not a goddamn field trip, this is a fuckin war!

i guess i still have one of these things.

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:13:04 GMT

hey rebecca. your the only one reading this. nice.

strep throat and the road...

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:19:57 GMT

heres how things have been going so far..ill use the list method. ill spare all the mindless chatter and stupid filler.

-Saw D4 play one of their best sets ever at the fest this year.
-got real drunk
-Met up with Dave Hall and had some beers and lots of Sparks and talked about life stuff...girls,money,bands,records,etc.
-we had dinner at the Top, followed by beer.
-got drunk
-made a new friend by the name of Danielle and spent all of saturday and a little of sunday together. she's a riot.
-got real drunk.
-got real sick
-got to tallahase on monday evening where i started to come down with strep throat.
-fever of 103.6 the doctor told me i had when i got to birmingham
-two shots in the ass.
-a bunch of antibiotic pills.
-282.00 dollars later
-i feel great.
-didn't play two shows due to illness.
-came back to play the show in ft.worth,tx which was awesome.
-glass and ashes and us played song for song...
-i have a crush on 4 dudes.
-they are called glass and ashes.
-i haven't smoked or drank beer or caffiene in 9 days now.
-i feel great.
-I LOVE THE WEST COAST!!
-this tour has made me realize alot about my life back home.
-kick your problems to the curb and live life....i am!
-today is ventura,ca where we get to see how the G&A boys live.
-im excited to meet everyones roomates,friends,girlfriends,and what nots...
-after ventura is Vegas baby, Vegas!

so thats pretty much it for now...much love to the people back home.....talk to ya'll soon.

Jimmy Go Swimmer

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:13:46 GMT

So yes, let it be known that i am now offically a college student again! I just got the letter in the mail letting me know that my aplacation for a student loan was approved so there ya have it! School boy again.

My schedule for the semester is pretty easy. On Tuesdays I take a U.S. History class followed by Child Physc. the Basketball Theory for my phys. ed. credit. Thursday is the same minus the Basketball thing...And after all this i will have enough to get my Asociates and then tansfer to Aquanis. Right on!

So thats about it for now. I hope everyone is chill. xoxo

Unwound was a great band.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 20:56:39 GMT

so last nite i fell off the wagon, hard...4 tall scotch and soda's...ouch! needless to say today wasn't the greatest day ever...im going to take a nap and then get ready for the North Lincoln show with my ex-band Mustard Plug...should be totally fun. all the diaper crew is going to be there so you know we's gonna keep it real! so i started playing bass alot more and writting some lyrics.....i think a band is going to form out of this...can't wait....it should really start getting serious about the time i get back from tour. practice and then show time. me singing and playing bass, should be fun....just gotta find other people to play in this band with me....i want it to sound like Unwound really badly...they were such a great band. So far all my lyrics have been dealing with shit that happend to me over the past year and a half but more on the fuck you side of it all....really angry stuff, but writting it down has made me feel so fucking great! i love it. anyway im off for a nap.....really tired this kid is! xoxo

Detriot is a very violent city isn't it?........yeah, it is.

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 19:09:20 GMT

ah, the wonders of axel foley. anyway not much to report, ive been in a better mood lately. not so up and down and all that jazz. pretty much smooth sailing. its really good and i hope it stays that way and by the looks of how things have been going, i think it will, and maybe even get better. i can't wait to leave on tour. the fest will be alot of fun this year unlike last year which was a disaster. then its off to the west coast with the Glass and Ashes boys, such fine fellas. anyway, i have to get going, i have to send packages out for ebay auctions people won from me...oh yeah, i know no one likes me but if you have any pictures of me from the halloween party send them my way..i need new photos. alright, see ya'll soon, maybe...

MY BABY SMOKES....

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:58:52 GMT

well she would if i had a "baby", i don't so
i can only dream of one that smokes and listens to Braid
constantly.
my dream girl...
oh yeah she'd also have to really dig Jawbreaker.
my sickness is gone, its offical.
now i just have to finish out my medication which makes me
really dizzy and extremely tired but keeps the bad stuff away.
only a few more days.
so me and rick johnson have talked about doing a drum and bass band.
not techno bullshit but something along the lines of the minutemen.
could be really cool.
stay tuned for futher details on that one.
anyway im out to go to bed.
sweet dreams everyone.
xoxo

by the way...

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 21:28:45 GMT

this has to be one of the coolest band names ever:

This Moment In Black History.

fucking awesome.

got this from angela.

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 20:57:00 GMT

EDIT: Reveal 5 songs that you have been enjoying lately, regardless of genre:

1. Sixpence None The Richer - "Kiss Me"
2. The La's - "There She Goes"
3. I Hate Myself - "Roy Sullivan, By Lightning"
4. Samiam - "Mud Hill"
5. Black Flag - "Clocked In"

and one more just for good measure

6. Archers Of Loaf - "Plumb Line"

if i could talk i'd tell you.

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 20:52:12 GMT

press junket just got back from practice.
it was awesome to say the least.
we learned 4 new orginals and one cover.
the cover being, "if i could talk i'd tell you" by the great lemonheads.
went to the bar last nite with stephen and brian.
dante showed up at logans then joined my and brian at mulligans.
i didn't have anything to drink and it was still very fun.
however, aparently its superiority type thing..
who knows.
anyway, tonite is the hockey game.
wings vs. blue jackets.
should be good.
maybe afterward we'll head up to mulligans again for another nite
of fun and entertainment.
halloween is coming up and im thinking about going as a Baseball Fury from the
great movie The Warriors.
i just got to see how much it costs to get a baseball uniform.
hopefully not to much.
if not ill probably think of something else thats cheap and maybe a little
offensive.
nick brought up doing black face...but if i did i couldn't really go anywhere else except the party
without the fear of getting my face smashed in.
i think of something.
in the meantime.
xoxo.

guitar center.

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:32:55 GMT

guitar center is a place i hate very much.
some of the worst people on the planet happen to be
working at the drum counter of this store.
in other news.....
sickness is dying down...
im feeling alot better.
maybe tonight ill be able to smoke.
it sounds good.
so heres my plan with my student loan money.
pay credit card off.
pay some medical bills of/down to a reasonable price.
buy a new drum kit.
pork pie.
22X20 kick
12X14 rack tom
16X16 floor tom.
6X14 DW Edge snare drum with Maple center and Steel edges.
Fuck yeah.
The Age Of Octeen by Braid has got to be one of the best records ever.
no joke.
heres our tour scedule....if your out west you should go.

11/20 - Gainesville, FL @ The FEST 4

w/Glass & Ashes

11/21 - Tallahassee, FL @ 1002 Stone Valley Way
11/22 - Baton Rouge, LA @ TBA
11/23 - Spring, TX @ Robinson Road Community Center w/Jon Benet
11/24 - Ft. Worth, TX @ 1919 Hemphill w/Brickfight
11/25 - Lubboc, TX @ TBA
11/26 - Santa Fe, NM @ Warehouse 21
11/27 - Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Art

11/28 - San Diego, CA @ Che' Cafe w/Latterman
11/29 - Ventura, CA w/Glass & Ashes
11/30 - Las Vegas, NV***
12/1 - Bakersfield, CA @ TBA w/The Pine
12/2 - Berkeley, CA @ Gilman Street w/Glass & Ashes
12/3 - Reno, NV @ The Spacement (351 E. Taylor St.) w/Rad Times, Young Lions
12/4 - Salt Lake City, UT***
12/5 - Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November
12/6 - Denver, CO @ 15th St. Tavern
12/7 - Omaha, NB @ Fort House (5125 N.49th St.)
12/8 - Cedar Rapids, IA @ TBA
12/9 - Chicago, IL @ TBA
12/10 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Mosiac or DAAC

w/Pink Razors

1/6 - Grand Rapids, MI @ The DAAC
1/7 - Chicago, IL***
1/8 - Madison, WI @ TBA

touring sometimes is stressful on money and emotions but this
one is going to be good.
i get to go out west.
see some friends,
and finally play Gilman St.
awesome!
i can't wait to move out west.

last nites tattoo

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 02:07:10 GMT

broken hearts are blue,
was a great band.
i have strep throat again.
i had to listen to my doctor tell me for the 800th time
to get my tonsils taken out of my head.
someday i will do this.
when i am not broke.
so maybe never.
watched aqua teen hunger force tonight.
what a great and funny little show.
i wish i lived next door to a food fight.
this is now day 5 with no alcohol..
pretty funny.
not as funny as the stelladora breakfast treats.
this makes no sense.
god am i boring.
need someone.
yep,...........................
i got nothing.

I Like My Coffee Like I Like My Metal................BLACK!

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:06:42 GMT

the new propagandhi record is awesome...
that is all...

mint car.....kind of

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:17:20 GMT

im at work, or actually on break from work at home....
i signed up for college corses today...
yep, thats right...
big man on campus...
more like old fart on campus...
well, when all is said and done ill have my associates
in the arts with a huge goddamn emphasis on history...
yep nerd.
i like old stuff...
the cataloging of old stuff...
storys about old stuff...
and ive noticed that i always reference times in my life not to my age
but to the year in which they happend...
like for example...
i discovered jawbreaker in the spring of 1994...
when i was 14 or 15 can't remember...
but i know the year and the time of year to the "t"...
also, laugh if you want, but im taking huge time away from the sauce....
its been 9 years without a good long break...
i think its time...
im just not liking the effects anymore...
its getting way too fuckin old for me....
you feel good, make an ass of yourself, and feel like shit the next day....
nah, ill sit out this one ya'll....
i will still however attend my fridays with my roomates, and parties but, im not drinking...
i know, doubt me, but really, im sick of it...
when im sober and see how drunk people act, its dumb...but funny none the less....
anyway, its fall, im poor....
when i get done with work today im going to walk through some really rad woods by my parents
house and smoke a joint and take photos on an instamatic camera i found.....
yeah this is how not exciting my life is....
it's getting kinda lonely in here....
well, till next time...
we all need more useless shit to look at....

remember when...

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:32:42 GMT

well aparently muggings and robbings are on the rise in the heritage hill/eastown area. this is not cool at all in any way shape or form. in fact it pisses me off. i remember being able to walk anywhere at anytime and not having to worry about getting mugged, well i guess thats all out the fuckin door now. i hate feeling scared in my own neighborhood. no one should ever ever have to feel like that. fuck this im pissed....i just want my friends who have to walk to work at 7 am or have to leave work at 11 pm are just really careful...you wish you could watch out on all of them but you can't and it sucks. please if you live in this area just be careful..and if someone fucks with you just give them anything they ask for don't fight it...cause you could get killed...this sucks.

ill race you to the highest point in the city. pathetic skyline and unfinished buildings, our sceney

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:40:41 GMT

I LOVE FALL!
SOUP, COFFEE, CIGS, AND SWEATSHIRTS!
FUCK YEAH!

Fuck!

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 20:49:15 GMT

Fuck!
that is all....im bored. waiting for Brian to get home so we can head to Happy Fun time at mulligans. Life is pretty uneventful. wheres my fall weather? why is marco reosti so gay? whats with falling down stairs? whats with this post? i think the guy that wrote it is a nancy boy...

mmmmm

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:28:47 GMT

yeah so i was pretty drunk last nite at mulligans.
anyone that was there and witnessed it i'm sorry.
also if i said or did some things that were "not cool", im also sorry.
i have a wicked hangover.
the shot of whiskey nick got me was that one thing that sent me over the edge
into the abyss of drunkeness.
i had to take it one step further by buying a shot of the glen for me and nick.
bad move.
i can't beleive i drove home.
very disappointed in myself.
now its off to vertigo and possibly beltline bar.
me and brian are ruling the weekend.
my friends are going to save the world.

let me tell you a little story about a man named shhh!

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 19:41:45 GMT

well heres just some of the things ruling my world as of this week:

Helmet - "unsung: the very best of..."
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Best Of"
Steely Dan - "A Decade Of Steely Dan"
I Hate Myself - "3 song 12"
Braid - "I'm Glowing And Your The Reason"
Bob Dylan - "No Direction Home" documentary
Arrested Development
Kitchen Confidential
Curb Your Enthusiasim
Seinfeld
and much more but these are the best....

on tuesday i went and had lunch with brooke at the olive garden. first time i had lunch there since being on tour. the band usually uses olive garden as a treat for a nite well done, meaning we made alot of money. anyway that was fun had alot of laughs and talked about the jackson 5 and their place in the neo-classical movemnet of the late 1800's in france. acutally that last line was complete crap...anyway the week went great and now im ready to top it off with logans, and mulligans tonite. should be fun. it always is. i think im smoking down this weekend as the kids say these days. that should be fun. haven't done that in awhile. well take care and check out some of the stuff listed above. i think you may just dig it. by the way steely dan is great nite time music...absolutely awesome!!!

FAY WRAY said it best....

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 22:04:36 GMT

I LOVE EVERYONE! i had fun last nite with the kids...first time in a long time. i got to tell someone that i like them and that we are bro's...we were drunk. dancing. schnanigans!

ONE REASON SAID IT BEST.....

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 15:58:00 GMT

THIS LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT! and i totally agree.

this was going to be long....

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:00:07 GMT

well, i had written what was quite possibly the longest entry i have ever written but when i went to update this thing it gave me an error signal and erased my thoughts. so ill give you the short one now that contains all of what i was trying to say...

first off, brooke, im sorry about friday. things got confused for me. i thought the party at your place was on saturday not friday. i also thought that we were going to just go say hi at mulligans after our food but i didn't realize the time. i feel like shit for this. i hope you'll forgive me. thats if you care to. i also got you a gift. its something that we both like that no one else does because their no where near as cool as us. by the way congrats on the ibook..very nice! i hope you'll let me make this up to you by doing lunch or something..just give me a call....im truly sorry...

second, i met this girl from new york that has a boyfriend. she live here now and knows no one. we started hanging out on the friendship tip. no hugging, kissing, or anything of that kind which was weird for me but yet refreshing. things were cool. now she dumped her boyfriend and wants a relationship with me. i freaked out and haven't talked to her since. im scared to. i like this girl but i can't let her in. once things in a relationship take a turn for the better i push people away. i can't let them see the real me, ive done that once and got hurt, i don't want to go through it again.

once you have the image and thought of someone you want to be with locked in your heart and mind you can't settle for second best and that seems to be what i have been doing. i have been fooling myself that im ready for a relationship when i clearly am in no shape to be in one. over a month back, before i left on tour i was in a realtionship with someone and it was going great. i left and told her i would call while we were out...that never happend and still hasn't. i told my friends that she was crazy and thats why i bolted. truth is i was scared. scared of letting her in, and taking our relationship anywhere else from where it was at. this is who ive become.

ive never been a person that has mood shifts so goddamn frequently..but as of awhile now thats how i am. some days are phenomenal and others are like today where a bullet sounds like a good meal. the only thing keeping me from that is that i don't have the guts to do it, my band, and my friends.....oh yeah the fact that i wouldn't even know where to find a gun even if i wanted to. i guess thats the basic jist of what i was trying to say in the even longer post...thanks for reading/listening.....thanks agian.

a game of marco polo with helen keller....

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:25:52 GMT

hey so i found this on the AMP Magazine site...pretty awesome. I think its supposed to be in the september issue of the mag..or october im not sure. anyway here it is....

So the members of NORTH LINCOLN have been involved with a bunch of different bands in the past. Can you list some of the other bands that your members are or were involved in, and explain how you guys came together?
Sure. Well we got together in the summer of 99'. I had just left my band at the time and John's band the Addictives were looking for a second guitar player so I jumped at the chance seeing as how they were one of the biggest bands in Grand Rapids at that point. I didn't really last that long in the band, but by the time I left the Addictives me and John had hit it off really well. John had said he was tired of the direction the band was going and expressed interest in starting something new and I said was down for sure. John got Brian who was drumming for another popular punk band called Drive to come and play bass and that was it. I guess we were sort of a local super group in a way. The rest is history. Since then almost all of our side projects have included at least one, if not all of North Lincoln. And trust me it's a laundry list of bands. The most popular was probably Don Knotts, which included all of NL. Don Knotts was total thrash/spazz fury and we were pretty big all around Michigan. We also all play in The Andorras, which is a Sweet Baby cover band. John spent a year drumming with Mustard Plug while I sold merch. I play in the bands The Hartford Whalers and Belmonts Descendent. John has another new band called Press Junket on top of all the other bands he's been in, and Brian's been working on a band with his girlfriend called Dogshow. So I guess you can say we're nothing short of band whores. Which is true, but there's nothing more we love to do than play music.

How would you compare NORTH LINCOLN’s style to that your other bands?
NL is where are hearts are. We pour everything we can give into the band and I think it shows. The style isn't all that much different from all the other bands we've done but Grand Rapids is a very musically diverse town and I think that shows even in NL. Style isn't really an issue around Michigan but especially in Grand Rapids it comes down more to holding true to the beliefs and ethics of the punk scene that get people excited about the music and the bands that come from here. And that's a strong point in the foundation of North Lincoln.

Do people who dig your other bands generally get into NORTH LINCOLN?
Oh definitely. Like I said, we're a very tight knit community and all the bands are just as connected. Especially at home you’re going to see all the same people hanging out at the DIY ska show or indie show that you would see at one of the NL shows. I guess we pull in bigger crowds sometimes but we've also been around for twice as long if not longer than most the bands around town. Around the rest of the country though most people have never really heard our other bands. We get the occasional Don Knotts fans on tour or even some Hartford Whalers fans on the tour we just got home from, but for the most part everyone mostly knows us for NL.

So before I get into the comparison of your style to other bands, how would you describe the sound of the band?
Man, umm.. You know, we're just a straight up punk band. We don't really give a shit about all the genrefication that goes on nowadays. When it comes down to it, we're all punk bands. Especially for us we never have, and never will try to fit any mold of what anyone thinks we should be or sound like. We love playing and we're going to play the music we want to play. We pour our hearts and soul into everything we write and that's the way it's always going to be with us.

Ok, so I’m sure you get this a lot, but you guys definitely have a No Idea-esque sound, reminiscent of older HOT WATER MUSIC, and especially SMALL BROWN BIKE. Do you feel as though that’s a fair comparison?
Yeah, I guess we'd have to agree that it's fair. Those are two bands we spent years listening to. We've all been immersed in the punk scene for well over ten or eleven years so I guess it's natural for the music you love to coincide with the music you play. We've been huge fans of the late 80's/early 90's Bay Scene forever and I think that comes through even more in our music. Bands like Samiam, Crimpshrine, Jawbreaker and Fifteen probably have a more prominent fixture in our music then that of all the earlier No Idea bands that we listened to. I'm sure the No Idea references we get have more than a little to do with the fact that we're on No Idea. If the album had come out on Lookout I bet everyone would refer us to the Bay Area bands of the time. In the end though, all those bands helped inspire who we are as a band and any of the references we get we feel honored to have.

So seeing as though you seem to fit the sonic mold of what fans of No Idea records are looking for, how good a fit has the label been for your band?
Every aspect of working with No Idea has been amazing. We couldn't be happier or more honored to be working with such a great label. Everyone that works there and all the bands on the label have always been more than willing to do anything they can to help us out and it's totally inspiring. I think it was the perfect place for NL to land and now we can't imagine ever not being with them. It's definitely helped us out in a lot of ways, but most of all it helped remind us of why we love to play the music we play. No Idea is an honest label that's putting out records for the love of putting out records. We're an honest band that's playing for the love of playing. We definitely owe so much of this band still being a band to them at this point. So yeah, definitely a perfect fit.

How did you hook up with the guys at No Idea in the first place?
Well, honestly we became friends. I think that's what it basically comes down to. We were out doing a summer tour and we ended up hooking up with Grabass Charlestons and The Tim Version for like three or four shows. During that time we lost a few upcoming shows and Grabass totally took us under their wings and told us just to tag along with them and they would help us out. We ended up spending an entire week with them on the road all of which ended up at a big welcome home show for them in Gainesville. We opened up the show and from the first note on we were totally in love with everyone in the town. That night Replay Dave and the Grabass guys took us around introducing us to basically every person that lives in Gainesville. Dave got us on the bill for The FEST II that night. Every person we met was just so amazing it was like nothing we had ever experienced on tour. It's almost even hard to put into words what it was like meeting them all. Just kindness on a level that I could never even have imagined possible until that night. From that point on, we knew we had a second hometown, and every time we've returned since it's just as inspiring. When it came time to record "Truth Is A Menace" we had already banked on recording with Rob McGregor in Gainesville long before we ever even had an idea of what we were going to do with it. While we were there recording we played a show at Wayward Council and we asked Var if he might be interested in coming in to help us mix down the album. When he agreed we were totally stoked. He came in gave us some pointers and told us it sounded good. So when we were at the bar that night hanging out we decided to just lay it all out on the table asked Var & Jen if they would be interested in putting it out for us. They basically said they would definitely consider it, that they had a lot on their plate at that point and they would let us know. About two or three weeks after we got home Var called us up and said that they would put it out. At that point we freaked out, and we're still freaking out. It's an honor to say the least.

So you guys are outta Michigan, a place that has a pretty solid music scene, having brought us the likes of SMALL BROWN BIKE, and one of today’s up-and-comers, BEAR VS SHARK. How would you describe the Michigan scene, and how would you compare it to better-known scenes like perhaps Gainseville, Boston, or the East Bay out in California?
Michigan as a whole is without a doubt one of the best music scenes in the country. It really doesn't get the respect it deserves a lot of the time. There's no doubt that we have just as good of a music scene as everywhere you mentioned. It's mind blowing that more people don't recognize it. And you know, a lot of people in Michigan don't recognize it. We are a Michigan born band and proud of it. The Gibbons from Detroit put out easily one of the best punk albums of the year. Grand Rapids has one of the best music scenes in the country with tons of amazing bands. Still Remains is one of the biggest upcoming metal bands in the country. Freshman Rhetoric, AndyDickTracyMorganFreeman, One For The Books, Hombrinus Dudes, Hell or High Water, all bands that are fuckin' amazing and should be a lot bigger than they are. Even bands like Heads Will Roll from Detroit and tons of bands from cities like Kalamazoo and Lansing. There's something about Michigan where it can be just so hard for people to break out of the Michigan scene. We definitely had just as hard of a time and it's something we'll never understand. We have a scene that's just as good if not better than most places yet a lot of the time Michigan doesn't get the respect it deserves. It's sad ya know, but it's one of the things we're trying to change.

So you guys are known as a band that is not afraid to get off your asses and get out there and tour. How important is touring to the band, and what are some of the pros and cons of spending your life on the road?
Ha, touring is EVERYTHING, and we love it. It's definitely hard and they don't always go great but if we could afford to be out for 12 months out of the year I'm sure we would. We go out as much as we can, but we're not exactly able to support ourselves on the band so we have keep our day jobs as well. There's really not much bad I can say about touring. There's breaking down, fighting, lack of eating, lack of sleeping but once you start touring you come to realize that those are just common things that come along with life on the road. The great cities we play, the amazing people we meet, the great times we have, is everything that makes touring worth it. The time we have and will spend on the road are going to be times that we'll cherish for our entire lives and will always bond us as brothers. We all have our commitments back home and it makes it easier having such a great place to come back home to. I have a baby daughter so that's about the biggest challenge I face myself as far as touring goes but touring and playing music is where our hearts lie and and what we want to do for the rest of our lives. All the money in the world couldn't take that away from us.

What do you guys have planned for this year in terms of tours and shows?
As much as we can fit in for sure! We're putting together a Southern Tour for late August. A Canadian/Upper East Coast tour in October and a West Coast tour in November after The FEST IV in Gainesville. As of now we still totally do everything DIY so if anyone out there wants us to come play they just have to let us know. There's nothing more we love than a cramped basement to rock!

So the full-length, ‘Truth is a Menace,’ has been out for over 8 months now…how has the response been, and how pleased are you with the end result of the record itself?
Um, I pretty sure it's been good. I guess you'd have to ask No Idea about that one. The response has been incredible at shows and on tour and we couldn't be happier about it. Everyone in the band generally like the album I think. It was definitely rushed a little on our part and it would have been nice to have more time in the studio but we paid for the album ourselves so we weren't exactly on an easy going budget. Some of the songs were being written right up to the day we left for Florida. For the last song on the album "Message Lost in a Singalong" I was even writing the lyrics as I recorded the vocals. So it was definitely a little rushed, but at this point there's absolutely nothing I would change about it. We were more than luck to have Rob McGregor helping us with it or I don't know how we ever would have gotten through recording it. It was definitely one of those things where everything just fell in to line perfectly nd we ended up a great record.

The lyrics on this release have a very real feel to them, as if you’re reading someone’s true-life story filled with their own ideas and feelings, rather than the made-up dream world of pirates and murders that is running so rampant in the punk rock scene today. How important are the lyrics to the band, and do you ever find it difficult writing songs that appear to be so autobiographical?
The lyrics are definitely just as important if not more than the music. We take great pride in our lyrics and mean and stand behind everything we say. We definitely don't pigeon hole our lyrics in any sense. This is definitely a band where we are free to sing about anything we want to sing about and I love that. I think it's better that way as well. I can't imagine playing in a band where every song has to be about this or about that. When we're using a platform like we use in the punk scene, everyone should feel empowered to write about anything you want to write about. But I think it's also important when writing to try and give people ideas, try and make them open their eyes to something new, or just feel inspired to go out and try to change the world or themselves for the better. We want people to get more out of our songs than just something to sing along to, not to just listen to our songs, but hear our songs, and hear what we have to say. I think that's why everyone that hears our songs can relate to them.

Do you guys have anything in the works for a new release in the coming months?
Ha, well we have a lot of things we'd like to release. It's a matter of writing enough songs to get them all out. We'll be doing a split 7" with The Gibbons on Salinas Records. There's been talk for a while about a split 10" or 7" with The Pine on Grateful, we've already begun writing songs for a new album, and hopefully a split 7" with Freshman Rhetoric at some point. We also have a track coming out on the 1-2-3-4 GO! Records Replacements Tribute.

Obviously when everyone sees this, they’re going to become completely enamored with NORTH LINCOLN and want to head out and buy all of your merch and go to all of your shows…having said that, where should people go to get all the latest Dirt from the NORTH LINCOLN camp?
Well for releases, the best places to get them from are No Idea Records (www.noidearecords.com) or Little Type (www.littletype.com). I believe both have shirts as well! For any basic news our webpage is www.northlincoln.cjb.net or if you have any random questions or comments or just want to say hi you can email us at nlrocks666@yahoo.com or write us at PO BOX 6891, Grand Rapids, MI 49516.
Hand written letters get hand written responses, and we always throw in some extra love!

take me out

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:07:24 GMT

this weekend was really good. spent friday with the roomates at logans, grand coney, and then ended the nite at mulligans which is very rare for us then drove home drunk. woke up at about noon on saturday and spent the hours from 1pm to 8pm watching abc family with brian...awesome times. we got up and then went to robs house warming party..lots of fun...i kind of got emo at one point but then it passed and i had fun again...i think i might have pissed some people off and they left abruptly...im sorry...drunk and saying things i shouldn't say...im dumb...but if im just imagineing that then never mind...anyway today was uneventful which is the way a sunday should be...family guy was funny...as always. well anyway talk to ya'll soon.
xoxo
-john

yeah

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 00:02:25 GMT

fuck this thing

shes in a bad mood...

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 03:01:38 GMT

sonic youth is a great band, confusion is sex is a great record as well as daydream nation...what a great band...anyhow..i feel out of touch, lost, and not in control of much of anything anymore. im alone again and it feels good but yet some how scary and worrying. theres a person that i used to see alot, and it seems im seeing less and less of them as time goes on. its sad. but there maybe outside forces at play here. i hope not. jawbreaker holds most of the answers to many of lifes questions. lately ive been consulting blake and the boys on many issues and their helping out alot, they always do. you can't go wrong there. so..spot on, as one would say. ive been thinking of tattoos lately and how much i miss getting one so i may just do that when i get home from tour. im not sure what it will be yet. burritos and strong conversation are what make me love you. i hope i can feel this agian soon. yours truly......