Hi everyone, it's time for a long-overdue update.
The decision to end the band didn't come lightly, but it's the right decision and we're happy that we can put the band to rest and move on to other things. This end has nothing to do with the usual "creative differences" stuff and no one is leaving to "go solo". This past September Jennifer came to the decision that she no longer wanted to be a professional musician. Perhaps as a hobby, sure, but she no longer had the desire to be rock star and tour the world and give Tori Amos foot baths. We discussed her realization and she agreed to continue on with the band for the foreseeable future, hoping that it was only temporary and she would come to love playing music again. In November we recruited Matt Beechhold to handle the drum duties for the band (we had been looking for a year) and played our first and only gig with Matt at The Cave in Chapel Hill. I had a good time at the show and even with the trainwrecks I thought we did a good job. For Jenn, it was a completely disconnected performance where she felt she wasn't even present. The week after the show she informed Matt and I that she wanted to take an indefinite and serious break from the band with the intent of hopefully coming back. Matt and I continued to work on new material and eventually started playing with a guitarist, Matt Fasnacht, while I moved back to bass.
After months of serious consideration about her place in the band, and music, Jenn finally decided to leave the group once and for all. As she wrote to me, " ...My active involvement with the band is at an end. This needs to happen for a couple of reasons. 1. It's dragging on, and that is because of me thinking I'm going to find some magic bullet that will inspire me to be musical again. I can't put a timeline on something like that. 2. The lack of that timeline is holding you and Matt to something, holding you back from other things." Jenn and I met for beers a few days later and decided that the end of Protean Mean was something we both agreed with. For my part, I cannot imagine doing PM without Jenn and it wouldn't be right at all to continue on with the name and not have her singing the songs. The band began as a partnership with Jenn and me, so if one of us isn't there anymore, it's not Protean Mean. Beech is also in agreement with this idea.
So...the band ends, there are no hard feelings, we're still friends and I'll always consider Jenn to be my sister. We made some great music together and I'm really proud of the songs we wrote and performed together. The band existed officially for 3 years and 5 days and I had a great time doing it. What's next? I have joined forces with the Matts (Beechhold and Fasnacht) and we've already started our new venture (only 1 official rehearsal, so there's no name yet). We'll probably do a few of the PM tunes, but in different arrangements. Keep informed of future developments for the new band by checking in at my website,
cheevyjames.com. For those of you who are Jenn's friends, she'll also keep you updated on her future artistic projects.
I would like to give some thank-yous at this point -
first to Jenn, for being a great friend and musical partner.
to Matt for having boundless enthusiasm for the band
thank you to our spouses, Julie and Eric for the endless support
thank you to Josh Stohl for playing the drum tracks on our demo from early last year. He did a magnificent job and brought out things I didn't know were possible in the music.
thank you to all who came out to see us play. We really appreciated it, every time.
Extra Special Thank You to Bryan Younts. Besides our spouses, Bryan came to more shows than anyone. He made it out to just about every one. A dedicated fan and great friend, thank you.
This email was approved by Jenn and she wanted to include the following thanks:
"Thanks to you and to Matt for being patient and for understanding my need for time away to make the decision. I'm looking forward to being a fan of your new venture."
Our myspace site will continue to exist, at least until myspace goes bankrupt. The 2008 demo will continue to live here in listening form. If you'd like to download the songs (they're free!) head to
http://cheevyjames.com/music/protean-mean-curiosities. Proteanmean.com will soon redirect you back here. Do some searching, there will continue to be live videos from us on youtube.
I think that's it. Thank you for listening.
On behalf of Protean Mean,
James Hines