I don’t know why I write these, cause I feel like I’m always complaining when my life is good.

I have good friends, a good girlfriend, and a good family.

I don’t know what to do with my life right now, and I hate that. I always like to be in control, even though I know I never really have been.

I always get ideas in my head about different things I want to do, tours I want to be on, bands I want to be in, etc. and I kinda build those ideas up so big that I get let down really hard cause what I want rarely happens. Things I think would be best for me or for others obviously aren’t, or else they would happen. But God’s got different plans I guess.

I want to be a part of something that I feel really natural doing and really moves me, is special. Mostly musically. There are tons of bands I would love to play with that I feel I would fit in really well, but I guess if it were meant to be then it would have happened. I guess it’s just whatever.

That’s it. I complain when my life is good. I dunno.

-Dan

listen to plea, guard your steps, sophia, ats, and people who are loving what they’re doing

just in case no one has heard, top gun has the two best theme songs ever. i often like to soundcheck with them.

we're gonna tour with house in the hole in december. it's gonna be radical.

we wrote a new song in practice today. it sounds amazing. im blessed to be in a band with dudes who like the ideas i come up with.

i broke a couple toes tonight dropping a cab on my foot. im stupid. it hurts. my toe is blue.

last but not least, i met this girl. she's pretty much the most amazing person ever. top gun. god is doing the most amazing things in our lives. we spend a lot of time together. we pray together. we talk about just about everything together. we pray for eachother. god is taking his time, not ours, througout all of this and it's going just the way it needs to.

i am truly blessed. i love you.

so we got back from "tour" if thats what you want to call it a few days ago. i got the great chance to work 3 days in a row for 9 hours. bummer. so the paycheck will be good but lots of work.

i haven't been spending enough time in the word but i'm getting back into it, which is good. i'm also finishing the irresistable revolution by shane claiborne.

i got to spend a week in a corn field with some of my best friends. i wouldn't have traded the gross conditions for anything. i love the guys in my band. i love the guys from sophia. i love the dudes in plea. same with this love, these hands. we formed a brotherhood and it felt really cool to be accepted even though we are such a different style of music compared to those dudes. i really wouldn't mind watching those bands every day for the rest of my life.

i want to personally thank my mom for being the coolest. i love you.

thanks be to god that there are some christian dudes doing some radical things in a scene where jesus is needed.

i wrote the best song i think i've ever written yesterday.

i'm going to make a list of people who personally impacted my life this week. they deserve all the love in the world:

-spencer blake
-scott sellers
-brendan johnson
-jaime shafer
-jason friedman
-dan martinie
-ryan meyer
-bennett piispanen
-keith richards
-ben trimble
-steve lefebvre
-blake martin
-aaron eckerman
-andy
-lyle
-poojohn wand
-yana
-william
-chad
-cory
-alex
-and last but not least, my mom (and the whole loving family)

life is good when you know jesus forgives. i need to be forgiven of a lot of things. god bless. thanks for reading. tune in for new tunes.

-dan

-ps-we're playing rcktwn friday so be there.

So i'm in ohio. it's been forever since i've been home. i was so pumped to get home, and i'm really glad i'm here, but i already miss the boro. it's so easy to get in a rhythm down there and i kinda like it.

i've been listening to paramore for like 20 hours. i love them. they're really driven yet you could sell it anyone cause the vocals are so freakin amazing.

we played with joneszetta. fun, but a long night. my brother and sister came in town to watch and that meant the world to me. Matt did lights and they were really good. He's my best friend.

whenever i go home i miss where i'm not. i got inspired and finished a song idea jaime and i had been working on today, and then out of the blue wrote a whole other song. ohio inspires me to write music i guess.

i miss jamband. jason and jaime are two of my best friends and i miss playing music with them. they're really goofy and i'm high strung, so it works out i guess. i just need to chill out sometimes.

i'm going to see underoath two nights in a row next weekend. woot!

i am selfish and i hate it. i just see other musicians "making it" and i want it so bad. not to be famous or have everyone know me. my calling is to tell people about jesus, and i feel bad when it comes to talking about money, but without it we can't go anywhere, but God will provide. i want to play music in a touring band. that's all i want other than pleasing the lord. worship leading is fun, but my heart isn't there. i'll do it from time to time, but i get bored with the music and a lot of churchs focus on the wrong things.

let's hope i write 10 new songs this week.

i love you.

van halen is good

there's been a lot of drama between our band since saturday night. everyone has mixed reviews about our show, mainly from others opinions, but i can honestly say it's the craziest i've ever gone on stage and the probably the most fun. i got down after people started saying stuff, but ya know what? i liked it, if you didn't, don't come next time. if i go to a show and i don't like the music. for lack of better words im gonna use the best 5th grade slang ever...DUH, i'm not gonna pay to see the band i didn't like again. if you didn't like it, talk to Ted, cause he loved it and had just as much fun as we did.

i get to go home may 7th for a week. it's the first time i've been home since Christmas. I'm more than excited.

we play with Jonezetta may 5th, it's gonna be fun. it's with our bro's in Victory At Last. We're going on tour with them this summer and a band called Lenny. All i know is we're gonna booked as a package, and that sounds cool, so i'll roll with it.

thanks for reading blogs.

God loves everyone, no matter what they do, so get used to it. Don't make excuses. he loves ya and you can't change it.

Peace, and go see plea friday and saturday.

-Dan-O

Happy easter! For those who don't know, it's the day Jesus rose from the dead.

I haven't blogged in a while and a lot has changed. Jamband is working on their new EP and i love the way it's coming so far. It's way different sounding than our old stuff but it's a good different. It's harder but still poppy.

We're playing the Anchor April 21st so you should come. Sophia is also headlining a show at the anchor apr. 14th so go to that too.

If you read blogs that's cool. thanks for reading this.

I'm getting tired of people talking about others. Get over it. We all mess up and we all do things we shouldn't. We need to stop talking about others behing their back. Who am I to judge others? Why should I try and fix the speck in my brother's eye when I have a whole freakin tree in my own? I truly believe we are called here to help eachother, but just because one person does something wrong, that doesn't make anyone better than anyone else.

God bless.

-Dan

(ps-listen to a plea for purging and sophia)

first off, crazy weekend. so i decided to go snowboarding with garrett and brendan from hithitsott and brendans' two roomates in north carolina this weekend. good idea for sure. so garrett has this thing named linda and she is a gps device. so i missed one turn, and she took us for the ride of our life. here's a series of events (in order) that made the trip rad:

- driving with bros to north carolina in my van

- missing one turn

- going through the mountains on one lane gravel roads while being followed for 20 minutes by a psychopath (on a part of Linda's plan)

- brendan yelling at 2 deer

- about 10 minutes after him yelling at deer, i mention, "remember when brendan yelled at the deer?"

-about 3 seconds later (in all honesty this couldn't have been set up any better) 2 deer (i think the same ones) run infront of the van. i miss the first one but hit the second, sending it flying off to the left. but check it, it did like a 360 backflip, hit the ground, and kept running. pretty rad.

- one thing you all need to know about Linda, she can be a little indecisive. you see, with Linda, you just follow the red line on the screen and your fine. but what happens if you come to a fork in the road and they're both red? well I went right. then Linda re-calculates and tells us to turn right again, takes us down this scary back road, only to end up at the scarriest barn i've ever seen in the back of the woods with cars all around it. i was so frightened for about 5 more hours after that.

- getting the hotel and not falling asleep because adam snores like he's getting paid

- snowboarding was rad

- drive home, get some taco bell, all safe

Let's just say im really glad i went on this trip. There will be more to come for sure.

God Bless,
-Dan

ps-Rocketown Feb. 24th at 5 o'clock. be there. it'll be just plain fun.

pss-if your name is linda, i'll be your friend, it' just a joke

i wanna write an album with that as the title. "their hammer. my nails. his hands." would be pretty self explanatory. physically, i wasn't there hammering away, but spiritually my sins are the nails going into his hands and feet.

everyone who would probably ever read this, if there's any, know that music is a huge part of my life. let's just say i've built myself up to be let down again. this has nothing to do with jamBand, so don't worry about that. i just put things in my mind and dream a lot about what i think god wants me to be doing, and obviously i'm wrong cause a lot of those dreams don't come true. i need to be content.

i want to play every genre of music (minus rap and country). i actually miss playing metal/hardcore/whatever stuff. to me it's fun and passionate.

i've been getting into 90's music. i should have never left it. goo goo dolls, matchbox 20, and third eye blind are good. don't argue, cause you know it's true.

i shouldn't really blog, cause no one reads it, but i guess i like to document how i'm feeling at certain times.

god can help through anything. everyone has different problems. i struggle with lust. im praying that will change. please do the same.

i've been to the gyro cafe like 5 times since i've been back. it's delicious.

we're playing at rocketown, and that should be rad. it's on feb. 24th. come if you want. i would if i were you.

does anyone ever feel like they say their a christian, but feel guilty when they're not thinking about god at all times? i try my best to use moral judgement, but i lack in thinking about god enough. i know god is my everything, but i'm sometimes worried cause i don't think God 24/7. i'm sure he's disgusted with how a lot of people act, and i know i'm one of them. i need to love more and stop being judgemental. again...disgusting.

im thankful for jesus, and when i was talking to a friend the other day, i told them i wouldn't care too much if i died. i obviously want to stay here as long as possible to fullfill what god wants me to do, but i know i'm gonna go to heaven, and if i died it would just mean that jesus wanted to chill with me sooner. no one be worried, i'm planning on staying on this earth for a long time.

my classes this semester are really hard.
thanks if you actually read this.

god bless you.

so im in ohio for break. i like it a lot cause i get to see my family. i just got back from london, which was really weird. i really appreciate the chance to go and everything but i really didn't like the city that much. i never got over the jetlag and our hotel was pretty crappy. im not saying i'll never go back there, but it would take some pretty hard convincing to get me there again.
as cities burn lost 2 members, which kinda sucks. and colin is now playing bass, which looks really weird.
i really miss my jamBAND dudes. we're gonna write a whole new record and its gonna be kinda hard. when i play music with them it is the least stressful thing in the world. i've never had as much fun playing in my life as when we play. and it seems we're getting on a lot of shows, which is really good. we might even do a tour with hit hit sott this summer, which would blow my mind. they are the nicest dudes in the world.
i have a fever.
i really like the new killswitch album. and surprisingly, unlike a lot of other people, i really like the new senses fail album too.
i love everyone a lot, and i really miss the boro. god bless.

so as of wednesday night, i've been playing with a new band. it's calls JAMband. it's pretty fun. the dudes are amazing and it's really an answer to what i've been praying for. god's workin, that's for sure. amazingly enough, our first show is this wednesday with our friends house in the hole in the side of a tree. they're really cool and everyone should check them out. chasing victory is also playing that show so i'm really pumped.

on another note, i'm going to london in 2 weeks and im really excited seeing as i've never been there. I also get to go home and see my family for almost a month so that'll be pretty rad too.

thats it. you're done.

god bless,

-dan