Hey, friends!  This has been a fantastic month so far!  We played live on Fox 23’s “Great Day Green Country”:

And we played SXSW!!!  Kevin and I took lots of pictures and video of our trip, and we’ll post those in the next few days.  In the meantime, let me just say we had an awesome time and feel so blessed to have had the experience.  It’s still a little mind-boggling to think we actually played SXSW, something we never expected we’d have the opportunity to do.  The trip was tons of fun and reminded us pleasantly of touring (long drives listening to music and goofing off, sleeping on couches, waking up greasy and groggy, and playing an unfamiliar venue for a largely new crowd).  The Buffalo Lounge was really cool, and all the other bands that played, many of whom are our friends, were awesome.  Stephen Carradini of the Oklahoma Gazette gave us a very nice write-up, and Brian Horton taped our whole set and posted a few videos on Youtube (thanks, Brian!):

Like I said, we’ll have some more pics and videos to share in the coming days!

I have to leave you with a story I heard on NPR yesterday (check it out here) that I find fascinating.  It’s about an experiment in Siberia that’s been going on for the last 50 years to domesticate foxes.  The experiment has resulted in amazingly tame, human-loving critters like these:

Doesn’t that make you want a pet fox?

Bye for now!

Love,
Chris

Hey everyone. So this is our first blog post this year. 2012 has been great so far and is looking pretty good in the months ahead. We’ve gotten to play a couple fun shows so far. One of those shows was with our old friend Andrew from Meryll and Victor Villareal (of such bands as Cap’n Jazz and Ghosts and Vodka). We’ve been listening to Victor’s music for many years now so it was awesome to play a show with him, to get to see Andrew play again, and to hang with those guys a little bit. Next month we are playing SXSW! This will be our first time and we are very thankful that God has blessed us with that opportunity. We’ll post more info as we get it. Also, we are looking forward to a compilation that is coming out featuring some of us Tulsa bands covering “The Party Song” by our friends in Lizard Police. Look out for that hopefully next month. And last but not least, we have been working on new songs and also crafting material for a particular ep that we plan to record this spring/summer. We will keep you updated on the blog when we begin that process. So that’s the shape of 2012 for us so far! Stay tuned! We love you all!

-Kevin

Hey, friends!  We’ve been wanting to throw something up on this blog for awhile now, but we just haven’t had time to write anything substantial lately.  Life is really, really good.  We’ve been spending a lot of time with our wives and our church communities, focusing more energy on our Tuesday night meals with our homeless friends downtown, and just letting our spirits be refreshed and encouraged by the people around us.  Like I said, life is really, really good!

We played our first show in almost 2 months this past weekend.  I was (and am still) sick and unable to sing, but Kevin and Craig stepped up and took over lead vocals for the night.  They did an awesome job!  They’ve never tried to sing my parts before, and with only one practice the day before the show, they were able to work it all out.  It’s such a blessing to play with such extremely talented and versatile musicians.

We have a few projects in the works.  I’ve been working on a very modest home studio for a few years now, and we’re gonna’ try to self-record an EP very soon.  More info about that in the coming weeks and months!  There are other songs being written for another future recording, too.  The two projects will have very different feels, but I won’t give everything away just yet.  You’ll hear them soon enough.

Our next show is January 29th at the Soundpony with our good friend Andrew Hernandez of Meryll and Victor Villarreal of Ghosts & Vodka, Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls, Noyes, etc.  It’s gonna’ be a doozy!  We might play a show or two before then, too, so stay tuned.

Hope you’re all doing well!

Love,
Chris

This past year, I’ve experienced God’s faithfulness like I never have before. I’ve come to realize that I have not placed my complete trust in God until recently. I pray that we would all remember who it is we serve, our Maker, the Creator of the entire universe, the alpha and omega. To borrow from Jeremiah 32:17,”Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” I pray that we would seek God, place our trust in Him, take Him on his word, and see that He is faithful. In times of struggle, He is faithful to give us the grace to persevere and make us new. Like a father, He is faithful to give us the things we need. And if we become His children, trusting him and taking delight in Him, we will find this to be true.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
-James 1:2-5

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
-Matthew 7:7-11

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalms 37:4

Peace,
Kevin

I just got done reading an update from The Ember Days, a band whom I have been listening to and following the past couple months. I am quite encouraged and excited to see their band progress and to see their ministry grow. They posted an awesome testimony from someone who attended one of their shows and what God did that night, as well as a very cool video from their recent 6 week tour. Check it out and check out their music! Of course I was watching it, thinking, “Man, that’s where I want to be…”

Contentment seems to be a theme God has placed on my mind a lot recently and a lot today. This is something I have never had very much of.. at least not consistently. But I’m realizing it’s importance in my life. My wife posted this quote on our (her’s really) blog recently…

“When I am consumed by my problems-stressed out about my life, my family, and my job-I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice.” -Francis Chan, Crazy Love

Our attitudes much reflect the way we feel about what God has given us. I spend so much time wanting what others have and wanting to do what others are doing and don’t take enough time to look around and see how incredibly blessed I am and see all that God is doing in my own life. So here we are, 10 years later, still tending to our humble band, playing primarily in Tulsa and surrounding areas. I look back and see so many awesome things that have happened while we have been a band. So we continue in this labor of love. We continue to write deeply honest music that we are passionate about. And we continue to seek God’s will. We are super excited about some new ideas and new songs we are are working on and our upcoming shows and recording projects (new album?.. lzpd cover.. shows with friends!…) and you know how excited we are about Nocturnes. Anyhow, maybe we’ll see you out on the road sometime soon, or later, or maybe not. But whatever the case, God is awesome and we love what we do!

-Kevin

Why am I up at 6:58 on a Saturday morning? Sickness. Coughing and drainage. But I do enjoy the peacefulness of early mornings and the longevity they add to your day.

I’ve been thinking about forgiveness this morning. I wonder if we understand just how much God loves us… It seems that a misunderstanding of this will reflect in the way we treat others. If we understood just how much God has forgiven of us, no matter how many times we fail Him, it seems we would want to forgive others in the same way. How can we work through problems in our marriages and friendships without truly forgiving one another and pushing one another towards Christ? There are some unspeakable ways I’ve treated my wife, and she has had the ability to not only forgive me completely but to pray for me in the moment that I hurt her. Only through God could something so beautiful happen! And obviously only through forgiveness and God-centeredness will our marriage last.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

I pray that as we think of Christ on the cross, and of how much forgiveness and freedom he gave us individually from our each of our sins, that we could forgive others this way.

Today I plan on painting some cabinets with Adrienne and listening to some Cool Hand Luke, Ember Days, and other good stuff.

We have a show on the 26th with some friends. Hope to see you all there!

Have a blessed day.
Love,
Kevin

Hey friends. We had a great time at Free Tulsa last weekend celebrating 10 years of  playing together. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and sang out at our hang out. That was the last show we have booked for a bit. Surely we’ll see you all soon enough though. We’ve got a few things in the works. Until next time we’ll probably be working on new music and messing with Chris’s new recording equipment. YES!!

Our long-time friend Mandy included our t-shirt in her recent post on her fashion blog. Go check out her blog and be inspired by her sense of style!

      http://mandytheoutfitter.blogspot.com/

See you all soon!

-Kevin

July 28, 2001:  We played our first show with Craig on drums at the Mustard Tree in Claremore with the Gadabouts.  At the time, we were called At All Costs, and we played our own technical, free-wheeling brand of pop-punk (“new-school punk,” as we called it).  We followed our normal set with a cover set, during which we played most of the songs from Zao’s album Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest and one song from their album Liberate Te Ex Inferis.  Don’t ask me why.  I think we just had some extra time to fill and thought it would be fun.  Below is a picture of the three of us circa 2001 and a screenshot of the actual setlist we typed up for this show.  Enjoy!

Come see us at Free Tulsa 2011 (July 29th & 30th) for our tenth anniversary show!

Love,
Chris