So very tired right now. I'm unfortunately back to my insomniac ways. Will probably take a nap later today.

Went back into the studio last night to have Jon dub some drums and percussion. Coming out fantastic so far. This is the first time we've really gone into a studio with only half a plan, creatively speaking. Jen and I are still on a tear with the writing, but once the song's finished we'll only play it a handful of times before going into the studio and do most of the figuring out there. Our usual method of recording has been turned on its ass and I like eeeet. Something really special is starting to take shape. It's nice recording in the Boston area, too. I get to sleep in my own bed!

Last Friday after a session with Dan we all caught Bon Savants and Hallelujah the Hills at the Middle East. Hadn't seen either of those guys in a long time. Bon Savants played a bunch of new tunes (new to me, anyway) that sounded great. I hadn't seen them since they added Tia on keys. We're both playing the same day at this Provincetown Rocks thing (along with just about every other band in Boston).. there may have been a conversation with Kevin about getting everyone to rent a campground or sommat. Hallelujah the Hills fucking killed it too. They were amazing. There must've been at least 10 people on stage— or perhaps I was seeing double by then.

This week, I managed to cut off all distraction and read Before Night Falls. It was everything a good book should be.. traumatic, enlightening, and even through the depressing parts (believe me, there were plenty) you come out the other end wanting to do nothing more than enjoy life. Hard to not let the week's news affect me, though. Between the marriage situation in California, the Aung San Suu Kyi trial (and, duh, her over a decade long house arrest), and an article Jen sent me about Tiananmen Square (Chinese youth neither know much nor care about it), it's been tough retaining faith in the goodness of humanity. Thank ye gods the session went as well as it did. Day a time I guess (followed by a few glasses of wine).

Eh, while we're on about marriage equality, I'd like to throw out there that I've yet to hear one single logical argument against it. Not one.

Anyway..

Pretty pumped about our NYC show tomorrow night. Don't go there nearly as often as we used to or want to—even for pleasure— but hopefully this will change. Anything to make it up to NYC for kidnapping Annie back to Boston.

Off to take care some work. Be well, world; and please behave better next week, wine can get expensive.

Henry

I know who wins American Idol tonight. Won't totally spoil it for you, but let's just say the name rhymes with COX TV.

Seriously, I'm just not feeling this or any sort of sports this year, and this includes the Sox. Not that I ever felt American Idol, or was that into pro sports (though considerably more than American Idle). Maybe something's wrong with me, but it's more likely that something is wrong with all of you.

(You have all just been burned.)

Okay, yea, yea, everyone's entitled to their own brand of escapism, etc. But this is my post. I do what I want. I'm just saying it's pure pablum. You think Hulu would turn your brain to mush...

Insulting a portion of my loyal readers aside...

Just sitting at home right now, windows open, listening to LPs, and reading (in between chapters using Twitter as my own personal instant messaging service). Just one of those days I guess. Already downed my glass of wine, followed by some espresso. Jen and I were going to get out and grab some coffee tonight and work on some lyrics, but we were pretty exhausted and called it a day before we even got started. We've got a few more tunes on the burner that need to be finished up. I'd say we're about halfway through writing the amount of songs we want to write; then we can start paring down what we want on this EP... that I'm neither confirming nor denying that we're working on... at another session this Friday.

Beyond this mystery recording, things are happening at camp Aloud. Had a meeting the other day, laying down plans and stuff. Things are feeling pretty good right now.

Don't know when they're actually going to air this, but our boy Jon's actually drumming for Morningwood tonight at the MTV NewNextNow Awards in NYC. I think it airs sometime in June. Go Jon go!

Eh.. I'ma get off this infernal machine. My eyeballs are about to fall out.

Henry

Currently listening to:
Blood On The Tracks
by Bob Dylan

Nothing much to report this week. Been kind of quiet on the home front. Did you catch all that coverage on last week's TT's show on Boston Band Crush? http://www.bostonbandcrush.net/2009/2009-05-12-Aloud/index.html. Much thanks to them as always!

Got a chance to see some of the Boston Band Crushers at Church last night (that's a rock club for all you non Bostonians). Henry and I went to catch the Motion Sick (http://www.themotionsick.com/) opening for Richard Lloyd of Television. Brett Rosenberg was also back in town playing with them. Was a great end to a long day. Something about the dark rock club that feels so right.

Other than that spent Friday morning writing with Henry. We're trying to keep this going on a weekly basis. I'm happy with what we're churning out thus far. Kind of different these tunes, so it's almost like relearning how to write, but we're getting there.

In future news, we're looking forward to NYC on the 29th. Sucks that we'll be missing the New Collisions EP release that same night, but NYC isn't a bad consolation prize. :) We're pleased to be playing with Motion Picture who are reuniting for the one night only! Check it, if you RSVP to rsvp@annierock.com it'll only cost you $7. Otherwise it'll be $10. This will be Annie's farewell NYC show. Annie has always been a New Yorker, but she's moving to Boston in June. We're happy to have our manager closer in proximity, but why not go without one big bang of a show before leaving right?

Goodnight,

Jen

It's been a lovely week thus far. How's yours been?

First off, a great BIG thank you to everyone who came out last night to TT's. We had an awesome time, too much fun! It was great to meet so many new people and hang out with the regulars. Much thanks to the Rock Out Boston club (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rock-Out-Boston-Club/93874059601) for making this their first outing!

If you joined the club yesterday, you probably picked up the Aloud sampler. You'll notice the live track is labeled "Bleeding Heart", but that's actually "Sometimes I Feel Like A Vampire". Sorry! Wrong labels. There's also a demo from the Fan the Fury writing sessions that never got used called "Gone With The Rising Sun" and an acoustic version of "The Last Time". Dan Daskivich (http://www.danielnicholasdaskivich.com/) produced Last Time track. That's the recording we were doing weeks ago. We went back in with Dan last Saturday to throw an overdub on another track. We were lucky enough to have him at the show last night.

On Saturday, we also got to make it to the Taxpayer (http://www.taxpayermusic.com/) show. They were amazing. I hadn't seen those guys in sooooooooooo long. Their set was electric. We were also lucky enough to discover Tiny Animals (http://www.tinyanimals.net/) from Brooklyn. Check them out! They're super tight and have some catchy tunes.

Caught two great movies this weekend; Once (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_(film)) which is the saddest movie I've ever seen and the new Star Trek, most excellent. Oh and I finished Watchmen... Spent the rest of the night pacing my apartment not knowing what to do now that it was all over... But I'm slowly moving on... slowly.

Cheers,

Jen

PS. Urban Outfitters thought we were cool enough to mention on their blog: http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/blog/aloud/. Here's the video they're refering to: http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/blog/days_of_thunder/

This week has been relatively good. It was on the up swing which I hope will continue. Wrote a new song today for a new EP Aloud is working on. Was very pleased to write one as we hadn't been able to sit down and write since end of March. Not sure when this EP will be out, but we're hoping by the end of the year.

Later went out with Henry and Dave P. for dinner at Christopher's in Porter Sq. Had never been there before, but we were pretty taken with the place. Food was amazing and so was our waitress. It's right up at the top of my list now for favorite retaurants and has indeed surpassed John Harvard's. Afterwards we hit up Porter Sq. books where I got myself a copy of the Metamorphosis. I've read this, but had a bootlegged copy and figured this proper $2 copy would be worth it. I've actually been dropping quite a bit of cash on books lately. At a rate this is much to fast for me to catch up reading them all. I've got 8 books sitting on my windowsill waiting for me.

I've been all superhero obsessed lately. Currently reading the Watchmen. BRILLIANT! Can't put the thing down. Also read the Batman one off, The Killing Joke, and to top it we just got the entire season of the Batman animated series which we have been watching almost uninterrupted every night. The cartoon was quite well written. I've never read comics till weeks ago when I picked up V For Vendetta. Always loved the stories and the movies, but I was scared of basically relearning how to read. You've got to sort of approach them differently. But the magic of what happens between speech bubbles, caption blocks and panals is quite awe inspiring.

In other news... happy to say we've just added a show for July 11. We are opening the Luxury's cd release at the Paradise Rock Club. That's right kiddies, the Dise. Beautiful. One of my favorite venues. I'm also incredibly psyched for this coming Tuesday's show at T.T.'s with Von Iva. They're on tour from San Fran and we're happy to be opening for them.

Oh and some awesome news for all those wanting to see more Boston shows and chill with cool people. Our manager, Annie Burns, along with photographer extraodinaire, Sooz, have started the Rock Out Boston club. They'll all meet up before shows for drinks and then head over to these shows they pick to watch bands and hang out. It's a pretty awesome idea and it supports local bands, so of course I love it. Their first outing will actually be at our TT's show I mentioned. If you RSVP (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rock-Out-Boston-Club/93874059601) with them, then you'll get an exclusive Aloud disc with unreleased and live tracks. Pretty sweet.

Talk soon,

Jen

I am having some major writers block today. I'm bustling with all this creative energy (aka two cups of coffee). I pick up a pen and paper... nothing. I pick up a guitar... wind up strumming D major for half an hour. Head to the keyboard... I play my piano bit for Hard Up In The 2000s and Chopsticks. Frustrating. But I suppose this too shall pass.

Celebrated Jen's birthday all weekend. Friday: went into town and had lunch with Liz and her (now our) friend Erin at The Other side. Liz brought her dog with her, a cute pug mix who goes by the name Chloe, so we had to eat outside, even as it was pouring. Bumped into Tim on the street, and later Jon (with whom we had a couple of drinks at the Globe Café). Later that eve, we hung out with Dave and cracked open the Batman animated series DVDs that just came in the mail. Seriously, best cartoon evah. As of today, we're up to the second disc of Vol. 2 and haven't hit an episode I haven't seen yet. They don't make cartoons like they used to. (I watch a lot of cartoons. Sue me.) Saturday, a bunch of us went out to Tasca, in Brighton, for tapas. Tasca is one of the things I miss most about living in Allston. You could feast, polish off a few bottles of wine, then roll down the hill to the apartment. Ah well. A party at Crystal's place was already in progress, and we hopped on that before retiring for the evening... morning... whatever.

Can't remember much of what happened yesterday. I think we just did nothing, really. I did, however, manage to make The second best plate of scrambled eggs in the history of scrambled eggs (first place goes to my grandma). Oh, and rehearsal in the afternoon, of course. Also got some mixes back from our session with Dan from a week ago. Sound really good so far.

Random: last Thursday, I was in Kenmore with Jen and we were in the mood to grab a few books and get some coffee, so we settled for the Starbucks at Barnes & Noble. Dude behind the counter treated me like I kicked his sick grandmother in the shins or something. Total douchebag. I find myself a proponent for mild corporal punishment in these instances. An unexpected punch to the gut will do, really. That way I don't waste time complaining to a manager for something too trivial to get him in trouble for at his crummy job, he learns a lesson, and I feel better.

Jen's very audible "WOW" would have to suffice. I think he felt bad. I hope he did, anyway. I just wanted a fucking coffee.

Fuck, I still want to get a tune out today.. I think it's time for espresso. Surely, it will soothe my jangled nerves.

Henry