A New Era

This past Monday, the first single off the new album "War of Angels" was released to radio.  Finally the album cycle has started, and we're just camped out, waiting to hit the road again!  First stop is Kenosha, WI, for a benefit show for Chase Benjamin Freund through the Caring Heart.
Be on the lookout for 6 new videos, yes, 6, that's why it's taking forever!  They each correspond with a different song on the album and show some of the process of recording the song.
It's October once again, I'm up in Northern Michigan for a week off, kinda.  The trees outside are starting to turn orange and yellow.  Even the white pine in the front yard has a lot of yellow needles on it.  I'm not so sure that's a good thing for that tree, but maybe it was starting to feel left out after all these years.  Side note, when I was young, around the ages of 5 and 6, I was taller than this tree.  It came up to about waist level.  Notice how the left side branches are longer and how it leans to the left?  That's because I ran it over when I was learning to ride my bike.  Whoops!
Ooo!  I took a pair of brown leather pants that I got about 10 years ago to the tailor yesterday.  They were freaking huge, but I pretty much got them for free so I can't complain too much, but now in one week, they'll be a perfect fit for me.  Haha.  For those of you who like me on Facebook, I got my seat covers all washed and clean, but I still haven't put them back in, yet.  I need to do that soon, before it becomes a month from now.
This seems to be a very thin and uneventful entry, and that's because there really isn't a whole lot going on right now.  As mentioned earlier, we're in a holding pattern for the next week or so, just waiting to get our orders on what to do next.  I promise you, I will have some very exciting band-related news soon, as opposed to some very exciting personal news, which I always seem to have for some reason or another... (Tailored pants, yellow trees...)
If I can manage it, be on the lookout for a new post in about 3 weeks!  (Oct. 21st(ish))
See y'all soon!

"War Stories"

So in honor of the new album coming out, as well as "Hard Highway" being a really old song, I'm debating about changing the name of the blog to "War Stories."  What do y'all think?
We have one week left in the studio, then the recording will finally be done!  There is a lot of excitement and anxiety in the air around here.
As most of you know, we went to Sturgis, SD, last weekend to help kick off the bike rally with Godsmack, Three Days Grace and Hellyeah.  What an amazing experience!  I don't even know if words can accurately describe it!  Let me give it a shot:
   Fun, Party, Awesome, Intriguing, Fascinating, Rock, Dusty, Hot, Loud, Goosebumps, Beer, Fields, Chrome, Rubber, Exhaust, Octane, Gasoline, Adrenaline, Fire, Burn, Windy, Huge, Memorable, Wicked, Sweet, Exhausting, Sun, Flies, Traffic, Monkey.
That's about as close as I can get right now, for any more, you'll just have to find some pictures online!  It took me a couple days to recover from the whole ordeal.
So once we got back to Chicago, we started really hitting the studio hard.  No sleep for us guys, we're really pushing to get everything perfect!
Since it's Saturday, today, we thought we'd take a little break from the intensity and have ourselves some time-traveling fun at Medieval Times!  So from all of us to all of you, have a great weekend!

Time is winding down...

So it seems like it has been a while since I last sat down and wrote out something intriguing and informational, so I'll give it a shot today.
Things are starting to get wrapped up here in the studio; one by one, songs are being crossed off the big board. (Yes, we really have a big board, it's in the kitchen!  You'll see it in some upcoming studio videos.  I'm working hard on them, I promise!)  Today, for the most part, is a discussion and game-plan day, so I'm not videotaping at the moment, which gives me some free time to sort through hours of video and hundreds of pictures, and while my dying computer is trying to process all that information, I thought I'd do about the only thing I can do on it while it works away, which is type up all that we've been up to!  Aren't you guys (and girls) lucky?  Haha.  On that same note, if any of you have a brand new Macbook Pro that you really don't like and aren't sure what to do with, feel free to send it my way so I can get some of this stuff done a little quicker...  ;)
For the last 2 weekends, we packed our things up and drove an insanely long distance to Kansas and back, first to Wichita, and then to Dodge City.  The trip to Wichita was a quick one, we showed up that morning, played the show, and left shortly after the set was over.  Unfortunately, we missed out on seeing both our good friends in Texas Hippie Coalition, as well as rock legends, Styx.  That's what happens on these one-off shows, though.  The second trip, we had some hotel rooms waiting for us in Dodge City, so we got to go out the night before the show for an AMAZING dinner, as well as some fun with old friends.  Then, we were able to get a decent night's rest, and get crazy at a hell of a fun show with Halestorm the next night!  Then we had another full night's rest before we made the 17 hour drive back to the studio the next day.
This weekend, we have 3 great shows coming up!  First up, Kaukauna, WI, at JJ Maloney's on Saturday, Sunday we'll be in Sioux Falls, SD, at Rookie's, and finally we will be getting crazy with Godsmack in Sturgis, SD, to kick off bike week!  This will be the first trip to Sturgis for all of us, and we're very excited!
Other than my long-overdue purchase of the Ghostbusters 1 and 2 box set last night, I think that's about all that's been new.  My mind is kind off off today, so if I remember anything else, I'll let you know!  Hope all of you are having a great summer, and we can't wait to see everyone!

Oh, we're over half way there...

So I don't really know what I want to say today, because I just woke up for some reason and my mind is not functioning at full capacity just quite yet so I'll try to make it up as I go along, how's that sound? Alright, the coffee is started, and I'm feeling better already! What's going on lately? Well, Matt, Leigh and Dylan left last night to drive up to Grand Rapids and start getting things ready up there, Dave and Tony are here with me in the studio still working on guitars, and we will leave later this evening to drive up to Grand Rapids as well to get ready for the show in West Branch tomorrow. It's going to feel nice to actually get out of Chicago for a little bit, I've been feeling a little bit like a hermit. I don't know how you big city dwellers do it! I need to get out in the country every now and then and just be away from everything.
For you tech nerds out there waiting for the next tour video, I'm working on it! I've got about 350GB worth of videos stored up on the media drive here, and when you add in all the other videos and photos I've taken since the end of 2006, I'm about out of space on this 1TB drive, so I'm hoping to pick up a shiny new 2TB drive this weekend to start filling up!
We've all been working out a bit, here, and for some reason, my lower body is still disproportionately stronger than my upper body. For example, I can bench 135lbs, but I can do 200lbs on leg extensions. What that means, is that if I were sitting upright in a chair, and a 200lb person sat on my feet, I could kick my legs out straight and hold them up in the air.
Reading back over that, I'm not really sure why any of you would care, and that really has nothing to do with music, and speaking of music, the coffee maker is yelling at me...
Mmmm, now this is the best part of waking up...
I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but the Aranda boys, Dameon and Gabe have been up in the studio right above us recording their new record as well. We've had a few ping ping and pinball tournaments with them, so far I think that the series is tied right now.
Hey, look at all those words up there! I knew I could manage to write something!
So recording is going very well, the new songs are all really taking their final forms, most of the work left is just adding guitar solos and other small parts, as well as some finishing vocals. It's about time, too, because we all can not wait to get back on the road to play some shows with the new music! The schedule we're sticking to right now says that we'll be out of here in about 3 more weeks, and shortly after that we're going to hit the open road! Look out, America, We're coming for ya!

After a mixture of carrot sticks and cheesedogs...

We've had a few crazy thunderstorms so far, here in Chicago!  The picture above is from the most recent, in which there were tornado sirens going off all around us!  We got quite a bit of rain that night (obviously,) and there are still puddles on the ground 3 days later.  Also this week, a pole-mounted electrical transformer decided to burst into flames after a violent explosion and scare the hell out of all of us who were around that particular window.  Click this sentence for a video of the immediate aftermath!  When all was said and done with that, we had lost one day of recording due to lack of power, but we gained a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo!  Party on!
Recording is coming along great, the new songs are sounding AMAZING, and they're not even mixed or mastered yet!  So that is definitely a good sign.  Leigh just finished up tracking some vocals, and now there is a festive foosball tournament going on, as well as some pinball here and there.
I just added a few more pictures to the PopEvil.com photo section, and there will be more added to the Facebook page tomorrow at some point.
Tomorrow is an off-day, and we're going to go check out some of the action for Taste of Chicago!  Y'all know how we love food!  Aside from that, we're pretty excited about our upcoming show on Wednesday at Summerfest in Milwaukee with Cavo and Janus!  It's going to be a fantastic show, so if you're in the area, make sure you come out!
Alright, I have to go take a shower because I feel like a yeti.  Happy Weekend!