Bandlife can be Hectic!

It's been a while since we posted anything. We've been busy writing and booking shows lately and there hasn't been much time for anything else. We've got several amazing songs we have coming down the pike. We have a couple of shows to announce, but we are still in the booking process for others. We are so excited to play a local festival on June 21st and at Chain Reaction in Anaheim on June 29th. We LOVE Chain Reaction, it's such a great venue to play. As we speak, we have a lot going on so this post will be short. We're working on a full length album and we are hoping to get the studio time late this year so that will be cool. Ok well there's lots of stuff to do and not enough time so thanks for reading.

Back to the Daily Grind

We can't say for any other bands, but writing and practicing are a part of our daily lives. Even after an album has been recorded and it's time to tour/play shows, we are still constantly writing. We have some amazingly creative people in our band; at any given moment we always have about 20 new ideas for songs or riffs and what not. Sometimes, inspiration can come in the most unlikely of places, like sometimes Tommie gets a new idea at the gym or in the car. There was one time when Tommie actually dreamt of writing a riff, woke up, and then actually wrote it. So it fits to say that this is our entire life, it envelops everything we do and we are defined by it.

At practice we always give an hour or two for the writing process, but the majority of our time is rehearsing our material and staying on top of our game, which is always fun! Even though we aren't in front of a crowd, you will find us jumping and head banging all over the place just getting into the music, but we also do this for what we call "stage mastering". On stage and in front of a crowd, one of the more important things is having a strong stage presence; nobody is going to care to listen to you if you look ridged and uncomfortable, you need to basically spread the energy around to get any energy in return… if that makes any sense. So an easy way to get that professional kind of stage presence is to practice like you're on stage every time you pick up your instrument/mic. Sometimes we'll have someone take some video so we can see what works and what really doesn't. 

In addition to all the obvious work a band must do remains the behind the music type of work, which is a lot of clerical and administrative type shit. Pretty much a band is a business, and if you don't have additional employees in your business… then… well, you're going to have to do it yourself and that's exactly what we do. On more than one occasion we've had to stay awake into the late hours of the night working on all the websites and pages, as well as coordinating future events or practices, editing pictures, making or designing merch, promoting, making advertisements, and figuring out finances to pay for anything the band might need such as studio time, mastering, products, etc. So as you can see, being in a band… or at least our band, is a lot of work, a whole hell of a lot of work and sometimes it can be extremely expensive.

Music gear doesn't come cheap… well at least the "good stuff" doesn't. You can get by in a band with sub-par equipment, but there is only so much you can do to with it, which means you are always looking for the next big upgrade. By far, our drummer, Bishop, takes the cake in expensive equipment. I'm sure that in most metal bands the drummer is the one that has to spend the most on his gear. In a metal band, there's usually not just the basic 5 piece drum set with a hihat and a cymbal or two, there's a whole plethora of different sounding cymbals, extra toms, stands/rack gear, and often times an additional bass drum. And when it costs $40 just to replace a simple head on one of the many drums, the expense starts to build up quick. Guitarists can get to be pretty expensive as well, Tommie has seven guitars and is always wanting more for various reasons as well as wanting to upgrade the stack and pedals. Bands are expensive, but the goal, in regards to equipment, is to someday be sponsored by your favorite brand so you never have to worry about buying all that expensive stuff anymore.

Well anyways I think that we've talked enough for one post. Just a little tidbit of what our band does on a daily basis and we hope you enjoyed seeing into our crazy world. Stay Brutal and Keep Moshing!

-Order Through Blood 

Heavy Metal n' Booze!

Alcohol, parties, and obviously metal are the basic elements that construct a metalhead and we are no exception. And we'll make just about any excuse to party, but at least last night had a good reason. Today is our kickass vocalist's 24th birthday so we partied hard last night to reign in another metal year of his existence. So here's to you Riot, Happy F***in Birthday you crazy f***.

We can get pretty slaughtered sometimes… Like screaming at the big dipper because it "looked at you funny" kind of jacked up. But at least sometimes we have good ideas while drunk; in fact, booze is the reason why this band exists. We were drinking one night in 2011 and walked outside, looked at each other and said "hey… we should start a band!" true story.

The Inspiration for this Blog.

By no means are we "bloggers" in our band; we're not really the social media type either, though most of us have our various sites and of course we have our band pages. But we are absolutely devoted to our fans, which is why we have decided to create this page. We've always thought it would be cool as a fan to be able to follow your favorite bands and get to know them on a more personal level no matter how far apart we may be. We want to share our experiences with our fans as if you all were there with us and show you what it's like to live the band lifestyle through the eyes of the musicians themselves.

This blog probably would not exist if it not for Talon, Eli's girlfriend. She started a blog called "Life of a Rockstar's Girlfriend" and we thought that was a great idea! It gives people a window into the personal life of a musician, as often times people view those in the limelight as almost a non-human icon incapable of being any sense of normal... or in our case straight up weird. It's a pretty cool blog and we strongly suggest it as it has a really interesting perspective into our world. So let's kick this shit off right, with a good ol' American Booze-Fest...