Secret Lives of Seahorses!

JAM!

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:13:08 -0400

you can get out entire new record for $5 right here - http://amzn.to/dqSTrain . comes with bonus track - steel train songs covered by tegan and sara + holly miranda. its wild. spread the word!

"We’re half awake in a fake empire."

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:53:21 -0400

““We’re half awake in a fake empire.””

- adamtaj

“I hope that our few remaining friends Give up on trying to save...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:06:24 -0400

“I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it’s already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town
Again in my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises
We’re pretty sure they’re all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn’t over
And I hope you blink before I do
Yeah I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can’t find one good thing to say
And I’d hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You’d stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die”

“No Children” by The Mountain Goats

“Your New Life (or What Have You)” by Seahorses! 1....

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:18:46 -0400

“Your New Life (or What Have You)” by Seahorses!

1. How We Were Made

2. Intertwined

3. Your New Life

4. Like a Glass

Leaving for tour in a few days. Seriously looking forward to it … I need the distraction. In the meantime, I’m putting the finishing touches on these songs. By the way, this is the cover art. Photo is by Kyle Peterson. Layout by Patrick Emmons.

...

Mon, 31 May 2010 23:13:39 -0400

I have the worst creative block right now … I think it’s been induced mostly by italian family dinner. That and the wine. And the lack of sleep. But shit, it’s frustrating. I really want to be working right … I just can’t get past it … so I’m wasting time on the internet. I should really disconnect the wireless … I don’t have the willpower currently. Maybe tomorrow.

I’m two weeks away from leaving for headline tour. This last month has absolutely slipped away from me … I feel I’ve been so productive, but then I still feel so far behind. I’ll finish though, I have no doubt about that. And I miss Jack, Daniel, Ev and Jon. So I’m excited. It’s strange to spend every waking moment with people for an extended period of time and then go on to something completely different … I have to mutually exclusive lives.

I was talking to a friend the other day about this time capsule that I buried with my Kindergarten class when I was 5. Mrs. Stephens was the teacher. We were supposed to open the capsule in the year 2000, and I just now realized that I never got that stuff back. Mrs. Stephens stole all of it! It was a scam! I put some good stuff in there too. Do you want to know what was in it? I’ll tell you. I had a plastic dinosaur (a brontosaurus, if I’m not mistaken. Little Foot from The Land Before Time was a brontosaurus … and he was my favorite, so that was my favorite dinosaur), a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I colored myself, and a picture of me and my mom. I put it in a plastic Easter egg, put it with the other stuff and we buried that stuff. I’ll bet Mrs. Stephens thought we’d all forget … but I never forget. If anyone knows where she is, you tell her I’m coming for her. With a fury.

I’m 38 tracks in and I haven’t started vocals yet. A...

Sat, 29 May 2010 16:19:07 -0400

I’m 38 tracks in and I haven’t started vocals yet. A minimalist might say I have a problem…

I discovered Joshua James over the past weekend …...

Sat, 29 May 2010 12:23:00 -0400

I discovered Joshua James over the past weekend … I’m so down.

Steel Train on Harvey's Kitchen

Fri, 28 May 2010 02:15:35 -0400

Steel Train on Harvey's Kitchen:

Where have you been?

Fri, 21 May 2010 14:07:14 -0400

I’m so infrequent with this thing … I’m going to try and change that. I know that all of your lives are hinging on whether or not I post … so … sorry for being so wishy-washy. I’m ready to commit to you again if you’ll take me back. I can be better. Let’s try to make this work.

It’s been an exciting and trying past few months. We toured with some of my favorite bands and some of my favorite human beings in Tegan and Sara and Holly Miranda It’s hard to complain about being gone so much when I’m doing what I love with the people that I love … I am truly blessed. On the other hand, sometimes being on the road for such long periods of time puts me in this sort of strange cocoon where your real life and relationships and problems still exist (I’m aware), but you’re forced to separate yourself in a strange way simply for self preservation. And you have your friends who care about you and know your heart and your pain, and they hurt with you and help you to get through every day and remain professional. And then you come home and sleep in your bed for the first time in three months, and the pangs of real life start to hit you again. And the next few days, weeks, whatever, hit you like a wave … all of the things that you’ve put off feeling or dealing with come rushing back to you all at once. And everything is too familiar and too foreign all at the same time. So you start rearranging the furniture and you start giving away your things and trying to do anything that will make you feel something other than restlessness and unsettling. And then what follows it for me at least is another wave of creativity and so you devote yourself to it. (I don’t write anything when I’m on tour … ever) But at a certain point, you’re just not able to fight it off completely, and in a moment of weakness you simply lose it. I don’t really know where I’m going with this … I suppose it’s all just harder sometimes than I realize. It’s hard to be there for the people you love when you’re far away. It’s hard to maintain relationships, even with someone you are crazy about, when you never see one another. It’s so hard to deal with doubt and uncertainty when you’re already someplace unfamiliar … so you put it off … but it always comes back. And often times you see where you are and have no idea how you ended up there. It’s like having a conversation that starts innocently and somehow three hours later you’re in a horrible place and you’re wondering “what the hell just happened? how did we get here” But it’s too late. It’s all out. And where was the point that the conversation took that turn? There’s always a point. To that, I mean. I’m not sure there’s a point to any of this …

With all that being said … I’m releasing a free digital EP in June of a couple of tunes I’ve been working on. The EP is entitled “Your New Life (or What Have You)” and will be available for download … for free, mind you … at A CITY INSIDE (a creative house run by my photographer/designer/friend Patrick Emmons … all the Seahorses! photos that you’ve seen were taken by him … incredible guy) in June. The songs are really important to me, and I guess indirectly relate to all that mess I threw on you guys last paragraph, but at the same time were created out of an abundance of love. I have a lot of it (love, that is), but we can talk about all that later. So I hope you like them and it would truly mean a lot if you’d tell a friend to go download it, or burn them a copy or whatever.

In the meantime here’s a picture of me and some of my friends from said tour,

Justin

"Your New Life (Or What Have You)"

Wed, 19 May 2010 23:24:26 -0400

Seahorses! presents: “Your New Life (Or What Have You)” available for free digital download at www.acityinside.com on June 22nd. Details to follow.

Photo

Wed, 19 May 2010 02:01:26 -0400

on tour with The Fray in our dressing room/locker room shower...

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:49:58 -0400

on tour with The Fray in our dressing room/locker room shower (via steeltrain)

Seahorses! "Musical Beds Vol. I" on iTunes

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:54:52 -0500

Seahorses! "Musical Beds Vol. I" on iTunes:

Hey! Our EP is finally available on iTunes! Tell somebody!

In Eagle Rock at the studio finishing the last track (“Bullet”)...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:44:32 -0500

In Eagle Rock at the studio finishing the last track (“Bullet”) for the Steel Train record. In retrospect, the six-month process of exiting our record label was all worth it … had we not had the time, this song wouldn’t have made the album and it is without a doubt my favorite track.

Two more days in California and then we’re back home! Emily and I have collectively been away since the first week of August … I can’t wait to be home to spend the holidays together with our families. Rehearsal starts for the Seahorses! CD Release Party in a couple of days. Also excited about that …

More later … time to work!

A new awesome design that Joel Hopler did for us. Joel and his...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:07:11 -0400

A new awesome design that Joel Hopler did for us. Joel and his wife Emily are doing the artwork for the limited edition pressing of our EP.

Speaking of which: Seahorses! “Musical Beds Vol. I” comes out NOVEMBER 24th! A limited pressing of 400 CD’s with hand-screened artwork will be available on our online store and at our CD Release show on November 27th at The Evening Muse. It will also be released digitally on iTunes.

I’ve been so busy, I never post anymore. I’m sorry! I’ll do better. Starting...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:10:18 -0400

I’ve been so busy, I never post anymore. I’m sorry! I’ll do better. Starting this afternoon. Emily too.

Currently listening to Justin recording some sick vocal tracks...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:30:28 -0400

Currently listening to Justin recording some sick vocal tracks for our newest hip/hop track which will be featured in the newest edition of “YO! Raps”

In other news… Our newest producer Ducky, or as we call him “Sir Duck” has been playing an integral part in our recording process.

Get back to you with more news later.

Emily on tour with “Fun.”! Check out the new tour...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:56:32 -0400

Emily on tour with “Fun.”! Check out the new tour dates!!! On tour with hellogoodbye, Limbeck and My Favorite Highway.

Aug 14 2009 Chic’s El Paso, Texas

Aug 15 2009 Launchpad Albuquerque, New Mexico

Aug 18 2009 Club Karma Victorville, California

Aug 19 2009 Chain Reaction Anaheim, California

Aug 20 2009 Downtown Brewing Co. San Luis Obispo, California

Aug 21 2009 Velvet Jones Santa Barbara, California

Aug 23 2009 Stockton Empire Theatre Stockton, California

Aug 25 2009 Chop Suey Seattle, Washington

Aug 26 2009 Hawthorne Theater Portland, Oregon

Aug 27 2009 The Boardwalk Orangevale, California

www.myspace.com/fun

PHOTO CREDIT: OLIVIA JAFFE It’s been such an interesting...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:06:00 -0400

PHOTO CREDIT: OLIVIA JAFFE

It’s been such an interesting year up to this point … I’m not quite sure how we got all the way to July (which reminds me … hope everyone had a happy 4th!). It has just been so off and on. Out for a few weeks, back home, work, no work, ect ect ect. Next thing I knew, it was already 90 degrees outside and half the year was done.

I’ve been having a lot of difficulty making sure that I’m best utilizing my time while here in NC. Finding the balance between creative work and practical work, for instance. No one is making me do either of those. I don’t have very many deadlines but they’re all things that need to be done. I don’t know. I’m just the type of person who always needs to be seeing tangible results from my work. Unfortunately most of the things I’m involved in don’t produce those immediately even after working like crazy.

Anyways. Working on a few really cool recordings lately. The Seahorses EP Musical Beds Vol. 1 is well on its way. I’ll be recording some electric guitar this afternoon. Alex will be back in town this weekend to finish the last bit of the percussion. Also, our friend Hope Rollins came in and tracked a few of her songs with me. We are mostly using all of her vocal tracks and then I’m going to build the music behind those. It’s kind of a backwards approach to recording, much like Chris Walla implemented on the Tegan and Sara record, but I think it lends itself to some really cool results.

Well, I’m going to get back to work. Tetris doesn’t play itself. Okay, that was a joke. But I do love Tetris. Please continue to pray for our friend Kate McRae. She was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor. She’s five years old. A week ago she was energetic and vibrant. It’s hard to understand how these things happen, but the Lord can heal her. Please, please, please pray with us. To hear more, watch the video in the previous post on this blog.

Love one another abundantly.

Please join us in praying for Kate McRae. Her condition is very...

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:24:54 -0400

Please join us in praying for Kate McRae. Her condition is very rare, but he Lord hears the prayers and pleas of His people, whom he loves. We believe and trust in His divine power and compassion and love for us.