ENVISION

Gone fishin'

2011-08-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

We're having a chill summer, hope you are too. No shows planned at the moment.

If you live in California, go see So Adult and Jason Clackley on their West Coast tour, you won't be disappointed.

The Envision record is currently up for sale here: RDG Records and Distro

Buy it from them so I don't have to schlep to the Post Office. Unless you want a brown copy, of which there are only a few left.

The record should also be available from Trip Machine any day now.

For Seattle folks, it's at the ol' Singles Going Steady.

Until next time, go watch the trailer for MI:4 GHOST PROTOCOL and mosh hard.

Love,

Sanford

"Lean onto me, lean into you. Comfort I once knew slowly disappears."

2011-06-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Last minute record release show in Bellingham this Saturday.

I absolutely adore Trees & Stars and if you like sad, wimpy music then you'll probably like it too.

And Tempest will bum you out with pure volume.

This is the last show at the New Street house, which is where we played our first show on a miserably cold and snowy December night. That was 2 and a half years ago. How 'bout that.

-Sanford

PS: Huge thanks to everyone who has placed orders for records so far. We love you.

Envision mail order

2011-05-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Our 7 song 12" EP is at long last available. It took us forever to put it out, but we're all pretty proud of how it turned out.

10 bucks + 2 bucks for shipping. Please send funds via Paypal to riversishot@hotmail.com. If you want to send a money order instead, let us know. Make sure to include your preferred shipping address and all that good stuff.

We pressed 50 on root beer-ish clear brown vinyl, 350 on black. I'll be sending out the brown copies first unless you specify otherwise.

45 rpm, crank it up.

We thank you all for your patience and support.

-Sanford

Rainfest 2011, we done did it

2011-05-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

We opened up Rain Fest 2011 on Friday and it was terrifying. Huge stage, about 4 times more people than we've ever played in front of before and getting to play with Trial and Xibalba. But, we managed to not totally blow it and I thought we sounded pretty solid. The people who run sound at Neumos are really nice and are on top of their game.

Xibalba tore the roof off the place. Best set I've seen them play yet. Just pure mayhem. Black Breath also killed it and took advantage of Neumos smoke machine and seizure-inducing light show.

Then Trial took the stage for the first time since bass player Brian Redman died. His mom was there, Greg was amazingly well-spoken as usual and they played just a blistering set. Kids went apeshit, stage dives were had, people got knocked around, some dude nearly kicked my thumb off, etc. It was fantastic.

I realize now that I've seen Trial 4 times. That's pretty wild considering that when I first heard them, I was doing a crappy radio show in 2003 at Western and my friends Bo and Derek brought a copy of "Are These Our Lives?" in to blast on the radio. I was instantly hooked by the music and fascinated by tales of insane Trial shows in the late 90s. They quickly became one of my favorite bands, but of course I figured I'd never get to see them, let alone play a show with them. Over the years I got to know Timm and Greg as friends and helped Timm run Panic Records mail order a few summers ago.

Well, in 2005 I saw Trial for the first time and then Friday got to play a show with them. Dreams from 8 years ago came true and I couldn't be happier with that.

So, eternal thanks to Timm for asking us to play and to all of Trial for playing another show.

-Sanford

Rain Fest 2011 Info

2011-04-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

From the Rain Fest folks:

The 5th annual RAIN FEST will take place May 27, 28, and 29 at NEUMOS in Seattle, Wa....

FRIDAY - DAY ONE

ALL TEETH
ANOTHER BREATH
BLACK BREATH
ENVISION
FOUNDATION
MAKE DO AND MEND
RUN WITH THE HUNTED
TRIAL
WAIT IN VAIN
XIBALBA

SATURDAY - DAY TWO

7 SECONDS
BULLY
COWARDICE
DEVOTION
ILL INTENT
MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD
NAILS
OBLIVION
OWEN HART
SABERTOOTH ZOMBIE
SHOOK ONES
SIXES
SUPERTOUCH
WEEKEND NACHOS
WISDOM IN CHAINS

SUNDAY - DAY THREE

BREAKING GROUND
THE CARRIER
CRUEL HAND
FIGURE FOUR
GRAVEMAKER
KNIFE FIGHT
LOSING SKIN
MADBALL
POWER
PUNCH
NOT SORRY
ROTTING OUT
RUCKUS
SOJOURNER
WALLS
WRECK

About the Venue:
http://neumos.com/neumos.php

NEUMOS
925 E. Pike St.
Seattle, WA 98122

There will be all ages re-entry UNTIL 9PM, after that time there will only be re-entry for those 21+.
The 2005 Trial reunion took place at Neumo's. The room and live sound are incredible.
The Venue Staff and Security are all great people and are very excited for this weekend. We are asking a lot of them to put in 3 very long, very loud days so in turn we are asking that all of our patrons are respectful and use their head. There will be a zero tolerance policy for violence at this festival This includes the after party shows that rainfest is sponsoring.

Check out that lineup on Friday....one of those jerk ass bands doesn't belong! (hint: it's us!)

What an incredible lineup we get to play with. Lots of bands we've played with in the past, lots of bands we're good buds with, and one band in a category all their own: Trial. Personally, it's quite a trip to get to play with Trial. When I first heard them, things really clicked for me. It was like, "Yep, that's what I like about hardcore. This is what does it for me." Their lyrics inspired me, their music made me want to mosh the world and it showed me one way that misdirected anger can be channeled into something good.

Trial's 2005 reunion show in Seattle was the first time I saw the band and it remains as one of my very favorite memories in all my years of going to shows. Then I got to see them twice in 2009 in Seattle and at the Burning Fight festival in Chicago. Just incredible experiences. More than any other hardcore band, Trial provides that rare feeling of catharsis that many people seek; a positive release of negative emotion.

-Sanford

"I don't care where, just far away."

2011-04-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Holy mother of god, we're playing a show?!?

I think this is the first hardcore show at The Ground Zero in Bellevue in years. I think the last time I saw a show there it was Shook Ones and Sinking Ships or something. Anyways, this is a benefit show for Rain Fest. I can only assume most of these funds will be going towards buying protein shakes for Freddy Cricien and covering Black Breath's bar tab.

-Sanford

rainfest 2011

2011-02-15T01:29:00.000-08:00

we're playing. i don't believe it either. hope you got your tickets.

may 27-29, neumos, seattle.

7 SECONDS

ALL TEETH

ANOTHER BREATH

BLACK BREATH

BREAKING GROUND

BULLY

COWARDICE

CRUEL HAND

DEVOTION

ENVISION

FIGURE FOUR

FOUNDATION

GRAVE MAKER

ILL INTENT

KNIFE FIGHT

LOSING SKIN

MADBALL

MAKE DO AND MEND

MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

NAILS

NOT SORRY

OBLIVION

OWEN HART

POWER

PUNCH

ROTTING OUT

RUCKUS

RUN WITH THE HUNTED

SABERTOOTH ZOMBIE

SHOOK ONES

SIXES (last show)

SOJOURNER

SUPERTOUCH

THE CARRIER

TRIAL

WAIT IN VAIN

WEEKEND NACHOS

WISDOM IN CHAINS

WRECK

XIBALBA

show pics/other bullshit

2010-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

so our show at the new street/fudge house was a fun one. it was cool seeing our boy aaron on the trap again in ellenoprah, and lockstep demonstrated their mastery of the melnick riff (and possibly smoke bomb throwing, but that's neither here nor true, most likely). we looked like dickheads playing full stacks in a basement that was actually too short to accommodate them, but whatever. here's a few snaps from the show, all courtesy of brady mitchell. big thanks to the fuck house and everyone who lives there for having us to play.

also, our records are in. art and layout are getting finalized, so keep your eyes peeled for that. next show is at the black lodge with our boys in not sorry, plus run with the hunted, olde ghost and breag naofa. should be a smanger.

2010-10-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

yo, our boys in NOT SORRY just put up a new song from their forthcoming 7" on react!/eric's house records, and it's a certified slumper. scope the song, mosh to adam's four-string wankery, and pre-order that shit tomorrow.

http://www.myspace.com/notsorryxxx
http://www.myspace.com/notsorryxxx
http://www.myspace.com/notsorryxxx

so this is happening

2010-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

"There's only one way to know...."

2010-09-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Another show confirmed! This has been in the works for a while and all of us in Envision are incredibly syked to be playing with Devotion. If you've been sleeping on the Devotion LP, well, you're an idiot. Fix that right now and check out "Bastard Son of Affluence Blues." My favorite release of 2009 for sure. It's Mark Palm's (Go It Alone) Damnation AD/Soundgarden/Alice In Chains-influenced project band and now he's roped some other dudes together to finally play some shows. I am pumped.

September 23, 2010

Devotion
Envision
Torero

The Contra House
Bellingham, WA

7:30 / tba

-Sanford

"And in your busy, dizzy life you'd become everything you said you would."

2010-09-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

To compensate for a rather inactive summer show-wise, we've got some fun plans for fall. First of all, we're going to self-release our EP. We've put in the order for the LP and we should have test presses in a few weeks. Stay tuned for more details, but we hope to have it released in the next couple months. Also, we are playing this show:

Carey and Kim's Birthday Show

Heiress (one of Seattle's very best, I love this band)
Roareth (Rolo's new jams)
Olde Ghost (first show, fronted by elder edgeman Chris LaPointe)
Envision (nerdz)
more tba

Oct. 8th
Black Lodge, Seattle
Punx o' clock

And now some linkage....

Our buddy Aaron Apple posted all his footage from the July 2nd Bellingham show. He got footage of all the bands. Most of our set can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMPXUJzdGig

Also, check out Feel Bad Now and Mourningside AD's footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=sQAz3OWknok&feature=related (warning: may contain a Hatebreed cover)

Finally, this might be my favorite thing to hit the 'net in a long time. Joe Olmstead (So Adult ringmaster, occasional Shook Ones and Envision road dawg and all-around top dude) and his buds made this fake trailer for the Bellingham Trailer Wars Competition and it features a few Envision songs from the EP, as well as an all-too-brief Keith Carmack cameo. Ladies and gents, I present you with FANG TEN:

Thanks for reading, mosh n' roll.

-Sanford

Bummer Summer

2010-07-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a vid from our Bellingham show back on July 2nd, taken by our bud Anthony from Mourningside AD. It's an intro and then "Accidental Sons."

Some things are in the works, some are not. Go outside, there's only like 6 weeks of decent weather left in the NW.

Love,

Sanford

SHOW ME

2010-06-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

look at that flyer and examine the lineup. you've got one of the illest east-coast bands going, twin/tone record's newest future signing, a band that basically sounds like disembodied with "shut your mouth"-era davey havok singing, their way-heavy so-cal buds, and us. possibly the best mixed-bill show we've ever played, and we're fucking stoked. hope to see you there. EP is in the bag, and new songs are in the works. keep your ears peeled for a possible new cover, too. endless summer 2010. PEACE.

a-frank

UPDATE: the next day gets even more real.

"Dug my head in a hole in the ground, brought back the rain this time around."

2010-06-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

New song "Accidental Sons" from our forthcoming EP is posted up here for your listening displeasure.

Lyrics:

Accidental sons, we could never be our fathers’ guilt or forgiveness. Nor would we be brothers or countrymen exhausting ancient obligations. This was not our future, to forget ourselves in an idle love, for sympathy, expectation, and concern. And this kingdom set aside for us demanded indifference to ignoble pains. We were new men, nomads enlisted to a life abandoned by God and finally free. No! We will not be beggars to fate and misfortune.

If the player isn't working on your wack-ass browser, click here to party.

"The night.....it's so bright, it'll blind you."

2010-04-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Next show:

April 8th, 2010

MEDIA MIND
ENVISION
BULLY

Martha Lake Community Club
16300 Motor Pl
Lynnwood, Wa
8pm
$5

This will be our last show probably until July. Alex will galavanting across Europe until then, doing his best to have as many cultural misadventures as possible and hopefully not end up in a "Hostel" situation in backwoods Slovakia or something. One thing's for sure, we'll party hard on some shows when he gets back. In the meantime, we'll be trying to get our shit together enough to release our record in some form. Mixing went really well last week and we're getting it mastered soon. Keep ya eyes peeled for updates.

So come out and party on Thursday in Lynnhood, support your local punk scene and enjoy (or at least tolerate) a quick 3 band show.

Love,

Sanford

PS: Xibalba still fucking rules, listen to them here!

"I am the king of the fucking jungle."

2010-03-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

We're very syked to be playing again this Saturday with our California buds XIBALBA. And look at that lineup! Not a single standard tuned guitar to be found! Suck it, nerds!

-Sanford

"They're doing their part. Are you? Join the Mobile Infantry and save the world. Service guarantees citizenship."

2010-03-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

Last 'core show at the Old Foundry in Bellingham this Friday. End of an era, nothing gold can stay, no one lives forever, the only constant in life is change, etc etc. Post a comment of your favorite cliche concerning the fact that nothing lasts forever and get nostalgic and shit.

On a serious note, I'm very excited to finally play with So Adult.

-Sanford

"You made me feel like a harbor, you made me feel like a fortress."

2010-03-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Photos from 3/4/10 by Dustin Mangini. Thanks dude! Show was awesome, huge thanks to Jason Clackley. Preorder his record here: http://www.mountainmanrecords.com

Vocals are in the bag for the new record, just has to be mixed and mastered.

Next show is the last 'core show at Whaam in Bellingham, March 26th. Tear it down now.

-Sanford

"Thrill me..."

2010-02-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

Next Thursday, come out and hang.

"Better off alone, together"

2010-02-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

Wazzzup world. This is Sanford hollerin' at ya.

Shows are updated, we're playing a rager on March 4th at the Fusion Cafe/YMCA with The Separation and ol' J-Clack. Get ready for that one. Then our buds Xibalba are coming back up to the NW in April and we're joining them at the seldom utilized Ground Zero in glorious Bellevue. So lace up your moshing shoes and lift some weights or something.....whatever you need to do.

Recording update: We're doing vocals and some extra guitar stuff next weekend, March 5th and 6th. We'll keep ya posted.

My other, far crappier band Roanoke is playing its first show this Saturday, Feb. 27th at the Black Lodge (cool "Twin Peaks" reference, you fucking dorks). It's me on bass, Adam Vernick from xNot Sorryx on guitar/vocals and this dude Joe Belluci from Buffalo, NY, on drums. Sounds like Majority Rule and other horseshit. Vacant State from Vancouver, BC, featuring the scary-ass Terry Wilk on vocals, will also be there.

mmmmmmmmmmdrop

2010-01-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

so, the last month's been pretty real in the 'vizh camp. new year's eve, we played the vera project with a grip of solid NW bands. then there was the iron rain show at the morgue, which was a real ripper. i think the highlight for everyone was hearing their guitarist tell us that we sounded like you & i, which is a real step up from the standard answer of "yeah, i dunno...earth crisis but suckier?" however, the biggest news for us is that, almost a year to the day after we recorded our 2009 demo in fairhaven, we began recording for our EP.

around 3:30 p.m. on january 20, i rolled over to two sticks, right off of beautiful aurora avenue in seattle. bo and jackson were already there, blasting marked men and setting things up.

tight. this was my first time ever recording in a legit, "real" studio, so i was pretty excited. excited enough to snap off this picture that demonstrates just how out of our league we were to be recording here:

note that "gibbard/farrar rehearsal" is after us. that being ben gibbard of death cab and

jay farrar of uncle tupelo/son volt. they canceled and i was BUMMED. was seriously considering hiding out in the bathroom overnight so i could holler. don't judge me.

so yeah, two sticks is the real deal. the newest shook ones record was done here, and parts of the newest sun kil moon. so you know i was geeking. by this point, jackson already had john's drum kit pretty much set.

john and keith arrived not long after, and we got our amps set up (yes, i realize this is a lot of gear nerding. fuck off, don't care).

my guy: sovtek mig 60, avatar 4x12 with greenbacks.

keith's whip (a.k.a. eric's): peavey 5150 with custom gaffe tape edge-mod, mesa 4x12

then eric arrived. while some might be beaten down by cubicle life in some bellevue office hellhole, eric sanford is not a halfway crook, and his party vibe was unshook:

eric got his shit all set up in the little bass room, and we were ready to jump off.

basically, we tracked all the full-band songs (lord willing, EPs gonna have four songs and three instrumental interludes/intros) together in the drum room, with amps in separate rooms. here are some zany, antic-filled photos from that whole process, which probably went from around 8 p.m. 'til 1 a.m.:

lots of air-drumming and sitting on couches.

shaun and alan came to hold it down and mac our party-sized bag of chex mix.

shaun needed some baby-birding.

keith bringing the ruckus.

buds.

blurred hands of a "percussionist."

obligatory "guitars we used" pic.

eric on my dad's (!) 1968 gibson eb-0 (he also used bo's p-bass, both played through an ampeg b2r and 8x10). chill bass, you may recognize it from early '00s yakima punk group the dummericans...

bo "producing."

because i am a total moron, i felt the need to use a vintage fender champ amp as a footstool while i played guitar. because i'm in iron maiden, apparently.

we even got jackson to hop on the drums for a guest spot on one of those interludes, but sadly, no photographic proof exists. but it sounds ill. anyway, once drums and bass were locked up, eric went home, alan and shaun bailed and it was just keith and i, adding guitar part after guitar part. we ended up with four rhythm tracks per song, plus lead parts. shit seriously sounds like post-victory records hatebreed. yikes. anyway, this all went from about 2 a.m. 'til around 4:30 or 5. we were in fuck-the-bullshit, bang it out mode, and straight up, i barely remember it. got pretty hectic but minus a few clean parts, we got it done. peep game:

bo and i awash in a sea of pedals i barely know how to use.

keith getting real twangy at the end of the night.

"which one makes me sound like brian baker?"

niceties thrown out the window.

we wrapped up around 5, delirious but pretty amped up. i've gotta hand it to jackson and bo for sticking it out with us and hauling some serious ass to get these songs recorded. it was a long night of spotty playing and off-color comments, but they were super cool and way dedicated. props.

so yeah, we've basically just gotta get dan in to do vocals, and knock out a few more guitar parts, and it'll be done. this spring marks 10 years for me playing in punk bands, so this is a pretty cool way to commemorate it. anyway, once this thing's done we'll get something up on here for anyone who wants to hear it. thanks for reading.

alex

full gear list:

1994 Gibson SG Special
'80s Gibson Invader
2008 Ampeg AMG100
1986 Gibson Les Paul Jr.
Fender Telecaster

1968 Gibson EB-0
Fender P Bass

Peavy 5150 - Mesa 4x12
Sovtek - Avatar 4x12
Fender Twin Reverb

Boss Giga Delay
Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Boss HM-2

Ludwig visible acrylic 22x18 bass drum
Ludwig Bohnam stainless steel 14x14 & 18x16 toms
Ludwig Bronze 14x6 1/2 snare
14" Paiste Rude hi-hats
20" Paiste Twenty crash
21" Zildjian A Rock ride
19" Zildjian A medium thin crash
18" Zildjian oriental china crash

Sunday - Jan. 10th - Morgue - Seattle, WA

2010-01-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

See you there.

-Keith XXX

ps. MOVE IT OR LOSS IT

got it did

2009-12-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

November was tight. House show at Casey/Sam/Paul's house was a blast, Not Sorry crew (pre-game Diegos, if you're not eating their new potato burritos for b, l, & d then you're fucking up big time), tons of food from their "hey it's Bellingham of course we'll have a vegan potluck" thing. I swear I had the best intention of making some sort of food (or at the last buying swedish fish) but I just ended up eating Eric's cupcakes and everybody elses food like I was on some sort of free-for-all/all you can eat game show. Gundert's food wins MTD (Most Tastey Dish...n/h). Mourningside AD played and destroyed everyone. They also covered Undertow. The show was a blast and there are going to be more at their house so that's tight.

(Wish I were a 25.)

(one of the best live shows I've seen this year, Mourningside AD)

(morons)

The next night was the same show (+ a very swine flu ridden Parasitic Skies, with Bo on bass...tight) at the Fusion Cafe in Seattle. We played there once last spring with Marrow and Tempest and I was tuned to C# through half the set and came off like a real big idiot. Jason Clackley has put up with us twice there now, so I think that means we owe him huge. xPSx dropped their 7", Alan from NxS did that Bulldog from Earth Crisis thing again and it was siqwitit, Mourningside AD demolished and we looked like jack asses. The shows were fantastic, and Mourningside AD is the best thing in the world, and after the weekend was over I was bummed out. Hope those guys had a good time too.

Thanks a ton for anyone who helped put on the shows or hung out/partied. On a personal note, that 8-mile bro from Detroit informed me he was moving back to the land of the Dark Carnival and I wish him the best of luck, I like that dude.

We have 4 songs ready to record. Maybe we'll get to that sometime this winter. We've been a band for a year now and want to play a ton more shows, get at us. Meanwhile our friends are moving units, Mourningside AD has a 7" out, Not Sorry does too. Get them, you'll be stoked you did.

We have the Vera Project New Years Show coming up, if you're around come drop by, some great bands are playing and it'll wrap up at a decent time (so you can party and see the Harkonen reunion thing if you want to).

On another Bellingham Hardcore tip, Get it Ready recorded their live demo thing and it RIPS. If you are not in the know, set aside a half hour, take some notes, and get it did/ready/boo clap. You can download it here. Believe the hype, for real. Ian (Serious Black/SoberxUnit/Insecure/ThroatxPunch/Madison Convention/Poetry of Hatred/Therman Merman), Toby (Lakehouse/Bellingham beast), Shane (SB/Hook Up Boyz), Marcus (LDM/Torch the Morning/Therman Merman/Bellingman), Dooger (Boner Surgeons/Poetry of Hatred/Crisis on Demand/Politically Drunk/Stuck/A billion 509 area punk bands), Joetalitar (ThroatxPunch/Therman Merman), Bob Black (Get it Ready spokesman '09/SB/Hook Up Boyz). That took me too long to jot down, Jesus look at all those bands. A serious east meets west connect. Am I missing any other bands these fools were in?

See you in the pit,

-Keith XXX

on the bounce

2009-11-30T03:52:00.000-08:00

Young, Roger W., Private, 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division (the Ohio Buckeyes); born Tiffin, Ohio, 28 April 1918; died 31 July 1943, on the island New Georgia, Solomons, South Pacific, while single-handedly attacking and destroying an enemy machine-gun pillbox. His platoon had been pinned down by intense fire from this pillbox; Private Young was wounded in the first burst. He crawled toward the pillbox, was wounded a second time but continued to advance, firing his rifle as he did so. He closed on the pillbox, attacked and destroyed it with hand grenades, but in so doing he was wounded a third time and killed.

His bold and gallant action in the face of overwhelming odds enabled his teammates to escape without loss; he was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor.

"Ah yes, [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]... Life? What 'right' to life has a man who is drowning in the Pacific? The ocean will not hearken to his cries. What 'right' to life has a man who must die to save his children? If he chooses to save his own life, does he do so as a matter of 'right'? If two men are starving and cannibalism is the only alternative to death, which man's right is 'unalienable'? And is it 'right'? As to liberty, the heroes who signed the great document pledged themselves to buy liberty with their lives. Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost. The third 'right'?—the 'pursuit of happiness'? It is indeed unalienable but it is not a right; it is simply a universal condition which tyrants cannot take away nor patriots restore. Cast me into a dungeon, burn me at the stake, crown me king of kings, I can 'pursue happiness' as long as my brain lives—but neither gods nor saints, wise men nor subtle drugs, can insure that I will catch it."

- Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois

Mourningside AD show reviews, upcoming gigs, and other nonsense will all be discussed in an upcoming blog update. Until then historical lesson on Private Roger Young, and the ramblings of Robert A. Heinlein through his character of Dubois in "Starship Troopers". Hey, Dan can write and quote Rainer Maria Rilke all day long...

-Keith XXX

"...I have wandered, my whole life long..."

2009-10-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Shows are updated. The first weekend in November we will be playing with the mighty Mourningside from California as they will be on tour and releasing a 7" soon after the tour. I got my hands on this bands demo last year and I've been borderline obsessed ever since, and I'm so glad they are playing up here. Nevermind the fact that we and our buds in NotxSorry are on both of the shows as well. The show in Seattle is at the Fusion Cafe at the downtown YMCA, and the one up here in Bellingham is at Casey's house and it will be the first show there. I highly encourage anyone reading this unfamiliar with the band to check them out.

Listen here:
http://www.myspace.com/mourningsidehc

Buy stuff here:
http://mourningside.bigcartel.com/

Download the EP here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?2eigtjithye

Needless to say, we're really excited for these shows. Hope to see some friends there.

Happy October,
-Keith XXX

New song lyrics

2009-09-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

Currently Untitled

Accidental sons: we could never be our fathers' guilt nor forgiveness . . . Nor would we be our brothers or countrymen exhausting an ancient crest. This was not our future-- to forget ourselves in an idle love for sympathy, expectation, and concern. And this kingdom, set aside for us, denied indifference towards ignoble pains. We were nomads, new men enlisted in a life abandoned by God, rejecting the toll to a world into which we would not cross. No, we will not be beggars to fate and misfortune.

This was mostly inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's retelling of the Prodigal Son parable. When I began writing lyrics for this song, I spent a lot of time trying to capture the fear experienced by the Prodigal Son as he returned home and had to face the suffering of familiarity from the family dogs. I don't think I really succeeded in the end.

I suggest purchasing The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge for the full story (or one of the many discussions on this piece.) You can also read the section in its entirety in Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke. If you're really ambitious, also check out his poem "You who never arrived." I think it relates well to the Son's journey after leaving home and his return. I haven't really found any kind of useful or concise manner in which to discuss these lyrics, so I'll just leave you to explore Rilke (to whom I am very indebted).

Other things:
"To nut" is a horrible expression, and I despise Alex Frank for its utterance.
If you're really bored, suggest a title for this song. I was thinking "Shepards" or "The Dogs," but that might be kind of dumb.
Stay edge.

-- Dan xxx

2009-08-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

considering the brutal heat the pacific northwest saw this month, i wanted to somehow work "indian summer" into the title of this august-centric post. i know keith would feel the pedro the lion reference, but i wasn't sure if dan would approve of the emo name-check. but yeah, envision has been chilling pretty hard this month. first off, we played a couple of shows with xibalba. if you're not friends with any of us, you might not know this, but we've basically served as their hype crew since keith or eric checked out their demo, told everyone else about it and and we all proceeded to nut profusely over it. eric had been hitting them up to include seattle and bellingham on their summer tour, so when that actually panned out, we all got super stoked. on august 10th, we played with them at the morgue in georgetown, which, though fairly new to doing hardcore shows, is definitely one of seattle's best all-ages DIY venues. hanging out beforehand in the yard-ish thing outside the venue, we seriously felt like we were in bartertown, and kept looking for tina turner to make a couple of us fight. on a 85-degree-plus night, dudes were making bum fires in big steel cans, and there were those huge wooden spools that hold industrial cable everywhere. it was tight. you can't really see much here, but a few of us are blurrily chilling pre-show:

left to right: half of anna, the almighty alan blackman, keith, john, me and, against all odds, a sober jeff wampler

we played first, and it was fun. we got to silence months of nagging with about 45 seconds of a harvest cover. we also debuted a new, untitled song, which was exciting. it's been in the works for months and months, so getting to finally play it was pretty satisfying. keep reading for a video of it from the bellingham show. anyway, here's a couple shots from the morgue:

keith's tower of edge.

metal mike looking legit terrifying. just wish there was a photo of his epic xibalba windmills.

dan brings the brees.

next up was eric's road buddies parasitic skies, who, like always, brought it hard. they played a couple of tasty new jams, and their strife cover lit up the morgue like rick rodney after a few rounds of crown and cokes. then, finally, xibalba. just as brutally slow, low and heavy as we'd anticipated. lots of mosh, lots of chug, lots of fun.

nate from xibalba.

brian from xibalba headbanging through my floating cab.

after them, sojourner played and brian talked some noise. fun stuff. then we chatted with the xibalba dudes, made plans to meet up in bellingham the next day, made a quick hot dog/TDM run in capitol hill and called it a night. excellent show, excellent venue, excellent vibes. the next day, we met up with xibalba at the ground floor (which, sadly, has decided to put the kibosh on hardcore shows, since they don't fit in with the venue's mission to be "a place of healing." mmkay.), then ended up at whatcom falls for some cliff diving. john macked it hard straight out the gate, bryan from xibalba big-upped keith's circa '98 sleeveless soulfly tee, and everyone peer-pressured the shit out of their roadie bud to make the huge jump. after that, we headed back to the venue and jammed pizza, then split up for pal'meni and rudy's. the show was a lot of fun. torero (which features a couple dudes from john's old band ghost dad) opened, and were great. then we played, and while the consensus was that it was a bit sloppy, it was still fun. peep this video, courtesy of our friend aaron. watch for joey o. mosh, wampler intoxication and dan getting cross-checked by the bass player from media mind's punk-as-fuck kid at around 6:25:

then xibalba straight killed it after us. if possible, even heavier than the night before. we told them that they're not allowed to NOT play out of full stacks from here on out, and they agreed. pretty heady amount of 'vizh-mosh and nate in a "borrowed" american apparel windbreaker:

after them, our boys in media mind rocked it. always fun to play with them, as they bring a more stripped-down, nasty vibe to their 'core. dig it. afterwards, we kicked it with xibalba as they loaded up their van, quoted a grip of gary oldman movies and, after seriously an hour's worth of wrangling, managed to snap off a big group shot:

xibalba-vision...plus casey.

fast-forward to the 27th, and we're gigging hard in olympia. or, to be more specific, in tumwater, at a grange hall kiiiinda out in the sticks. after getting cockblocked on buying a new guitar by some dick on craigslist, i met up with the van (piled high with 'vizhers and our buds in stuck), eric and keith jumped ship to my whip, and we navigated two hours of awful traffic to oly. we jammed some vic's pizza with our not sorry homies, toasted gina's 18th/19th birthday and ate some tasty vegan cupcakes. stuck was first, and held it down nicely. congrats to them on putting out their demo and their wolverine-themed t-shirts, even though earth crisis and entombed both beat them to it. we played next, and got to kick out the new song again. was fun. after that, not sorry raged with their unbeatable youth crew jams. keith and i peer-pressured alan into borrowing one of our tuner pedals, to which he agreed under extreme duress, and promptly disconnected all of his cords with his bleeding through-esque guitar acrobatics. and then did it again. and then he discovered that one of his cabs wasn't connected. suffice to say, alan no longer likes us (just kidding), but they still killed it. they played a couple new songs from their forthcoming 7", and they are, if possible, even harder than the demo cuts. get excited. oh, and keith stole the mic from j25 for the last half of "moving on," which was fucking awesome. after them, white wards kicked some challenging, noisy 'core, and media mind ripped it again. and the little kid sang a black flag cover. rad.

so yeah, big month for the 'vizh. lotta fun shows, and lots of exciting stuff coming up. for all you demo haters, we are vaguely planning to record for some sort of EP soon. we've also got a show in honor of our friend toby's return from iraq in bellingham on september 18th with vanguard, serious black, get it ready (SB dudes and toby on vokills), and a "surprise secret headliner." if you want to know who it is, please send 50 e-mails a day, every day until the show, to bellyhamster@gmail.com asking about it. seriously, do it. anyway, that's about all i've got. holler at us at envisionannodomini@gmail.com, keep checking here, and stay high. a-frank out.

baaaaack to olympiaaaa

2009-08-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

comin' for you, oly. get it ready.

-Eric

the sun isn't getting any brighter

2009-08-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hello internet, my old friend. How are you? Me? Well, I'm stoked beyond belief to be playing not one, but TWO shows with southern California's heaviest, XIBALBA. If you've ever had even a passing interest in bands like Disembodied, Santa Sangre or the mighty Sepultura, then do not miss them. Hear 'em out at http://www.myspace.com/placeoffear. Pretty sure you can download their demo somewhere on there. Prepare to have your hair blown back, kinda like this guy.

I haven't been this excited to play with a non-NW band in a while. And it's been about a month since we last played. With a bit of luck, we'll be playing a new song at these shows. Don't hold your breath, though. But, you can definitely count on us playing a certain special cover that we had prepared for the unfortunately cancelled (prayin' 4 U, Brian) Parasitic Skies/Unrestrained show last month. So all you dickheads that have pestered us for months and months to play it had better be there, 8 pm sharp.

And if once wasn't enough for you, or perhaps you reside in Bellingham, then come out to this one on Tuesday, Aug. 11th. Torero is a new Bellingham band featuring the dudes from Ghost Dad and Media Mind rips it Black Flag style.

Actually, you should go to all those shows. Bellingham all ages shows, movin' on up.

Anyways, thanks for your support. Party on.

-Sanford

2009-07-19T02:55:00.000-07:00

The Parasitic Skies 7" release show at Squid & Ink in Seattle has been canceled. Sorry Seattle, we really wanted to play but whatareyagonnado?

See you at The Morgue and Ground Floor for the Xibalba shows.

Bomb your local Prozium factory. The city-state of Libria will fall.

-The Underground

Deconstructing Embers

2009-07-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

Unrestrained and Parasitic Skies hit the west coast early July in support of their respective 7"s. Check out the shows, and yell for covers by bands like Mouthpiece, Ten Yard Fight, and not bands like Undertow or Strife.

-Keith XXX

ORDER NOT SORRY DEMOS AND SHIRTS

2009-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

not only are they our bros among bros, but not sorry have kicked the illest six minutes of hardcore in the northwest this year. so buy their demo. then look fresh as a motherfucker (like us) and cop one of their shirts too. peep game:

4-Song 2009 DEMO:
US: $5.00 • Canada/Mexico: $6.00 • World: $7.00

SHIRT:
US: $15.00 • Canada/Mexico: $16.00 • World: $17.00
Sizes: YM, S, M, L, XL, 2XL

All money can be paypaled to: notsorryxxx@gmail.com. Along with any other questions.

Please make sure to include what you want as well as shirt size in the message section, along with your address if it's not the same as your paypal account.

eric's graduation plans

2009-06-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

so now that eric is a master of arts, you may be curious: what are his plans to, uh, manage the environment, or whatever they taught him at his weird hippie college? apparently, he'll be conducting an upper-level seminar on crushing mid-'90s hardcore at selected west-coast institutes of higher learning, as a fill-in for our buds unrestrained on a week-long tour with our other buds, parasitic skies. so peep the tour dates, hang out with eric and bring him lots of advil because, after he gets back from tour, he has to go back to being in a band with this guy.

- alex

do doo doot doot

2009-06-23T01:18:00.001-07:00

The Trend Is DEAD...

2009-06-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Bremerton and Portland were a total blast, and a much needed bail-out from my day to day of Bellingham life. Thank you so much if you sat through our sets, thank you a ton to Jesse and Dustin for putting us on the shows. Our friends in Not Sorry are doing big things, and Portland's Unrestrained have put out one of my favorite 7"s of the last few years, it's great. Pick it up if you get a chance. It was rad playing with those bands again.

Some more Envision shows coming up. This Sunday is the first show at our friend Casey's new all-ages show space, The Ground Floor. Should be a good time.

Then it's to the West Seattle American Legion Hall for another great show. Outrage and The Effort are on tour from the East Coast. Outrage has a new LP coming out on Panic Records, you can pre-order it and stream it here, it's a shredder.

Envision's first show in Lakewood should be a rager, tons of bands, free, and it's on the 4th of July. My second favorite holiday ever. John and I are planing on going all out with fireworks...John is going to be banned in Olympia.

SEE YOU IN THE PIT.

-Keith XXX

Bremerton and Portland blast-off!

2009-06-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Preparing for a two day trip can be a headache. It’s too short to justify anything more than a toothbrush and a change of shorts, but what if it rains? What if it’s too hot? Where does one begin to compromise utility for comfort? Soon, your whole wardrobe lies before you, each piece of the ensemble appearing to be the cornerstone of necessity. And what of the boredom that accompanies staring at a passing landscape as you travel south and farther south and all the way back to the home you wish to never see again? You just leave it all. It will be waiting to burden you. So you put that toothbrush in a pocket and take one last look knowing something will be forgotten. It’s only two days.

The path to Portland required us to cross the Puget Sound for a show in Bremerton. If you, the reader, are like most people, you are unfamiliar with the intimate details of my life. So while Bremerton might raise the vague image of a working class ghost town, the history of that abandoned waterfront was filled when, at the age of four, I moved to Bremerton. The particulars of next nineteen years are incredibly unimportant, but as we boarded the ferry for Bainbridge Island, I was a little apprehensive about returning to a place that, in the corner of my memory, exists as a failed battlefield—the kind of association I imagine Arthur Rimbaud was trying to describe when he wrote:

The south brought back miserable memories of my childhood, my summer despairs, the horrible quantity of strength and of knowledge that fate has always kept from me. No! we will not spend summer in this avaricious country where we shall never be anything but affianced orphans. I want this hardened arm to stop dragging a cherished image.

The potency of nostalgia and poetry needed a quick remedy, so I assembled a goofy group picture (click on the thumbnails to see the full sized image):

The Silverdale skate park was our first destination upon crossing the Sound. Little known fact: this park is the result of fund raising and working with local government and businesses during my high school years. The Chamber of Commerce created a task force to solve issues resulting from a rash of graffiti that plagued the Silverdale area (which happened to be the work of numerous skateboarders). The solution was to put real work into giving the area a skate park. We spent a lot of afternoons after school working with the community, traveling to study other parks and fund raising.

After cruising the park for a few minutes, John and I felt like total posers. I haven’t done much real skateboarding since moving to Bellingham, so I’ve lost the brave and nimble reflexes acquired through years of skating all day and every day.

We were sweating hard and needed to take a break from the heat, so we jumped into a lake near the park. Keith found a crawfish. The little guy was missing a claw, but he still wanted to fight Keith. HARDEST dude of the trip.

John and I briefly skated the Bremerton park afterwards, but after years of not skating any real street spots, the poser vibe was heavy.

The AFU hall surprised us because it wasn’t a hall. It was an art space squeezed between adult shops and tattoo parlors.

The show opened with a young band melodic hardcore band called Breaking Ground. I was digging the drummer’s style. They played a Chain of Strength cover, and all of us old dudes somehow mistook it for a Count Me Out song.

We played next. I was impressed by the fact the sound guy actually wanted to get a decent sound from the band. He seemed really excited to help all the bands, and I really appreciated this. Unfortunately, I really can’t give an account of our set. All I remember is that Keith’s guitar exploded and Wampler probably moshed me.

Anchor: I left my camera in the van while I rushed into the venue to watch their set. After the show, I argued that Anchor was my favorite band of the night. Their demeanor was extremely positive despite playing riffs that are more hard and tough or expected by bands that don’t have any kind of political message. The singer described his experience of America through European media and popular American culture (the band is from Sweden). It’s pretty easy to forget that so much of the world thinks of this country through the simulacra of our entertainment industry. I was really stoked to have the opportunity to see them again in Portland the following night.

The remainder of Envision favored Run with the Hunted. Based out of Phoenix, Arizona, RWTH jammed an intensely heavy brand of hardcore. I didn’t agree with a few of the things that were mentioned between songs, but I really appreciated the passion dedicated to trying to return hardcore to a community of politics and ideas rather than the current fashion show of broken hearts and party dudes.

Parasitic Skies were the final act of the night. They blazed through a raging set of crushing riffs—especially throughout the song “Embers.” I will use this space to make a formal request that Parasitic Skies discuss their songs. Please?

We left for Vancouver, WA shortly after the show. Our pal, Shaun, was kind enough to let us harsh a date night by letting us sleep at his place. Shaun, if it hasn’t been said enough already, thank you for putting up with us. Your patience was exemplary, and I thought waking to see you and your girl pal listening to Trapped Under Ice was cute.

Portland, Oregon:

I spent much of the afternoon rummaging through the bookcases at Powell’s books.

The difficult part about looking through an extensive catalog of books is that I can never remember what I am trying to find. I should have come with a list, but I had to settle with a feeble recollection of what I might have wanted to purchase. I left with an English-Arabic edition of The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I want to say I own a French edition, but I can’t seem to find it), The Watcher and other stories by Italo Calvino, and A Music Behind the Wall by Anna Maria Ortese. Keith found a book on crime scene photographs and film history, while Alex purchased his tenth copy of a Raymond Carver collection.

While we were shopping for records, an intense wind stormed through Portland. Shortly afterwards, the warm afternoon was washed away with relentless rain. We passed the time by eating doughnuts.

The Arctic Circle Pit is a house that has been hosting hardcore shows. This show was to be their last, which kind of stinks because it’s a very cozy basement with great sound. I kind of fell in love with this painting that was hanging near the stairs to the basement:

We opened the show. As before, I don’t remember much besides being awkward between songs and Wampler moshing my head into the P.A. I usually try to talk about the lyrics, but I couldn’t think of anything relevant or interesting. My voice was garbage. Due to illness, I missed a lot of chances to practice after returning from California. My throat wasn't up for the task.

Not Sorry is currently my favorite straight edge band from Seattle. No posing, no attitude—just straight and honest hardcore. “Balance” is the Jam of the Century and I require massive dogpiles next time it is played. I shot some video of their set, but the footage is too dark to post.

Unrestrained! Record release show! Like Not Sorry, I’m a huge fan of the honest vibe of Unrestrained. There’s nothing forced about this band. Mix that with unstoppable mid-90s styled core, and the world seems right for the duration of their set. “The Mammal in Man” (which is the first song on their new record) set me off just as hard as the cover of Undertow’s “Control.” Was this the longest Unrestrained set yet?

Anchor! Another great set! I think I was won over by the gracious and princely bows from the band to thank us for watching their set. Anchor and Run with the Hunted were sharing a van for their tour, and it broke-down a few miles from the Arctic Circle Pit. Hopefully, the van was fixed and the guys were quickly on their way to the next show.

This might have been my second favorite show that Envision has played. Great bands, awesome vibes, and I think I saw the girl of my dreams. I had to work in the morning, so we drove back to Bellingham after the show. We didn’t arrive until sometime after 4 a.m. but John got us back safely. I’d like to thank Dustin, the Arctic Circle Pit, Breaking Ground, Parasitic Skies, Not Sorry, Unrestrained, Anchor, and Run with the Hunted for making these two days a lot of fun. Wampler was kind enough to take the photographs of our set.

Here’s the record haul for the week:

Shows

2009-05-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

2009-05-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Portland, Oregon. I am excited to see you again. More than anything I'm excited to see a bunch of good buds down there to hang out with. I'll finally get my hands on the new Unrestrained 7". Not Sorry dudes, Not Restrained dudes, get it ready.

Also the night before this show Envsion will be in Bremerton with a bunch of great bands. We will have cassette tape demos, cd demos, shirts, and positive mosh attitudes. Just ask Dan if he would like to partake in a push-up contest, winner can have all of our merch and a chance to punch Dan Mohtiak in the stomach or face, whichever one you want.

-Keith XXX

2009-05-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks since, John, Eric, and myself have been back from the Burning Fight show in Chicago. Going to a completely unknown city and visiting another hardcore scene was rad/weird, seeing so many of the bands I grew up listening to (that I never thought I'd ever have the chance to see as I sat in my room in Yakima, Washington listening to my discman in Jr. High and High School) was a surreal experience all together.

A week went by as the three of us recovered from our trip, and then Dan was off to Southern California for the West Coast Burning Fight show.

It's safe to say that our core battery has been recharged and we are ready to play more shows. We have gotten rid of nearly half of the demo tapes, and I get so stoked when orders come in so if you haven't gotten one please check it out. Bremerton (Dan's homecoming show), Portland (hopefully), Seattle, and Bellingham shows are to be posted soon. I'm very excited to visit Portland-area friends and party again.

I'm posting Trial's set from the Chicago show because it deserves to be seen over and over again.

Trial (Burning Fight, Phase 1) from hate5six productions on Vimeo.

-Keith XXX

demos tapes/cd's and shirts ready for mailorder

2009-04-13T14:54:00.001-07:00

TAPES: three songs, bi-fold insert with lyrics and artwork, red cassette, 100 pressed. $5 ppd.
CD'S: same deal as the tape, except the "pressing info," by which we mean however many eric burned on his computer, is anyone's guess. each one is hand-stamped. $4 ppd.
SHIRTS: art by dan. it's a jellyfish; one of its tendrils spells out "envision." hand-screened. jerzees brand. most are on navy, a few on royal blue, with turquoise-ish ink. i think we're out of mediums. probably should e-mail first. $10 ppd.
(these are u.s. prices only, international orders please e-mail envisionannodomini@gmail.com)

paypal e-mail: alex.s.frank@gmail.com

thank you.

en-vid-sion

2009-04-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

"combray" from the bellingham house show on march 27th. enjoy. thanks to ian callaghan for filming and upping this. thanks to dooger, boone, and britney for putting on the show.

demo release show

2009-04-05T23:37:00.001-07:00

eric, keith, our friend jeff and dan getting hectic. (both photos courtesy of our friend lauren miller)

wow. by far, the most fun any of us have ever had playing or attending a show. including bands, there was close to 100 people at friday's show, which is pretty unheard of for an all-ages hardcore show up here. so many bros, good vibes and good times. our friends in not sorry played first, and if you haven't checked them out, you're blowing it HARD. ex-members of how we are, my revenge, lemuria and this time tomorrow playing ill straight-edge hardcore. fans of fucking wimpy, "da-na-na-na-na" dime-a-dozen bullshit need not apply. this is hard, fast, raw hardcore punk and it fucking rips. buy the demo and get into it.

keith and eric give justin some mic love while getting mean-mugged by a pair of sitting guys (andrew and jon from parasitic skies)

after that was unrestrained, from portland, who are quite possibly envision's collective favorite northwest band. we played our second show with them, and it was love at first, uh, mosh. sick, heavy '90s-style hardcore with a serious undertow vibe. even though they were short a guitar player, they brought it so, so hard on friday. and justin has the best pompadour i've ever seen. pretty sure i could smell his pomade when dudes were still in oregon and, if you've seen this picture of eric sanford's hitler do(n't) that he's bandied around the internet, you know that i know a thing or two about smelling pomade.

then came parasitic skies, who brought a seriously nasty metallic '90s vibe. metal mike from this time tomorrow delivered some legit vicious riffs, and their drummer andrew played his second set of the night after holding it down for (i)NxS not an hour earlier. high-school mosh was wrought, a strife cover was played, and people were stoked. definitely another band to look out for.

finally, like a big bunch of assholes, we played last. keith kicked dan over, john was danked out on painkillers for a torn back muscle, and eric went into at least three rage blackouts. all in all, it was a fun set.

and yeah, that was our demo release show. huge, huge thanks to all the kids that came out, and to unrestrained, not sorry and parasitic skies for making the drive up to our little shithole to play this show with us. it legitimately means a lot that three of our favorite northwest bands came up for this, and, hopefully, it's the first of many times our paths are fortunate enough to cross. demo and t-shirt mail-order coming as soon as we get our shit together. dan shaves his chest.

xoxo, alex

Shows, Shows, Shows

2009-03-31T02:08:00.001-07:00

Means a ton to us that so many cool folks came out to the basement show last weekend in Bellingham. I scrambled all day before the show to get the art printed for the demo tapes, and then raided the local record store for cassette tape cases to put the art in, then unloaded a few at the show but for anyone who didn't get them we will have them officially at the WhAAM show on Friday (4/3/09). 3$ in person, and soon we'll be able to put them up for order on here for 4$. Dan's art turned out really good, so if anything you'll have a cool looking tape with crappy music on it.

Still have some patches that will be at our WhAAM show as well, just steal them when no one is around. Not sure if we'll make more. Whatever is left over will be shipped out with demo orders when that comes around.

After the shows coming up, we don't have anything going on and would love to play anywhere, anytime with anyone. Just let us know and we'll be there, envisionannodomini@gmail.com for any questions or to see what all we need on the rider. Also we have no booking agent or guarantee, we only guarantee we'll show up on time and party with you until your out of funyuns, then we're peacing out. Onion chips.

If you're in Bellingham, please check this out and say what's up to Dan...just don't look him in the eye or talk about TV shows he doesn't like. Because he's real weird if you do that.

-Keith XXX

Lyrics for the new song.

2009-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Combray

I cannot taste the stone from which the salt upon your neck was borne-- as if the vein of wanting could be lapped inside this quarry or the illusion of origin laid bare by the tongue. Which magic secludes the tear between the body and the eye? A muscled cloister of spectral machines fabricating force to moor us. . . And for what? To turn the stomach upon itself for what it cannot create although elaborate in the mind? To render this image and chew the fat of its birth? I am no mystic caught in visions, seduced by imagination. I am only one point observing ornaments of absence. Hanging. Harrow the rock until the salt is ground but I still cannot find you.

--This song is about the ambiguous foundation of desire and the pangs associated with trying to justify the certitude of its condition. It's a subject that has occupied much of my imagination and inspired by this passage from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust:

And if she appeared, would I have dared speak with her? I felt that she would have regarded me as mad, and I ceased to think of those desires which came to me on my walks, but were never realized, as shared by others, or as having any existence outside myself. They seemed to me now no more than purely subjective, impotent, illusory creations of my temperament. They no longer had any connection with nature, with the world of real things, which then onwards lost all its charm and significance, and meant no more to my life than a purely conventional framework, what the railway carriage on the bench of which a traveler is reading to pass the time is to the fictional events of his novel.

Am I to regard the things I want as nothing more than foolishness and delusion, ideas without substance, or can they be anchored with some kind of tangibility even at the risk of being unable to discover their cause or origin?

aversion online review

2009-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

andrew over at aversion posted a very kind review of the demo today. give it a read, and bookmark his blog, as it's probably better than whatever you normally read.

XXX

2009-03-02T06:52:00.001-08:00

Download the Envision 2009 Demo from a legit place:

http://www.wordsaway.net/media/music/demos/envision.zip

While you're at it visit these rad sites:

http://www.wordsaway.net/
(download mixtapes, peep the demos section, ask yourself if you're cool enough to hang with Shaun)

http://xstuckinthepastx.blogspot.com/
(great reading on 90's hardcore)

http://www.myspace.com/unrestrainedpdx
(new 7" out on surprise attack records, listen to this)

ENVISION demo and lyrics

2009-02-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

Download the demo here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzjvnq1jtnd

Homo Sacer: Damn you fence sitting self. Questions and guilt abound of which path to take. And if pointed by Providence, release these binds; and if not by fate, conquer the fear that guides. Where do we turn? An investment of faith with no reward. Faith borrowed from deceit and lost. Onward, holy man, in conquest across desert and sea. Raise the flag of burden over these cities. The path forever trampled by an unsteady gait. Besieged by inconsequence, do I enter these walls? “Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise;”* We stumble forward with derision at our back.

The title of this song is derived from Georgio Agamben's study on a Roman law which states:

The sacred man is the one whom the people have judged on account of a crime. It is nor permitted to sacrifice this man, yet he who kills him will not be condemned for homicide; in the first tribunitian of law, in fact, it is noted that "if someone kills the one who is sacred according to the plebiscite, it will not be considered homicide." This is why it is customary for a bad or impure man to be called sacred.

This sacricity is the absence of death in which one exists as a waking-specter that haunts the domain of his community as resident and exile (Bellingham, specifically), to live without recourse or effect. Whether this status is imaginary or not, the city has displayed enormous resistance against anything which might compromise its proudly subdued or complacent tradition. I believe we recognize we will exist without recognition or legitimacy-- but with this acknowledgment is the struggle to obtain that which inspires us. Conversely, this struggle is filled with doubt. Are we pushing ahead with full-knowledge of failure? Can we win?

Revision: The command never descended from high nor a Puritan's hand scrubbed of vice. Refute regression to a concept of sin weighed against the myth of the innocence. Straight edge, clarity of desire marked by action. Bereft of shame? We know no rules to bind us. We are not the damned but masters of our lives. Reject the intoxication, the referral of desire to schizophrenic enslavement where freedom should lie.

While Envision is not a straight edge band, it is a concept that is very important to a few of us. This song is a response to the branding of straight edge as an act or movement of "purity" or "cleanliness." To adopt this definition in place of an act of liberation, one must accept the tacit burden of the religious subtext that begs we accept an impossible state of existence in the hopes of some kind of unresolved salvation-- and places uncritical and restrictive demands on morality and sexuality which strangles the progress of healthy sexual identities. This enforces or permits attitudes of sexism and homophobia when we should be encouraging the space to live and love without fear of castigation. This is not exclusive to straight edge, obviously, but it seems so ridiculous in the context of punk and hardcore. There is no third X. Straight edge is not a movement. It is totally awesome, nonetheless.

State of Exception: I act this way because I haven't anything to say and I can't say I love you without witnessing scorn in your eyes. What is this distance? This fragile skin, this hollow heart? This coward's veil pulled taut to mask a sinking gaze. Stammer idle words of hope. I recite the lines so well. We will always be strangers: The hand that grips the other but won't let go; A body fit for nothing but a hole; Abandon the loves of youth for the ghost of myself. “But to those who... remain behind, it is perhaps always like this.”*

In some things, there cannot be success. So what do you do?

*These lyrics were written while reading a lot of Rainer Maria Rilke which resulted in a few of his lines being borrowed.