Ok ill try to keep the story short but I could write a book on it. I get a lot of messages asking about the story behind it. A lot of people know the general idea but I will tell you about writing it and everything.

If you didn't already know the song is written about our bass player, Brad, He died from cancer a little over a year ago.

We were on tour in Seattle when we took Brad into the ER for what we thought was a bad cold, maybe pneumonia at the worst. It turned out his left lung was totally collapsed by cancer.

We took all the money we had and flew him home, then had to drive from Seattle to Cincinnati....which is no joke. Thats about a 4 day drive.

We got to about Utah and realized, we are totally broke. So we continued to Denver and ran out of money. The tour we were on was in Denver that day, so we went to the show and played acoustic. Took donations and raised about 1,000 dollars (enough for gas home).

That night I became very very sick (pneumonia from sleeping in the van, in the snow, in salt lake city).

A fan we met a year ago on Warped Tour named Sarah let us come to her house. Her mom took really good care of us, made us a huge dinner, let us hang out as long as we wanted before the rest of the 24 hour drive back. It was the longest hardest drive ever knowing our best friend was home with out us, dying.

(also despite a lot of "industry" peoples advice, we dropped all our up coming tours, and a lot more. We get a lot of crap about how we honor our friends death. So the true story is we gave up so much to be with the one we loved, didn't question it, and would do it all over again)

We drove home, and than sat with Brad for 8 months. That boy was remarkable. He had a lung removed, brain surgery, heart surgery, chemo over and over....He would still come out and play shows even with staples in his head and side. Continually defied what the dr's said about how long he would live.

After 8 months and a week long HARD battle, he died. (Again I could write books on the things that happened in those 8 months, they will effect the rest of my life)

We spent the next year trying to figure out where to go from there. We still played shows and kept writing like we had never written before. We did a few charities and a memorial show/CD. Anything we can to keep his memory alive and keep him a part of all we do.

We decided to write a song about him and to name it "Seattle Skies" to represent 1. the night in seattle we took him to the ER and ended our tour, 2. the sky there is always over cast and sad. So it just made sense.

We wrote the music, and had the name. But we couldn't write lyrics. We tried, time and time again. Always starting from scratch, getting frustrated because we couldn't find the words or direction to take it. We ended up in the studio this last December, recording our new album. We knew this song had to make it on.

We recorded all the music, and every other song on the CD. The lyrics to Seattle Skies were the last thing to be done.

We sat and wrote it line by line, while singing it in the studio. Never having heard the song completed ever until a couple days later when we were going to mix it.

The first listen through with the band and our producer was pretty intense. Everyone just listened and kind of watched to see if anyone would cry. It was one of those moments where if some one would have cried everyone would of. Even our Manager had red eyes listening through it with us.

After the song ended we just sat there like wow, that was exactly what we were going for.

And that is the story. We wanted a song to capture the emotions, that even though we miss him it is a beautiful thing. Even though we cherish the memories, we still think about him not being here every second. To write a song that showed the high and low of losing some one you love. The high being, remembering the times with them and the love you shared...and the low being lost here with out them. We have a lot of hidden meanings in this song, and lines that apply to very specific situations, but I know it can relate to anyone. We hope that the song encourages other people going through similar situations. They aren't alone. And we pride ourselves on being down to earth so if some one needs to talk we are here to listen.

People often ask what does "Close To Home" mean?  Through the years I have found lots of reasons for the name, but the strongest to me is still writing songs like this. The one's that hit close to home, that capture something deep and personal. Real life, expression, isn't that what music is supposed to be about? To many "artists" have lost sight of the passion and made it hard to see when people are sincere.

Thanks for listening, and feel free to message us as always. We know so many out there have lost ones they love. Brad was the third friend for me to lose. We love and appreciate our fans, friends, and family like no other.

Josh.CTH