Stahl here.

I am screaming. I am so excited about the music we have been creating here at East 146 camp. It is taking farrr longer than I ever wanted it to but that old saying is really starting to reflect right now. I get goosebumps listening to what we are working on and I want it to be DONE so everyone can hear all the work we've put in. It will definitely be worth the wait. It is so hard picking the songs we are going to actually record. We've put every ounce of energy we can spare into this. I simply can't wait for it to be heard.

Everything is changing here.

Love love LOVE

the boys.

stahl here

life is a tricky little bugger sometimes. it comes at you in all shapes and sizes. it's funny, because here I am at 23 pretty lost. i was talking to our manager and I said i think i am having my quarter life crisis. i know NYC is where I am supposed to be with devin. almost 2 1/2 years. it has kicked our asses and beat us more times than I can count, but at the end of the day, i can sit on my bed with my acoustic guitar, and strum an idea out and hear the hustle and bustle of the city around me and just say "here i am, i'm doing this".

i've shaken alot of hands since i've moved here. people I haven't seen again, don't remember their names, probably won't ever see them again. i'm not exactly a social butterfly. I probably know 4 people in the whole city other than devin and josh and my sister. i keep to myself quite a bit. a real certified loner if you will. i don't mind it though.

anyhoo, after 2 years of getting excited, and then being let down time and time again, i think i finally have some real to be excited about. devin and I have gotten a nice amount of real life experience under our belts and have kind of found who we are amongst this chaotic urban jungle. we've gone through some band members as some of you have noticed. i was wandering around my favorite music website www.absolutepunk.net and came across a classified ad from Sal about how he and his friend were looking to start or join a band. their band from long island had broken up.

it's weird because sal said he hadn't logged into his ap.net account in forever and randomly decided to post that ad without really expecting much, and i found the ad almost immediately after it was posted. we met a few days later, he and adam came into the city and we took a cab across town to where I was staying at the time.

i don't really know what i'm getting at to be exact. i just feel like we have found our reflection out on long island. two guys who are just as music hungry as devin and I are, and have constantly been given the shit end of the stick. you know it's right when you all just kind of make eye contact while playing something and feel the same goose bumps and crack a little smile without saying any words.

sure there has been alot of wasted time, days where I never left the apartment, just kind of moped around not being very happy. it is kind of... scary when you only really feel you have one purpose or one thing you would be good at. I was supposed to be married by the time i was 25 and have a job and family according to my life plans when I was a teenager, and here I am 23, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

there has been many times where I could have been doing something to help further my career, but couldn't get the motivation or energy to even do that. you'd think it would come easy or be a no brainer, but it is quite difficult actually when you have to fend completely for yourself. I'd imagine it to be alot easier when you have a professor or someone breathing down your neck saying you HAVE to do this, or that, and by this time, or you will fail miserably.

it is frustrating when your family and other people don't really understand what it is you do. I'm the cousin, or nephew, or whatever, who "came to new york city to become famous" and i'm not on the billboards or on t.v. or anything yet after 2 years. well the truth is, career wise, we haven't released a single new anything. no one in the industry has heard a peep from us since we put out serendipity THREE years ago. wow, yeah 3 years. It was may of 2005. we've been working on it, sometimes harder than other times, but here we are now.

we've probably gone through some 35-40 songs in various stages and forms over the past 2 years and are narrowing that down as to what we are actually going to be using. we get together twice a week and i wish it was more, and do what we need to do. say hi to sal and adam. they are good dudes with a passion I haven't seen from anyone else in a long time. they get it. sooo we are going to use this summer to write and record everything we can, and start playing shows left and right. we will be all over the east coast, and hopefully have a show in my old kentucky home again by the end of the year.

i just wake up everyday, and this is the only thing I want to do. i'm sick and tired of reading off specials to people who don't know how to dine out. i'm not in this for money, or the fame, or any of that. there is no better feeling than hearing music i've created with my friends bounce of the walls during a live show. if i can do that everynight and if it even helps me be able to support a family some day, then hell yes.

see ya soon!!

much love

chris, adam, devin and sal.

stahl here. it is becoming my favorite time of year. the fall. i've gotten a new job bartending at this place in brooklyn thats pretty rad. last night we had rehearsal and it was awesome. we have in the range of 15-20 songs we've been working with. some of them you've heard in stages at past shows we've played the past 12 months. last night I think we wrote the one. we kind of paused and devin and i just had a moment of eye contact that said it all. goosebumps and all.

anyway. we had recorded alot of the new stuff but it has all started to change so i'm not totally sure what we are going to do with the recordings, but we plan to hit the studio again in october with final versions of the tunes and go for it. i'm just really excited. i've been living and breathing these crap video camera recorded demos on my ipod for the past 6 months.

the new material is somewhere along the lines of a big mix of switchfoot, the goo goo dolls, snow patrol, foo fighters, the ataris, fall out boy, the fray, u2, jimmy eat world with a touch of american hi-fi.

some dramatic drumming with guitar parts that are giving me goose bumps. the vocals are the best i've ever done i believe. we also have some piano in the mix and some acoustic guitar as well. some of this stuff is heavy, some of it is softer. i told devin that this new tune will end up in the next zach braff love movie.

anyway, just wanted to give somewhat of an update to the world.

<3 stahl, jc and devin

when I was 15 my mom was rediagnosed with cancer. she got it when I was 12 and it went into remission but returned when I was 15 and they gave her roughly 3 years to live. she said the hardest thing was that she wouldn't get to see me grow up. today is my 22nd birthday and is also the day she passed away. ironic enough. when I was in kentucky last week I sat down with her and had a heart to heart and asked her if she saw me grow up and she said not enough but it will have to do. she said that coming to our shows in louisville or hearing us on the radio that she knew that I had found something I love to do and that I was good at and she has always been my biggest supporter. whenever anyone thought it was crazy or silly she stood up for me and would just say go for it. every birthday card, christmas card, or anything, she always wrote 'go for it' at the bottom and I saved them all and that is just what I will do. I am just grateful to have such a large support group of friends and family. for all of you that have showed support in me and east 146, I believe you helped her see me become more of a man or grown up. as I am on my way to kentucky with devin, I can only sit back and smile a little. she was such a huge inspiration to me and such a fighter. they gave her 3 years and she lived 7. all I know now is that she is no longer in any pain. I couldn't stand to see her not able to do anything but lay in bed. that is all I really want to say.

much love to everyone

I love you mom

stahl

stahl here.

whadddup. so we are settled in over in brooklyn. we live where jay-z grew up.. anyhoo. we have brought in the studio into our basement and are going to start recording again. we have 14 songs that you all don't know exist. we are going to record all of them and then listen to them alot until we hate them, then pick the best ones, or revise or fix anything, then re-record them somewhere better.

the songs have come along very well over the past 8 months. a nice array of inspirations and sounds i would say myself. except a more grown-up east 146, as we wrote serendipity when we were 18 years old, and now we are over the hill all 21 and 22.

being that we are all our own versions of technology geeks, i'm sure some video clips will surface that might give you a sneak-peek at the new stuff. who knows, we might even accidentally let something completely slip, ya never know.

i'm really excited to be able to record like this at our own pace. we've always been on a tight budget or time schedule which hasn't aloud for as much freedom as we wanted but now the clock is in our hands.

as for the songs, there are alot of different types and structures. some songs don't even touch the distortion on the amp as they stay clean but still very rocky. i don't know. i love them. during my 30 minute train commute every morning i listen to the rough basement demo recordings of these songs the whole way, so i am very excited, as is everyone else.

as for a return to Louisville, its hard to say. but last time i was in town a few weeks ago, i found a place that i would absolutely love to put on a concert at, but i will keep that at bay for the time being.

that is all... i think.

stahl here. went to the mtv taping of fall out boy @ the hard rock in times square last night and when they said do a circle pit i literally was the only person in the middle running around soooo i'm almost positive i will be on mtv acting a fool. it airs feb 6th at 11 pm i do believe. i was screaming for pete wentz the entire time. at one point i yelled out CHICAGO bc they are from chicago and it got quiet and pete wentz was like "YEAH THIS GUY MUST BE FROM CHICAGO" and i got shy and hid bc i am from kentucky.

the end.

peace and love

stahl here.

just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone that came to headliners and helped make our show a success. it was so much fun to come back home and play especially with chris and jc. much love!

i can actually see stars outside here in new castle.

so last night we played our first show in almost 10 months with the new members, chris salucci and jonathan carpenter. we played @ the knitting factory here in the city. It was a blast to take the stage again and there were quite a few people out to catch it! we played a combination of new and old stuff and are definately excited to come back to louisville and play a show for you guys. we are trying to make it extra special for everyone. but anyhoo, just wanted to give a little update on life here in the big apple.

happy holidays!!

stahl

stahl here

so time flys by in new york. it really does. we have been here for almost 7 months now. feels like yesterday we were playing the show @ headliners and then going home to pack and load the uhauls. it takes awhile to get into a comfterable nook and i think we have all finally gotten there. we have 2 adorable little kitties named columbus and zoe. i am running the dishwasher right now.

as for east 146..

we have a new bass player (for several months actually). his name is chris, but everyone calls me stahl so it won't be confusing. we are going to start playing wtih a guy named JC we actually met last fall when we played here in september. We hope to complete the line-up as a rockin' 4 piece with 2 guitars, bass and drums. chris and JC actually both sing so we hope to have some mad back-up vocals going on. I've been playing piano alot lately as well but I have a feeling it'll be awhile before I'm good enough to bring the piano to the masses, and its a bitch to carry around as well. I just took my lady out for her birthday. we went to a nice lil restaurant with a live jazz band and had a lovely dinner and danced afterwards. i've got moves that john travolta never has seen. blizzard entertainment has released a patch that lets me play starcraft on a mac, so i'm really happy and have converted back to my 8th grade nerdness, its pretty hot.

i saw my first broadway show 'the drowsy chaperone' and it was quite lovely.

oh yeah, i saw andy milanakis or however you spell it with the hot guy from laguna beach.

thats about it. we are hoping to be ready to bring the rock to the masses over holiday break in december in louisville and headliners. can i get an 'oMg EaSt 146 OmG OMG OMG' ---- cant wait :)

much love kids

stahl here

the night is beautiful here. its noisy, then can be quiet. so many sounds and what-not. i always see people passing by and i wonder what their story is. sometimes they are by themselves walking around, listening to their ipod. sometimes they are walking with a girlfriend or boyfriend, or friends. sometimes a bit tipsy from drinking too much, who knows.

8 years ago a guitar was put into my hands by my grandmother and i figured i might as well learn to play it and it has been my curse that i wish upon no one. i can't say i regret any of my life, but i don't wish this dream upon anyone because it truly is hell. it gets into your blood. in louisville, i met alot of kids who actually told me they started a band because of seeing east play live, and wanted to do the same thing. i am in no way a celebrity or anything of that status. i signed alot of autographs and i never for one moment could believe it was actually happening. i know there are thousands of other people trying to do the same thing i'm doing, whether it be acting, writing, or being a musician. you don't make a living doing this, but you sure do live doing it, and i guess thats all that really matters. I would walk around in my town of new castle, and people would ask me what i am doing. when am i going to goto school, and things like that. and it would bug me because i felt i couldn't get under their skin enough to explain my purpose, or goals. as i am writing this blog, matchbook romance came on in my shuffle and i haven't really listened to them anymore the past year but it instantly took me back to the night i was driving home and cross (ex guitarist) called me and said put in your atticus CD and put it on matchbook romance if you haven't listened to their song yet so i put it on, and sat in my driveway and talked to him on the phone for probably an hour about life or whatever, and listened to the song over and over again. i dunno. thats what i love about music. one certain chord, or melody, or song for that matter, can take you back to almost an exact moment in your life. kids have told me hearing wake up has helped them through things, or made them sad, or feel better about whatever is going on in their life. that was my ultimate goal, hell that wasn't even my goal. i got a guitar, and figured that if i could play it, i might as well be in a band because that would be cool so i got together with devin and joe and terry and started playing cover songs and then we thought we should be in the school talent show so we did, and from that instant, i was hooked. then i got picked out of a crowd of probably 6000 people to play san dimas with the ataris and just looking out into that crowd as i played, i cant describe what i felt, or really remember those 3 minutes. it was a blur to me. (san dimas just came on my shuffle). i remember recording wake up. i called susan and told her to get an engineer to the studio, that i wanted to record a song, and i got there and recorded it in 1 take, got it put on a CD, and left. I drove home listening to it the whole time, and i went to devins and played it for him in his driveway. ah.. i love shuffle. matchbox 20's 'push' just came on and it immediately made me think of walking on the beach with terry, who i havent spoken to in who knows how long. that song was getting popular then, and damn, it just takes you back. i am now 21 years old. i feel more alive than i ever have.

we went on a tour across the states all the way to california and back when we were 18 years old and everyone thought we were crazy. it was a blast and i will never forget that shit. getting lost, no money, whatever. i would love to drive cross country in my car with the sunroof down, and just listen to music, and stop in the desert and pull over and get out of the car and just stand and look up, because i bet it is beautiful out there.

now switchfoot came on, shadow proves the sunshine, go listen to it if you haven't.

okay i skipped that and fenix tx came on, damn.

im rambling a bit hahah.

playing @ headliners and twice told was always my favorite nights. i'd get there, roll up and setup my gear. goto taco bell then come back.

im gonna stop typing now.

peace

mucho love and stuff