For the first time in 6 years I have come home from a tour and not been immersed in booking another pending tour. For the first time in 6 years Die Young has not had a show, or a lot of shows for that matter, listed on our page. It's kind of a slap in the face for me, because for the past 6 years Die Young has literally been my entire life, so it is awkward trying to adjust to not always being in the van or being able to count on an upcoming time for me and the dudes to be in the van. But all things come to an end, and punk bands, I believe, are not meant to last forever.
In Fall of 2002, when Nealy, Gibson, Rayhaan, and Gomer (of all people! haha), and I got together in Gomer's garage to start putting together the songs which would become our first demo, we had no intention of building a career or playing this music forever. For most of us, we just wanted to play some pissed off songs and see the world, and quick!
And I must admit, we have been very fortunate in that capacity. Over the course of 6 years, we have played in close to 30 countries across 4 continents, and we've toured North America so many times I feel like I no longer need directions to most venues, friends' houses, or restaurants that we like in the cities that we have frequented. In a lot of ways, I feel Die Young has crammed about 12 years of experience into 6, and I know that everyone who has been involved and devoted their lives to this with me (most notably James Rynearson, Chris "Hasp" Gentile, Jeff Williams, Kayhan Vaziri, and RJ Noel) is proud of that. Through good and bad, it has been one hell of a ride.
We've been talking about drawing things to a close for some time now. It's actually been sort of a long, drawn-out process, because we are still trying to get what we want out of this band before we lay it to rest completely and properly. We still have some international tour plans for the upcoming year, but they are brief excursions by our standards. After these tours, we will return to for one final show in Texas in the Fall of 2009. Between now and then, everyone is generally going their separate ways, playing in different bands, working, or even going back to school. I wish we could return to Asia for one last tour, or even play parts of Canada that we haven't been able to play for the past 2 years due to being banned for 2 consecutive years, but it is just not in the cards at this point.
Half of you reading this have probably played in this band at some point haha. Dudes such as Jake Rynearson, Mike Fury (especially Jake and Fury), Randall "Rando" Watts, Ryan Brown, Chris de la Cruz, Wade Allisson, and Tony Norris all helped to keep Die Young going in times when we were short of a full lineup. Thanks, dudes!
But of course, we owe many thanks to those of you who have supported us over the years--those who have booked our shows, paid to see our shows, bought merch from us, sang along, danced, or those who let us into their homes. Chances are that we have probably slept on your couch or floor, or taken a shower at your house. We can't convey the sense of gratitude we feel for all the hospitality we have received from so many of you over the years.
Regardless of whether people liked what we are about or not, or whether people liked what I've had to say or not, I promise you that we gave you our best, and we've been proud to represent Texas Hardcore everywhere we've been in our travels.
--Daniel