It feels good and weird.
We wanna thank LPU for the supplies, belief, and the final product in it's various formats.
We hope some people go deep into it.
XO Nick
(Scott wrote some great words about where we're coming from and how we're sometimes described by music writers in some wack ways, see them below..)
I don't think any of us ever thought that the music we making would one day actually be the medium/vehicle to which we explored and grew within our own skin. And through 7 years, it's now quite difficult to separate our lives from the music; they are intimately tied to one another. The music has become about our lives, and our lives have become about the music
I recently read some reviews that questioned whether or not we might be part of some recent "call for the wild and weird" fad, or something like that...essentially wondering if we're jumping on a trendy train. One reviewer even postulated that Nick (singer/lyrics man) is either a shaman or a "sham-man", and that time will tell which of the two is true. Granted it's hard to detect sarcasm or to what extent people are serious in print, I was nonetheless a little hurt, because these assessments are completely off from who we are as a band and as people.
Don't get me wrong, having the opportunity to have our music heard beyond the walls of our practice space is amazing. It's already light years beyond the few expectations we had when we started the band.
But I nonetheless feel that's not even close to a fair judgement. We've been around for too long to be challenged like that. It's been 7 years of us just doing what we do, and that's too long of a time, and way too calculated of a goal, - with such a small pay-off (indie hype) - , to be credible. The shallowness of such a goal would most likely not be met by 7 years of relative obscurity, consistently unattended/poorly attended shows across the entire country, and being utterly broke. Moreover, none of this has changed: We're still relatively obscure, playing to few, and pretty much broke.
And though it's true that we oftentimes have a sense of humor about our music, that should not and can not be a measurement against our sincerity...We are, and always have been, unapologetically sincere about our music (and our musical tastes, for that matter!)
Like I said, our music has become intimately intertwined with our own lives. So it's no surprise that some listeners might pick up on something that could be thought of as "spirituality" within our musical and/or lyrical content . But the depth of that "spirituality" within our songs/lyrics was never meant, on our part, to transcend beyond those songs/lyrics, or our own personal experiences. We are nowhere near what a real shaman is capable of.
We do not think we are, or want to be, that kind of band.
However, if you have an amazing spiritual experience and our sounds are the soundtrack, thats fucking great, but it's not intentional on our part.
All said, this does not come from a place of bitterness. And I know this may seem kind-of self-important, but on the eve of the release of our new record, I can't help but feel to make some reflections regarding what some people think we're all about vs who we really are.
We are really just down-to-earth guys, just doing what we have done for 7 years (and hopefully many more years to come). If you can get anything out of our music, on any level, that makes me really happy.
I really hope you enjoy "To Realize". It was, and now is, a chapter in our lives
-Scott
