THE FINAL COVER ART

The following is taken from my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/hynpoloboy

This is the final work. I decided to add the texture on the left and right for track listing and thank you space.

I also did this to include the full composition of the piece instead of having missing parts of the written lyrics throughout the painting.

Thanks for all the support and feedback!

The album will be sent out on Tuesday to be mastered,pressed, and printed.

We had our final listen through last night and the album sounds to us as the best work we've done so far. Be on the lookout for it!

We are going to be playing a bunch of shows over the next few months ESPECIALLY in the month of Oct as that will be the month of our release shows! Our website ( www.upstandingyouth.com ) will be going through some changes to accommodate the album so don't be afraid to drop by there every once and a while.

our blog located at upstandingyouth.blogspot.com is the most frequently updated on how things are going and all of our show info is located on our myspace page. www.myspace.com/upstandingyouth

Mahalo everyone!

-aaron

Excitement After The Fight

Apologies for not having kept in better touch during the last month or so. After the band got together last night and listened to the record in it's completed form, and saw the cd art work (posted by Aaron above), I hope you can forgive us for the little hiatus that we've taken - because it seems to have paid off. Last night we had a chance to listen to the music that we've created for "A Sense of Urgency" in its entirety and it is unexplainable. I feel all excited like we've just won a fight where the odds were stacked against us. I'm struggling to find words to really and effectively express the emotions and feelings that I/we felt last night. We invited the UY family (band members and wives) to have a final listen before we send it off to be pressed on Tuesday. We were able to make final comments and corrections and hear how amazingly far this record has come. It always blows me away to hear a completed song and remember the little moment that created it before it became its completed self. This record challenges what I thought UY would ever accomplish. We started this recording process with a very intentional move towards a rock influenced ska/reggae feel and we made that goal a sweet reality. Additionally, every aspect of this recording process has been improved and magnified. We've taken the punk/ska genre in a direction that is completely our own. I feel like we've finally defined ourselves and created our sound. Enough cannot be said about the mixing and engineering skills of Demitri on this project...the "mental skills" (inside joke). I only hope that we can properly convey through our music the excitement, commitment, and sacrifice that has gone into this record.

With that in mind please, those of you who follow and support UY, keep posted for CD release shows. We have two cd release shows confirmed and one in the works. The very first show, Oct 11th, is going to be at the beloved Coffee Talk in Kaimuki. This is intended for the all ages crowd and is a fairly small venue. The second show, Oct 18th, will be at The Loft in China Town. This is a sweet venue with an underground feel, especially since you have to walk through a bakery in order to get into the venue. We hope to let guest artists participate in our set that night like a keyboard player, rapper, and pro trumpet player. We really want to make this show a great representation of how far we've come. The final show is still in the works. We really want to throw down a show at BYUH in Laie for a few reasons. Primarily, it would be a venue where we could have a great sound system, stage, and audience that we could explain song by song what this record means. It's rare to have a band release an album and then have a show where they explain to you song by song how the ideas came together, what they mean, and how they all work together. It'd be kind of like a behind the album type of show. Also, we'd have those guest artists as well to phatten up the evening as well.

So, please don't think that our online silence has meant UY has died. All it means is that we've really been focusing on making this record as amazing as possible. Hopefully soon you'll all be able to experience the mixture of excited emotions that we all felt last night as you listen to our new record, "A Sense of Urgency."

Update!

So you may or may not be thinking, "what ever happened with the whole New Record out in August 2008?" Well let me tell you.

This is nothing like a last ditch effort. (from the brand new song Bigger Than You or Me)

In an effort to keep the final product up to our own standards we decided to push the release date to October. See our Myspace Page for show dates (the October dates are obviously the CD release shows). More info will be provided as it surfaces.

We were pretty ambitious thinking we could get the record out in August, and by setting that original goal I think we pushed ourselves more than we ever have. It has been fun to see everyone rally to make things happen. I don't think you will be disappointed with the final product. Demitri is in the mixing stage right now and I wouldn't be surprised if his brain explodes before the process is complete. If you know him and have his cell number shoot him a text message to cheer him up in the studio. He has been putting a lot of time and effort into the making of A Sense of Urgency and it shows.

This Friday we are doing something we have never done before, we are having a UY "family" listening party. The band, families, and other individuals that have played a role in the process will be gathering at Lowbrow Studio to hear the "nearly final" mix.

Hope to see you at a show. We are planning to make the CD release shows a bit more "epic" so you won't want to miss out (think- guest musicians, additional instrumentation, blah, BLAH, I can't give away too much...)

Love you all,
Thomas

Quick art update...

I wasn't able to bring stuff of Wed so here is some of the progress I've been making...

Hope you guys like it... and don't worry this is only half of the whole front 3 panels.

Take into consideration that the final product will only be inches. Not anywhere near as large as it is here.






and remember this is not the final product!

I also added a better representation of Ech and Ad ;-P

ALBUM ART WORK

The title of the new record will be called "A SENSE OF URGENCY."

The problem I was faced with was to produce art work that would portray that feeling without the end product to be considered ANGRY.

When I asked the guys what I should do I was given a different array of answers. SO not too sure of where to go I produced this drawing.


we'll see if that ends up on the album.

As far as everything else... I decided to go and do traditional drawing and painting working on paper instead of doing everything on the computer. I got some supplies and can't wait to dive into them. I prepped a sheet of nice sturdy paper and will be adding to it as soon as my design gets approved by the guys. I don't have the luxury to use as much of everything to try things out so I want to do all the preliminary stuff on the computer then apply everything done here to the paper. Should be tough but I'm more than up to the challenge.
Here are the supplies...



After doing some serious thinking on the project I really wanted to include those who really mean a lot to us this time around on the album art. I'll explain later, but I got the wives and kids in on it.

Here is what I have drawn up until this point. I have a few more things but I arranged them this way to see what everyone thought. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK... please. I don't only want this to be Aaron's ideas and then when it's printed for everyone to be sketch on the outcome.

Things can be moved and they probably will be:-)



This is the layout we'll be working with.




much love -aaron

ps- just for fun I did a quick edit of the kind of style I would apply with the paint...

Meeting and Cover Art

So as a whole band we finally got together last night. It's been a really long time since we've been together and done anything as a whole band. It's been a lot of individual time in the studio with Demitri lately. Poor D has been putting in so much time on this record. He should be paid a million dollars or at least a million hugs.

Last night we talked about a lot of things to do with the record. First we listened to everything we've got done so far and it's pretty friggen amazing to see the progress we've made in the studio. Not just that, it's awesome to see the kind of progress we've made as a band since we wrote STILL back in 2006. Writing and recording original tunes like this is so satisfying. I know other musicians who make their living playing other peoples music and they would do anything to have the chance to write and record their own music with their own band. UY is a really lucky group to be able to keep it together this long and continue to improve as a band. I can't wait for people to get this cd, put it in their ipods/cars, learn all the words, and sing along with us at a show. Nothing is more gratifying than seeing people singing along. Looking forward to that.

So, one big change is that our trumpet player Aaron will be leaving on August 16th to go back to the mainland for multiple reasons. That changes our cd release date. We're giving ourselves one more week to put final touches on it and make it as close to perfect as possible. That also means that all cd release shows that we do once the record drops will not include Aaron. That's a huge bummer. We noticed a huge difference in band chemistry once Aaron got back into the group this summer and contributed to the vibe of not only the horn section, but the band as a whole. UY is an awesome mixture of 6 unique individuals. Without any one of us it just isn't the same vibe, sound, or band.

Another really cool thing we talked about was the cover art. We've struggled to get the themes going for this. The main idea that we have is obviously a sense of urgency. But how do we convey that through an image? Well, we talked about what we feel we have a sense of urgency for. The main focus of the band right now is somewhat similar to that used by considerably nefarious organizations. We want to target the largest amount of people possible in any situation, globally, by country, by venue, or simply individual people. We want to coerce people into action,but do it through music and not violence. We want you to dance, sing, think, buy our merch and music. We don't want you to be apathetic or stationary - we want you to take action because of our music. From this idea the cover art hopefully takes a huge leap into its genesis. Can't wait to see Aaron's art skills grab this by the juevos and make it a reality.

Other than that we talked about boring stuff like cd release shows, promotion ideas, and all that stuff. We're really looking to find a publicist type person help us get the word out into as many newspapers and mediums as possible, but don't have any real leads. Could/would you help UY promote the new album? Could you get a write up in your school/local paper? Could you place our ad on your myspace or blog? There's tons of stuff that could help out. What would you like to do to help? What ideas can you think of? We'd be stoked to have your help.

UY and CUBWORLD

A few months ago UY was asked to be the backup band for CUBWORLD at a show in Laie. Here's a link to some footage on youtube. It was a blast being able to learn someone else's music and not have to worry about being the singer and trying to entertain, but still be a part of the music. You can't see it from the footage but the crowd was great and the sound was awesome as well even though the recording doesn't do it justice. Check it out.

Oh...and by the way. We're hoping to have all the recording and mixing done in about three weeks! We'll be sending it off to be mastered and pressed here soon! Keep posted!