Day 37

Today is my last day in Seattle, and to celebrate we are having a big farewell to me/ Josh Head/ Toby Moreno dual birthday party. There's going to be lots of friends and lots of barbeque, the only downside is I have to catch a plane at 6:50am so I hope I'm able to get up on time. The record is still not finished, and probably won't be done on time, but it should be done at some point in the next few weeks, I'll believe it when I see it. I keep worrying that I'm going to forget something important, I have to keep checking, I've got my clothes, my computer, my cds, my house keys, my shoes, jacket, socks, underwear, guitar, that should be everything, I'll know for sure when I don't have it, and hopefully that's before the other guys leave. After I get home I get to find a job so I can earn some money for the week and a half I have off, I'll get something, or I'll have to look through dumpsters to find food. I can't wait to start practicing the new songs and then finally we get to tour again. First off we go to Nashville for GMA week. Now most people don't know what GMA week is, so I'll explain. GMA week is an event held every year in Nashville where the christian music industry shows off what it has. This time is the most hellish thing for bands that understand that there is a better market outside the christian market. Believe it or not, there aren't many that understand that, or want to understand that. Now, this may be my opinion, but I don't think I stand alone on this. We have gotten used to this whole thing as we have atended the past two years, so this year shouldn't be too bad. Our week will consist of a bunch of things; Sunday- Showcase show for booking agent; Monday- Thursday- interviews with various radio stations and magazines asking us questions like 'How did you get your name' or 'What does the title of the new record mean' or 'Why did you switch record labels?' stuff like that, which at first, isn't too bad, but after four days of this, it gets a little tiring; Tuesday- Acoustic showcase for EMI suits sales conference, we're basically trying to show EMI why they should put more money into us; Wednesday- Tooth and Nail showcase. This is a short overview of the week, I'll post more when I get there, there should be some good stories nightly.

Day 35

So here's some sorry shit. It's 5:15 in the morning and I've been playing the Legend of Zelda for eight hours straight, and I'm not even half way through it. I thought when I started the game at 9:30 last night that I would be done by two, or three at the latest, but not a chance. I've looked up maps and hints on the internet, but it's all come down to my skill level, and without much sleep I don't think I'll ever beat the game. Looks like I might be using my last three days in Seattle to finish the Legend of Zelda. I wouldn't really mind, it's raining anyway. I also found my Halloween costume early, can't wait for October.

Day 31/33

Ah yes, St. Patrick's Day, the most pointless holiday in the world, but also the most fun. I'm on my way out to sell some clothes that I don't wear to get some money for this evening.

That above sentence was started the other day, then I went to lunch and forgot about it.
So I have five days left in the great northwest, and I'm having mixed feelings about leaving. On one hand I'll be glad to be at home, sleep in my own bed, hang out with my friends and family, plus it should be spring time, so I can ride my bike. But on the other hand it is so nice up here. This city is great, there's so much to do, so many places I can walk to. I'll come back up to visit sometime. Tonight is Aaron's birthday party, it sounds like it's going to be a ton of fun, it will have the hippest, cred worthy guests in attendance. Speaking of hip and cred- worthy, I saw the guitarist from Modest Mouse (and MCD) walking to his brand new Volvo the other day, and he just stared up at me as I told the person I was on the phone with who was staring at me. He was probably wondering why someone looking like me was up in a nice condo. I don't know, maybe he wanted to be friends with me, but he didn't know for sure, so he was thinking about that? Our house guests have left, but we got Chris back, so it evens out. Lastly, Excedrine PM works wonders.

Day 29

Irony is a funny thing. To back up this statement I will share the following story. So I am broke. I have one dollar to my name, so I decide to try and get a job for the day at a place called Labor Ready. So I get myself up at around, oh, 8 am and walk down there. There are a ton of homeless drug addicts waiting for jobs as well. Now I don't mind any of this, but then I start thinking to myself, here's where the irony is, I'm staying in a 1.5 million dollar condo and am on a good record label and here I am waiting with a group of junkies to earn $30 so I can have some money in my pocket. That's about it.

Day 27

Everyone left today, and while I thought it would be nice, I'm actually kind of lonely. Luckily we'll have some house guests staying with Jeff and myself. Last night and everynight after we'll have the wonderful Josh Head bedding down with us, and then tomrrow we'll have Mr. Dave Tosti and his brother Aaron staying with us. Hopefully some other folks will be stopping by like they said they would. I think I'm just rpeating myself now, let me know. I got to see the Velvet Teen last night, the first time with Casey playing, and it was amazing. Today I was awakend by a man yelling my name with a hand towel tied around his face (turned out to be Jon Dunn), and they said I looked about the funniest they have ever seen me. I was also makikng some horrible yell/ screeching noise as he was shaking me, I don't know why. The recording is shaping up nicely, I'm excited for other people to hear it. Josh, Jeff and Jon have been playing Halo for three hours now, I really hate the game, I admit it is because I'm so horrible at it, so I guess I'm pretty much a sore loser, but I hate it.

Day 25

It's all of a sudden damn cold here. they day started off nice and warm, and now the wind has picked up and it is chilly, what gives? Oh yeah, it's Seattle. Aaron hooked up this intercom on the outside of the building today. So we are able to talk to people walking by and we can watch them on the closed circuit t.v. It so far has been responsible for us losing about two hours in which we could have been recording, but it's so much fun. I spent the majority of my day sitting around the Tooth and Nail offices acting like I worked there. I signed three bands, all of which were dropped minutes after my phone calls to them. This part might have been made up. We have a new roommate now, Mr. Josh Head, Emery keyboardist/vocalist and one of the best people to have around. He's great, he makes food, tea, cleans, runs errands, and I think he's capable of other things as well. Tonight has a lot in store, but we'll see what actually happens when the time comes.

Day 24

Hey, I heard some crazy stuff yesterday. I apologize if any of you have read about this, but I doubt it. So there was a husband and wife visiting a chimpanze that used to live with them when two other chimps got out of their cages and started to maul the man and woman. The woman got her thumb bitten off, the man lost all of his fingers, an eye, part of his nose, heel, buttock and testicles, and then to top it off, one of the chimps proceeded to drag the guy down the road after doing all of this, so the monkeys were shot to death, end of story. So don't fuck with chimps, they're strong ass animals. I'm waiting for the O.C. to come on, I've gone a week without it, I'm doing pretty good though, so don't worry. We all got another free lunch today, and drinks, I can't get enough of free food, or anything free for that matter. I also got to meet some of the guys from the Blood Brothers today, they came by the studio and hung out for a while. I always think that some of these people will be dicks, but not at all. They were all super nice, namely Cody Votolato (note: Josh, Rocky's little brother). So don't let anyone tell you these guys are asses, and if they were asses to you, you probably deserved it. O.C.s on. More tomorrow.

Day 23

You know that feeling when you want to do something, but you do the same thing all time, so you always find yourself doing the same thing you just thought about not doing? That whole sentence ight not make any sense. So basically I'm getting restless. Guitars are being recorded, so I sit around waiting to hear the 'closer to being done' song. I tend to find things to pass the time, a few minutes at a time. Like last night, I went to a show, it was a good one. Project 86, He Is Legend and Classic Case, tons of fun. I hadn't seen the Project guys in a while, so we hung out all night, first the Cha Cha and then the studio. Today we got free sushi from Brandon Ebel, it was really good. I tend to find myself just doing things that I normally wouldn't do, not that they are bad things, just things that I'm usually too of a pussy to do. Lately I've gotten up the balls to get us product endorsements, and I'm on a roll. So far it's been amps and strings and the guitars we should know about in a few days. I don't know if it's just me, but these blogs seem really boring, I can't wait to start touring so hopefully there will be some more exciting things happening. We'll see.

Day 22

Trying to find new and intersting things to write about is kind of hard right now, since I don't do a damn thing. At least, until last night. So I finished my bass parts, all done, so in celebration we went to the Wing Dome, for the fourth time. Lots of wings and drinks, some of the Emery guys were there, we had a blast and I found the secret to eating a 7alarm wing is not water afterwards, it hurts for a second, but then its nothing. For the second part of my celebration I went to the Cha Cha with Aaron and Chris, it was fun. We get introduced to a few people and before I know, we're hanging out with the guitarist from Vendetta Red and the ex- drummer of Acceptance. Chris left and a bunch of us went to this kareoke bar. I found out after I entered the place that it was a primarily gay bar, there were still women and couples hanging out, but I guess this place was technically a gay bar. So I'm hanging out in a gay bar with Aaron Sprinkle, a guy fom Vendetta Red and another guy who used to be in Acceptance, it was the most fun I've had in a long time. We made fun of the horrible singers, drank a lot and then headed home. Aaron was going to stay the night, but he disappeared around 4 in the morning and drove home, but he left his shoes in the apartment. I also couldn't sleep because the wings had caught up to me and made me feel like crap. They have these new cigarettes called Marlboro 72's. They were two for one, so Chris and I bought some. These things are like pygmie cigarettes, we're guessing the 72 means they are 72% of a real cigarette, I don't know, they're tiny, so don't buy those. Free lunches this week courtesy of Brandon Ebel and a guynamed DJ, free food is always nice. The Velvet Teen is playing up here this week, so I'll finally have something to do this weekend, until then, I'll find something to do.

Day 16

It's been a while, say this to yourself in a yeah voice, it has a bad effect on me, I hate this phrase because of this thought. Anyway, It has been, not that things haven't been exciting and fun, I just haven't felt like writing. And then just when I work into my routine up here, I get the horrific news that the O.C. will not be on tomorrow, what the hell? I have my brothers coming up though, so I'll get by without it for one week. So I'm almost all done with my tracking, well, half way done, then I get to sleep in and do nothing for another four weeks. It will be great. Today one of the most awkward things happend. One Michael Freestone, or Freakstone as J.R. McNeely calls him, calls and says he'll be by in an hour. So we wait in anticipation, Aaron tells us he doesn't want him to come inside, so we aren't allowed to let him in. We also have to get the idea across to him that he has no chance in hell with this label or studio or anything that has to do with any of us. So he finally shows up and says he has to come inside and talk with Aaron, we tell him Aaron's not in, and he insists on wating in the lobby for him to come back. Not cool, mainly because Aaron was in the other room. After a lot of b.s.ing with the guy we get someone to say they are an intern and will give his record to aaron to listen to, then he starts to lay into the girl, one of our good friends, about how her promotions department needs to get this record out as quickly as possible because it is going to fly off the shelves, or some crap like that. Then, out of nowhere, Austin, one of the most quiet and unassuming people ever, tells the guy to do that himself because we are not interested in his music. This catches Michael off guard and he asks why. Here is the best part, Austin calmly tells him that he doesn't like his music and it's not good, the guy is speechless and turns and walks away. I could not believe that whole thing, i was unbelieveable. In other news, there are some really crappy cars, probably abandoned, that are parked in front of the studio, and for some reason they really piss me off to look at them everyday. But I think they are going to get towed tomorrow, so now I won't have to look at those pieces of crapanymore and we can get a great parking spot. I almost forgot to mention, we hit up the Wing Dome for a second time on Monday, and this time it was a killer, ten 5's again and a 7 to finish up the night, but it killed me this time, and for some reason I can't wait for next week, Wing Dome again.