aNewLanguage – Jarrod Delong

Today I officially enter my “late”-20s.  Things are going pretty awesome in life though, so that’s cool by me.  Last weekend, Now Denial headed to Philly and Baltimore for a couple of shows with Get Laid.  Philly was ridiculous.  It was at some house that looked like it was just meant to have shows.  Something like 200 people showed up and a bunch of bands played.  The only downfall was that it was a rainy, dreary day (well, weekend as a whole actually).  Baltimore was also a great time, and we got to see our friends Jeremy and Brett while down there.  Good times.  On Sunday night, we departed from Baltimore sometime after midnight, and drove all night, arriving back in Boston around 10am.  Then we were asked to play a show on Tuesday at Great Scott when a band canceled.  Lots of shows, lots of fun.  Also, Now Denial’s latest recordings are being mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance, and I think I should have a copy later today.  A few split releases are in the works.

Lonesome Republic is back at it and making great strides of progress.  We’ve been tightening up existing songs, and the last song we wrote came together in a much different but completely organic way.  Generally, at first, Rich or Adam would come with a song and we would just make adjustments and play it as a full band.  But this new one was more of a group effort, which sort of gave way to thinking about other ways for each of us to contribute to the writing process.  It’s working well, I think.  We’ll be recording proper within the next month or so.

Speaking of music, I know I’ve had a “music” section of this blog for a while, but I just added audio to it.  So you can check out some tunes from each of my various projects, and I’ll keep it updated.  I’ll throw some new Now Denial songs up there when I get the master.

The job situation is looking better.  I was offered a salary position as the new employment specialist at Vinfen in Lowell.  This was an unexpected, but great, turn of events.  I have two more days left in my current position, then I start my new job on November 6th.  I’m looking forward to it.

This week, after I work my last two days, we’ll be leaving to go down to Fest 8 in Gainesville, FL.  Days of fun, music, food, and drink will ensue.  I plan on taking notes on the whole experience and writing an article about it for Columns.  I’m sure I’ll also write here about Fest when I return.  Until then, keep on keepin’ on, friends.

Recent Additions to Vinyl Collection:
Old Canes – Feral Harmonic (black – #70/1000)
Gunmoll / Fifth Hour Hero – split (white)
Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary (2xLP on translucent red)
Disfear – Live the Storm (translucent red w/ black)
Keelhaul – Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Obscurity (2xLP on Translucent Purple)
Saviours – Accelerated Living

Finally Autumn is here!  By far my favorite time of year.  Summer ended on multiple bad notes for me.  First, I learned that somebody at the organization I worked for totally dropped the ball in submitting their bid proposal for this area’s DMH contracts, so now another organization was awarded the contracts.  What that means for me is that I have to apply to this new organization to keep my same job (yes, this is the same thing that happened three months ago… happening all over again with a different organization).  Alternately, I can see if there are any positions available for me within my current organization, which is improbably.  Sucks either way.  I wish I could just work in audio since I went into ridiculous debt to get a degree in that field.  Oh well.

Job stuff aside, my cat was hit by a car and killed last week.  Bowie the cat was only here with us for a short time, but he was very much loved, and will be missed greatly.  And fuck whoever it is that killed my cat.  Stupid cars driving all fast.

Anyway, I’ve been doing some web design work including the Spiral Collective website, and a web-store full of homemade sweets called Sweet Lydia’s.  Both are almost finished.  Again, if you need any web work done, please do get in touch.

Now Denial has been playing more shows lately.  We’ll be playing in Philadelphia and Baltimore with Get Laid on October 17th & 18th, respectively.  That’ll be cool, first time we’ve played out of New England in years.

Lonesome Republic has been hanging on, kind of weathering through some bad luck.  With my piano being broken, and in the shop for about three weeks now, and Adam’s amp being gone up until last week.  Practices have been sparse.  Though I should have my piano back by this weekend.  We’re looking to play a few shows, then record in November.

I have high hopes for the fall this year, it’s looking to be kind of hectic, but pretty fun.

Things have been breaking left and right lately.  Had to drop about a thousand bucks on my car.  I’ve had a few guitar pedals break.  My digital piano, which I use in Lonesome Republic, is being all wonky… so I just brought it to be repaired.  That’s going to set me back a little.  Bummer.

Anyway, we spent a day mixing the new Now Denial recordings with Dan G a couple weekends ago, that’s coming along nicely.  Should be set to be mastered relatively soon.  We also just played the last Wadzilla show this past Friday night.  That was one of the best fucking shows I remember playing in a long time.  So many people packed into a basement, moving around and yelling the words.  Awesome.

I also just sold almost all of my pedals on eBay, and replaced them with a couple of Ibanez pedals (AD-9 and TS-808), modded by Robert Keeley.  These things sound fucking nice.  I’m currently trying to fix my EHX Hot Tubes pedal to sell, but not having much luck.

Looking forward to going to The Fest 8, down in Gainesville, FL in October.  Just bought tickets the other day.  Though I just heard from work that I might not be able to get the time off.  Which would suck very much.  So here’s hoping.

I’ve been working diligently on the Spiral Collective website, which should be complete soon.  And I have some other web design work that I’ll begin soon.  Busy, busy, busy…

Oh yea, If you’re on Facebook, be friends with Now Denial and Spiral Collective, as I’ve branched both out into the world of evil social networking.

I’ve been quite busy as of late.  Now Denial has been gaining steam and making much progress.  “Facemelter” is available on CD and LP now, and we’ve played a couple of record release shows so far.  More shows are booked, and we’re planning on even more for this spring and summer.  We’ve also been finishing up the new material we’ve been writing, and are making plans to head into the studio.  Now Denial is playing this Saturday (April 25th) at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston, MA.

I still haven’t found any work in the audio field, but I’m still doing related things.  Right now I’m mixing some sessions that I recorded of Adam Caires, last summer in our old apartment.  The songs are great, and I’ve put off mixing this for way too long.  I also recently recorded some demos for Now Denial and Bar Sinister.  And once I finish up Adam’s recordings, I’ll be working on some remixes of various things.

Musically, I’ve mainly been focusing on Now Denial.  However, I may be starting a new project soon with a couple of friends.  So we’ll see where that goes.

I’ll have more to write about soon.  Take care.