twist and turns and unknown roads

so maybe i have a tendency to speak too soon, cause whenever i get my hopes up about something, it gets slammed down pretty quick. bearhugger, at least as it was at my last post, is no more. received an email on monday that ryan, the other guitarist, was moving to seattle with his fiance....right then. as in, he was somewhere over the mississippi i think. such a weird turn of events.

the fact that him and his fiance made a life decision that they thought was best for them, doesn't bother me. waiting until you were out of the state to tell your bandmates, that bothers me a lot. he tried to make it sound (in the email) like everything happened within the span of 12 hours or something, but he had to have at least some inkling that he may be moving. we had practice last wednesday, he could have mentioned something then. he left all of our stuff at the practice space (his house) and said there was a key under the mat....nice touch. if he says something along the lines "hey guys, there's a chance we may be moving to seattle", then everything is good. it still would've sucked, don't get me wrong, but i would've said "well that blows, i'm gonna miss ya man" and then helped him pack up his shit. so moral of the story, there's a right way to do things and there's a wrong way and then there's the worst way...he chose the worst way.

the remaining four of us have already decided we're going to move on without him, which leaves me as the only guitarist. which is a pretty daunting/intimidating/terrifying idea to me. i've never really considered myself a guitarist and up until this new line up, have only played bass in bands. but it's a new challenge and i'm going to try and keep looking at it that way. i already feel the pressure that i need to write all of these songs but kyle, brian, and jared all play guitar and can write so i'll need to keep reminding myself that it's not all on my shoulders.

in other news, went to a show saturday to listen to a band called meet the sky...reminds me of copeland....and to hang out and get to know jared better. had a great time, good laughs and the band was pretty good. jared had a bday cookout on sunday so i went all the way out to john's island, which is gorgeous but a bit of a hike, and had a blast. good to know, at 27, i can still make friends. so that's two parties in three weeks where i didn't know anyone, still went, and had a good time. i guess if i keep doing it, as the invites come, it'll be good for me and get more comfortable. plus i'd have a hard time thinking that jared, his fiance, or any of his other friends could make someone feel out of place, really good people. also, jared's fiance is in the local roller derby league, which is awesome, so i'm going to go to their next match sometime in october. maybe ellen page will show up.

check out thrice's new album major/minor here, only the vinyl is out now but you can listen to it over at Groveshark, love that band. also, been listening to cross my heart and pop unknown a lot lately, oldies but goodies.

ok, that's my life update. hope every one out there is doing great. love you.

p.s. if you remember my last post which talked about the awesomeness of Tim, here's a tattoo benefit going on g'boro for anyone that wants to set up an appointment. i haven't decided if i'm going to be able to get up there that weekend, since it's on a sunday, but hopefully i can work it out. here's the facebook event link for more details, Often Awesome Tattoo Memorial Benefit

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moniker change and loner status and being labeled a "nice guy"

so i've spent the past two nights recording some songs with Kyle. It's going well, even though last night was cut short by lightning. there's still some mixing that needs to be done but "lies dipped in gold", "cynical", and "nostalgia" are all recorded. my original idea was to add a bunch of layers but now that we've actually begun recording, and having a chance to listen to the songs a little closer (having the same song on repeat for an hour, even if you wrote it, can be irritating), i think i'm going to keep them simplified. With the new EP, will be a moniker change. I'm retiring Urban Electric Company and going with By Sea / By Land. Kyle informed me that UEC sounds more like house music and I'd have to agree. I like the name, but just didn't fit the style. I've already changed the soundcloud so any links in previous posts won't work. As of now, I'm going to call the EP "The Hathaway Sessions" because, I live on Hathaway Dr and I wrote all of these sitting inside the music room at my house. Makes sense to me. Hopefully, after I get back from Baltimore next week, Kyle and I can wrap up these last song or two and I'll get it out to the world.

also, on a completely separate note, i've realized I am, in fact, NOT a loner. a simpleton yes but not a loner. i've called myself a loner for so long that i had become to believe it but the fact of the matter is, i love being around my friends. i don't care for big crowds or doing anything "big" (i.e. harbor cruise) all the time but if i could sit around every evening with kyle, andy, dj & lori, the hefs, etc..., i'd be more than ok with that. or sit around in a bar and have a couple of drinks, completely down. i don't prefer to be myself, it's just kind of how my life has worked out. i'm ok with me time, but i rarely turn down an invite to go do something so i can sit around by myself. plus being around people i care about, really helps with the whole overactive brain thing that i mentioned in the previous post. just because a lot of people annoy me (looking at you ed hardy shirt dude) doesn't make me a loner, it makes me picky, that's all. there are plenty of labels that can be applied to me, some i wish i could change, others i'm glad to have, so there's no need to give myself labels that don't actually apply.

speaking of labels, a friend of mine (chick) informed me for the millionth time in my life that i'm a nice guy and that girls don't like nice guys. ok, cool, whatever. one, that makes no sense at all, who wants to be with a douche? and yes, if you ask me to do something for you, more than likely i'm going to do it, but i expect the same in return (even though my pride rarely allows me to ask for help) so i see no issues with that. but it is what it is and i'd rather be labeled as a nice guy a billion times over than ever be accepted as a douche/shithead/asshole dude. plus, i don't really think i'm that nice. maybe in comparison to today's selfish, fucked up society, i am essentially part gandhi haha. ok, that's a stretch. but really, i'm not that nice, just not a complete shithead.

anyways, rant is over. hopefully i'll have the EP up in a couple weeks. if you really only read this for the music suggestions go pick up Polar Bear Club's new EP "The View. The Life", The Story So Far's "Under Soil and Dirt" and Sainthood Reps "Monoculture". There ya go, new tunes.

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products of an overactive brain and then the rest of life

my brain never seems to shut itself off. i wake up multiple times in the night with things already running through my head. it's annoying, sometimes i wish i didn't have it and i could just relax and not think about things that have or haven't happened (yes, i stress myself out over things that may never even come to fruition). my friend leah believes it to be a curse for us that have some sort of creative side (art, music, etc...) and i'd have to agree, my overactive brain does help me write music but fuck...give me a break, would ya?? anyway, enough of that.

saw bon iver this past friday. such a bittersweet show (if you know me, you know why), he was incredible though. definitely happy i got to see him at least once in my lifetime. i was able to record a couple of songs on my phone, Holocene and The Wolves (Act I and II). They turned out well for being recorded on just an iPhone, using the voice recorder thing. they're at the bottom of the post for those that want to listen. I recorded skinny love too but that was his final song of the encore and you couldn't hear much with everyone singing along, yelling, etc... such an amazingly talented songwriter/composer.

i'm still writing enough to warrant looking into owning a paper company. i shouldn't care anymore but i still do, so until that changes, i'll keep writing as much as necessary. the good thing to come from all of the writing is that i've written two songs that i'm proud to call mine. i'm still working out the recording aspects of one, but a rough demo of the other is up on the soundcloud page and i'll put it below in case anyone wants to peep it. i plan on adding a lot of layers to it (banjo, bass, keys, possibly harmonica) so hopefully in the next couple of weeks it'll take shape. also, did an acoustic cover of bonnie raitt's "i can't make you love me". bon iver did a piano ballad version on his calgary single's release (and a fallon appearance as well) and ever since i heard it a couple of months ago, i wanted to try and do my own little version. fyi...his is a ton better.

my life is still a roller coaster, can't seem to focus on where i really want to go from here. thinking about heading west (i could transfer to san diego easily) or possibly out of the country or maybe just back to charlotte. who knows, they all have pros and cons. i've also realized how spot on city and colours "little hell" is in regards to me, my life and the way i process/think. it's always nice to find a song like that, makes you feel like someone else, somewhere goes through what you go through.

anyway, enjoy the tunes. constructive criticism on my stuff is always welcome. you can criticize the bon iver songs too if you want, but you'd be dumb to want to change any of it.

Bon Iver - Wolves (Acts I and II) Live @ Raleigh Amphitheater by Urban Electric Company

Bon Iver- Holocene (Live @ Raleigh Amphitheater) by Urban Electric Company

Lies dipped in gold by Urban Electric Company

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oh life...

so the past week and a half has been a roller coaster of sorts. i've written this blog post a couple of times and then promptly deleted it. it's not that i haven't wanted to write, it's actually all i've done, just didn't want to write a blog post. but here's a quick life update.

brianne and i are no longer together, she felt she needed time a part to work on herself and even though it sucks and i miss her, i'll respect the decision (don't really have a choice i guess, but you know what i mean) and give her the space she wants.

had an interview for a job in charlotte finally. not sure if it's something i want to do, some of it seems alright but a lot of it seems like it really wouldn't challenge me at all. granted, they have to offer me the job first so not going to get too ahead of myself. hopefully though this will at least get the ball rolling and i can start having more interviews.

i got to see bayside live, finally. they've been one of my favorite bands for a long while and have been on heavy rotation for the past couple of weeks. they didn't disappoint, played great songs from all of their albums and so much fun to watch play. it was nice to be able to forget about life for a couple of hours and just enjoy live music. plus mark came down from g'boro so we got to hang for a while which is always a good thing.

i've been writing a lot. at least 2-3 pages a day of just free writing. i've found that it helps me focus my song writing to be of a more concise, central theme/idea instead of all over the spectrum like it has been in the past. plus it's a great way to write out emotions, feelings, thoughts, fears, etc... without worrying about syllables and melody and whatever else. just get it all out there on paper and make sense of it later. i wrote about 5 pages yesterday since i had a couple of hours to kill in a starbucks before ryan and ash got home and i think i've got at least a couple of songs in all of that mess.

i think i'm going to start going back to jujitsu soon so i'm not just sitting around every evening and kyle and i have been getting together to write new metal songs a couple of times a week. when that's not going on, i'm writing my own music. trying to stay busy as much as i can.

2011, you've been one hell of a roller coaster and we're only seven months in...

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