Friends, fans and the rest of you,
It is with sadness that I must announce the end of S. Burns.
We made it five long years as a trio, or six if you want to count the dark, drum machine era. For trivia buffs, my records indicate 112 live appearances under the name S. Burns; I'm pretty proud of these figures.
But I'm not even going to attempt to eulogize my own band. Instead, allow me to offer my explanation for disbanding the group.
The reason is simple: 5+ years of struggling for crumbs of attention will wear on you. Despite our best efforts, we could never convince anyone to give a shit about anything we were doing. Now, I'm sounding jaded for sure but let me be sincere for a minute...
Recently we had our big chance to play in front of a sizeable audience, made up of Greensboro's hip, music-going masses. Already down in the dumps about previous shows, I figured this was do or die. If we couldn't hold a crowd when it's already supplied, then when will we ever? Six acts went on before us, all receiving the respect and attention of a room full. The same story applies for the bands that followed. But then there was our performance, where practically everyone chose to never even set foot in the room while we were playing. It was like everyone had a predisposition to hate us. I must acknowledge and thank our loyal friends who were there supporting us, but beyond them, we got a massive cold shoulder. Of course, this especially embarrassing night didn't bring on the breakup alone. It did, however, suck the last bit of hope from me, cementing certain themes in our story arc. Am I supposed to grovel at the Chuck Taylors of hipsters to succeed? We never had the luxury of a scene. And I'm convinced that's all that matters anymore.
Guess I couldn't help but take it all personally over the years. As self-conscious as I am, I stood naked 112 times playing and singing my words, thoughts and feelings to people hoping they would connect with my catharsis. And I know in the grand scheme of things, many did. However, we were largely rejected, ignored, deemed unworthy, and labeled irrelevant. And I don't think the musical community should feel like High School.
On behalf of my bandmates and myself, I want to sincerely thank those of you that did stand by us. For everyone who paid covers to see us, bought our crap and spoke kind words, it was truly appreciated. And thanks to the venues that have had us and the bands that have shared stages with us.
Where will we go? What will we do? Seth is still going to play with
Silver Bullet, so please support those a-holes. Carlos will probably continue collecting TMNT memorabilia, and I'm not sure about myself. I've still got to release all this... grease... somehow. So you will most certainly hear from me again.
Today the "S." will stand for "Sayonara". See yous guys on the reunion circuit in 2024!
-Brandon Adams