Hey
guys, Anthony here with your GP Blog!
So
I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated you all personally. Things have
been pretty rough in camp GP as you may have heard,
but I’m here to dispel some of the more prominent rumors I’ve been hearing.
I’ll start with the small, and get to the bigger ones at the end.
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Rumor:
I heard that Jon, Nick, John and Mark really left the band? Is that true?
The
Truth: Yes. John, Jon and Nick have left the band for greener pastures and
we’ll miss them very much. Also, who the fuck is Mark?
Rumor:
The “album” you guys have been working on doesn’t really exist; you’ve
been lying to us this whole time!
The
Truth: Oh no ladies and gentlemen, I assure you this album—however incomplete,
does exist. We’ve spent far too much time and money on it, but it’s there and
it will be coming out… eventually. There are some people outside of the band
that have heard the tracks and whether or not they were being serious, or just
nice as to not offend, they have enjoyed what they have heard.
Rumor:
I saw a video online of Anthony dressing up as Darth Vader to scare a Five year
old Child. Is he really that big of a jerk, or has Joaquin Phoenix just really
let himself go?
The
Truth: It’s true. I am a jerk. Here’s the proof:
Rumor: That last
rumor had nothing to do with GP, you just wanted more hits on your YouTube
video, didn’t you Anthony?
The
truth: That is correct.
Rumor:
The Guilty Parties broke up. They’re toast. Peace bitches, they out!
The
Truth: Okay, so this is the big one. Short Answer for those who want to skip to
the end: NOPE!
But
for those of you who need to know, yes, we almost did.
Here’s
what happened:
In
late May, right before we were scheduled to record horns Mark (Trumpet) decided
that not only that he was quitting the band, but that he would let the music
Bobby (and Josh) painstakingly wrote out for him get thrown away; meaning that
we not only had no trumpet, but no trumpet music to teach a replacement for the
studio. We hit a stagnant point, not knowing what to do. We were in a bind
because we needed to finish the horns before the end of June or it would be
pushed back to September at the earliest. Things took a turn for the worse when
John Martinez informed me on the day of the first horn session that he wouldn’t
be recording or playing with us anymore. So we took the hit and went into the
studio with just Bobby and James on horns. We managed to finish over half the
album, but there’s much work to be done.
After
the recording disasters, we were faced with the steep challenge of playing the
Ska in the Park show with only one full band practice in a month and no
Trombone as bobby went out of town, and a Trumpet player who only had a few
days to prepare for his first show as a GP. We had a couple of guys who didn’t
want to do the show because they felt we wouldn’t be properly prepared, but we
voted to soldier on and rock some faces like only GP can. Then the now infamous
dodger game incident occurred and we had to cancel late Friday night.
After
that had transpired, I was bummed, but I got a call from Jon early Saturday
morning asking if we could do an acoustic set. Several hours later when all
remaining GPs were contacted and organized we decided we could pull it off. I
called the guy in charge of Ska in the Park(ing Lot.) and he said to show up
with out gear and he’d try to squeeze us in. Unfortunately there wasn’t room
for us. Arguments between band members broke out and we all left steamed. Everyone
was pretty mad at me because I promised them we would be put on the bill. I’m
sorry to everyone we disappointed by not playing, but there wasn’t much we
could do.
So
after all that stuff went down Nick called me and told me he quit. There we
were without a drummer and fresh off a couple of disasters. We decided to hold
a band meeting after Bob got back home to the ....US.... to see what we wanted to do as
far as playing goes. After bob got back Jeff left to do Marine reserve training
in ..Yuma.. Az. so we were again incomplete for a
couple of weeks. During that time Jon decided it was for the best that he leave
the band and GP hit its lowest point probably ever.
We
were down to five members: Josh, James, Jeff, Bob and myself. We weren’t sure
of what was to become of GP. Did we really have it in us to push on after
almost half the band left in a period of 6 weeks? There was some serious talk
about leaving GP to die while we started something completely new and
different, or maybe changing our name and moving on with some of GP’s new music
in what would be essentially a new band with some familiar songs. Even I was so
down on the subject I was thinking of just letting go and quitting GP (Thanks
to a certain young lady who advised against doing so, I changed my mind on the
subject). It was a confusing time and with everyone scattered around the states
and out of contact with each other we decided to hold a band meeting last
night.
At
the meeting last night we came to a conclusion after much debate. We decided to
finish the album and stay together as the one, the only Guilty Parties. We’ve
all been in the band off and on for the past 6 years and we’re not just going
to give up that easy. You guys have been too good to us for us not to give it
another shot.
We’re
not going to be starting over, but things are going to change. Bobby, our
beloved Trombone player, will no be our half-deaf drummer once again. Jeff will
now be the only guitarist in the band and Josh will be picking up his sax again
for live shows. We also added our friend Eric on trumpet to accompany James and
Josh as part of our more compact horn section. We also plan on writing a lot
more. We have always been slow at writing, but we’re hoping with fewer members
we will actually be able to agree on how a song should sound and what direction
our music will take.
So
fear not kiddos, the GPs are alive and well and we’ll be able to fit on more
stages! And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll come out and support us so
we don’t fade away as a distant memory!
Peace,
Anthony