The Fourth of July is a special day in American history, but to us Derelicts it has other meanings. I recorded my first album on the fourth of July with Joe Wilkinson and The Bleeding Hearts about 12 years ago. We were in Mixolydian Studios in NJ for over a week cutting tracks and getting fried. I learned a great deal in that one week. It was a great experience that would help me immensely in the future when I recorded with The Derelicts.

  The Fourth means more to us than just independance and rock-n-roll. I lost my best friend and our then singer in the band (Mystic Caravan 1992) Brian Callahan on the 4th of July back in '92. Brian and I were really tight ( I was one of the last to see him on that fateful night) and it's been 17 yrs since we sat and smoked, but there's nary a week goes by that I don't toast his name and his memory. He was a tough son-of-a-bitch and we still miss him dearly. This year the Derelicts lost our best friend and part-time roommate/security guy Chris Martin. The 4th was always special because we'd all go up to Chris's Vermont aboad, to shoot guns, do chemicals, ride bikes and just get crazy up on Freedom Mountain. Now that Chris has past, the mountain just don't feel the same. Neither does the Homestead. Chris was our brother and his passing is a bitter pill to swallow. 2009 has been a rough year, full of ups and downs for us, we've drank a river of whiskey and the blues still remain. The Derelicts are hanging tough, but the 4th always makes me blue, more so this year than in years past. People say to me, hey why do you guys sing and play so many blues and depressing songs. I tell them life isn't always a party, if you've lost as much as we have you'd be blue too. By playing these songs we remember our fallen breathren. 

  Cheers and God bless all our fallen comrades. We will never forget you......
                             
                                            Chris Martin
                                            Brian Callahan
                                            Ted Vanderbeck
                                            Travis Digatani  
                                         Cheryl and Lisa Burress,

                                            and all American service men and women who have died fighting for our beautiful Cosmic America............