MIA

Let me apologize for the lack of communication lately. There's good reason. Here's a few reasons why I personally haven't been on the blog.
1. I started a new internship/job on June 16th and it's a full time gig. Music doesn't pay the bills or buy the diapers...yet!
2. When not at work we're in the studio wrapping things up. The record has all the drums, horns, and guitar tracks done as of today!

One killer thing that has happened lately is that we were able to have a great night at Boardriders in Kailua last week. Our good friend Danny Casler from National Product came out for our last set that night. We were kind of bummed about the evening because of the weak crowd (we were competing with the BayFest that was going on that night as well). But having Danny there was awesome. For those of you reading who don't know who National Product is here's a little history. NP started playing music around the same time as our original group, Rukus, started playing back in 1998. They kept their act strictly punk and so we did a few shows together back in those days. Since then, NP has moved to California and blossomed to become an amazing band that has toured multiple countries, developed a great sound, and really made an effort to live the dream of playing music for a living. Every time they come back to Hawaii we try to hook up and play a few shows together and keep in touch as much as possible. They're awesome dudes and it's always a blast to get together.

Great compliments came from Danny that night when he heard us play our song Desperation live. That one seemed to get to him. It was great to have an intimate venue to really let loose and have fun that night. Since that night we've been able to get in touch with a good friend of NP - Darrin from Goldfinger!!! It's been awesome to be in touch with a band that you've looked up to for years. Maybe something awesome can come from these cool new connections.

A few words on "connections." It's been amazing to think of the kinds of people we've met and been able to be associated with in one way or another through music. Also kind of frustrating since things haven't just "taken off" due to these associations. Here's a little list of bands we've played with and people we've met because of Upstanding Youth.

Buck-O-Nine, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, The Toasters, SUM41, Papa Roach, Pepper (actually it was the father of the front man who we met), Kelly Slater, and a few others. The thing is that each time we made these associates we thought that this might be the person who could really help our band. We really hoped that these associations would help us achieve some kind of greatness that we couldn't do on our own. So far that hasn't been the case. I don't think anyone else other than UY will be the reason UY "makes it." I think if it's ever really going to happen it's going to be because we made it happen instead of someone handing it to us. Or, maybe we just haven't met the right people yet. What you think?