are these our lives?

well, our west coast spring tour is officially over. i can't believe it! the last 12 days were without a doubt some of the best of our entire lives. we had an absolutely amazing time on this tour and not just for the simple fact that we got to do what we love most for 12 nights in a row (play music, travel, eat burritos and argue with each other) no, what made this tour so amazing was the people we met.

at our final show of the tour in san diego, i talked about the importance of relationships to all of us not only as humyn beings, but more specifically as members of the punk/hardcore community. i want to briefly recant some of that speech here for those of you who weren't at the show because i think it's an extremely fitting way to describe how we feel about the tour we just completed.

relationships are the glue that hold our community together. the entire DIY network that has enabled punk/hardcore to flourish as an underground safe haven for unconventional and radical ideals rests on a foundation of meaningful interpersonal relationships. these relationships allow us to do things that are considered ridiculous in the "real world" and it is these very things which set our community apart from other "extreme" styles of music. i think our absolute greatest strength as a counter-culture stems from the fact that we are able to cultivate deep and meaningful relationships with people in other punk/hardcore scenes that we may have never even met; people who live in places we may have never been; people who speak physical languages we may not understand; people who despite vast geographical, cultural, and linguistic barriers have more in common with us than 90% of the people we interact with in mainstream society on a daily basis. at least, this has been the case for me... the relationships i have cultivated with other people involved in punk/hardcore across the country (and even the world) have fundamentally shaped who i am as a person today. that is why i think it is so fundamentally important for all of us to be as open as possible, to not close ourselves off to the possibility of failure or rejection from others. to step outside of our comfort zones and just make a new friend. really, try it! every time you go to a show, you should introduce yourself to at least one new person. that's how this all began and that is where the future of our community lies - in each other!

so to all of the people we met, interacted with, and otherwise shared experiences with this tour - thank you. in a way, you are as much a part of this band as the 5 of us; you give us something that we could never give ourselves and something that is vital to our continued growth as a band and more importantly as individuals - love. and friendship. and that is truly what it's all about.

thank you. we love you! we'll see you all very soon, and to those of you we haven't met, we are looking forward to that as well!