Apparently November was such a crazy month that it's taken me two weeks into December to write about it.

I'll be honest, it was.

The weekend mini-tour was insanely fun. It was a blast playing for the good folks in Redway and Alameda. We will unquestionably be back down south in the coming months. Stay tuned for that info.

Also, the show at Humbrews for the HumTunes TV show was absolutely great. I cannot WAIT to hear the recordings of the set, hopefully sometime this week. Ideally we'll be able to cull 3-5 songs from that set and put 'em out as a live EP on iTunes in the next couple of months.

Looking ahead to the next month and a half, we'll be taking some time off for the holidays and first couple of weeks of 2009. But it's not like we're gonna be doing nothing during that time. We'll be starting work on an EP of new songs that we'll be sneaking into future live sets.

So that's what we'll be up to. Hope you have a great time during the tail end of 2008 and here's to 2009 being a lot better.

~Justin

Thank​s to every​one who came to Mosgo​'​s last night​ and celeb​rated​ the relea​se of our new CD. It was a reall​y fun night​.​ Hope you had as much (or more)​ fun than we did playi​ng the show.​

Speci​al thank​s to Miah Lodes​ for comin​g on next-​to-​no notic​e and kicki​ng ASS on the guest​ vocal​s.​ And HUGE props​ to the great​ Ryan McLee​s for repri​sing his role from the album​ with style​ and not only provi​ding some spect​acula​r vocal​ work,​ but also throw​ing down on the guita​r.​

If you came to the show last night​ and took pics (I saw a few camer​as out there​)​,​ email​ me at afare​welld​evice​@​gmail​.​com.​ I would​ LOVE to see any and all pics of the show.​

Feel free to check​ out the acous​tic demo of our new song "​Thera​py To Pass The Time"​ on our profi​le along​ with a few songs​ from the album​ on our profi​le now.

Again​.​ Thank​s to EVERY​ONE who helpe​d make last night​ happe​n.​ From those​ who playe​d and came out to those​ who helpe​d me make this album​ but could​n'​t make it back to Humbo​ldt for the show (I'm looki​ng at you Jess,​ Conor​ and Josh.​.​.​)​.​ You guys are all amazi​ng.​

I think​ I'm gonna​ take the day off and chill​.​ Enjoy​ the album​.​ If you don'​t have a copy yet, I shoul​d have some copie​s for sale at the Works​ in Arcat​a and Eurek​a withi​n the next coupl​e of days.​ We'​ll also be up on iTune​s soon.​ I'll keep you poste​d as thing​s happe​n.​

~​Justi​n Vaneg​as (​AFD)​

It may seem strange, since most bands seem to put up their entire new album the day before it comes out. But they have people paying off the folks at myspace to let them put more songs up.

We don't have those kind of resources/minions right now, so we're only able to put up the first 6 of the 11 songs on our upcoming album coming out two weeks from TONIGHT at Mosgo's in Arcata. The massive run-on nature of that last sentence should give you a hint as to how stoked I am about this whole situation.

So from now until next Friday, you can listen to the first six songs from our album. Then next Friday I'll take those down and put up the last five songs for a week in hopes of getting everyone as excited about this album coming out as I am. Probably a long shot, but at worst I'm giving you the fan a sneak of the album myself and many amazing people have been working so hard on for the last year and a half.

If you're wondering where the other songs we had up can be heard in the meantime, check out the purevolume (purevolume.com/afarewelldevice) page. So fear not.

I know I've said it before, and I'm probably gonna say it again, but I'd really like to thank everyone who's been helping me get this album out. Special shout-outs right now go to Carl Evans for drawing some spectacular album art and John T. "Hex" Carter for coloring said art into what I consider to be a GORGEOUS album layout. You can see the cover of the album on this profile and you'll be able to see the rest in two weeks.

So mark your calendars and join myself and bunch of awesome folks at Mosgo's November 14th as we celebrate the release of this album.

Good night and enjoy the songs.

~Justin Vanegas

Recently I was able to use the home studio of one Mr. Tom Evans in Dublin to remix and remaster the entire album. I went in hoping to finish up some mastering issues and three days later I had completely remixed the entire album. It sounds 100x better now and I can safely say that I am DONE with studio work on "The P-Town Chronicles Vol. 1: A Farewell Device".

It's been a little over a year since I started writing the record and to know that this stage of the journey is over is an awesome feeling. Even better... it's my birthday. What a crazy random happenstance.

So I've put up the four songs I had up earlier now in their final form. "I Hate You" and "Suburban Nights" are edited for length for the sake of radio people, but the full length versions will be on the final album. So worry not.

Speaking of that album. The CD release show is going to be on a Friday night in November in Arcata, CA. That's all I'm gonna say right now but expect some updates after rehearsal tonight. We're getting prepped for the AWESOME show on 8/25 in Fortuna w/ Nural, The Material and This Dying Wish. Everyone who comes to that show will get a free copy of the sampler so you won't have to stream songs off of myspace as much.

Peace easy. I need to get some effin' sleep.

~Justin

Apparently myspace was acting stupid while I wasn't paying attention. I've FINALLY got a four song sampler on the page ready for download. Go check it out and leave some comments to let me know what you think.

Here's the info for the sampler for you to punch into iTunes or whatever:

Artist: A Farewell Device
Album: The P-Town Chronicles Sampler

Track List:

1. I Hate You (feat. Jessica Hartmann, Wolf Novarro and Maia Wiitalla)
2. Suburban Nights (feat. Melody Stone, Jessica Hartmann and Josh Leong)
3. Consequence (feat. Jessica Hartmann)
4. Six Months In (feat. Jessica Hartmann)

I'm happy to report that about a week ago I mailed off the master tracks of 'The P-Town Chronicles' off to Chad in Minnesota for mixing/mastering. This means that after almost a year of this album consuming my life, I am DONE (for the time being). I want to get it out of the way and thank everyone who's helped me out with this or just put up with me while it came together. I'll put up the list of specifics at the end of this.

Now that I'm done with the recording process of the album, it's time to start playing some shows!!! I've already done two shows as A Farewell Device. One electric at the Laden Swallow Farewell Show that was AMAZING and an acoustic show with Maia "Papaya" in Garberville with This Dying Wish and Fight the Quiet. Both shows were insanely fun and the positive reactions I've been getting mean a TON to me. I'm not sure how I'll be performing these songs over the next couple of months since Jessica (who sang on the album) has moved to Anaheim and Maia (my new/old partner in crime) is gonna be spending the summer in the Bay, but I'll figure something out. I've recently started writing new material that DOESN'T take place in Pleasanton CA, so I'll prolly start working on that more.

I'm also starting the process of assembling album art and promotional images. So if anyone has any pictures from the two shows or wants to do some artwork based on the album, let me know.

Now onto that list of awesome people. I'll break it down between people who lent musical talent that I lack and people who dealt with my madness.

Musicians:

Jessica Hartmann (this album doesn't get made without you)
Melody Stone
Ryan McClees
Maia "Papaya" Wiitalla
Sarah Benzinger
(all four for being awesome and making my songs good)
Conor Bent
Trevor Enright
Micah Crossley
(all three for being l33t drummers both in-studio and on-stage)
Wolf Navarro
Josh Leong
(both for shredding on six-strings)
Mark Staley (for letting me use your amp for the whole album)
Tyler "Irish" Evans
Tong
Tyler "Rufio" Fernandez
(my favorite three drunken idiots)
Chad Helmonds (for mixing and mastering this thing at your crazy sick studio thing)
Bobby Ahmirkan (laid down a sick demo bass line)

People who put up with me (or "Saints"):

Amanda Smith (for putting up with the brunt of this obsession of mine)
Leila Smith (the cat)
The aforementioned drunken idiots for not smacking me when I went on tangents.
The entire staff of KRFH.net
My band mates in Laden Swallow and Tantrabomb
Everyone else I came into contact with who had to hear my ramblings.

And a special thanks to the city of Pleasanton, CA for being so boring/strange and thus the PERFECT setting for this album!!!