Progression

FTE played Muse Music's Battle of the Bands on Friday, May 14th. This show wasn't the best for me, I'll explain as I go. Our setlist was an unusual one, beginning with the opening track to the Memory record called The Sun, which is mainly Andrew playing piano and singing a ballad about the big bright bastard in the sky, and how much the world relies on it.

Next, we played an instrumental song in the essence of softer Pelican material. This is where things went bad, for me. Any musician will tell you the terrible gut feeling when you try everything and you still produce no sound. Embarrassment, shame, and the depressing feeling that the show was ruined. At least, for me it was. As I messed with every pedal, and every knob on the amp and my guitar, Brandon and Andrew played through the 1 1/2 minute interlude as I panicked. The worst part is it was right in front of me. I had stepped on the instrument cable standing up before the song started, jerking it from my bass. How I missed that, I'll have no idea. It was not a fun experience.

Trying to collect my frustration, Brandon strums the opening chords to the twenty-two minute epic, "Paix". Everything went pretty well through this one, which is pretty surprising considering there is a lot of spoken tracks played through an Ipod. The song was met with much applause from the crowd. Everything seemed to be okay.

In other news, Brandon and Shane left for Wyoming on sunday. Pretty sad stuff, but we'll see them in about two weeks. And, to make the day worse, our God of metal Ronnie James Dio died the morning of, losing his lengthy battle with Stomach Cancer. Everyone had high hopes for him, and he seemed to be pulling out of it, but it consumed him. A dark day indeed, I'm still processing it, but in the meantime I'll listen to his immense body of work in respect of our fallen hero.

In lighter news, we have our farewell show coming up next saturday. Brando and Shaney are driving down for the night, and it will be a party. Until then, I feel it's time to listen to some new music. "The Red Album" by Baroness, "Eternal Kingdom" by Cult of Luna, " Meanderthal" by Torche, and "The Impossible Leap In One Hundred Simple Steps" by From Monument to Masses should do the trick.

A Couple Shows Coming Up, and Record News

So, Follow the Earth is playing a few shows before we move to Wyoming. One is Muse Music's Battle of the Bands, and we're playing the final slot on Friday, May 14th. Kind of late notice, but we're doing it. The other show is our "farewell" show, and it's May 29th at Muse as well. We're moving to Wyoming, because Brandon and Shane got bomb ass jobs erecting windmills. While we're out there, we plan on getting a house and all the equipment we need.

We also plan on resurrecting our album "The Man With Guns For Arms", Follow the Earth's first venture into this crazy world. The songs written and re-written over the course of about four years, the track list is as follows:

Disc 1:

1. Iccasis Overture

2. All Was Well

3. Interlude: A Thought on Survival

4. Act I: Copper and Steel

5. The Walk

6. Act II: Armus Virumque Cano

7. The Sound of Winter

8. The Silence of Winter

Disc 2:

1. In the Wake (Of the Reoccuring Glory of God)

2. The Man With Guns For Arms

3. On the Seventh Day

4. Tangency

5. Return to Arcadia

6. Blue Ocean Garden

7. Aside: A Thought on Redemption

8. The King, The Meterist, and The Duel

Our music around this time was darker, more primal and introspective. Elements of post metal, avant garde style ambience and jam passages help illustrate a man's slip into insanity. This is music I'm really close to, being the period in which I joined the group. Aside was actually the first song I wrote to, and the writing process for The Walk was the greatest time writing I've ever had, as it is mostly just a jam song.

With the artwork already done for this album, we should finish it by the end of the year, but I'll make no promises, as we rarely keep them. I can promise that it will see the light of day though, and this music will never be forgotten.