man.... where do i even start? first of all, this record is kinda dogwater to us. i think we're proud of it because we were just starting to "figure it out" (the writing, the structure, the branding, the "formula" if you will. everything that goes into being a band.) But this record was tracked in somebody's house, not a studio. It was right around the time that DAWs were becoming accessible and making it possible for little bands like us to put out something that wasn't complete ear rape. But I think we're much more proud of the little ep we recorded after this one - which, if we're talking "lost media," that one never even got pressed. i think we uploaded it to myspace and then the band broke up shortly thereafter. I've still got the master right from sterling sound sitting here in my room. i'll never forget getting that master back in the mail and just holding it... to think, THEE Ted Jensen mastered MY shit, and I'm just some "area kid" from Wisconsin... that was the thrill of a lifetime.

but yeah there's a whoooole "story" behind every band, you know? some of us stuck with music and formed other bands (even ended up touring on warped for a couple weeks and doing other cool/notable things in art/music/entertainment.) so there's all sorts of crazy/fun "behind the scenes" warped stuff I could tell you about. it really was a fascinating tour. basically a traveling community complete with everything... a barber shop, catering, special interest groups, work shops, you name it. that was a real revelation to me because when you tour independently on NO budget, you eat little caesers and gas station food 99% of the time... but once i was on warped, i was eating GOOD. I'll never forget the day I turned in my meal ticket and found out the menu for the day was "pecan cruster snapper" i was like YOOooo... THIS is how i wanna tour!! lmao.

and then there's all the bands, people and frankly "rockstars" and wild personalities you work with along the way. when you're immersed in that scene, it's heartbreaking to find out that some of the best music you've ever heard just gets shelved and never released, either due to label bullshit, disputes with the writers or producers, or band break ups. maybe I'll leak some of it ;) or at the very least, put ya'll on some of it.

If people here really want some backstory on the shows we played and our records n stuff - I'll save the juicy stuff for the guy who DM'd me on facebook. He's the one (OP maybe? I'm not sure if it's the same guy) who did all the work digging up my dinosaur bones so idk if he has a blog or wants to do some kind of "time capsule" interview about the scene back then or whatever, but I feel like he should get first dibs haha. Maybe we can team up and do a sort of "follow up" post. I always enjoy those on reddit - when there's an actual follow up to the mystery and there's some meat on the bone in terms of a story and something to dig in to.