well, it's about time we came out with it.  this is exploding is on a very long break/hiatus. 

most would go as far to say that we're broken up.  They wouldn't be to far from the truth save for the fact that

a. we'd hop on the chance to play any show that would pay us $500 or more because we're all insanely broke and the gods of debt frown upon us daily and collect interest.

b. we're not really at each others throats, so it's not a complete "Hey F@% You" kind of break up that most people are accustomed to.  It's not an uncommon occurence to see the three (sometimes four or five if you're counting ex members) of us hanging out and having a good time.

the whole story as far as I know it is we finished making a record, and then decided that insted of releasing it we needed to make another one that was even more of a statement of where we were as a band currently.  After 5 months of tinkering and making little demos here and there it became apparent that there was no current statement we could make as a band.

I could sit and place the blame on any one of us, or all of us, or go through detail upon detail and reason upon reason as to why we couldn't come up with any new music that we were all into, but the bottom line is we just sat down one day and realized that a. our hearts weren't in it like they once were and as a result b. we couldn't make music that all of us felt was up to the standard we'd set as this is exploding. 

it's been a little weird cause we didn't know how to end it for awhile.  Do we put out some of the unreleased record, do we put it all out, do we just put out everything that never got released to empty out the vault?  Is their a need to have a last show?  All of this was tossed around for a few months and I have to take the wrap for this personally, but I don't think we need to have a last official show for now.  It doesn't feel particularly right to me to put this is exploding to bed completely or even say goodbye for now.  If it's not over, then we'll be back, and if it's over then what are we milking it for.

Regardless of the massive debt, the broken tour vans, the shows where people ignored us and/or chased us out of the clubs, this is exploding has been a major part of my life and without it there's little chance that I would be the musician that I am and it's very unlikely that'd I'd have met all the amazing people we've had a chance to meet in all the towns we've played and through this here networking site.

to everyone who has been waiting patiently for a new this is exploding record, or a new this is exploding tour I'm sorry that we can't give that to you, I hope you'll understand when you start a band or any relationship that you can't count on how you'll change in a 5 year time period.   I'm sure you can agree that it'd be senseless for us to go through the motions or attempt to put something out that we're all not 100% on.

there's way to many people to thank for the success that this is exploding has had, I couldn't even list 1% of the people that were important to us, so I won't even try.  That fact that you took the time to listen, to spread the music, to believe in us for any period of time is completely beyond my comprehension and you'll never know how much I and the other fellas in the band appreciate that.

I think I've touched on every point I can touch on right now.  the jist of it is this is exploding is done for now, and perhaps for quite some time.  While we were around we made an EP and an LP of music that I'm still extremely proud of and we played a ton of shows that I had an insane amount of fun at and have given me some of the greatest experiences of my life.

here's the part in the farewell email about the new projects that you'll most likely skip over, but we'd prefer you didn't. 

I (joshua) have had a solo record out for sometime now that is availible for download (tips accepted and appreciated by not required) at www.thejoshuaweb.net

currently, all of this is explodings "pinkerton" set on halloween is up for download on the www.thejoshuaweb.net as well (for the month of november).

Brian and Dan are working on a few projects together and seperately and to the best of my knowledge these projects aren't available to preview on the vastness of cyberspace at this time of writing.  As these projects come to fruition I (or they) will post updates on this myspace page from time to time.

for those of you that have made it this far I will give you a small treat.  for those of you that didn't know, there was a site I had up for a little while that I sent out to people celebrating birthdays called www.happyfreakingbirthdayfromtie.com  .  This site contains 2 different live recordings that are a decent quality and feature a bunch of rare and unreleased material, and of course, insanely witty stage banter that will make you eager to pay $100 or more for our reunion concerts in the next decade or so.  The contract on the site is running out soon so when it goes down it goes down, so get the recordings while you can.

chin up kind reader, don't be so down.  We're just a band that made music we believed in for a short time and we'll continue to do so seperately, for now.

in the coming weeks I will be posting the occasional music rarity and blogging about random stories from this is exploding's sordid past.  It'll still be a good time.  Oh yeah, and when we do get together for our big reunion tour and charge $100 a head for a ticket, we can call ourselves "this is exploiting".  I've been waiting 2 years to tell that joke, and it's still not that good.

thank you immensly for your support and for the use of your precious ears.  All the best to you and yours in the coming years and who knows, if the time is right, maybe we'll see you sooner then later.

the sun will set, the sun will rise

-joshua