Can't we all just get along?

I love starbucks and I love music. I want to love a world where they can co-exist...can such a utopian society survive in these hard economic times? Let's ask this statue I took a picture of...CREEPY.

Matt found this statue in front of a church near the apt in NYC. Those are spikes sticking up all over it! I think it's to protect it from pigeons...but isn't that a little harsh? Raising Hell, the statue. So I'm in NYC sick as a dog but living off the energy and angst of a city that never sleeps. No sleep to Brooklyn!

Back to songwriting and bagel biting. Keep posting comments...you guys are the blood we need. So keep flowing.

xxxJT

Starfree???

Ok, so a couple of things have been bugging me lately and I have to get it off my chest. Perhaps you guys can give me some insight on this: 1) We're supposed to be in a recession right now, but people are still lined up at Starbucks paying ridiculous amounts of money for coffee drinks every day, and 2) I read that 95% of all music downloads last year were illegal (and there were over a billion legally downloaded songs)...that's nearly 19 BILLION illegally downloaded songs...yikes!

What I'm getting at is if someone frequents Starbucks on a daily basis AND still downloads music illegally, they're an asshole who deserves a good smack because: 1) they have the money to actually support the bands they enjoy, but choose not to and 2) Coffee has never, and will never, define ones character. You will never reminisce about days gone by from the taste of a cup of Starbucks like you will when you hear a song from your childhood.

So if you know someone who does this, tell them they 1) should start paying for music and supporting the bands they enjoy or 2) they should man-up and start stealing Starbucks too so you won't call them a hypocrite.

At what point in our society did our priorities get so fucked up that we value coffee higher than music/art?

Eron

100 Bands You Need To Know in 2009

After we returned from NYC a couple weeks ago I picked up the new issue of Alternative Press...the "100 Bands You Need To Know in 2009" issue to be exact. Forget the fact that 90% of those bands are forgettable and 98% of them won't stand the test of time for just a second; this issue got me thinking about the sheer volume of new bands sprouting up all the time and how ridiculous it is. Seriously, this shit is getting insane. It's not AP's fault. That issue just featured 100 bands and there's thousands more popping up everyday online, so I applaud AP for filtering through the pile. Who the hell, as a music fan, has time to check out all of these bands or the money to buy 100 records these days? (I think I just found another reason why 95% of music was illegally downloaded last year!)

Technology has leveled the playing field between bands/artists and record labels. Labels are no longer necessary to get your music out there. However, just because you have a computer, like music and can create a free myspace/facebook account doesn't mean you qualify for being a "musician" or that you should release this "music" that you've created. I like food, have a stove and a refrigerator, but that doesn't qualify me as being a Chef. So the down side to all this technology is this flood of music and new bands that wouldn't have been released years ago (in some cases for the better). This non-stop barrage of music creates a frantic pace for both artists and labels alike, which hinders creativity and prevents artists from taking the time they should be allotted, creating the absolute best album they can because they have to reach some unjustly appointed time frame.

I'm not one of those people that professes "music was so much better back in the day", but I do think our generation is severely lacking in the "generation defining album" department. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good music out there today, but given the current pace of things its hard for artists to create something truly amazing.

Now look, before any haters get their panties in a bunch, I'm not claiming that our music is somehow superior and that we're somehow the next incarnation of the Beatles by any means. I hold us to the same high standards. A couple of years ago we were once featured on the cover of that AP issue, and up to this point, I don't even know if we (along with most other bands from our generation) have created anything that doesn't fall under my criteria above when one looks back 10 or 20 years from now. I do know we're three albums (going on four) into this thing we like to call a career and withstood a ton of shit to get to where we are, so by that fact alone, we stand a better chance of not being forgotten...yet. That all depends on how our future albums turn out and our ability to create a timeless record. I don't feel we've gotten there yet, but for the first time in our career, we're working really hard towards that goal with our newest album. Timeframes be damned. We're trying not to add to the clutter any more. This album is essentially three years in the making and we hope all the time spent will be well worth it, for you and for us, once this album comes out...oh yeah, its coming out later this year!!!!! I hope you guys will have the same reaction to our new album that I had when Nirvana released Nevermind, Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction and more recently with Green Day - American Idiot..."Fuck, that's an amazing record!"

Eron

Too much time....

That cat's got an orange on his head. It kind of looks like he plays for the Cincinnati Bengals. It's a slow blog day... I will be back in NYC on Monday so expect more blogs. And if you are nice...maybe you will get a song clip or some lyrics. Stay tuned, because we have been working so hard on these songs. Shit's gettin' crazy. xxxJT

Shockhound Acoustic Sessions

How its made...

Leave Us Comments!

So you'll probably notice that we have a new little feature on the site....the ability for you to tell us how amazingly awesome we are...in other words, we've added a "comments" feature so we can see what you think about things and you can interact with others. This is just one of the many improvements to come, so check back often! Eron

The scene is dead!!!!!

I see people on message boards using the term "scene" a lot still. I find it incredibly humorous. ANNOUNCEMENT: The "scene" you speak of is dead! It died several years ago when the mainstream turned to the underground music scene, as it does every ten years or so, and made those bands popular. I'm sorry to break this news to you. These bands are no longer playing VFW halls put on by LOCAL promoters, booking their own tours, trading shows with bands from other parts of the country and releasing music themselves. Its all packaged tours with big product sponsors, ticketmaster pre-sales, ads in national magazines, iTunes, merch in hot topic, myspace, facebook, and twitter pages, songs placed in MTV reality shows and in some instances; radio play. There's nothing wrong with all of that, because that's what it takes to get exposure and make a living playing music these days, but all of that commercialization means it is no longer a "scene". I've come to that realization, its time you do the same!I know there are still "scenes" out there, and as a product of the hardcore scene I have many great memories, so that makes me happy, but these music scenes are not the ones I'm reading about online. Eron

Ping Pong Duel: JT vs. Micah

Yo Gabba Gabba

Normally I don't watch a lot of TV, but Avery really likes a show called Yo Gabba Gabba. I figured that since it's pretty much named after a Ramones song, it has to be pretty good. When I watched the first episode Jimmy Eat World was performing a song which is pretty damn cool. I did a little research and found out that it was created by members of The Aquabats, which is also pretty awesome. I was so impressed by these facts that I ran out and bought my daughter a toy from the show...Dancing Brobee! It was dancing so much it blurred the picture...I wish you guys would dance this much at our shows. Start watching Yo Gabba Gabbs and get intense! Hey, it's better than reality TV. xxxJT

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

Okay, so I've got some GOOD news...my team, University of Dayton made the NCAA Tournament this year! This is the first time since 2004 I believe, so its pretty exciting. The BAD news is that we're probably going to break up after their first game. Ya see, UD plays (and is going to DOMINATE and thereby upset) the higher seeded West Virginia, JT's team, in the first round! While the impending doom which Luke Fa"THREE"zious, Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson and rest of the Dayton Flyers are going to unleash upon WV is much to my liking, for you, our fans, there are no winners as the resulting inter-band tension caused by said win will be too much for JT to handle. He'll go into a life of seclusion rather than face eternal embarrassment. Matt and Micah, even though they don't follow college hoops, will not want to be associated with a person who's team lost so badly in the first round and quit the band lest the embarrassment rub off on them. I know we've made it through a lot in this band, and that's why this news is so incredibly hard to break to everyone! Thank you all for your support over the years! Its been swell! GOOOOODAAYYYYYTTTTTTTTTTONNNNNNNFFFFLLLYYYYYYERRRRRRRRSSSSSSS!!!!

Pibb

How did the cat get so fat? When did the cat start wearing a hat? What if we could all just lay around all day and have no responsibilities...we just got to sleep while our owners put stuff on top of us for their own amusement. Maybe the world would be a much more peaceful place. Or maybe it would only take us a few more years to fuck it up again. How selfish can we really be? Please try to think about that...try to do something for someone else today. No matter how small...small things turn to big and so on. Pick up some trash, make coffee for your parents, treat a broke friend to the value menu...call someone and apologize for being mean to them. We are all guilty, and we are also all innocent. Love one another... xxxJT

Toy Piano

Big sounds come from small instruments. I was messing around with this little toy piano a few days ago and came up with a really cool melody for a chorus. These things sound so broken and frail, but it's actually pretty unique. A lot of old school producers still use these little guys on real recordings. Maybe I will record an idea with it and send it out to those who sign up for our mailing list. I'm all about small rewards for small favors...so scratch my back! xxxJT

Forget about solar energy...

So over the last few months I've been researching solar panels and wind-mills to put on my house in order to cut down on my monthly energy bills and to nullify the environmental impact of all my stick breaking that I've been doing in the studio. Today, I was going through my bookmarks one by one like I usually do in the afternoon. First I hit up absolutepunk.net (to catch up on bands I know personally and like and also read updates on those I despise...you gotta know your enemy!). I followed this up with macrumors.com (I'm trying to figure out when the new iPhone comes out b/c my cell phone contract is up in May). Then I skipped over to espn.com (Its March Madness time again and University of Dayton has a 90% chance of going to the big dance this year barring some unforeseen fluke of nature!!!!). Finally, and this is really what this whole story is about, I ended up at msnbc.com to check the news for the day when I found my (and your) green energy solution! Forget solar, forget wind...I introduce to you the energy source of the future...HAMSTERS!!!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29596930/

Go Hamster!

Eron

Dinner with Eron

Help is on the way...

This is probably one of the reasons for the economic tumble we are in. This joker probably bought this spare tire cover and a pack of cigarettes instead of paying for his mortgage. Buy what you need, not what you want. And are jeeps really cool enough to flaunt with this? Lame! xxxJT

Matt's in the Middle

While we were strolling down the streets of NYC we stopped to take a picture. So here is a picture of me, Eron, and Matt. One love xxxJT

Wasting Trees

So much for the green movement everyone. Eron breaks too many sticks to be considered green. This is our last day in NYC and we are happy to spend some time in OHIO. Be on the look out for stuff like podcasts, new webstores, and overall sweetness. Maybe we will do a contest so you guys can win some of these broken sticks. Is that really a prize? xxxJT

Coffee man

While in NYC we have been working 15 hour days trying to get some songs that go places we have never been. It's hard and draining at times so I have begun drinking large amounts of coffee. If I keep this up at the rate I am going, I will turn into this coffee bean man. He's kinda creepy but also aorta cute. Last night I had a dream that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell were in the studio with us, just hanging out. Pretty weird, huh? It's still snowing, and I don't know which way to go. xxxJT

Pig Heaven

Slapping Down Vocals in the Studio

Sprinkles eat your heart out!

We found this sweet ass bakery near the apartment we are staying in. I'm not sure what these are but I am calling them cupcake monsters! It took me ten minutes to finish one and now I feel terribly good. Look out for cupcake monsters if you are in NYC. xxxJT

Walter Herrmann

We've been watching a bunch of basketball over the weekend because we're broke and going out in NYC is extremely expensive. I have to share with you one of our most memorable moments of the weekend which involves our now favorite basketball player...WALTER HERRMANN!!!!! This guy is a forward on the Detroit Pistons. He's probably one of the most comical players in the game from his aerial acrobatics while taking the ball to the hoop to him passing the ball and then immediately calling for the ball back as if he's always open and that doesn't even get into the fact that he looks like Fabio! This weekend while the Pistons played the Celtics, Herrmann had one of the most amazingly hilarious plays while in-bounding the ball with 1.7 seconds left before halftime...enjoy: Click here to watch Bonus Herrmann video Eron

Don't try this at home

This is just me getting double tea bagged. I've been drinking this really healthy tea while in NYC called kombucha. It's supposed to help your stress levels and support your immune system. Nothing is more stressful than trying to make the album of your career. We have never dissected our songs and instruments so much. It's definitely a good thing though. We have been challenging each other to write better and better parts. We need to push one another to get to another level. I'm not sure if the tea will help, but damn does it taste good. xxxJT

Standing in the Shadows

Finally, after about 2 or 3 years of searching, my dreams of owning 'Standing In The Shadows of Motown' have been realized. Matt and I ventured out into the city this weekend and headed for the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. It was there, for the first time, that I was actually able to find the documentary that I have been searching for relentlessly over the course of several years, scouring record stores across the whole country. For anyone who hasn't heard of this documentary, which I'm going to assume is most of you, its about the group of musicians that performed on nearly every single to come out on Motown Records. These guys have played on more number 1 singles than Elvis, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones...COMBINED! Pretty impressive. The irony of me finally finding this long sought after movie is that I left my laptop in the studio over the weekend, so I couldn't even watch it :( Eron