The House of We The Living

In 2007 I set out to build a house. I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work, and I thought there would be nothing better than to undertake a hard project with a few of my best friends. We talked about how the house would look, how it would feel, smell, sound. We could suddenly all see the same house in our minds. From then on we were building the house together, three inseparable partners, for the idea of the house no longer belonged to me. It belonged to all of us.

So much focus was placed on the construction that we left every essential one by one until our lives were stripped down to the minimum. We were pulling ourselves along without comfort or rest until we found ourselves to be shells of our former selves. We had given up so much to build this building, that we forgot about what lived on the inside. We wanted to make a place for our friendship and music to live, but it seemed the harder we strove, the firelight inside grew colder, and the laughter inside became more distant.

When the inside of the house finally grew cold, none of us wanted to accept that fact. We just threw ourselves into the construction even harder, until one day I stepped back to realize that to continue work was to strive to make a beautiful mausoleum, because the home that was inside had gone away.

Instead of mourning the loss, we decided that it was time to call the house finished. It was time to start living our lives anew and looking for more homes to build on our own paths. In the completion of the house lies an unseen blessing, because all of the warmth, love and music that we made together can now live inside the house that Matthew, Benjamin and I built together. In my heart, the beauty of our love for one another burns brighter than it ever has. In my memory, our laughter is more robust than it has ever been, because it is joined by the laughter of all those who supported us and joined us along our journey. Best of all, the house we built is full of music. That music will live on forever.

We love you all very much, and thank you for the beautiful memories.

John Paul, Matthew, and Benjamin

Sound of Drums

Sound of Drums ("Sound of Love" Live - We The Living) from We The Living on Vimeo.

Bombs Away!

Here, at the corner of two streets in Nashville, our house rests atop a hill. Down one street, a long and graceful, but somewhat dangerous plunge (it meets other streets, thus the potential lurks for "meeting" cars). Choose the other and you've taken a short, but satisfying, in regards to pure velocity, tour of the neighborhood.

On a bike? No. In a car? Not in a million years. On a Sector Nine Skateboard straight from the perils of Los Angeles? Thanks Adam.

There are many joys to partaking in "bombing" a hill (the art of triumphantly cruising down a hill on nothing more than a board with a number of wheels, all the while putting oneself at odds with gravity and the immeasurable pain one might feel when skin meets pavement): complete freedom, utter ecstasy, and the laughable sight of your companion coming close to the aforementioned "skin meeting pavement" scenario.

Matt and I have had the absolute privilege of establishing a near daily "bomb this hill" event. If there are fellow bombers out there, do your duty - film it and reply back to us with the link.


(By the way, I've said "bomb" four times in this blog post. If you are the Fed...instead of wasting your time coming to find me, do the community a service by grabbing a board and showing 'em how it's done.)

Magic Matthew IV

This video is dedicated to anyone who ever thought I was a liar.

So You're Sitting In The Woods...

With the release of the iPad, it's becoming quite clear of the rationale behind technologically-focused companies. The iPad does not make life easier. It does, rather, make life and Apple a cohesive stew for you and I to consume. Take an iPhone away from an avid user, and you've created a problem. Without the iPhone, there's no problem to be had. I'm not denouncing Apple (frankly, I love my MacBook and the simplicity it offers in browsing the web, recording music and other features), or any other company focused on providing consumers with something they may want. I think innovation is the core of our world, and the wheel of progress. But what happens when we start to choose technological will over human will? Is it a reversal in the relation we currently have between humans and gadgets?

There's a deeper story here that I'm not consistently trying to figure, yet I do know that we're not meant to be gadgets in the end. Just watch Wall-E.

Confessions of a Tour Manager

Hello, I’m Adam and I am the tour manager for We The Living. You might have met me at the merch booth, or caught a glimpse of me sleeping at a table in your school’s cafeteria. Yes, I was that homeless-looking (and -smelling) guy that you avoided.

As you know, the guys and I spend a lot of time in the van, our mobile-mansion. It’s great! We discuss difficult topics, such as life, love and Lost. We debate politics, philosophy, and our opinions of Kate Austin. And after the conversations end and the iPods come out, I have a lot of time to think. I like driving at night when everyone is asleep, because this is the best time to think. The world is covered in a veil of darkness, the scenery is gone; I feel like I could be anywhere. Driving through the dark night down Interstate-whatever, my face ominously lit by the soft glow of the instrument panel, I feel like an evil mastermind. Just me and my thoughts; plotting ways to take over the world.

I rant a lot…a lot. But today, I’m going to spare you. The purpose of this blog entry is only to introduce myself and then, periodically, when the guys will allow, I will enthrall you with my words of wisdom and whine. Wait, what am I thinking? I can’t leave you empty-handed on my first blog entry! I need to take advantage the precious few opportunities I have on here…

A quote. “The thing to learn is to know what people are thinking about, not what they say.”

Try flipping this around on yourself. Learn to say what you mean, so you don’t become a grotesque. Read Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

Magic Matthew II & III

Okay, let me explain what this is all about. See, as a kid, my dad's expectations of me greatly surpassed my general comprehension.

In this double-feature episode, 3 year old me is trying to learn the old "bird in the balloon" trick. One of the only magic related things that my dad taught me which stuck was that if anyone ever asks, "How did you do that?!" Your answer must be nothing other than, "Very well." Clever, right?

Anyway, I'm going to break that rule now, but just for you. See here's how the trick works: there's a table with a secret compartment into which you cram a live dove. You tie a balloon to the top of the table. Then, if you're a 3 year old, you fumble around with trying to simultaneously pop the balloon with a fake knife, distract the audience with some kind of witty banter, and pull a hidden lever which releases the dove.

I can't even blow up a balloon.

So this episode illustrates that very disconnect between me and my dad which simultaneously caused every trick to flounder, and every video to take wings and fly away.



DOUBLE FEATURE!

And in this episode, I utter perhaps my greatest catchphrase: "Out With It!"