When the oceans are dark
The heavens are foreboding
A chain link wind
Is breaking you open
Lessons of the day
On a blackboard night
Seem to be erased
And the becon has a light
the eyes of confusion
looking for a string
everything they need
to keep the dogs at bay
theres no escape hatch
no submarine
could take you to moon
break you in the waves
keep you just the same
all in my eyes
some day some day say bye bye
bye bye

Crash Into My Arms

"Crash into my arms
I want you"

Photography Available for Purchase

I posted another Chicago photograph at my DeviantArt page. It can be viewed by clicking here. A print is also available for purchase, so please give it a look! You can also go directly to my artwork store.





~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: AFI - Endlessly, She Said; AFI - The Killing Lights

Photo Gallery

As you may know, I recently took a trip to Chicago. I've posted several of the pictures from the trip in a photogallery which can be viewed here.

~ Lance

Patent Pending

Released on September 12th, Heavens - Patent Pending is a side project of Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba. While it is very different musically, Matt's dark, synical lyrics are as potent as usual. If you are a Trio fan I would recommend checking it out. The debut single is also the title track. You can see the video for it here.

New Photography

I recently added a picture I took of a lighthouse while on Navy Pier in Chicago. Click here to view the DeviantArt page for it.



~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

Even More New Art

Here is some MORE new photography I've done recently. I'm heading to Chicago soon so I'm sure I'll have some great city shots soon. Click on the image to be taken to the DeviantArt page for it where you can few a full size version.









~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Fatboy Slim - Rockafeller Skank; Johnny Cash - When the Man Comes Around

More New Art

I recently took some more photos, and added another one to my gallery. Check it out here.

~ Lance

New Artwork

Here is an incredible picture I recently took in Akron.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38380587/

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Thursday - War All the Time

Photo Edit

Here is some photo editing I have done recently:




~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: No Doubt - Home Now

Concert

My first concert will be this Saturday, June 24th at the Olmstead Falls Community Center. The address is:

8170 Mapleway Dr.
Olmstead Falls, OH 44138

I will be opening for The Morning After. Doors open at 7:00pm. Cover charge is $5.00

This is my first concert so please come out and support me!

~ Lance

New Art/Music You Should Listen To

I recently took some pictures of some wooded areas around my apartment during a nice spring rain, and have started adding them to my DeviantArt page. The first in the series, Forest Mist 1.0 has been posted. Check it out here. Let me know what you think.

The second order of business...The new Red Hot Chili Peppers album, Stadium Arcadium, is absolutely amazing. It is a double-disc album with 28 tracks of musical heaven. ...Absolutely....Amazing. It really is a testament to the talent of these guys...They have been around for close to 20 years now, and have solidified themselves as one of the best bands ever. In my humble opinion, Flea is the best bassist on the planet right now, and their guitarist, John Frusciante is closing in on Tom Morello as my favorite. If you get the chance, give this album a listen!

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars; Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hard to Concentrate

Album Released

My debut EP, Fairytales & Forest Fires has been officially released. The tracks can be listened to on: http://www.myspace.com/lanceandersonmusic. Please give them a listen and let me know what you think!!! You can also download them to your hard drive as an .mp3 file, and/or burn them to a CD.

I also have all the lyrics for each song posted on My Space, just click on the 'lyrics' link below the song information.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Instruction - Breakdown; Jimmy Eat World - My Sundown

Radio Play

It's official: My EP will debut on the radio this Sunday, May 7th during the 8:00pm hour on WZIP 88.1 FM here in the Akron, Ohio area. You can also listen live online anywhere in the world at http://www.wzip.fm

I will also be interviewed on air, and taking calls from listeners. Please tune in and check out the music, and TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

Additionally, I am now on MySpace.com. I have a profile there as a band so I can post info about shows and put up my songs for people to listen. You can check it out at http://www.myspace.com/lanceandersonmusic. Right now one of my songs can be listened to in its entirety so check it out! I also have lyrics up for it, and all lyrics for all other songs will be on MySpace as well.

~ Lance

Song(s) played during this post: Nirvana - Polly (Live); Green Day - American Idiot; Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia

Recording News

Recording is almost done!!! I never thought it would actually take this long for this small amount of songs, but it has. Thankfully most of the work is behind us now, and we can focus on the finish.

I still need to record the bass tracks for all songs, and then some more editing and setting volume levels...then it's finished!

More good news: The entire album will probably be debuted on air! That's right, the whole album will be played from start to finish on Night Rock on 88.1 FM. For those not in the Akron area, it can be listned to live online at http://www.wzip.fm. More news on the time it will actually air will of course be posted here so keep an eye out.

I finally took some pictures at the studio...enjoy.

Here is my producer, Lisa, looking very white.

I think she is trying to give me a carrot...I don't like carrots.

She's actually doing some work for once.

The magical board that hates us...Seriously, this thing breaks on us all the time.

That's what Lisa is looking at.

That's me making the magic happen.

Me again.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During This Post: Staind - Mudshovel; MxPx - Foolish; Goldfinger - Walk Away; System of a Down - Suite-Pee; Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop (Live); Goldfinger - Vintage Queen; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Go Daddy-O; Alkaline Trio - Dead & Broken; Green Day - When I Come Around; Rock Kills Kid - Hide Away

Band Name Debate

For the following post, I'm going to publish a debate about a very pressing topic: What should I call my act: Lance Anderson (my name) or Handgun for a Heart (a cool name, but it sounds like a band, rather than just me.)

--Begin Transcript--

Presenter 1: Andy McLeary
Position: Use Lance Anderson, not that 'Handgun for a Heart' crap.
Abstract:

Lance Anderson is clearly an awesome name. With it comes connotations of greatness, achievement, and just plain sexyness. Additionally, if you were to call your act by your own name it gives off an auroa of quiet confidence. Chicks love that stuff. You are so good, you are calling yourself well...yourself. By calling yourself by your own name, you are drawing much more attention and glory to yourself.

Lance Anderson is clearly an awesome name. With it comes connotations of greatness, achievement, and just plain sexyness.

Everyone will be more likely to notice you and give you their adoration and appreciation for making the magical musical melodies dance through their being. Why wouldn't you want the attention of all those people? Of course you want the attention of these people. You want the recognition because you, my friend, deserve it. Don't ever forget that.

If you call yourself 'Handgun for a Heart' people will think its a band. It isn't a band...it's you...and you alone. Don't let people give other people who don't actually exist any of the credit for your work. It will cause a lot of confusion. People constantly think that Nine Inch Nails is a band. It's not, it's Trent Reznor. Do you really want to bring all that confusion into the picture with yourself?

Handgun for a Heart sounds too 'Gothic/Emo' anyway. I mean, do you really want to be lumped in with all those 'Emo' bands like Fall out Boy, As I lay Dying, and the like? The answer is no. It's been done before, and everyone is tired of the poor gothic/punk/emo sounding names. Stick with the all-american 'Lance Anderson.' Do it or I'll punch you in the spleen.

Presenter 2: Douglas Friedel
Position: Use Handgun for a Heart, not this 'Lance Anderson' crap.
Abstract:

Let's be honest...Lance Anderson is a stupid name. With that name, you have to constantly put up with people calling you 'Lance Armstrong' or 'Lancelot' or 'Lance Romance.' Petty and sickening isn't it? Haven't you put up with enough of that over the years?

Let's be honest...Lance Anderson is a stupid name. With that name, you have to constantly put up with people calling you 'Lance Armstrong' or 'Lancelot' or 'Lance Romance.' Petty and sickening isn't it?

Handgun for a Heart is a great, unique name. It highlights the angst and hurt that many of your songs reference. If it lumps you with 'Gothic/Emo/Punk' bands, then great...those are some awsome bands. Why wouldn't you want to be compared to AFI, Alkaline Trio, and the like? And if you do go for 'Lance Anderson', then you would certainly be grouped with John Mayer and Jack Johnson...who would you rather be compared to? That's what I thought.

As far as getting more attention if you go by your own name...who cares. Handgun for a Heart sounds way cooler. Do it.

--End of transcript.--

Well, there you have it. That was the debate. Any opinons from my loyal readers as to what I should call myself would be greatly appreciated. Just leave a comment on this post. Till next time...Peace.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post - Against Me! - Scream Until You're Coughing up Blood; She Wants Revenge - Us; (A bunch of other stuff that I forgot because this post is so damn long.)

Going's On

Recording of the album has not begun in earnest. It was slow going at first but it is coming along nicely now. I'm REALLY excited about how it is sounding right now. I've started laying down the first guitar tracks and it sounds really good.

I ended up taking my guitar back because there were some problems with the pickups. They didn't have the same model, so I got the next model up (which is has a nicer sound because of a bigger body and is a much better color, :-p ) for the same price! It's really cool and sounds great on my new PA system.

Speaking of which, I have all the equipment I need to play a live show so I'd really like to get one soon. If you know anywhere where I could play, even a house party or something, let me know.

I hope to have some pictures of the recording studio, etc to post up here soon so stay tuned.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Coldplay - Clocks (Live); Coldplay - In My Place (Live)

Recording Started!

Today was the first day of recording for my album. It's starting slowly, as so far we've only worked on getting the time signatures for each song, but I'm sure it will start coming together quickly.

Yesterday I bought a new acoustic/electric guitar to get a great sound with the new recording, and I love my new guitar! It's an Ibanez AE series, and it sounds great, even without being plugged in. Although through a good amp, it sounds absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to see how this recording turns out.

Since I've started recording, I'm now starting to look into getting some small gigs around the Akron area as well. Hopefully some house parties or something first, then once I get the demo out there, some real venues. We'll see what happens. As always, I'll keep everyone informed here.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: Hot Water Music - Russian Roulette; Hot Water Music - Bleeder.

Beauty is Power Like Money is Power Like a Gun is Power

I just (finally) finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. (The author of Fight Club for those of you who don't know.) What an incredible book. Who but the twisted mind of Chuck could come up with some of this stuff? Near the end of the book bomb after bomb was dropped that just change your perception of the entire story thus far...incredible plot twists.

There are some excellent lines in the book as well, such as the one used in the title of this post. Another follows:

"...what I realize is mostly what I hate about Evie is the fact that she's so vain and stupid and needy. But what I hate most is how she's just like me. What I really hate is me so I hate pretty much everybody."

The story revolves around Shannon McFarland, a model who through a tragic accident ended up with a horribly disfigured face. She went from having anything she wanted on account of her beauty, to a hideous monster, who no one could even look at without being disgusted. A lot of the book refrences how so many people are incredibly vain and inconsiderate and achieve whatever they want at the expense of others, just because society considers them to be physically attractive. Looking around in real-life, a lot of that is dead on true. How many times have you seen a 'hot' girl act like a complete bitch and get away with it? She expects you to do anything for her because she is attractive...They are incredibly full of themselves. I see this all the time, and I love that this book addresses it through the story.

"Beauty is power like money is power like a gun is power."

Of course, in typical Chuck Palahniuk style there are plenty of cross-dressing, sex-change, sexually promiscuous characters...For example, I now know what (CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK...YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!) 'Felching' means. A lot of times these bizarre/distrubing moments are used in a darkly humorous manner, and as a whole, this book is an excellent read. Check it out if you get the chance.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During This Post: Marilyn Manson - Para-Noir; 10 Years - Wasteland; Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia

Flogging Molly Rocks!

So once again, Flogging Molly was in town. As always, if they are in town, I go see them. They are one of the best bands I have ever seen live, and they alwasy put on a great show. Friday was no exception. Me and 12 friends all bought tickets and met up at the House of Blues for the concert. It was an incredible time and if you ever get the chance to see them in concert, do it.

My favorite song of the evening was when they played 'Delilah'. They had a trumpet player come on for the song, and had a great musical interlude involving it. I had never heard them play that song live before, so it was nice to hear something different.

~ Lance

Song(s) Played During this Post: From Autumn to Ashes - Jack and Ginger; From Autumn to Ashes - Abandon Your Friends

New Art

I just posted some new art over at my Deviant Art Homepage. The piece can be seen directly here. Let me know what you think! A print will be available for purchase soon.

Song(s) Played During This Post: Tool - Pushit (Live); Powerman 5000 - Free

~Lance

Music You Should Listen To

I recently discovered the band She Wants Revenge. I heard their song 'Tear You Apart' on the radio and quickly downloaded some more. They definetely have an 80's feel to their music with electronic effects and simple beats/melodies. The singer uses a very monotone voice (similar to Interpol) which makes the band sound very different from most music today. Additionally, the lyrics for some of the songs are great, especially Tear You Apart and Sister. Check them out!

In other news, I saw this Dilbert strip today and it made me laugh a lot. It's so true, because I deal with this kind of thing all the time. People think that just because I know a lot about computers I have some sort of obligation to help them with theirs.



Song(s) Playing During this Post: At the Drive-In - Enfilade; The Strokes - You Only Live Once

~ Lance

Ben Affleck is a Douchebag

I would like to take this opportunity to say...

BEN AFFLECK IS A DOUCHEBAG




Just look at him.


That is all.

Archived Blog Entries

For anyone interested in seeing all the archives of my blog, all are still posted at the old location: http://gozips.uakron.edu/~lra4

Additionally, I changed the settings so anyone can comment on any entry without having to sign up...hopefully it worked.

Welcome People

Hello, hello. So, I decided to move my blog again. Hopefully this makes it a little more accessible to people. Plus, it's in a much easier to view format, with auto archiving and the such.

Additionally, I might need to be using my uakron webspace for some other things soon, so I figured I'd go ahead and move it now.

So for as far as news goes:

1. School started again and it sucks. (Big surprise)

2. For one of my classes, for extra credit we can create a blog about the class that we have to update once a week. I thought it would be amusing to do it and use completely over-the-top sarcasm. I basically say how awesome the class is (it's not) and how much I'm looking forward to it this semester. (I'm not.) I can't really get in trouble either because the professor can't really prove I'm being sarcastic, haha. The jokes on him. If you are interested, it's at http://erprulez.blogspot.com

3. I will start recording my album within the next couple of weeks, and I hope to have it done before spring break, so look for updates about it here.

4. After playing the songs for my producer, I learned that one of them will make it into rotation on Night Rock on WZIP 88.1 FM here in Akron! :-D I'm really excited about that and I hope it goes well.

5. I cut my hair off. Therefore, I am an ugly, ugly, man right now...what little appeal I had to the ladies has now been rudely taken away from me, and I have hit rock bottom...


Lates.