About Hate

Here's the thing about hate: It never ends.

It just keeps feeding into itself and it spins and it spins, accelerating with every violent reaction. With every retaliation, hate swells and mutates until it grows wild enough to dull our very senses.

It is easy to kill. However, it is near impossible to stop the momentum of resentment born out of the devastation of killing. When a person is killed, it does not end with them. They are ripped from the community that surrounded them. They were loved, they were needed and they were taken away violently. How does that community react? How would you react? Anger seems obvious to me, revenge seems obvious to me, for I am human and it's in my blood. 

It's probably clear that I am writing this in light of the recent attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. I don't want to try to make sense of that whole situation, its deeply upsetting for many reasons, but the wounds are very fresh and I don't feel that it is my place to comment on anything specifically. However, it is one of the many instances of senseless killing that is happening around the world at this second. Killing in the name of hate. 

How do we reverse the cycle?

I really don't know the answer. Forgiveness? Probably. But it's hard to fathom the strength required to let go of decades of hurt, anger and confusion. It's even harder to comprehend as a white male living in Canada with a loving family. Forgiveness seems necessary, but it feels disingenuous for me to preach forgiveness when I have no experience with the kind of devastation murder can cause.

Love? Love makes sense. Isn't that what being here on this earth is all about? Working together, making connections with each other, learning together, loving each other and moving forward into the unknown together, as humans. As one.

So, here's the thing about hate: It must end.

-j

A Long-Overdue Update

Wow, it's been a long time eh? Thought it would be pertinent to get back in to the web game. It wouldn't seem like it, given the lack of media lately, but we've been hard at work on our new record.

This past weekend we went back into Escarpment Studio to do some last minute tweaks. This included re-doing a lot of the violin tracks with a new mic-setup and the results are extremely pleasing. The live room at Escarpment has a beautiful natural sound, and we used some interestingly placed room mics to really capture that feeling. Here's a quick vid that Pritch took while Jay and I were warming up.

We're working on scheduling our mixing and mastering dates as we speak, and we'll keep you updated as that goes forward. We're so excited for this record to finally be out there!

-p

What a Blast with Navy Skies!

This past weekend was a pretty crazy one! For those not in the know, we did a two-city micro-tour with our close friends Navy Skies. We played in Kingston at The Mansion, and in Ottawa at Avant-Garde. We also got to meet the great guys of Gutter Honey and The Tenenbaums. These were some of our favourite shows we've ever been a part of. The energy was at an all-time high, and the buildings were packed! We got to play for old friends, and also make some brand new ones!

Here are some of my favourite moments from the weekend.
- A high-energy rendition of Come Together to close out our set at The Mansion. It's become a bit of a tradition for us there, but this time was the best one yet!
- Floor camping with Navy Skies! This also resulted in some hilariously hung-over conversations the next morning.
- We got a sneak peak at the art-work for our upcoming album. It's shaping up to be unbelievable!
- AJ Fisico hulking out during Coyotes in Ottawa. The drum kit later charged him with aggravated assault.
- Getting to play violin with Navy Skies during their Ottawa set!
- Navy Skies absolutely destroying their sets, and playing some brand new tunes we'd never heard! Trust me when I say their new stuff is catchier than baseball.

Oh, and of course this...

We want to send a huge thanks to Gutter Honey and The Tennenbaums, and of course Navy Skies! Also we want to thank everyone who came out to these shows and made them such a success! Merci beaucoup!
-p

We want to thank you so much!

Our IndieGoGo campaign wrapped up this past weekend, and the show of support was absolutely overwhelming. We ended up exceeding the funding goal that we set! Without all of your support, we wouldn't be able to finish making this record. But now we have the resources to really make this something special. It's been an incredible 6 weeks, and we're so excited to finish this project and give it all back to you!

We wanted to do something special as a thank-you. So Jay and I got together and played the best thank-you song we could think of: A Thousand Suns by Hey Rosetta!
ere it is, just for you.

We couldn't have done this without you.
Merci beaucoup!
-p

The Audition

There are two-and-a-half weeks left in our IndieGoGo campaign (which you can donate to here). We want to thank everyone that has helped us make so much progress, and so we're releasing the second sketch video we shot in May. 

After finally deciding on a premise for their promotional videos, the band decides to hire some actors to play the parts of the band members. When Paul decides he wants to start an acting career by playing the part of Jay, tensions flair! 

Once again, we couldn't have done this without the help of Joe Swallow, Sandy James, Matt Palermo, Eddie Majnemer, and Aven Hoffarth. Enjoy!