only the good die young.

Things I thought i'd share...

This is not a pipe.

Poems are nothing more than frantic scribbles of ink on a bar napkin

Little lines left in a creased black notebook.

Nothing more than a drunken mumble,

A sound overheard in a rotting little bar on the west side,

All to be forgotten in the morning.

They are dead.

They don't carry anything at all

And never will.

They rest like cold stones

They are bloodless.

But with the right mind

They can be salvaged and used

Each one,

To build an empire,

A fortress of love

Of pain and suffering

Of influence

Even though the hollow men that write them,

All those desperate, lost masons-

Are all sad fucking liars.

Check out the record "Canyon Joe" by Joe Prudy and "Wildflowers" by Tom Petty. My good friend Chris showed me "Canyon Joe" today while we hung out in West Providence, and I stumbled across "Wildflowers" again when I was running some errands with my roommate Mike. Joe Prudy writes some really great folk/alt country stuff with great lyrical content.

And, if you live in a town with a Wal-Mart... Please check out the book "Why Wal-Mart is Destroying America" or if you've got a minute right now, check out this website http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Wal-Mart/index.html

I found this book a long time ago, and just recently read it again. I was raised in a pretty small town on the south coast of Mass called Wareham. Unfortunately, Wareham has killed off most of its small independently owned businesses because monster corporations like Wal-mart were brought in with the hopes of attracting people from beyond the towns limits. So this book hit close to home... and might with you too.

take a few minutes to check that stuff out!

thanks for reading!

alex

By the Grace of Stranger's Kindness

Our lives on the road are kept afloat by the grace of stranger's kindness. We rely on them for shelter, food, showers and overall sanity from life in the van. It still amazes me how kind and hospitable people can be who have known us for merely a night. It makes it a little less lonely on tour when people let us into their homes and their lives. It creates an experience that is fueled by our music but has little to nothing to do with it after the show is over. It sure beats sleeping at Walmart in the van with the most human interaction coming from the cashier's staring at us as we stumble in at 5am to brush our teeth and shower in their sink.

We get to meet new company on a daily basis and each day brings a new experience. Sometimes amazing, sometimes awkward, sometimes ridiculous but always new and different. If it weren't for these stranger's and new friends, life on the road would be a lot less fun and comfortable. It feels like the last hope of the indie/underground music scene being a community. The internet has made things more and more impersonal and people are more self restricted than ever to interact with other each other at shows. It's good to know that we are part of it and appreciate the good times and generosity so many people have shown this band these past few years. We try our best to reciprocate equally and you are always welcome in our homes.

Thank you.

-Brian

SUITCASE CONTEST: WIN AN XBOX & RARE TIA STUFF

Hey everyone!

To celebrate the This is New England Tour and the upcoming holiday season, we put together an extra special contest for you all. We took an old suitcase we used on tour and filled it to the brim with all sorts of TIA goodies and rare pieces of the band's history. A 7" test press, old tour passes, retired/broken gear, rare concert posters and much more. To make the deal even sweeter we're going to take you and a friend out for pizza and a show of ours in 2010 and we'll also throw in an Xbox 360. Pretty sweet eh?

To enter the contest all we ask of you is to help us get more people to listen to our new album "The Sound of Human Lives" which came out this summer on Equal Vision Records. We have a link to stream the entire album for free that you can post as a status update on Facebook, Tweet the link or you can change your default Myspace photo to our banner and add our songs to your profile player. The more things you do to help us, the more times you are entered to win. It's pretty simple to do and doesn't take much time at all. Make sure you fill out the entry form here to be entered: http://www.thereforeiamrock.com/contest

Come see us on tour right now with Vanna & A Loss For Words on the 1st annual This is New England Tour!

We appreciate your help and support and good luck!

Much love,

Alex, Brian, Travis, Chris, Jim
THEREFORE I AM

If we played stoner metal we'd be called High on Food

First day off on the This is New England Tour and after a fun night partying with people we met at the show and waking up to little toddlers running around...we decided to head to Cracker Barrel. Between Vanna and us we had a table of 12 and the old people who are probably there daily were not happy about it. We're not that crazy looking or anything but we still get looks like we are aliens when we go into places like that which makes me wonder what it's like to be in really ridiculous looking bands like ICP or Marilyn Manson. I can only dream how much fun that is. Our servers were delightful and the biscuits and gravy were flowing like water. Cracker Barrel, TIA gives you two thumbs up! I am now high on food and starting to get blurry vision but I feel like 10 bucks. On our way to Michigan to hang at Evan from Vanna's mom's "roll n tumble" exercise studio...this will be a great one.

All good thing,
-Brian

THIS IS SPARTA...er...NEW ENGLAND TOUR!!! Kicks off with a bang.

Last night kicked off the This is New England Tour with a sold out show at the Webster Underground in Hartford, CT. Felt amazing to be playing with our good friends Vanna and A Loss for Words again and it started off with a bang. The room was small and packed and sweaty. Everyone was pumped for all the bands and everyone fed off eachother's energy making for a memorable show. These next couple weeks are going to be one for the history books I can already tell. Thanks to everyone that came out last night and we hope to see you all at Lupo's on Dec 19th as well. If you haven't bought tickets yet check out http://www.myspace.com/thisisnewenglandtour for more info. See you out there.

Tri-Force.

-Brian

Who inspires you?

Sunday night my ears were rejuvenated with the music of Cave In. One of my favorite bands of all-time and it's surprising to think I've been listening to them for over eleven years now! It's sad to admit that it's rare that I get excited as a school boy these days over going to see another band. My tastes are more discernible, I've outgrown so bands I use to like and frankly I'm just not as easily impressed as I use to be growing up going to shows every weekend. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that less and less of my friends go to shows when every show use to be such a gathering; an event. Now if I want to go to see a band, the friends I have that are willing to go are few and far between for various reasons but mostly money, time, disinterest. Bummer. But sometimes you gotta suck it up, accept that things are different and just go to the show!

Luckily I wasn't alone in my excitement. My long time friend since 8th grade, Erin, was just as excited to go this show as me. Cave In isn't broken up but they play very infrequently and put out releases even more infrequently and have so for the past 5 years. Recently they released a new ep "Planets of Old"and had a "reunion" show of sorts at Great Scott in Allston, MA and the video footage proved they were still on top of their game and my hopes were lifted knowing that a show may be in my near future.




The show was fucking awesome. The sound was amazing and louder than god. The setlist was filled with old favorites and spanned their career leading up to their most recent ep.They even played some brand new songs which leads me to believe they are cooking up a full length.Seeing the original lineup once again made for a great show. You could even tell by the way they all performed that they were psyched to be together and playing these songs. They played a nice long set and ended with 2 songs off of my favorite record of theirs "Until Your Heart Stops". This band inspires me to continually push harder with my music and my passion. The show could not have been any better and it made the 4hr round-trip drive from CT totally worth it (unlike last week when I drove the same 4hrs and paid $35 to see Glassjaw have band practice publicly...)

If the universe were fair, Cave In would be as big as Mastodon right now but I'm thankful I get to enjoy them at all.


All good things.

-Brian

What the fuck is going on?

Myspace appears to be fading for us all...but what is taking it's place? Twitter? That's only 140 characters of text. Facebook? That's mostly for drunk party photos and stalking - not music. It seems like a void is being created and nothing of equivalent value is filling it's place. So what the fuck is going on?

Where are people going? They certainly aren't writing more letters and hanging out in groups and having "conversations" and they definitely aren't checking out more concerts. So where are they and what are they doing and with whom? I mean, you can only Google your own name and your ex's so many times before you get bored, so what is everyone up to on the internet? Nobody listens to the radio - nobody even watches tv anymore. WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYONE?

I'm not the first to say or think this but it feels like a big shift is happening. Not like a 2012 shift but just a change in the way our generation uses the internet and phones and communication toys.

Remember when we all signed up for Myspace accounts? Then bands like ours signed up and that became a huge vehicle for getting our music out into the world. This band owes a lot to Myspace and it's users. Word of mouth has carried this band this far. But why am I going to coinstar every week with change I find to buy food and Myspace has made Billions of dollars off me and my band and others just like me? I mean, they offered us all a free service. We took the bait, swallowed it and it tasted good.

Well, the worm is starting to turn in my stomach now.

Now if people want to check out my band they are bombarded with movie ads and singles dating ads and other bands and videos of people getting hit in the balls (thanks bob saget) and more and more bullshit - all people making way more money than me but it's not even about money. There were still ads back when it started but you gotta admit it's become a little ridiculous and very a.d.d. Even on YouTube, another "free" service, you can't watch anything without ads popping up here or there but at least my band gets heard...right? I mean, they gave us a free service that became a trend so then everyone goes to one place for their stuff right? Even Radiohead is pissed they don't get any money from the millions of advertising revenue they bring sites like YouTube. So how much is a free service worth? How can you value exposure? I don't have an answer but this is what's going through my head right about now.

I can't blame Myspace, YouTube, Facebook or any of these sites for creating such a genius trap. I mostly blame myself for relying on these things like everyone else has for so long. Band's stopped making .com websites because myspace could do it for you for free and usually - better. But is it okay to subject your listeners to ads and bullshit that they don't want? Don't you just want to be able to focus on what you intended on doing? How many times have you stopped listening to a band's song online because you clicked something else on the page that took you away from it. I love videos of people getting hit in the balls just like every man, but can I at least get 4 minutes of your undivided attention? I don't know, can I? You can say that all these websites have helped the music community and everyone get exposure. True. But at what cost? Better yet, whose profit?

We're all fighting for everyone's attention. The internet has made music less about music and more about getting people to give a fuck long enough to be discovered so you get your chance to impress them with your beautiful songs. I don't think it's right to subject listeners of my band to ads and bullshit they never asked for. I think it sucks. They had an intention behind typing in our url or searching our name and then they are averted away. What gives? Fuck off. Leave these people alone - I want the best for them. But this is the price we all pay for using free services. Well, I personally apologize to you all for enduring so much trash just to get information or listen to a song or watch a video of us. It's not right. I can't believe you aren't pissed. Are you pissed? Maybe I'm alone in this one. Maybe people ignore all the bullshit and just go for what they want.

It's time to go old school...we're going to have...a website again. (DUN DUN DUN!!!)

www.thereforeiamrock.com

(tempted to register www.fucktheguywhoownsthereforeiam.com like FYS did)

I know, it's weird right? Who would have thought? A site dedicated to one-single-thing without interruption. Thank Al Gore for that one.

In the near future we're going to have a new website and we're going to try and make it as interesting and thorough as possible - for you. Maybe you won't go to it, maybe you don't care, I hope you do - but at least it's there if you do. An oasis from the a.d.d. internet world. People will still probably go to our myspace more and that's fine, at least we have our own little corner of the universe where we can do our thing in peace and you can enjoy it in peace as well. A little too romantic? Maybe. But fuck it, at least there we get to call all the shots. If it doesn't work out then we'll just start posting videos of us getting hit in the balls. Anything for you. And when Myspace crumbles and everyone scrambles to find a new home - we'll be waiting for you with a shotgun, canned food and enough water to live off of for years safe in our .com bunker. That is, until 2012 when the anti-christ has a ufc match with the world. Ha.

Be well.

-Brian

TOURING

Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, our tour with From First to Last and Greeley Estates was cut short. They were all awesome dudes and we're bummed we didn't get to hang out a little bit longer but it isn't "good-bye", it's "see ya later!". Good luck to FFTL with writing the new album!

We have a few weeks off in which I'm sure we will all just relax. I've been at my girlfriend's apartment all day. I haven't even seen the sunlight yet and its cool with me. The 20 hour drive home was brutal!

After this time off, we're hitting the road with 10 of our dearest friends:

Maple Syrup. Maine Lobster. The Boston Red Sox. Mark Walhberg. Dunkin’ Donuts. Clam Chowder. These are few of the things New England is known for… until now. Crimson Management are pleased to announce their First Annual This Is New England Tour. With New England being a reputable hot bed of up and coming music of all genres, the purpose of this tour is to showcase some of the region’s native-born acts that are making waves in the greater music scene today. The lineup will feature VANNA, Therefore I Am, and A Loss For Words. The tour starts November 28th in Hartford, CT, and spans 17 dates with the last show in Providence, RI. on December 19th.


This Is New England Tour will set sail in late November to show the rest of the country what kind of talent is coming out of the Northeast these days. Much like the Red Sox finally rising up as a World Series-winning team, this tour is a force to be reckoned with.


Dates:
Nov 28 – Webster Underground – Hartford, CT
Nov 29 – The Loft @ The Chance – PoughKeepsie, NY
Nov 30 – Eleanor Rigby’s – Jermyn, PA
Dec 01 – The Eldolyn Terrace – Altoona, PA
Dec 03 – Mac’s Bar – Lansing, MI
Dec 04 – Frankies – Toledo, OH
Dec 05 – Mojoes Coffee House – Chicago, IL
Dec 06 – Fubar – St. Louis, MO
Dec 07 – Club Neon – Springfield, MO
Dec 08 – 4H Building – Popular Bluff, MO
Dec 09 – The Coup – Clarksville, TN
Dec 11 – The Brewery – Raleigh, NC
Dec 12 – Alley Katz – Richmond, VA
Dec 13 – Harmony Grange – Wilmington, DE
Dec 14 – Otto Bar – Baltimore, MD
Dec 15 – The Aquifer – Clinton, NJ
Dec 16 – Masquerade Club @ The Crocodile Rock – Allentown, PA
Dec 17 – The Vibe Lounge – Rockville, NY
Dec 18 – The Kave – Bangor, ME
Dec 19 – Lupo’s – Providence, RI

http:​/​/​thisisnewenglan​dtour.​com/​
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​thisisnewenglan​dtour
http:​/​/​twitter.​com/​thisisnetour
http:​/​/​www.​youtube.​com/​user/​ThisisNewEnglan​dtour
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​vanna
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​thereforeiam
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​alossforwords
http:​/​/​www.​ventureguitars.​com

I hope you will all come out and hang out with us during these dates, we would really love to see you!

- Travis & TIA

Ticket prices and Canadian love.

Last night we played a show in Toronto with an $18 bill at the door. I heard Say Anything was playing down the street for a whopping $40 per ticket. Now I realize that Canadian prices are a little higher than the states for pretty much everything but that ticket price is insane.

The reason behind the recent hike is not because the bands are asking to make more money (we're living proof, we broke!), it is because there has been a steady decline in attendance at these live music events. If 300 people could be guaranteed at any given show any night, the promoter would be able to drop ticket prices by a few dollars and allow even more people to show up. Sadly, this situation is a double-edged sword; if you raise the price to cover costs, your attendance decreases.

I know that on a lot of tours (including ours), the ticket prices seem unreal and I wanted to take it upon myself and my 4 best friends to clear the air. No one is being greedy, no one is making money, we just need more of you to come out and show your support. I'm only 23 and I remember being young and living for shows. I started working only to pay for my twice a week habit. The right show can make an average Tuesday evening feel like your birthday. The best part was making friends! Does anyone make friends at live music events anymore? It seems like there are less and less of you out there now. Start the revolution! Start going to shows like its 2001! Make this happen!

I'm typing this in the dining room of our friend Shad. Real rad guy who was kind enough to give us a roof to sleep under in Toronto. Check him out at http://www.shadk.com/. Kid's got skiiiills. Check out this video (it won't let me embed for some reason), it won't disappoint.This is his neighbor's halloween decoration. A full sized witch that moves and talks AND her eyes light up. Scary as hell.

2 more days until halloween! I love this time of year. I wish I could've made it back to Salem.

Time to pack up and hit the dusty trail. We're playing Detroit tonight (It's the "d" in Detroit, anyone? anyone?) wish us luck! Last time we went through, the band left me at a gas station with no phone or wallet. Check out http://www.thebandlongway.com/. To this day, I owe them my life!

Be well, friends!

- Travis & TIA

Let the Wild Rompus Begin!

After a fun show at Hangar 84 in Vineland, NJ we braved torrential downpours as we packed up and if you can see in this photo, the street had become a river and over a foot of water was rushing against the ramp to our trailer almost making it's way up into the trailer itself.



The following day we had off and spent in NJ with Travis' girlfriend who lives there. We all went to see the movie Where the Wild Things Are based on the Maurice Sendak children's book and directed by Spike Jonze. This book has a special place in my heart much like it does the other guys in my band. The book was given to me when I was roughly 3yrs old from a family friend I called "Nanna" that we lived with. Anyways, it was a defining moment in my childhood and pretty much the basis of my imagination and mindset going forward in my life. The movie was great. It was sad and dark but in that way it was true to life and Spike did an amazing job creating the same excitement and innocence in the movie that came out of Sendak's book. If you didn't like it or were disappointed by the movie - well, you have no heart, sorry.

Yesterday we played at Webster Hall in New York City. It was our first ever show in NYC proper. Weird right? We just never had any luck getting into the city. We've played all around it but never in it. It was a pretty cool experience albeit more stressful than usual maneuvering a van and trailer around and parking. A lot of our Warped Tour '09 friends came out which was the best part. It was a mini-reunion of sorts.

Now we are on our way to the Great White North...Canada. Poutine, strippers and bars! 3 things none of us can afford. We play Montreal tonight and Toronto the next night. Canada has been great to us so far so we're always excited to go back. Border crossing is a bit unnerving but we should be all set. The internet card won't work up there but we'll see if we can sneak some wifi and get a blog in while we're up there. Can't stop thinking about poutine...

-Brian

And so it begins...the daily TIA blog.

With the internet cluttered with all sorts of social networking sites and widgets and ways to update and deliver news popping up everyday - we decided to streamline and get more connected. All these new technologies are very useful but they fall short of providing people with the human experience and seem to keep bands and audience at a safe distance. So we started this blog to give our audience a more in depth view into our lives on the road, in the studio and at home in more than just a quick photo or 140character text and leave plenty of space for reciprocation. I know a blog is nothing new but it's more the intent that is new on our part and something we look forward to. We want to be able to carry on our conversations we have with people we meet beyond the little time we get to see them in person at a show. So this is going to be one of the handful of outlets which we will try our best to stay on top of so we we can all be a part of each others lives one way or another.

We are also working on a very extensive and informative www.thereforeiamrock.com which will become the central nervous system for all things TIA so stay tuned for that.

Speaking of streamlining, here are the best ways to reach us or to find out what we're up to in almost up to the minute fasion:

Email: band@thereforeiamrock.com
Website: http://www.thereforeiamrock.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thereforeiam
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thereforeiam
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thereforeiam
Blog: http://www.thesoundsofhumanlives.blogspot.com

We're also on the road right now on tour with From First to Last, Greeley Estates, The Color of Violence so check the dates below and come hang out with us:

10/24 Vineland, NJ @ Hangar 84
10/26 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/27 Montreal, QC @ Underworld
10/28 Toronto, ON @ Kathedral Room
10/29 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
10/30 Madison, WI @ The Loft
10/31 St. Paul, MN @ Station 4
11/01 Orland Park, IL @ Mojoe's
11/03 Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre
11/04 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
11/05 Boise, ID @ The Venue
11/06 Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
11/07 Portland, OR @ Satyricon
11/08 CA @ TBA
11/09 CA @ TBA
11/10 Phoenix, AZ @ Phix
11/12 Austin, TX @ Emo's
11/13 Fort Worth, TX @ The Door
11/14 Houston, TX @ Meridian

Thank you for being a part of this band.

-Brian, Travis, Alex, Chris, Jim