#diminished7

summer rose. \\\ ref [x]

Late Friday night i was faced with the mentally exhausting decision to either keep my band aboard a capsizing ship, or to get out, before said ship sunk. I chose in favor of our preservation; Not because its what i wanted to do, but because its what i had to do to insure that Underlined will continue, and be able to channel these important moments into our work. With that being said, Underlined will not be apart of the "Enter The Vortex Tour", because there simply isnt much of a tour to begin with. Thats right folks...Hell, its kind of still news to us too; But the story is rather simple - When this tour was first perceived as the "triple threat" that it once was (Underlined's first tour, Kuza's first tour & Dawn of Ashes' last), our specific tour package had unbelievable power, and that led to countless promoters beating our doors down. We couldn't have been more excited, so i signed up & locked us in. It seemed that Underlined was finally going to see its first tour after 9 years of my slaving, genre hopping & reinvention of everything behind what has become the current "Underlined sound" that our records &THEN and ALTRUISM will showcase. But behind the scenes, the vision of a "triple threat / powerhouse" wasn't shared in the least bit with the tours higher-ups, leading to insanely shady tactics that pretty much forced Kuza to respectfully walk away, in favor of other touring opportunities; A fate we would eventually share; But not before i was left in the dark to only wonder what our tours future would be... for an entire month. Thats right, we had little to no communication with anyone about even the slightest of details surrounding this tour that we were supposedly all working towards. Sadly, by the time the booking agent got around to returning my countless calls and texts, overall negligence had already crippled the remains of a North American tour into a collection of just a few dates on the west coast, with no real logical route, and i am simply not "okay" with subjecting my band to such a mess.I was always speaking to a booking agent, who seemed to be more so forced into "mediating" the drama between bands, rather than booking the tour we promoted and signed up for. But when i saw the cold reality that we are a month away from our supposed departure, with no real destination what so ever...I decided that for the first time in my life, i would not go down with the sinking ship. Its simple. No puzzle will ever be complete, if all of the pieces are not intact; And this tour would have only worked if all of us, so called "pieces" had been left to do what we do best, as artists. In all honesty, i even supported a plan to make the tour happen despite all of the drama; But the actions of various parties led to Underlined being treated as if we were being dragged into someones obsessive need to "prove others wrong", when the concept of our original promotion (aka: why everyone wanted to see these shows happen in the first place & aka: the tour we signed up to be apart of) was thrown out of the window. In other words, this has turned into one of the most unprofessional messes i've ever been subjected to. It must be said that i do NOT hold anything against anyone that was in control of this situation. AT ALL. I do, however, hope that this situation has opened their eyes to the world around them, so that they may never have to make these same mistakes again. Less than 10 shows out of the 20+ needed, with less than one month away of promotion, just doesnt cut it. Especially when we would have to drive from Southern Florida to California for whatever "mini tour" is being salvaged. Yet the out of pocket cost, to even play a mini-tour, would be no different than the price tag of the original North American route. "But why would you guys do the tour anyway?" - Because it, originally, would have been worth the overall investment, in every way. While the band is still on its way to the grave, I wish Dawn of Ashes all the very best. But regardless of whatever farewell shows they end up playing; Just know that those will not be the same shows that we were attached to. Underlined has learned much in the past 3 years, but the most important thing i've learned is that ego and delusional thinking have no place in todays music business, what so ever. Despite how badly we wish things could have worked out; This level of internal childishness simply isnt worth the losses we'd be forced to suffer, if we decided to stay on this current version of the tour. In closing, I felt a responsibility to let you all know exactly what happened, from our end, because i am sick of watching neglectful decision making ruin great opportunities. We really do hope to get out on the road soon; But until a logical tour option is discovered, we will pour Underlined's positive and creative energies into playing live shows and finally building a fan base in the one place we've always been shunned, our home of Florida. But thats far from all... We'd like to announce that we're moving forward with the production of a "surrealist live-show video project", that will showcase Underlined's live show in the very way that we wished to on this tour; With zero ego charged limitations. I stand by the talent my band mates possess, and i want you all to know that we will not rest until we share our show with the world; And even then, it'll only be the beginning of something much much more. Thank you for reading. Be well, - H7 of Underlined