#themood

“День сурка” 

“I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.”  -- Groundhog Day  

    One of the biggest things I've noticed (and also through talking with friends) about growing up is that we care less about the little things. For better or for worse I just don't really care like I used to about a lot of things; gear, money, hangouts, free time, deadlines, streams/downloads/views etc. I still have passion for these things and they're big pieces of my life but I don't care nearly as much as I used to. And I believe it's just part of getting older.

     The good part about not caring is that I don't get attached to things I can't always control. Also, the highs are less high and the lows are less low which opens doors for things that are more organic to take their course. That's about as far as my head is at with this whole rebrand/2nd chapter; I'm still more focused on wrapping up Rosedale the best I can with these shows that I don't really care to get my heart set on a new name and start hashing out deadlines. I just want it to all come organically with the new songs being the fuel.

      I also wanna establish a more balanced mindset going into this new project. I realize the biggest reason I've always worried about losing my over-caring angsty "teen-ismn" is because it is responsible for the stuff I'm most proud of (not to mention the things I'm least proud of). It pushed me to stay up late and give my writing/live show that much more. It probably pushed a lot of people away because that selfish "now" mindset often lacks good leadership. But for the DIY content/show/tours it built, it proves some serious work ethic. So finding an organic, organized balance between passionate, "all eggs in one basket" work horse and mature, "let the team build the dream" stoicism is what I'm after.

     I was already thinking about this a lot while working on improving my routine and getting ready for this tour. But the big eye opening juxtaposition hit hard Friday in Montreal when my good friend and longtime supporter, Mellyssa, brought me a Rosedale scrap book she'd made with help from Emma, Abby, Becca, and Rob. It was the most brilliant gift I'd ever received! Check some of these out:

Halloween 2008 in Watertown, NY :

     I cared TOO MUCH back then. The highs were over the top bliss, the lows were catastrophic. We needed to get a vehicle and American work permits asap so we could go down to the States and play those central NY shows asap. I needed to have 2 guitar cabinets asap because in my head it would sound so much better. And it felt so good making that stuff happen because it meant so much and it was so new that I had to work extra hard to make it happen.

      But when that first Herkimer show was canceled for reasons we couldn't control- when I got the call as I was locking up the purple shuttle bus- it felt like getting dumped while buying flowers. Looking back at those pictures, though, it's hilarious! But 20 year old me with an agenda to rock new territory did not think it was funny at all.

     I figured that could be some insightful information for a young aspiring artist. Let that burning passion to bring dreams to life fuel your art but don't let it lead you to being stranded 400 miles away from home. Especially these days; nobody is desperately waiting to see your live show (no matter what they say on Facebook) and you don't need six speakers driving your guitar tone.

      Enjoy the process of creating your art for nobody but yourself. Get it to the point where you can be very proud of it and then keep making more. Don't worry what your friends think of it or if the cool kids across the country will ever experience it. Chances are you're not gonna get their full attention until Pitchfork reviews it anyway.

     This scrapbook also, evidently, inspired me to bury my face in my laptop and get moving on chapter 2...and write another blog. With the tour wrapping up and the shows not getting any bigger, it's been hard to keep a positive outlook on how chapter one is wrapping up. But Mellyssa's scrapbook definitely pumped some air back in the tires. It made me realize that as small as Rosedale may seem in the eye's of outsiders- and as many fans that have fallen off the bandwagon, me and my loyal little following understand how colosoal this really was. 14 years actually flew by when I look back on the amount of hours, miles, shows, and knowledge accumulated from one music project. Comparatively, I'm not sure the next chapter will be as long. Maybe it'll be even longer. I still don't even know what the hell it is going to be. But I definitely know it will have a different structure and approach to developing it.    

     That's all for now. Big shout out again to Mellyssa for creating this awesome scrapbook and bringing it all the way up to Montreal since I couldn't find a Potsdam show. The thought alone showed me that there is still something to be said for the impatient, passionate little cub in me so thank you for reigniting that.

There are more fun and creative photos at:

https://www.deviantart.com/supernaturalfirefly/gallery/66478675/Rosedale

       Hope to see some more familiar faces at this final Rosedale show September 21st at Hard Luck Bar in Toronto. If you were ever thinking about visiting Toronto and you like even just one Rosedale song- this is a perfect time to come finally check out the city and experience the big final shebang. Tickets available here: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1749906

     I've had so many random ideas for what this next blog should be about. I wanna try to stay on track with the story of Rosedale's farewell/next chapter as that seems to be the most common topic with the lovely Rosedaliens that have been coming out to shows.      But the truth is that I'm just as unsure as everyone else. I don't even have a clear vision of what I picture September looking like. I guess my plan in September is to plan what 2019 is going to look like. 2019 seems so much further than it actually is, I'm sure.      The only things I'm sure of are that I would like to: 1: be a helpful contribution to music scenes (artists, venues, promoters, fans etc.) using more than just my own voice. 2: keep making new music under a different name (using my voice ...maybe some features...maybe a band? Who knows. I'd love for someone else to decide that.) 3: continue to work with other artists on their art and ideas.      I know those are all vague ideas. And regarding the name delema; I have a giant draft email to myself (the most common email address in my inbox is [email protected]) that has a bunch of artist names and band names. Some are pretty good, some are not. 

Self-Lyric Party: 

" 'cause I live entirely for the self-satisfaction that I made this- I turn Whiter than a song in C as I watch the room empty No! Just press on, believe. My numbers are truly sad Tell me again; can I beat Quicksand? Yes I Can! " - Quicksand

    As I check back to my last blog (to see how I quote/credit a lyric party...to keep continuity) I noticed that google placed a Chipotle add on the right side of the blog page! This is likely because I searched Chipotle at least 10 times in this past week. And that is because there is new company in the new Rosedale crew already and Chipotle sometimes hooks up traveling musicians with free food. 

     Her name is Siena. We all know Bryan, right? (cousin, hockey guy, #1 merch dude/email address collector...) Siena is the female Bryan. But luckily, she's not my cousin. I mean it'd be awesome to have known her all my life (like I've known Bryan all my life,) but for "heart-crush" reasons, I'm really glad she's most definitely not my cousin. 

     I met Siena at our San Diego show in November 2017. I say "our" because she's in a band called Going Postal, and they played that Soma show too. Like many bands today, they'll admit that their future is a giant question mark. But unlike many bands today, they sound awesome! 

Check them out

.https://goingpostalca.bandcamp.com/releases

     I call Siena "S Money" because one of her friends she was facetiming called her that and I, too, wanted to sound gangsta- "DJ $ Money" to be exact. Siena is finishing her final online college classes while traveling around America with me and selling my merch. When she's not selling merch she's helping me move my insane amounts of gear. When she's not selling merch and moving my insane amounts of gear she's teaching me how to promote in a more professional manner by helping me post enticing social media posts/stories/streams more regularly/organically. 

     Siena is a very kind-hearted, helpful champion that is way too chill to be so attractive. I just may be the luckiest Tall Canadian with Way Too Much Gear to have her on tour with me. After this tour she's moving to LA to become a world famous movie star so I only have about a month more of her awesomeness. She likes animals a lot, especially animal memes/vines. Mostly cats and dogs. So share/send any good ones and I'll make sure she sees them. (I'm also currently tethering off her wifi hotspot because all of Ohio's wifi is down right now.)

      Now that I've made you feel warm with paragraphs of cute kittens and puppies and rock n' roll princesses and awesome music and free Chipotle and sharing wifi; I must reveal some bad news; MY BACK IS F**KED!!! I somehow slowly injured my lower back while walking down some rusty stairs at the wrestling ring venue in Benwood, WV last Tuesday. I was getting ready to catch a little light-up-with-movement Nerf football, moving no different than any human casually walking down a set of stairs- then all of a sudden I felt my back juice trickling into the lower center of my back.     Don't be alarmed, this is not a career ending injury or anything. This actually happens to me every two years or so. And this time is not nearly as bad as the last time (when I was filling in for my Dad in his Canadian Tire men's hockey league and I casually skated behind my net to find out how 3 weeks of near paralyzing lower back pain felt.)      It's funny; when people ask if I have tall people back problems and I'm not dealing with back problems at that given moment, I usually reply "nope". But as soon as I do experience my dual-annually (I made up that word...) back pain, I remember the last time I had severe back pain.       So anyway, I had to cancel two shows and I'm not happy about it. It's getting better. I'm three days without pain relief meds. Stretching a lot. Rubbing Tiger Balm and Icey Hot every few hours. Just taking it easy in Cincinnati until Atlanta's show on Tuesday. That show is gonna be really awesome and there’s no way I’m missing it.      I played drums for a band on Warped tour in Dallas too. That was pretty fun. I learned their songs in three days. They have a lot of air horns in their music so I went kind of overboard with the Roland Pad's air horn sample. (Maybe that's why they found a replacement drummer for Pittsburgh Warped.)      It was fun seeing the Warped Tour for the last year and getting to play on stage again. We also went to the Cincinnati Warped Tour and learned what heat stroke felt like.

     Enough updates on my odd summer. I'll wrap it up with some insightful life/music stuff as I'm hanging out with the infamous Alex Baker.  https://alexanderbaker.bandcamp.com/ First though, his dad told us one of the greatest dad joke of all time: 

DAD JOKE PARTY:

"I was trying to think of a good reason to go to Switzerland and then I realized the flag was a big plus." 

But for real; we were talking about how things would be so different if we had just been understanding with our ex-bandmates in the golden years. We were all young and surrounded by the odd discovery of egos driven by art/success.  Alex was in a band called Dewey Decibel  https://alexanderbaker.bandcamp.com/album/the-dusting-dewey-decibel They had a fun indie style with a really organic, interesting production. Dewey Decibel recorded their album in their house in Nashville. From the sounds of it, once they started getting attention from NPR and local radio stations things started getting to everyone's heads. 

     It's not uncommon for a band to get along really well when things are on the up then fall apart when the going gets tough. The more I see it the more I understand the damage it did to Rosedale.      But on the other end of that unfortunate reality is the fact that I never would have met Alex Baker if the Rockstar ego-turmoil didn't happen to Dewey Decibel and Rosedale. I probably wouldn't have met Siana (AKA DJ $ Money) either. I'm not preaching that everything happens for a reason. I'm just kinda preaching that if you take the inevitable destructive events in life and turn them into fuel to move on and stay positive, better relationships grow. And those relationships are better because you've grown and learned how to be a better person.       So, like I keep driving home in all of these "Farewell Blogs", I'm looking forward to where things go. I'm happy I've experienced all the curveballs along the way to teach me how to eventually hit some home runs. I feel like I'm on the right track with these new friends that I've only met through grinding past the hard times and pressing on for what I had my heart set on.       Do you ever think of how you came to know some of your best friends? Like what events led them/you there that day and how grateful you are for those events and the transparent friendships they created? I know facebook gives us the ol "5 years of friendship" tag or whatever. But sometimes I see those and think "ohhh if you only knew, facebook...me and Casey Phillips go WAY BACK!"      Anyway that's all for now. If you've been thinking of meeting me or Siena or Alex Baker the best way/time to do it is to come out to an event we're at and experience some in person hangouts. This will be the last few weeks of touring for quite some time for me so really try to highlight these dates and make a solid effort to come catch a show. I promise you will not regret it.