Alternative Press reviews Energy's "Walk Into The Fire" EP

They compare us to The Smashing Pumpkins...I'm not complaining:

http://www.altpress.com/reviews/energy_-_walk_into_the_fire_ep/

Interview with Will Gould

Will Gould: Hey hows it going Tank, how are things with Energy right now?

Tank: Things are going good, we haven't been touring very much which always makes me happy and we've been writing some of our best material to date! 

WG: (1) You're just about to release a new EP titled 'Walk into the fire' what I've heard of the demo's so far has been quite a step in a new direction for the band.

Your last record 'Invasions of the mind' was also quite a progression on from the one before that 'punch the clock'. 

How important is the development of your sound to you? 

Is it a case of finding the right sound for your band, or do you hope to keep producing fresh different sounding records each time around?

T: I'd say we're just trying to keep it new and exciting each time around. If anyone thinks the title track is big departure in sound, they are in for quite a surprise with the other 2 tracks. The song "Let's Get Away" is possibly our most upbeat song to date, and "Angels At My Grave" is without a doubt our most interesting and different. I think the song "Walk Into The Fire" is the sound we've wanted all along fully realized. The E.P. was supposed to have 4 tracks on it but since AAMG clocks in at around 5 and a half minutes, we had to omit one of the songs because of time constraints.

WG: (2) If I'm not mistaken, you guys are recording this EP yourselves this time. What Influenced this decision? Have you tried to do anything differently production wise to 'Invasions..'? 

T: Yes, we recorded this E.P. ourselves and couldn't be happier with the result. We don't like how our last album was mixed and mastered, so we just said fuck it - we're doing it ourselves. No one can seem to understand what we want out of our recordings so we're hoping to just do everything ourselves from now on. The only thing different production wise is that we mixed and mastered it ourselves. That is a huge difference though. I don't think most people realize just how much that effects the final product.  

WG: (3) I know you guys have just recruited Mike from Children Of The Night on keys, how has this changed the dynamic of the band? Is this the solid line up now?

T: This just feels right. I've been writing songs with Mike for years now (even pre dating Energy) and I've known all along that he would have to join Energy at some point, it was just a matter of when. Mike and I work extremely well together as the primary songwriters for the band so this is most likely the way it's going to be from now on. We're not making that a rule within the band, but it's probably going to be the case.

WG: (4) Children Of The Night should also be releasing a record soon right? How long have you and Mike been playing in that band together for? when will that record be released? What's the story with that?

T: Mike and I first starting calling it "Children Of The Night" around the time that Energy was writing for Punch The Clock. We had the idea to blend our 2 favorite bands' sounds together (Beach Boys/Misfits) and see what happened. We plan on releasing a full length album EVENTUALLY, but we're not really sure when that will be. We're pretty busy with Energy and with our sound continuing to evolve, certain COTN songs are sounding more and more like they could become Energy songs. I've always been partial to the idea of just releasing an Energy album called "Children Of The Night"...

WG: (5) So growing up who were the bands you took main inspiration from in Energy and how have they changed from then to the latest EP?

T: I'd say our biggest influences from the start were The Misfits, A.F.I., Bad Religion, bands like that. With the addition of Mike and our interest in incorporating influences from other genres as well, we've been changing our sound quite a bit. Regarding the new songs: I can't even really cite one specific influence without it cheapening our songs. Just give them a listen and you'll understand.

WG: (6) You guys are often compared to AFI, while I'm not so sure I'd agree with that, it must be a pretty welcome comparison?

But do you think maybe that these days kids get too caught up in the aesthetic of a band before they've really listened to the music? 

What are your thoughts on the punk scene in general right now?

T: I don't want to say that the punk scene doesn't exist, because it always will in some way, but I feel as if the underground music scene is dominated by pop punk, hardcore, and terrible hybrids of the 2. As far as us being compared to A.F.I., PTC and IOTM are fast hardcore punk albums with a dark aesthetic. Since no one else is doing that right now, people just like to compare us to something they're familiar with. Since there are SO many bad pop punk bands ripping off bands that came before them and SO many hardcore bands just rehashing what's already been done with the genre time and time again, these flaws are overlooked completely. We are taking influence from bands that no one else is, so we're easier targets to these morons. Oh well.

WG: (7) I heard you mention in an interview previously how out of place you can feel at hardcore shows, due to the way you look. 

This sucks, but I cant help but empathise with how much of a contradiction this supposedly open minded, intelligent scene can seem sometimes.

Due to the sometimes stagnant nature of hardcore, do you think a band like Energy really fits in there? 

T: I feel that Energy fits in at hardcore shows more than at pop punk shows. From what I've gathered over the years is that at an average pop punk show everyone just wants happy, fun, corny singalongs and to have a good time with their friends....like a DUMBASS party full of idiots. At least at hardcore shows there are kids there that are angry about something and could possibly identify with depressing, angry, sad, abrasive, aggressive songs like ours. I don't quite feel that we fit in with each sub-genre though. Hopefully we can just find our own fan base and create our own "scene".

At this point the thought of anyone giving me shit for the way I look is hilarious. I'd rather fucking KILL myself than dress the way the average hardcore/pop punk kid does, so that's fine.

WG: (8) So you guys have been off the road for a good few months now, will you be back out to support the new EP? what do you all do when you're not on tour?

T: If a good tour comes our way then yes. If not, then some of us just flat out can't afford to go out and do another low paying tour. We've done so many tours that we shouldn't have done, and we're just fed up with it. Over the last few years we've been touring for like 200 plus days a year. So if you're reading this and are in a band that's more popular than Energy - TAKE US OUT!

When I'm home from tour I just hang out with my girlfriend, walk around town, and write music with Mike who lives up the street from me. I really don't have much of a social life, so that's all I do.

WG: (9) What bands do you rate right now? who is worth checking out?

T: I wish my friend Scott would just settle on a band name for his music so that I could promote them in interviews like this, but this kid Scott Abrams from my town of Stoughton is an unbelievable songwriter and is working on putting together a demo with Mike. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted online when he finally releases it. Other than that I just look forward to new releases by bands that I like that have been around for a while.

WG: (10) Thanks answering for your time Tank, any last words?

Thank you! 

Hair

This is a question that I answered earlier from the Energy Formspring:

Tank, you said in your last blog post that you stopped washing your hair. I have been wanting to do this, but every time I don't wash my hair for a couple days it gets real itchy. Did this happen to you?

That used to happen when I'd go a day or 2 without showering, but that's because there was no water touching my head. The reason it gets itchy is because your scalp is dry from all the shampoo stripping it of moisture, and there is a lot of dirt build up. What you need to do is wash your hair with warm water in the shower and vigorously rub and scratch your scalp. It will disperse all of the natural oils into your skin, while at the same time breaking up all the dirt build up. I stopped shampooing and conditioning, but I obviously wash my hair with water in the shower. I am thoroughly intrigued by this idea, and Thursday will mark 1 month of shampoo/conditioner free hair for me, and my hair has never looked/felt better... so I'm excited to speak on this topic. If you have any other questions about this, let me know.

- Tank

Yes

A few hours ago I made yet another long winded entry complaining about music, but I decided not to post it publicly. I thought about it a lot and decided that while I undoubtedly needed to get it all out of my system, there was no reason to post what was in the entry. I didn't bash anyone in particular, I just feel that it would be unnecessary negativity. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but holding back any amount of negativity is a VERY big deal for me.

Lately I've just been sitting in my apartment as usual. I just wake up, sit down on the computer for a few hours, maybe watch something on T.V., and wait for Julia to come home. We'll make dinner and watch Seinfeld, then sometimes I'll go to the gym with Jere around 8:30. Julia goes to bed around 11 or 12, and from there I stay up all night until like 4 or 5 am either by myself, or over at Mike's while trying to make music. I don't really do anything that interesting.

The other night we finished writing what will be the final song of our 4 song E.P. The song is called "Let's Get Away". For some reason, I just didn't have much to contribute to the song other than maybe a few minor melody suggestions, and a lyric or 2, so I feel like this song is going to be credited to just Mike. Rightfully so. I'm all about giving credit when due, and credit is definitely due there. Mike also started writing what will be the second track on the E.P., so all we need to do is finish writing that, demo the 2 songs, rehearse them as a live band, and start laying them down in the studio.

We're going to be recording the E.P. at The Outpost, which is basically right across the street from my apartment. Mike and I have discussed having Joe, Conor, and Keith play live to a metronome, and recording Conor and Keith's parts. Joe will serve as a live aide to enhance the live feel, and will overdub his guitars afterward. Once we get the drums, bass, and rhythm guitars tracked, we're going to ship all the files to Mike's and record vocals, keyboards, and additional guitar overdubs along with anything else we think of. Once we're done tracking at Mike's, we'll send the files back to Jim at The Outpost and have him mix it. If all goes according to plan, this will be our best/biggest sounding release to date. We're going to call the E.P. "Walk Into The Fire", and there has been loose talk of shooting a music video for the title track.

This E.P. marks the dawn of a new era for Energy due to Mike Rendini's songwriting contributions. If there are Energy fans out there that want us to remain a fast paced, hardcore punk band forever (which I'm sure there are), then we're going to disappoint you with this release, and almost certainly with all future releases. I'm not saying that we won't write another song like that ever again, it's just that I feel we operate better as a band when playing songs like the ones on our new E.P. Not to mention the caliber songs that we're churning out now (again thanks to Mike) just wouldn't sound good if we forced them over fast music. We'll always be up for playing certain Punch The Clock or Invasions Of The Mind songs live, but as far as new material goes...we just have to progress and push forward. There are only so many songs we can write with that same fast drum beat before it seems like we're writing the same song over and over again. I will say this though: If you like good music in general, you will like our new stuff.

In other news, I haven't washed my hair since March 29th. You'd think my hair smells, is disgusting, knotted up, and just gross, but it's quite the opposite. You actually don't need to wash your hair with shampoo and/or conditioner...ever. Shampoo actually strips your hair of the natural healthy oils that conditioners only temporarily put back into your hair. Not to mention that from what I've read, there are certain oils and minerals that your scalp naturally produces that conditioners DON'T replace. Washing your hair in the shower with warm water is good enough. My hair has never looked/felt better.

Don't believe me? Maybe you'll believe Andrew W.K.

This is where I initially got the idea from, then I started reading into it more only to find out that he is 100 percent correct. This will prove to be way less of a pain in the ass when I'm touring because I won't need to carry around a big bottle of shampoo and a big bottle of conditioner in my bag.

I do plan on getting my hair trimmed soon, hopefully this weekend or next week. I will be able to do this because someone is buying my X watch from me for 300 dollars. I was initially going to get a camera with this money so that I can start messing around with photography, but we need to pay some bills with some of the money, and the remaining money isn't enough towards a good camera. Julia told me to get myself some things that I need because she will have enough money to get a camera on June 2nd. I plan on buying some new jeans, a bunch of solid black T-shirts, a haircut, new shoes (possibly), and the Danzig lyric book (yes I NEED it).

ALSO, I forgot to mention that I made an appointment for May 25th to start getting some of the hours of tattoos that are owed to me. I am owed 12 to be exact. I can't wait. It's been over 2 years since I've gotten tattooed.

I really don't have much to complain about in life. I have a girlfriend that I'm in love with, she pays for me to have a place to live, food for me to eat, I have constant access to 2 computers at once...one of which is hooked up to my HD LCD flat screen T.V. where I can watch any of the THOUSAND gigabytes worth of videos I have on my hard drive, a Sidekick LX...I'm getting 12 hours of free tattoos, Jere has a free guest pass with his gym membership so I've been going all the time with him for free, and my band is writing our best material yet. Why would anyone in my situation complain? I couldn't tell you really, but I do...and I know that I shouldn't. That's human nature though. No matter how good someone has it, they'll find something that they are unhappy with. Sorry for being human.

I think I'm done with this update. I'll end it with

Currently listening to:

Video update: Me, Energy, COTN, etc

I don't really do much, so I figured I'd try something new by making a video update instead of a long, written update. Of course it skips and fucks up the whole thing like 2 minutes in. I really wish the video stayed synced up with the audio for the whole thing, but at least you can hear everything I said. Whatever.

P.S.

This was a little awkward because I'm basically talking to myself when I do it. I guess I just need some more practice VLogging or whatever you want to call it.

You brought us here today, but we took it all and threw it away

I know this is going to seem a little redundant, but having to deal with these feelings is getting redundant, so I'm not going to stop until they go away:

In my eyes, music is in such a sad state. I feel like the bands that make the music, and the kids that are going to the shows don't even feel anything anymore. I know that if kids were getting bombarded with emotion and passion the way I was between the ages of 13 and 19, they wouldn't settle for the shit that the bands of today call "music". Which in turn would probably make those kids start great bands of their own once they got older. There is some element missing in all of this. I miss being interested in newer bands coming out with new music. I miss going to shows every weekend and having the time of my life. It's not my youth that I miss though, it's the passion that everyone embraced during that time period.

When punk was the most exciting for me, the albums that were just coming out were A.F.I.'s "Art Of Drowning", Son Of Sam's "Songs From The Earth", Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Rancid "2000", Bad Religion's "Process Of Belief", and a lot more. I am thankful beyond words for those albums, but had I known just how bad music would get during the upcoming years, I would have somehow cherished them even more. I don't enjoy complaining about this, not one bit. I am just left feeling empty all of the time because of it, so I have to get it out.

Recently I discovered Big Rig's "Expansive Heart" and that was the first time in a long time where I felt that rush again. That feeling that something inside me was changing from the music that I had just heard. It's like having a drug addiction that can't go away, and finding out that the drug no longer exists. I crave it every day. I dream about it. I daydream constantly about finding a new band that will move me. Even if they're an old band that's new to me, I'm still getting my fix. When I think about anyone getting chills from the music that the bands today are making, I am deeply saddened and disappointed. I want to somehow open up my brain, and open up my heart to let them see what I've seen in music. This isn't one finite list of bands that I'm talking about either, saying that would just be insane. I'm talking about an X-factor that's missing. Something that myself, nor anyone can seem to put their finger on, or define...but I know it once was there, and I know it isn't there anymore. My heart drops when people ask me if I'm going to a show that they plan on attending because it's shocking to think that someone doesn't realize that I'm not a part of this new age of mediocrity.

Listening to my music makes me feel the way that I felt when I was first getting excited about music as a teenager. I hope it makes other people feel that way too. When Energy plays shows I am just bleeding emotion, and only few are moved by it. I think that some people might just not like us, which is fine, but I think the majority of people that we play to are just plain indifferent, and so desensitized that they have become incapable of recognizing soul in anything. I realize that the only thing I can do is to try my hardest to recreate what I know is missing in music, and to hope for the best, I just can't help but worry.

I think that this is all stemming from a few things: when I spoke with Josh the other day he brought up how we used to listen to music in my room all the time when we were younger; the constant reminder that I don't go to Al's house anymore; and listening to a lot of the music that I listened to when I was 15. In a way, this could be considered selfish because I'm craving that feeling all the time, and am in constant search of the rush, but at the same time I know that it's not selfish at all. I know that this theoretical resurgence of passion within the music scene would cause a chain reaction, and that thousands of people would once again be able to feel the way that I once did.

I am 25 years old

I woke up around 4 today to about 15 missed calls from Julia. She was trying to make sure I would be awake and ready in time for my birthday dinner with my mom. My mom got me a bunch of gift certificates to my favorite restaurants. After that, Julia and I went back to the apartment and watched T.V. for a while. It wasn't a particularly eventful birthday, but I was just so thankful that I got to spend it with Julia, and not on tour. When Julia went to bed, Eric and Roe came over for a while, then we went to Mike's. We watched Tim and Eric and left after like 2 hours. This day flew by.

I can't believe that 10 years ago I was just turning 15. 14 to 19 were probably the most important years of my life, and I always reminisce about them. It's just really hitting me hard that all this time has passed since then. I am not close with many of the same people that I was close to back then, and that makes me sad. Although, I am close with some of them, which I am grateful for. I don't want to make this very long because I don't feel like getting into an emotional rant about missing my past. Celtic Pride is on right now and Julia is about to wake up.

I guess that all I can say is that things aren't so bad, I just miss the way they used to be.

Energy - Live From The Fallout Shelter

Today I woke up at 10:30 am and started getting ready for practice and our radio show. I tried to sing as little as possible at practice to save my voice for the show. I think we did alright. A lot of my vocals were off, but I don't think people are looking for perfection in a live set. Of course though, from the artist's perspective, I can't help but criticize myself.

When we got there we loaded in and didn't sound check until less than a half of an hour before we started. I was nervous about the lack of reverb in the playback I heard, but listening to it now, it's not too bad. I was especially shaky during the first half of the Children Of The Night set. I think I was just nervous because I got better the more we played. The Energy set went pretty well aside from the fact that I forgot 1 line in Walk Into The Fire, and had a few awkward speaking moments between songs, but that's nothing new.

I wish someone was taking pictures because we still don't have 1 single photo of us playing live with Mike. Oh well, I'd rather have what we did get which is a soundboard quality recording of the show. Mike fixed up the audio so that it sounds better than it did:

Children Of The Night's set:

01. In The Graveyard
02. Ghoul Like You
03. The Messenger
04. I Play For Keeps
05. I'm Going To Kill You
06. Route 44
07. I Killed Your Boyfriend

Energy's set:

01. Contact/Hail The Size Of Grapes
02. Walk Into The Fire
03. Lost And Found/Streetlights
04. Hunter Red
05. Keep The Change
06. Pet Semetary
07. Heaven
08. Halloween
09. 400

I don't have much else to write about because my day was pretty much only focused on that.

Long day of practice

Today I woke up at 11, showered, got ready, and found out we weren't practicing until 3, so I went back to sleep until 2. When I woke up for the second time I grabbed some food and headed to practice. We played the Energy set once through and then spent the rest of the time working on the Children Of The Night songs. I don't think we're going to play "I'm Gonna Kill You". We just couldn't get it sounding good.

Right now I'm just waiting for my brother to come by with some of his stuff because he had to move out of his apartment today and due to a last minute change of plans, he has to keep some of his things here. I hope he comes soon because I plan on trying to get 8 hours of sleep and be awake by 11. It's 1:32 right now, so that's doable.

I'm listening to Mark Palm from Go It Alone's new band "Devotion" right now. It's alright, I guess my only complaint is that a lot of the songs sound similar upon first listen. The songs aren't fast like GIA's songs, but I like that. I think bands can only do so much when having the exact same drum beat in every single song. I like the fact that he's incorporating some melody in the vocals, I just wish they were better melodies. However, I do like the melodies in "Needle Full Of Liquid Pain". The riffs have the same vibe as Histories' riffs had, I just think that the riffs on Histories were better. I can't find the lyrics anywhere, so I can't really get a grasp on what the songs are exactly about. I'm sure that the more I listen, the more it will grow on me.

Here's the music video they did. I'm pretty sure everyone but the drummer is Mark:

DEVOTION-Bastard Son of Affluence Blues from Amir Aghelnejad on Vimeo.

Devotion from John Jenkins-Stark on Vimeo.

I'm going to try to get myself to step away from the computer for a while and maybe just relax on the couch while watching TV for once. I spend every single day and night just staring at this computer screen. Whatever.

Tune in to 91.5 FM WUML tonight from 8 to 11 PM to hear the live Energy and COTN sets...or, you can listen online here: http://www.wuml.org

I don't mind the pain

It felt good to take a day off from making music today/tonight. Today I woke up, hung out with Julia for a while, went to Mike's with Dave, then came back to my apartment and watched Bullshit with Dave. He left a while ago and now I'm just sitting around waiting to get tired enough to fall asleep.

I just uploaded some more photos to my European tour journal entry, you can see them by clicking HERE.

They are for the show we played on December 8th, 2008 in Kassel, Germany.

We have a show Monday live on 91.5 FM WUML. Tune in if you live around here, if not then hopefully they have a live feed at: http://fallout.wuml.org/ I'm not sure if they will or not though. We're supposed to do a Children Of The Night set as well as an Energy one, but for some reason I doubt we'll get our shit together just by practicing for 1 or 2 days. I hope it's not too big of a deal if that happens. I also hope that I sound alright. The last radio thing we did didn't have much reverb on the vocals at all, leaving it sounding very, very dry. I've heard a handful of recordings from other bands that have played there though and the sound is a lot better. I wish our WERS set sounded better because I would have already posted it online for download...but it doesn't, so I didn't.

I really wish I had access to a gym still. I have put on a lot of weight in the last year or 2, which I'm extremely happy about, but I could be utilizing this weight gain in a far more constructive way. I've been doing pushups every day, and crunches here and there, but it's not enough. That's one thing that my old apartment had over this one - a personal gym. I could go downstairs and use the gym at any hour and play whatever music I wanted...which was usually just Rollins Band. Mike gave me some video called P90x or something that is supposed to be really intense, maybe I'll start that tomorrow. When I get really into working out I constantly feel the need to do it more and more, but when I fall into a slump, it is extremely hard to get out of it. From not touring for a while, I haven't been sweating my ass off and getting an intense cardio workout every night from singing, so this is leading me to believe that I'm in the worst shape I've been in in a while. Whatever, I just need to change it. There is no sense in complaining about something if I don't do anything about it.

I just found this picture of me feeding a cupcake to C at Chain Reaction on 11-16-08 from the tour with H2O that we did.

I hope we get on another big tour like that for our next release. When we did that tour Joe and I complained so much about how no one liked us, but looking back it wasn't so bad. I can't really see why we complained so much. I feel like it's like that a lot though: we'll complain a lot, but then look back and say it wasn't so bad. That's probably because in the past year things have gotten progressively worse for us though. The tour with Defeater was REALLY good, then every tour after that was worse than the one before it. I think we made as many fans in the scene we were playing to as we're gonna. I think it's time to release something new, and branch out. I also hope that we do a music video for one of our new songs. I feel like releasing a music video online is GREAT promotion in this day and age, not to mention it would just be a lot of fun.

I was thinking earlier today about how I haven't really been depressed lately. For as far back as I can remember, I would slip into horrible bouts of depression and not be able to get out. I don't know what it is that has made this not happen in a while, but it's nice. It's nice to not completely break down and feel nothing but pain once a week at least. Instead though, I feel like it has been replaced with disgust, anger, rage, and disappointment.

I can look back at the lyrics I wrote for Punch The Clock and say that they were generally themed in sadness, regret, and wanting to get out and live my dreams of being in a band. With Invasions Of The Mind it was more just sadness, fear, and hopelessness. Maybe I got it all out of my system. I can still sing those songs with conviction because I can remember what it was like to feel that way, but I don't really feel that way anymore. I think that the new Energy E.P. is going to be a step in a darker direction. Darker in the sense that we've seen the evil's that the people in this world are capable of, and confident that we will never go down that path. I feel like the last 2 releases were more of wild, uncontrolled emotion that I didn't know what to do with other than get it out of me, while the new material has more of a direction and a message to it. I'm speaking lyrically of course. That could also be due to the fact that this is the first time I've allowed another member of the band to come into the lyrical aspect of writing. I've been writing lyrics with Mike for Children Of The Night for a while now, but this is something else entirely. I feel like Mike refines all the raw ability I have into the perfect representation of what I'm capable of. I think when left to my own devices, I'm not able to show that. At least not at this point in my life.

I can't believe how much I've grown to hate almost every person I encounter. I don't really even care if I meet another new person for the rest of my life. That might sound mean, sad, or exaggerated, but it's just how I feel right now.

I'm going to stop this now because it's getting too long and I have to finish uploading photos to the Energy Facebook before it gets too late. I want to try to spend most of the day with Julia today.

Watching Mike record scratch guitar

I'm sitting here at Mike's watching him record scratch guitar tracks for the new song. It's pretty boring to sit through, but it has to be done. Earlier today I felt better than I did the day before, but later on I started feeling a little sick again. I think it's going away though. We have to practice Saturday and Sunday because of our radio show on Monday. We haven't even practiced all the Children Of The Night songs once...hopefully that's not a disaster.

Earlier today Julia got me Town Spa which is always awesome. We watched The Office, Seinfeld, and Family Guy, then she went to bed.

The new Danzig album is going to be called "Deth Red Sabaoth". I can't wait.

Mike just finished, so I'm going to stop typing now and possibly start recording vocals.

Secrets

I just got back from Mike's house where we mapped out the drums for the new song. The name of the song is going to be "Secrets", and it is already one of my favorite Energy songs. If we keep writing awesome songs like this, the new Energy album is going to be insane. I already know that it's going to be our best material yet.

I caught a cold from either Mike or someone that went to Mike's. I really hope it's gone by the time we do our radio show on March 1st because if it's not, I can't even really see any point in doing it. "Hey, tune in and hear me sound like I'm sick." I'm sure it will be fine by then, but I always get nervous about stuff like this.

Well, I just wanted to make a quick update before I went to bed. Hopefully I can continue to make updates on a regular basis from now on.

I never know what to write here

On Thursday, February 18th, I went to Mike's house like I do almost every night. At one point Mike started playing this descending chord pattern while humming a random melody. I told him I liked it, and that we should run with it. Last night (the 20th) we completed the song. It's not that the song came particularly easy to us, we just worked really hard during a short amount of time and got things done. I want to do that more often. Both of us are fully capable of writing music and melodies with ease, and although writing lyrics is time consuming, we get it done when we put our minds to it. I really like how the song came out too. The verses and chorus have kind of the same feel as "Walk Into The Fire", and the bridge is really heavy and aggressive. This will be a fun song to perform live. We're not sure what the name of this song will be, so I won't post the lyrics just yet. I think we're going to start recording a demo of it soon.

Today Julia and I went to Grasshopper which is always good. We sat next to some idiot hippie girl that talked in a whiny, slow, measured, way that just cut right through everything. The place was packed so it wasn't as obnoxious as you'd imagine, but it still sucked. After that we went home, watched T.V., and then Julia went to bed. I just got back from Mike's a little less than an hour ago. Eric, Roe, and Dave were there. We laughed a lot and watched Charles Manson interviews for a while. I hope I wake up somewhat early tomorrow so I can spend Julia's one day off with her. On that note, I'm going to end this.

Happy Birthday Julia!

Today is Julia's birthday. I haven't gone to bed yet, but I think at this point I might as well stay awake until she wakes up so I can wish her a happy birthday before she goes to work.

The other night we played our first show in almost 3 months in Providence, RI with Four Year Strong. It was also our first show with Mike. I though we did pretty good other than a few minor things here and there. We also got to debut a brand new song called "Walk Into The Fire":

Mike fixed up the audio and made an mp3 of it that sounds significantly better than the audio in the video. You can download that by clicking HERE.

Here are the lyrics:

Energy - Walk Into The Fire

Do you ever feel diseased?
Believing in a liar?
Get up off your hands and knees
And walk into the fire

See you sinking like a stone
Hold your head up higher
You will reap what you have sown
Walk into the fire

This is how you find the way
Turn the night into the day
This is how you find the way
Turn the night into the day

Walk into the firelight
Through the darkness burning bright

When your truth is only lies
And evil your desire
Will you choose your own demise
Or walk into the fire?

Everyone you've ever known
Is walking on a wire
Can you make it on your own?
Walk into the fire

This is how you find the way
Turn the night into the day
This is how you find the way
Turn the night into the day

Walk into the firelight
Through the darkness burning bright

I can't wait to actually have this song, and others recorded and released on an album. Now that Mike is in the band, we are just on a whole other level of songwriting. Mike pushes me to my limit and makes me the best musician I am capable of being, and he himself is capable of writing some of the best songs I've ever heard, never mind sang on. There is just something special about what happens when Mike and I get together and create music. I can't even put it into words. People don't even know what's in store. Everything Energy has done in the past is nothing compared to what's ahead. I'm not putting down my previous accomplishments, but this is something completely new. If we got as far as we did WITHOUT him, I can't even begin to imagine where introducing his talent into the group will take us.

I just wish we could be a little more efficient with writing. We both have all the time in the world, but can't seem to churn out songs fast enough. One thing that would help a LOT would be if I had a car during the day and could make it over to his house while everyone else is busy, that way we could actually get some serious hours in dedicated to writing and creating. Most nights, there are at least 1 to 3 other people there, which makes it very difficult to write and/or get things done.

Now that we have a computer set up in the apartment, it's a lot easier to get stuff done online, so hopefully that means I'll update more often. I love having this apartment and I love having it with Julia. I know that I am a very, VERY lucky person, for many reasons, it's just that sometimes I forget how much worse my situation could be, and every once in a while I need to remind myself that I have almost everything I want in life, and to take a step back and appreciate it.

I love being me.

Energy's first show ever

At Mike's, 3 hours into consciousness

I feel like a lot of my entries are starting with this but...I haven't updated this in a while. I think I might start updating more once Julia gets her computer Friday. I just woke up a couple of hours ago, which I'm not too happy about because I'm trying to stay on somewhat of a nocturnal sleeping pattern and this is almost the complete opposite of that. I'm in the mood to be really productive today, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to because Mike will be asleep all day, and I'll have no way to work on new music. I guess I could always try to write lyrics for one of the new songs we've been working on, but I know that probably won't happen. What I'll probably end up doing is wasting time on the internet all day, and not get anything accomplished.

In case you don't know, I started a Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig tribute blog out of boredom: http://BlogAmongUs.blogspot.com I'm considering getting http://www.BlogAmongUs.com but that's 10 dollars that I should be spending on plenty of other things. I wouldn't(and probably couldn't) do this with/for any other band or musician, but I've been obsessed with those 3 bands for well over a decade now, and I just thought it would be fun to do.

Right now I'm just killing time while Mike edits and continues to try to figure out ProTools. We're just finishing our fourth song vocally for the Children Of The Night full length. That's 4 songs out of 13. I really wish recording didn't take so long. I go to his house almost every single night and chip away at it, but it's just not enough. If I just had a car during the day, we could both shift our sleeping patterns from being nocturnal, to sleeping all night, and recording all day, which would probably give us another 5 to 6 hours of productivity a day. But, since I have NO income, I just flat out can't contribute whatsoever to the cost of gas.

I posted a link to the very first Energy demo that we recorded in March of 2006 today and to my surprise, over 100 people downloaded it. I'll post it here now for anyone that missed it:

The lineup for this demo was:

Tank - Vocals
Mikey D. - Guitar
Rob Spearin - Guitar
Conor O'Brien - Bass
Burton Wright - Drums

01. Lost And Found
02. Cyanide
Download

Stickam

Add me on Stickam: http://www.stickam.com/JasonTankerley

I'll probably be using it mostly for broadcasting live recording sessions of

Energy/Children Of The Night.

Science Museum

I'm only updating this because I'm trying really hard not to fall asleep. I haven't been on a nocturnal sleeping pattern for a while now, so needless to say, I haven't been recording much lately.

Today I woke up and ran a few errands with Julia, then we went to her work to pick up my jacket that I ordered:

After that, Julia and I went to the Museum of Science for a while. We ran into Mark from Slapshot there, it was nice to see him and catch up. I can't believe it's been over a year since I went to Europe. I had a lot of fun at the museum and I hope we can go again soon. Once we got back, we made milkshakes and watched South Park. Then, Eric came over, we watched Creepshow, then went to Mike's.

I'm really enjoying this downtime from touring, I just need a long break from it. Some people just love doing it constantly and think it's the coolest thing ever, but that's just not me. I like writing, recording, and performing music...that's it. I don't like the bullshit surrounding it. I don't really care about traveling (at least not at this point in my life), I don't care about the ongoing soap opera that is the underground music scene, and I don't give a shit about making any new friends or kissing "important" people's asses. I just want to make music. There is so much bullshit surrounding touring that most people don't know/think about. I've said it so many times before, but I absolutely love the 30 minutes that I play each night, but there are 23 hours and 30 minutes more than that, making up each day on tour. Everything within that time frame isn't what I'd like to be doing with my day. That's how much I love it though. I will go through 23 and a half hours of shit, just for 30 minutes of playing.

I've had the following lyrics laying around for quite some time now. They are for an Energy song titled "Bleeding Grey". I'm not sure if this song will ever make it to an album, or if we'll even record it, but I'd say these are some of, if not my favorite lyrics that I've written so far, and I just want to share them with anyone that's interested.

I wrote it while on tour over a year ago:

Accompanied by the deafening cries of moon lit goodbyes that sing for me.
Our midnight choir can't lose its fire, burning oh so clean.
I swear I hear the harmony, I swear you spread your wings for me.
Apparitions fill the air with songs of the deceased.
Singing for release...

"Take my hand, believe in me" he said to her so gracefully.
"But as we crawl beneath the wounded, don't shake what you've seen."
Come evade banality and the lifeless sounds of their silent screams.
We'll dance at night and morning will bring sweet tranquility.
Bathing in debris...