Hey everyone!

It's been awhile since we've done anything all that noticeable but have no fear, we'll be hitting the road this Spring with our new album in hand (FINALLY- YESYAYOMGWAHOOTHISISSOAWESOME)!

So a lot of bands/businesses/people seem to go around blanket-adding everyone they can to their friends to get their counters up. Maybe they just do it to look more legit for people wondering if they're popular or not (in hopes to attract some major record deal or some such nonsense), maybe they do it hoping that a small percentage of those new "friends" will have a genuine interest. Maybe they really hope everyone who adds them will fall madly in love.

I can't say I know everyone's motives, I'm sure they differ all across the board, but I am sure that I really can't stand it. To each their own, but it's not for us and to be honest, every time I see it happen (which is almost every time I log on here) I probably lose a few more seconds off my life from the slight increase in blood pressure.

That said, I figured it would be useful(?) to post on here our "rules" for this whole crazy Myspace world of friends.

* We never send e-mails or friend frequests to people/bands without first having met them in person, been referred to them by someone we already know, or actually taken the time to view their profile and see if it makes sense to do so first.

* Whenever someone adds us we always make sure to e-mail them before friending them. This not only makes sure they aren't bots or someone trying to sell us stuff, but it makes the whole impersonal process of being linked through the internet a little less ridiculous and a little more connected.

* Whenever a band adds us, we also send them an e-mail. If we haven't met in person and don't get an e-mail back, we're happily clicking the DENY button. I can say without exaggeration, that we have denied hundreds upon hundreds of bands, people, and "people" for these basic reasons and I think they're pretty fair. If you can't take the time to even introduce yourself then wtf...that's all I can even bother taking the time to say- plain ol' W. t. F.

*And lastly, we do our best to respond to every e-mail (or comment) we receive if the messge seems to instigate a response. We certainly appreciate every bit of time you spend talking to or listening to us and try to return the favor however possible. Even without an e-mail or conversation, everything we do in this band is with you all in mind; we hope you like it and we love it when you do.

Perhaps nothing is more rewarding than seeing someone in the audience singing the words to a song we haven't even recorded yet; or that someone hears our song and you know that what you were saying with it- they get it; or that the new thing you just finished making and were so excited about- someone else is excited about it too.

We like knowing that even if we haven't met everyone on our friends page in person, even if we don't know them by name, even if we never do, that at least they're people who actually give a damn and hopefully they know that we give a damn back.

I don't know if this makes us or our page more "legit" but I do like that it reduces the amount of phony, bullshit that blankets this business. And yes, even on the tiny, local, under-the-radar indie level we're at, this whole music thing is a business to us and in some way it is to everyone else as well. We like knowing that we take to it with as much integrity and honesty as possible, instead of treating everything as just an opportuinty to take advantage of in favor of bettering ourselves. The irony (tragedy for the melodramatic) of all the bullshitting people do all the time with music and, in this case, with Myspace adding is that whatever "betterment" it helps you attain, in the end, will be tainited if not entirely artificial.

Myspace, in all its terminology and corporate influence might feel a bit silly, even completely ludicrous at times. But the fact is we, and most of the people/bands on here, spend a great deal of time and energy using this page. Our shows are posted here, advertising is done here, we meet people on here, we stay in touch with people we know "irl" on here, we sometimes even book though here. So to dismiss the entire use of the site as stupid and pointless to take seriously, I think, is both incorrect and insulting. We spend real time from our real lives talking to real people through here. We use this site to post, advertise and even set up real shows. We post real songs we took a lot of time to write and record on here. Maybe it isn't pen on paper or the person's voice on the other end of the line, maybe it's a Myspace message instead of being sent to a yahoo e-mail extension, but it's as real as anything...like J-Lo.

I hate the term "fans" because it sounds so completely impersonal- commercial. Like the people who like what you do are just products, consumers. Of course there is something to be sold and bought, of course there is a commercial aspect, and the term "friends" can be a bit too conveniently trite; but that's what all of you reading this are referred to as on this site, and hopefully it's better understood what that means to us.

Of course, it'd be impossible to be genuinely, great, close friends with the hundreds (and some day thousands) of people on our Myspace page. We do, however, believe that if nothing else, if you read this and we never exchange a word in person, or even a word via e-mail, you know that whatever level of interest or appreciation you may have for us or our shit, we reciprocate that and we are extremely grateful for every single person, band, venue, and place that has helped us to get to wherever we are, have been, and will be. Even if we never move out of the basements and VFW halls and empty coffee shops, we know it's been real and goddammit it's been fun.

Fo' realz, friends.

- Jesse & Grey Milk