Finishing Up The Writing Process...

Hello friends!

It's been an exciting couple of days for us. Saturday morning we loaded up our Dodge Caravan (which Mike has nicknamed Vanna White) and headed up to my house in Southern Maine to work on the new music and see if we could begin to wrap up the writing process for the next album. This was the same basement in which we recorded all of Redivivus, so it was really fun and familiar to set to work on another album there.
We got there around mid-day, played through some familiar songs just to loosen up, then we got cranking on a couple new ideas. Before we knew it, it was 1 in the morning and we had written three new songs, tightened some bolts on all the others, and we were holding all the material for the new album in our hands: 11 songs that we are unbelievably happy with and excited to record and share with you all.


This album will not be Redivivus pt. 2. In the same way that we felt like Redivivus captured perfectly the place we were at a year ago, we hope this album does the same. With Rafaell on board as bassist and Mike moving over to guitar alongside Jared and me, we feel like we've really found our groove for the first time. Both Rafaell's and Mike's creative abilities will feature heavily on the new album, and we are made so much better for them. The writing process has been much more collective than Redivivus was. Unlike on many of the songs on the last record, which were often pretty distinctively "written" by one member of the band, this batch of songs was created largely as a group, with each member playing an important role in leaving their very unique mark on the composition. This is a more mature and more comfortable us.
Musically, this album is everywhere. It is very heavy. It is very melodic. It is very loud. It is very quiet. Certainly, it is darker and less predictable than our previous effort. We're excited. Come out to a show and see for yourself.

Our goal in writing a darker album is not, of course, simply to depress our listeners, however. The album is dark because it must be if it is to reflect the world we see. There are times when light falls on a patch of green grass or glints off of choppy water, but our world is full of so much that we don't know, so much that hurts and that confuses that, where we are and how we see things, we would be lying if we told any other story. We are not sad people, but we exist in a broken world. This album is a study in hope's interaction with despair. It is an attempt to convey the difference between moving "through" and moving "among". There is no door at the other end of the unlit hallway toward which the album walks. Only the memory of moonlit windows along the way.

We expect to begin recording by late August. Please keep checking back here, we'll keep you posted.

Peace and love always,
John and Glass America

P.S. Show at Hugh O'Neil's Pub in Malden, April 29, 10:00 PM

New album, music on tv in Virginia, shows, etc.

Hey guys,
For those of who read this thing, I'm sorry for getting lazy. Lots of stuff has been going on with us and we've been really busy which is always a good thing. But when that happens, the blog writing takes a hit. I don't think I've posted anything since December 09 so I'll start from there.

John got back from Italy mid-December and we've settled into our permanent five-man lineup with three guitarists. Lately, we've been doing a lot of writing. We're very close to finishing the writing process for a new album which we'll begin recording this fall. We hope to have 10-11 songs this time around. We're staying away from the wicked long songs for the most part which is a good change up for us. People keep telling us to put more vocals in so the new record will have much more singing. This album will be pretty different musically from Redivivus as we have been continually discovering who we are musically and what we want to write. The concept of the record is still being nailed down but we're exploring how little we know and how life can be desperate. This album won't be as blatantly hopeful as Redivivus. Rather, God is revealed in the music as the One who sustains us through the sorrow and trials of life. We await His glorious return but until that comes, we must trudge through the hardships of life. It's so easy to say that having faith will solve all your problems and God is marketed that way a lot. But if we're honest with ourselves, life isn't that great a lot of the time even when we have Christ. He never promised to spare us from tribulation. He promised to never leave us or forsake us.

So we're really excited about getting this album done. In March, we were contacted by a video producer in Virginia who asked to use one of our songs, "Gomer (Returning Home)" in a suicide prevention PSA on local TV. So we're really excited about being able to help in such an awesome cause. Check out the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHOVOiL-R4w

We recently put in an order for hard copies of Redivivus so those will be available within the next couple of weeks. You can purchase them online at drivenrecords.bigcartel.com. We're really excited to have another way for you to get your hands on it other than just digitally.

So far this year we've played a couple shows in the Boston area. On March 18 we played at a bar in Cambridge called The Cantab Lounge with our friends in The Vegas Report. It was a fun show and our first one with the whole band there. We had a few friends come out which was awesome.

Then on March 29, we had a show in Worcester at Tammany Hall. Probably the best venue we've played so far. It was a cool bar/hall. We got there and unloaded our stuff and just hung out. My brother drove up from New York with some friends and surprised me so that was pretty sweet. And we had a bunch of friends come from all over the place to see us play which was awesome. I think we ended up getting around 30 people there. We got to hang out and talk with people and then we went on second to last. We played pretty well minus a couple technical issues. During our set I joked and said that our t-shirts were free if you went and took them while we weren't at the merch table. Some guys there didn't know I was kidding so they went over and stole some. Luckily my brother went and took the shirts back haha. It was a really fun show and we'd definitely love to get back there at some point.

This weekend we're going up to hang out at John's house to finish writing and talking about the album as well as play through the whole thing so that should be fun. Thanks for checking in and I'll try to start keeping this thing up to date.

Jared Deame