I am a 23-year old physics graduate of Bethel University in Minnesota. The first day of freshman year, my friend Elizabeth gave me the nickname "Thor." It caught on, and many people to this day still refer to me as Thor, even some of my former professors. Some people hate nicknames, I chose to embrace it. Ever since I can remember, I've had an undying love and passion for music, and this blog is where I go to talk about it. I play guitar and sing in the band Filed under: Miscellaneous, Music, Songs That Make You Think | Tags: music, songsthatmakeyouthink, TREOS
… yeeaaaaaaheeeyeahhhh. DISCLAIMER: this is a song lyric and a metaphor for what this post is about, not some suicide note. Sleep soundly!
What I mean by that line, which is probably the most repeated and iconic line from the TREOS album Between the Heart and the Synapse, is that tonight, today, Sunday, January16th, 2011, is the last day in this body. Tomorrow, I am starting the Slow-Carb diet, and continuing my daily Bible reading. I’m throwing away my old self and becoming something new. I know I can’t get a blank slate, but I’m looking at this as a fresh start. I’m taking control back from… myself. With the love and support of all those praying for me, and the everlasting promise that my God is with me, I’m reclaiming my body from the laziness, indiscipline, gluttony, indifference, and sinfulness that has clung to it like a pestilential scab. I want to transform it into a healthy temple as my response to His faithfulness. With this I go forth, into the unknown. It won’t be easy, and it won’t necessarily be fun, but what’s necessary isn’t always fun, and the rewards will be worthwhile.
So long, former self!
Guess what? There’s a TREOS song for this very situation! It’s their probably most well-known song, and their bassist Brendan Brown had this to say about it:
“If anything I would say I live by the standards I set for myself and strive to obtain them daily. This is where the lyric ‘This is the last night in my body.’ comes from. It was and is about being unsatisfied with how I am living and vowing to my self to never just settle or accept the way I am living.”
I felt it necessary to attach the lyrics and YouTube link:
Planning a Prison Break by The Receiving End of Sirens
Warden’s calling for a lock-down, baby
He’ll call on interim iniquities
This is the last night in my body
Assist in the escape…
Warden’s calling for a jailbreak baby,
so he’ll fly like only a jailbird could
Like a felon, he fell into scandals,
scams and masterplans
to circumvent all circumstances
He thought to his throat,
“we can swallow this key
and leave when we please”
Lets hope his stomach disagrees
Warden’s calling for a lock-down, baby
He’ll call on interim iniquities
This is the last night in my body
Assist in the escape…
Warden’s calling for a jailbreak baby,
so he’ll fly like only a jailbird could
“Make a clean getaway”, he said
with his arms outstretched
to nurse her neck
She lured him in
with a masochistic kiss
and he wished he could
be anywhere but here
Warden’s calling for a lock-down, baby
He’ll call on interim iniquities
This is the last night in my body
Assist in the escape…
Warden’s calling for a jailbreak baby,
so he’ll fly like only a jailbird could
Arm in arm we walk outside so that all we’ve
done was not in vain
Somehow for now this skin will have to do
This is the last night in my body.
Warden’s calling for a lock-down, baby
He’ll call on interim iniquities
This is the last night in my body
Assist in the escape…
Warden’s calling for a jailbreak baby,
so he’ll fly like only a jailbird could
Arm in arm we walk outside so that all we’ve
done was not in vain
Somehow for now this skin will have to do
This is the last night in my body.
This is the last night in my body, yeah…
Filed under: Miscellaneous, Music | Tags: logo, marley & me, music, myband, pets, TREOS
As a band, we’ve been putting together a list of things for our label, Zerobudget Records, and one of the things needed is our most current logo. Since we’re writing new material, we figured a logo refresh would be nice. We’ve been voting amongst ourselves, but I thought it might be cool to get some input from the public.
Click on the image below to get a full resolution view of the logos.
Logo choices - click to enlarge
We need a little help making a decision. In the poll, vote on which design you like best: 1 through 6, or staying with the current logo.
I appreciate your votes, it will help us in our decision making!
I saw Marley & Me for the first time tonight. Yeah I know, that was sooooo two years ago. I already knew the ending, but even still, I couldn’t hold back tears, especially since I grew up with a wiener dog and dread the day when she’s no longer with us. My mom has this saying that if you have never loved an animal, there is a special part of your soul that has never been awakened. I think this is true, and having loved many animals over the years (and currently… I love my geckos and our wiener dog), I can attest to the special bond you form. It’s reassuring to me that there is a God, because when you think about it, it’s very strange that we have such real relationships with dogs or other animals. To bring a different species of being into our homes and make it a part of the family is just not natural. It’s supernatural. God provided us with animals for so many purposes. They provide us with food, clothing in some cases, and companionship. He provides.
Besides the poll, this is a fairly disappointing post. There isn’t much to say because there isn’t much going on in my life that I haven’t written about already. Still working on the new song. Still listening to TREOS a LOT. Probably about 79% of the time I listen to music now, I listen to TREOS, and that is wonderful. People always think I’m crazy when I tell them I can listen to a CD over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. I tell them, “obviously you haven’t listened to The Receiving End of Sirens! If you’d like your life changed, look them up!” Seriously. They are the best band that’s ever made music. Screw you, Beatles. I’m going to get crucified for that last comment by a lot of angry people, I’m sure, but there’s no written law saying I have to like the Beatles. And I don’t.
Okay now I’m rambling. I’m going to sleep.
I wish I had a career.
I watched you steal away a man’s best years with the drumming of his fingers and the kicking of his heels. I watched you put away your sweetest sins. I watched tempters satisfy with the sweet taste of wasted time.
Oubliette (Disappear) – The Receiving End of Sirens
Filed under: Music | Tags: concerts, music, music writing, recording, shows, TREOS
This morning I came across my friend Jeff Sparks’s Facebook post about having an extra ticket to the show at Station 4 tonight. I had the date on my calendar for months because of the truly epic lineup, but then it sold out before I got a ticket and I figured I wouldn’t be able to go. As luck would have it, I got to go, and it was one of the better shows I’ve seen.
The lineup included:
We Came As Romans
For Today
The Word Alive
Woe, is Me
Texas in July
Lions Lions
All the bands were seriously impressive, minus WCAR. They had a rough day with their tour bus breaking down and arrived to the show about 20 minutes after they were supposed to start playing. They didn’t seem quite in sync throughout the show, and to say their singer had a rough go of it would be putting it nicely. Still, glad they made it. For Today was there and they always bring the fury of the Holy Spirit. Hearing their lead singer Mattie preach to a crowd of kids is awesome. He’s so on fire for God. Although I must say it is a little weird to hear a crowd cheer when Mattie speaks of Jesus Christ, and then hear them passionately sing along to other bands’ with lyrics laced with the F-word. The juxtaposition was just… interesting. All in all though, good show.
I was looking for jobs the other day when I came across one that looked so right up my alley it was ridiculous. It was entry level for someone in with a physics degree who has taken optics courses and done optics research (i.e. me). And then I looked at the location: Rochester, New York. Oh well, hopefully something like that comes along here.
It’s nice to be working on music again. Pouring effort into this new song and getting it recorded as we’re writing it is a good escape for me. It takes my mind of the issues that press on my mind constantly. Writing it with Hunter, who’s living in Marshalltown, IA, is a lot of fun, and the distance is not hindering our efforts whatsoever. I’ve never written a song this way, writing while simultaneously recording a demo version of it. I think it’s going to be helpful because once it’s finished, it’ll be easy to present and convey what the general idea of the song is, which can be hard if it’s all in your head and all you have is lyrics and a chord progression (or less). Looking forward to finishing it and recording it for real. It’s certainly our most ambitious work to date, and I still have doubts we’d be able to play it live. We’d definitely need a track playing in the background. There’s a lot of electronics going on and about 4 guitar parts (for a band with 2 guitarists. Yesssss.) To give you an idea, the song sounds like us, but with a strong TREOS influence. Coincidence? No. I love TREOS, and emulating them in our own way makes my musical side happy.
I’m seriously wiped out.
Going to bed.
On a final note, congrats to my friends Brice and Colleen LaBelle for tying the knot today!
I’m the fervor of the fever you can’t sweat. I’m the garment, stuck to your skin, drenched and dripping wet. I’m the spring of flowing fume and fret. I’m the melody stuck in your head.
The Crop and the Pest – The Receiving End of Sirens
Filed under: Miscellaneous, Music | Tags: cold, first post, music, my band, shamelessselfplug, tdh, thedearhunter, thereceivingendofsirens, TREOS
So just a disclaimer here on the nature of this blog. It’s here for me to pour out thoughts on life and music and whatever comes to mind. It’s mostly aimless and just a source of entertainment for me. I don’t care who reads it and if you enjoy it, I’m glad I could brighten your day. If you don’t enjoy it, sorry, but it won’t change.
Anyways…
I’m a big fan of the band The Receiving End of Sirens… a very big fan, as in they’re in my top 3 favorite bands probably of all time. It is peculiar that prior to this week I hadn’t really checked out The Dear Hunter, which is a project by Casey Crescenzo, a former member of TREOS.
The Dear Hunter
The concept is very intriguing: the band is releasing six albums that make up a 6-Act rock opera, detailing the life of a boy only known as the Dear Hunter. He is born to a prostitute named Ms. Terri (miss terri = mystery, get it?) of whom he does not know much about, thus the mysterious name. He grows up in the Dime, the brothel his mother works at and eventually he and his mother attempt to flee the city to leave that life behind. Long, long story short his mother is killed, he meets and falls in love with a girl named Ms. Leading (I don’t need to point that one out do I?) who he finds out also works at the Dime. Drama ensues…
There’s a lot more to the story than that, as only Act 1 and 2 have been released thus far. What astounds me about this project is the immaculate vision by Crescenzo, to be able to envision this magnum opus and be able to paint this story with music is amazing. Musically it’s very diverse, with pop, alternative, classical orchestral, latin, jazz, and many more influences. It is all kicked off with an impeccable a capella performance entitled “Battesimo del Fuoco” that I suggest you listen to. Amazingly, the entirety of the first Act was composed and recorded by Crescenzo himself, including most of the intrumentation, with a little help from his parents and brother. I’m just in shock of the talent, it’s something I desire.
In other news, it’s excessively cold. Too cold. God have mercy cold. They’re projecting a low of -21 tomorrow…. -21. That’s colder than some places in Antarctica. What the heck.
Oh it’s also worth mentioning that Peter, my roommate and bass player for our band The Aeipathy, and I our finally getting our side project off the ground. We don’t have a name or anything yet, but our first song is in full swing (not literally swing, but you know) and we’re working on it regularly. Hopefully we’ll get it done sometime soon and get it up on the interwebs. It’s called “Premonition” and if you’re wondering what it’ll sound like think Massive Attack meets The Receiving End of Sirens meets Weaver at the Loom. Interesting. But we like it.
That’s all for now, take care!
-Jeff
