry. We saw a lot of familiar faces and I hope I didn't molest anyone while I was wandering around the room during 'Window.'

This week we have 3 shows in a row in Orlando, Apopka, and Port orange. Rockin. Our calendar for March is filling up nicely. We have our local Orlando gig scheduled for March 4th at the Island Oasis venue. We've never played there before, but it's becoming more and more popular, so we thought we'd check it out. Looking forward to playing somewhere new.
We'll also be revisiting Ocala, taking our first trip down to Sarasota, and hopefully returning to Tampa to see some old friends and make new ones.
It's gonna be a busy month, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Uh, yeah. Fun times ahead. This week is dragging. I have the urge to get back on stage to sing off key and play the moog and guitar like I'm blind. I might not be a great musician, but it's gotta be fun to watch me bumble around on stage.

Seriously though... this Thursday. Will's Pub. All Ages. 6pm. $6. BE THERE. There are 4 amazing bands on this lineup (us included, of course) and I haven't been this excited about a lineup in a loooong time.

Enough begging. You'll be there. Or you won't. Whatever.

I think I'm going to go take care of a sick girl. Cross your fingers that I don't get ebola.

-Wes

I was going to utilize this postas a public apology to my bandmates for not joining them on this fine Friday evening for fun, videogames, and random shenanigans, but I've decided not to.

We have a show tomorrow. We will all be in the same room playing the same songs, and having a blast. It's all about the balance.

I'm putting myself on a strict diet of good old fashioned Powerpop music in an attempt to centralize myself so that I can complete the writing of our follow up to "Sarcasm". As it stands right now, we have seven songs that are always being rotated within our live show to fill the gaps that the EP songs don't fill. Doug and myself have been talking a lot about recording lately. It's something we love to do and are eager to get back into that creative mindset. We aren't sure if our next release will be a full length or another EP, but we've been exploring a lot of options as to what we would record, where we would record it, and who might be at the helm of the project. It's definitely brought up a lot of interesting discussion, and I wish I had more to share, but unfortunately, I don't have all the answers right now. Balance.

We have a lot of other things we need to think about before the studio, such as shows... figuring out which towns we want to target, which venues, and when. It's getting to the point where we know which Central Florida towns will give us the best response. We want to explore new towns just as much as we want to visit places that we enjoy playing. Balance.

We're still planning a tour for July and assuming that it happens and goes according to plan, assuming that we survive such a feat, it will tell us a lot about where we're going as a band. Balance.

I've had a lot of time to think lately, but at the same time, I've been running around like crazy, working, writing, reading, and diving my time between all of the people in my life that I care about. For once, things are going well and it's usually right about now that something pops up and upends my world. I'm hoping that karma can just take a vacation and leave me alone. Balance.

But let's take baby steps here... It's Friday. Fridays are the best.
Enjoy it. Live it up. Go get a little crazy. Do something you've never done before even if you think you'll hate it. It might surprise you.

Everyone have a safe night, and if you're local, come say hello tomorrow at The Haven Lounge (9pm, $5, 18+).

-aWESome

Ok so it has been way too long since anyone but Wes has posted on here so I'm pretty sure it's my turn. Today was Valentines Day....why. Who's idea was this. It's just a reason for girls to get mad at guys because we didn't get them flowers, jewlery and candy. Am I jealous because I don't have a girlfriend, no. Infact I would be more upset if I did because I would have to spend money on her.

Moving on, we have so many shows coming up that by the last one this month my arms might actually fall off, or at the very least my shirt. This Saturday we are playing at The Haven. Then next week we have 3 shows, 3 days in a row and all 3 are all ages, how cool is that?

One last thing, Wes forgot to mention that time we were in the recording studio and Doug decided he should fart as loud as possible. Actually that has happened a lot of times, but just ask Doug about that, I'm pretty sure he has his own list.

-bert

Do something nice tomorrow for Valentine's Day.
Stop calling Wednesday's "Hump Day."
Find something to do on Thursday evening.
Don't party too hard on Friday.
Come see ENY at The Haven on Saturday.
Relax on Sunday.

Did Dick Cheney seriously shoot a guy?

I've got nothing.

-Wes

What is up with MySpace lately? We've been lucky to break 10 plays a day this week. We were doing so well for a while. Is everyone too busy listening to Panic at the Disco? Where's the loyalty?
You can't get tired of us before you see what we're capable of.
I knew I should've written music that was even more generic and boring.

I heard a new Hawthorne Heights song on the radio last night. I wasn't aware that they even had more than one song, let alone multiple albums. It sounded just like the last single.
Why do bands think that every song needs a screamy part?

Next week I'm going to lock myself in a closet and just listen to 80's new wave tunes. Maybe some early 90's rock. Basically, any genre of recorded music that doesn't make me want to set myself on fire.

I hope that one day, one of our tunes will be the "Prom Song" for that year. You know, one of those obnoxious tunes that plays at every high school dance and takes over the radio. I also want to die with no credibility.

The truth is, I have a moderate to strong dislike for the music industry.

I'm sarcastic.

It's been brought to my attention that the term "Gal Pal" as used a few entries ago, has been dubbed as "queer."

Big thanks to my gal pal for pointing that out.

Oops.

WES

I'm systematically becoming worse and worse at updating this thing. A lot of our friends and family read it to stay updated on the progress of the band, and I really like that. I hate hate hate repeating myself (wow, there's hypocrisy for you), so if everyone can just take two minutes and read this, it saves me a lot of time and keeps my jaw untired. Sometimes I feel bad because everyone has to hear about our adventures from just my perspective. I feel that you tend to miss out on a lot of things. For instance, whenever I tell stories about our shows, nine times out of ten it's me telling stories about the other band members.

I'll be honest, I don't usually like talking about myself. I tend to be a pretty funny guy and yet, as soon as someone starts a video camera rolling, or someone talks to me at a show, the pressure is on and I become a boring pile of skin and bones. My apologies for that.
I think I have that disorder where you're afraid of people. I don't remember what it's called off the top of my head, and I don't feel like looking it up. It's hilarious to me that I don't like being in or around large groups of people, and yet I decided to make being in a band my goal in life. Sometimes I don't quite think things through.

If I go to a show and there's a lot of people there, you'll find me in the back hanging out at the bar with the soccer moms who brought their kids to the show.
Moral of the story? If you talk to me before or after we play a show, rest assured that I'm really nervous and may not understand why you want to talk to me. After we play, I don't always feel impressive. If I'm sweaty, I don't look impressive, and you can pretty much bet I don't smell impressive either. Just approach me slowly. Pretend I'm a wild animal. Okay, not in that way.
Sometimes I wonder if people think I'm a jerk because I don't like to stand around and chit chat for hours after we play. I'm not that guy. It's not that I don't like you, just know that I'm either trying to load out, sell merch, or looking frantically around the room for someone I know. In fact, just wait until I have two drinks in me before you even attempt conversation. I get really loud after a few, and at that point, I'll talk to you until you're blue in the face or dead.

I'm a shy person. When I'm on stage, I'm not always me. I don't know who I am, but it's not me. Stage-me talks too much and says things he can only get away with while on stage with a band. Normal-me makes the same bad jokes over and over and is generally uninteresting. Don't confuse the two.
See, even now. I don't know what to say about me. I'm squirming in my chair.

This is going nowhere.

Listen to Inkwell.

-Wes

We play shows. We've played quite a few of them in the past couple years. We're over the 50 mark now, heading for 100. I've gotta say, that's pretty impressive. A lot of bands nowadays never get out of the garage. We've not done bad for a band that formed in just a couple days and I never expected to play any songs I've written in front of anyone, let alone to a couple hundred kids at our show with Gym Class Heroes. We've released a CD on our own and played all over Central Florida. We're not stopping any time soon and our trying to organize a summer tour along with many shows in many towns.

Whenever we do play shows and we talk to the other bands, one of the things we do is share road stories as it were about crazy things we've seen happen. Since I'm such a huge fans of lists, I'm going to do some top 5's about things band related. This could suck or be boring to read. Just warning you now.

TOP 5 CRAZY ON-STAGE ENY MOMENTS:
1. July 27, 2004 @ Calico Jack's - The singer in the band before us (who were buddies of ours) was going crazy and jumping on things while they played. He was walking across barstools and crashed, slicing open his toe and bleeding everywhere. He then tried to walk up the stairs to the stage and fell over. During our set, I mocked him while singing Window and jumped on stuff. When I tried to mock him falling up the stairs, I tripped over the mic cable and took my own spill.

2. October 22nd, 2005 @ Duke's Orlando - For whatever reason, Doug and I got really drunk before we played. There weren't many people at the show, so we got kinda weird. Bert had taken off his shirt earlier in the set, as he normally does. People in the crowd were yelling at Doug to take his off. I told him I wouldn't play the next song unless he did. He lost the shirt, and his pride.

3. August 10th, 2005 @ O-Zone CD's - For a while I went through a phase where I liked climbing up onto amplifiers during certain parts in songs. Sometimes I climbed onto mine, other times JoAnna's. At this show, during the breakdown of 'Girl Like Her' I climbed onto mine, totally forgetting that it was missing one of it's rubber feet. The amp started swaying and gyrating under my feet. Luckily I jumped off before I crashed down onto it. That would have been a mess.

4. November 18th, 2005 @ Univ. of Central Florida - This was the big show we played with Gym Class Heroes. This crazy moment happened during the breakdown of 'Girl Like Her' (where apparently most of our crazy moments happen) and I swung my guitar around me like you see the cool hardcore bands do, and I guess JoAnna was standing a little too close and the headstock of my guitar smashed into her playing hand, slicing it open. It was black and blue for a week after that. She never lets me live it down.

5. January 20, 2006 @ Duke's Orlando - Girl Like Her breakdown. JoAnna rocks out too hard. Runs off Stage. Pukes.

TOP 5 WORST ENY SHOWS:
1. October 12th, 2003 @ Stardust Coffee - Our first show ever. The place was packed for the last band and we blew it in front of a lot of people. We sucked bad. Bert, Doug, and myself all had songs so I don't think the audience ever knew who the singer was. The stage was too small and we had a really crappy amp setup. We don't talk about it anymore.

2. December 11, 2004 @ Sims Park - We were invited to play an annual festival held at Sims Park in New Port Richey. It was one of our first out of town shows so we were really excited. We ended up having to play at 10am to about five people after a two hour drive.

3. August 27th, 2005 @ Central Station - We played with our buddies Holidaysburg at a bar in downtown Orlando. They played and then we played. The promoter said we had to play another 30 minute set in order to get paid. I retook the stage being extremely drunk and we ended up playing a few new songs that bombed so we just proceeded to reprise half of our earlier set. I'll admit, it wasn't a terrible show, probably quite amusing if you were there, but that in combination with the fact that it took us two hours to get back to the venue to load makes it a show that still frustrates me to this day.

4. April 21st, 2005 @ The Club at Firestone - This was a second round for a battle of the bands. We had won the first round, but the event was held in a huge venue, and tickets were going for $12 a head. There were maybe 20 people in the entire venue. Due to a band showing up late for soundcheck, we got our 30 minute set cut down to 15 minutes with no advance warning. I think we only got to play four songs.

5. February 4th, 2005 @ Debbie's Bar - We played an acoustic show at a dive bar due to some drummer issues we'd been having. Quite a few friends show up to see us, but the bartender started kicking out everyone under 21 (we were told the show was 18+) after our 3rd song. After playing two more tunes we got fed up, packed it in, and walked out.

Honorable Mention: The Memorial Day Skatepark show where JoAnna fell deathly ill the night before.

MY TOP 5 BANDS ENY HAS PLAYED SHOWS WITH:
These are my favorite bands that we've played with to date. Listen to them all.

1. The Progress - From Cherry Hill, NJ. Played with them twice on separate tours they did. Awesome live band, the nicest of guys.
www.myspace.com/theprogress

2. Holidaysburg - From Orlando, FL. We've played with these boys plenty of times. My personal favorite local band. Not only do they put on an amazing live show full of energy, but they play some good alt-country tunes. Oh, and a ton of fun to drink with.
www.myspace.com/holidaysburg

3. Select Start - From Tampa, FL. Played with these fellas once in Orlando and once down in their hometown. Great shows both times. They're about the closest thing to our band that I've seen in a while and they have some amazing songs. They should have a CD coming out this year.
www.myspace.com/selectstart

4. Hey Nice Guy - From Ocala, FL. Doug and I actually drove 2 hours to Ocala to see these guys play based off of a demo we picked up at a show. I believe they're currently on a hiatus, but we've seen them play a bunch of times, and actually got to share the stage with them in Ocala last year.
www.myspace.com/heyniceguy

5. Fellsmere - From Orlando, FL. We've played a whole lot of shows with these guys. We both kind of came onto the scene around the same time, so we shared a lot of friends and stages as we all tried to make names for ourselves. They even released a CD right around the same time we did, so I feel like we've seen them grow as a band. Every show we play with them gets better and the crowds get bigger.
www.myspace.com/fellsmere

TOP 5 FUNNIEST BAND MEMBER MOMENTS:
Sometimes we do really funny things without meaning to, and those moments go down in infamy.

1. Upon taking a break from one of our weekend rehearsals, Doug and I go to step outside for some fresh air, and Doug walks face first into a glass sliding door he thought was open. He even leaves a faceprint.

2. During a recording session we all met up in the parking lot. JoAnna was the last one to arrive so Bert was standing in the last available parking spot he was saving for her. A car comes out of nowhere and tries to pull in where Bert is standing. Driver asks him to move, Bert replies "I'm holding this spot for the person behind you."

3. Doug getting really drunk at a studio session one night, ranting and raving into our video camera. He was really angry that Bert wasn't at the session since it was a band function and everyone should be present. He went on and on, making very valid points, but in the end, not really making a valid argument.

4. On day during practice JoAnna and Bert suited up in inflateable boxing gloves and helmets and proceeded to do what you always do when you just need to hit something... attack Doug.

5. During another recording session, JoAnna became obsessed with a broken drumstick she found and spent the rest of the night hitting band members with it at every opportunity. I don't think anyone made it out of that situation bruise-free.

And lastly, these are a few awards I'd like to give out based on our past shows:

The "I Just Don't Get It" award goes to: Speaking Of...
Orlando noise rock. I just didn't get it. I've never seen a stage so full of keyboards, noise boxes, and out of tune voices. I spent the whole performance wondering if they came to the show with only the bare neccessities.

The "Waaaaaaahmbulance" Award goes to: Doug McPherson
This award is bestowed upon the biggest whiner. Doug, the guitarist for Early Next Year set a new record for number of times he had the Waaaaahmbulance called on him at one show for incessant whining.

The "Please Never Play With Us Again" award goes to: Boxelder
I wanted you guys to win the "I don't get it award" but don't since you didn't I made up a new category. I'm not saying you guys weren't good... but your set was a little bit lengthy. Just a tad. In fact, during your set I zoned out at least seven times and that was while standing beside a speaker. I don't know if you noticed, but by your 50th song, people in the audience were sitting on the ground talking on their cell phones. You lost everyone. And then there were bongos!? What....? I guess it's just way over my head. Sorry. You do your thing. You might spend a little more time in the future catering to your target demographic. You know... Hippies, for instance.

The "If I See It Again, I'm Going to go Nuts" Award goes to: The Day hummer.
A bright yellow tank of a car with a picture of a 16 year old's face on the back window? Dear owner of said vehicle, you should have just put all of your money into a big garbage bag and then lit it on fire. I'm not saying the band is bad, it's just that I wouldn't ride anywhere in that mechanical eyesore. I'm sorry that you have to.

and finally, the "Best Irish Pub" award goes to: Ybor City.
We went down to the Tampa area to play with our pals Select Start and Half-Way Hero. This town was great and our neverending goal to find the best Irish Pub in everytown we play in did not miss a beat. Up some stairs off of main street we found a little hole in the wall place that had some great music, great atmosphere, and some strong beer. In fact, Doug and I really want to play in Ybor again simply to return to this bar. Another show there would just be icing on the cake.

This basically took me a whole afternoon to write. Wow, I wasted a LOT of time.
I hope you were there for some of these events, and if not, hang around us more. The weirdest crap happens all the time.

In a few months, I'll probably have enough stories to do another one of these monsters.

-Wes