Connecticut was awesome.

But I don't feel like talking about that.

What I DO feel like talking about though, is the new songs.

Since Lucas and I have been in the band, we've been struggling somewhat to really find our place in the music. Okay, maybe I moreso than Lucas. With the songs that were already written, we knew what we had to play. But trying to add in new players to an already established band is a much harder thing to do than teach those players old riffs.

Finding someplace in the audible spectrum is tough for me. I am not EXACTLY the type of player that I think they expected. My style leans more towards classic metal than anything. Big open songs, singalong choruses, anthems, 7 minute long epics... THAT is my thing, and I love it. I love playing with all the different effects that I have, trying to make something more ethereal than just a canned guitar lead.

We still have a long way to go, but the new stuff so far is sounding really, really good. Its edgy, its powerful, and its very modern. Its what is popular these days, and I hear it going really far, because what we're doing might be being done already... but its still very new. We've got four songs, plus an instrumental, which I think needs to be expanded on a bit more - but now that I know where we're going with it, I can roll with it and find a good place for the chord structures that I have in mind.

Will you love it? Yes, you will.

We're trekking to Connecticut tonight.

Six (seven maybe?) guys packed into a van fully loaded with equipment? Yeah, it might get a little smelly in there. We're playing a club called El-N-Ge. I've never heard of it, but a friend of mine who lives up there has, though she has never been there herself. I packed a small bag, because the weather is threatening with this stupid Nor'Easter. What a stupid fucking name for a big storm. Yeah I know, warm fronts from the south, cold fronts from the north, blah blah blah. Don't waste my fucking time, its still fucking stupid.

I bought a new guitar strap. Wait til you all see it. Muahahhaha.

Check ya later fuckers!

My first show with MSB was an experience that I will most likely never forget. We played at The Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, a battle for Warped Tour. We didn't win, but that doesn't bother me any. The former incarnation of MSB played Warped Tour last year, and they had a blast doing it. While I had hoped to win, its not a huge concern of mine at this point.

I had three weeks to get ready for this show. A total of five songs to learn. My days were spent hunched over the CD player, guitar in hand, practicing and practicing and practicing. Did I mention practicing? I'm sure I did somewhere. Thursdays are band practice days, and I was very close on all of the songs. Dzambo showed me parts that I had gotten wrong, or got mixed up on. He also showed me the lead parts he wanted me to play.

As the show date got closer, my nerves seemed to grow ever calm. You would think the opposite. I never really get too nervous before a show. The whole week of the show, a lot of people asked if I was nervous, and there were a few times where I felt that pressure, but as I said, I was very calm.
Friday night came, and there was 20 minutes beforehand where all those nerves just burst. I was sweating, I was anxious, but it was in a good way. I was ready, I practiced, now I was going to prove it to everyone else, and my new bandmates.

And that's exactly what I did.

As we were setting up, I forced myself to ignore the crowd, to just focus. I put my amplifier together, plugged in the cables, set up my floorboard. I was ready to kick ass. And when it was our time...

You cannot compare the feeling to anything in the world. When the lights hit, and the crowd is cheering... Its simply incredible. I have been onstage before. But never like this.
We only played four songs, Six Years; Seven Dreams, Settle, Traitors Be Known, and Illusions. All four of them were extremely well received. During Illusions there's this little breakdown before the chorus, and I thought it would be cool to add this little two note lead in there. I played that and everyone started screaming, and I think it was Micah who said into the microphone, "This guy's a classic."
You know when someone says something so simple, yet it seems so iconic? That line that Micah said is iconic for me. During another quiet part in the song, I leaned back to Dave and I said, "This is awesome!" He agreed.

I couldn't stop smiling all night long.

And this is only the first show, too.

Back in march, I joined mysteadybackfire as their guitar tech. I was bored, and wanted to put my skills to use. The first thing I did was fix the bass player's bass, and his cabinet.
The day after I did that, I joined the band as their temporary replacement bassist (say it five times fast).

Apparently, Jesse (the bass player) felt that he was getting "too old" to be in a rock band, and felt it time to move on and "grow up." While I do understand those sentiments, what I didn't understand was why he had to go about it the way he did.

MSB had at the time five shows booked. They were forced to cancel one because Jesse just up and left. He did not say anything face to face to them, he just left after a gig that (I hear) he did not perform very well at. Later on that night he posted a blog on MySpace saying that he quit the band and also stating that he felt that the friendship he formed with them after six years of playing together had crumbled. I remember reading that, and then calling the drummer. He said to me, "Actually, yeah, can you come over later tonight? We want to talk to you."
I went to their apartment and we all talked about. They wanted me onboard as their replacement bassist for one show, and then I would move into a guitar slot, to become their 3rd guitarist.

Of course I agreed right away. I had thought about prior, and when my old band Amplifyre (maybe one day I'll tell the story) opened for them as our first show, I remember thinking to myself, "man, I wish I was in that band."
Less than a year later, I am.

Not only is this a huge thing for me, but it also validates my previous efforts. From Fiero, Perfect Obsession, Solace, to Amplifyre. All of those bands had so much potential, but never worked out for various reasons. Now with MSB, everything seems to just click. We got tons of shows lined up, and many more to come. We're in the process in getting a huge thing going, and aside from that, we have a dedicated following.
Besides the 10 million dollar record deal, what else could you ask for?



 - Slammer.