Since we just put a new song up with Josh Gilbert's vocals on the chorus, I thought I would explain the story of why Clint is gone and where Josh Gilbert came from...

Clint wanted to pursue a lifelong career that he could be passionate about since he could not picture himself being in the band forever once he got married. His wedding was in March and he's now able to stay home with his wife. For those of you who are just finding out now, we've been playing without him since November 2006 when we started writing for "An Ocean Between Us."

It is important for our fans to know that this has not changed the band in any way and has ultimately put both As I Lay Dying and Clint in a better place. Our first recordings, "Frail Words Collapse", and "Shadows are Security" were all written and recorded without Clint, so the new CD isn't any different in that respect. Although Clint was in the band during "Shadows are Security" and we will always be thankful for his great live energy, he was not involved in the songwriting process. Therefore, he had a hard time learning the songs in short amount of time we had while recording. Phil ended up playing bass, and our friend Dave Arthur (who is in an amazing band called Kings
to You) did a guest vocal appearance on all of the clean singing. Dave is credited on the record along with other great guest vocalists like Dan Weyandt from Zao.

The four of us (Phil, Jordan, Nick and I) started writing "An Ocean Between Us" in late 2006. At the same time, we were looking for a new bass player. We weren't able to find Josh Gilbert until after we had finished writing, but he was able to make it to San Diego in time to record both bass and clean vocals on the new record. It feels good to know that the person recording bass and clean singing on our new record will be same person playing those songs live. Our guitar players have always played bass on every record... until now!

That's the story. You can read on if you want to hear more about the tryout process...

Josh's old band was called This Endearing and previously Gate City. Their manager was a good friend of mine and he'd sent me the demo to see if I was interested in signing the band to my label. I told him that they band seemed pretty talented but I wanted to sit on it and hear more songs whenever they recorded again. About a month later, I got a call because This Endearing had broken up. I told their manager that I really liked the voice of the guitar player who also did the clean singing, so I asked if I could give him a call about trying out for As I Lay Dying.

Before Josh was able to make it to San Diego, we tried out about 10 other guys and we had even talked about having our old friend Dave Arthur play with us. Once Josh finally got to San Diego, he really stood out, so we asked him if he could be ready in a week to come out with us on tour. It was that tour that solidified the fact that Josh was the right guy for us. When we returned, Josh packed his things and moved out San Diego just in time to record "An Ocean Between Us."

See you all soon on tour! By the way, our new video for "Nothing Left" might air on TV as early as the 11th. Look out for new songs. The new record is very diverse.

tim