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