It’s been a while since I made a positive post that wasn’t some nerdy tech thing so I’m gonna give this a shot.

There are things happening. They are good.

First, the studio is moving. As convenient as working out of my basement is, it is a miracle I am able to get the quality I do thanks to its dimensions. It is too unprofessional, too small, too hot, too… roachy. I have good gear and I do good work, this is an important step to bringing my quality up even higher. I looked around a bit and found an amazing warehouse space in North Philly. Right size, right price, right distance from home. It’s big — 1000 square feet. Deposit was paid a few weeks ago and I actually need to drop a rent check off.

The setup is going to be simple for now. A decent-sized control room and a big live room, huge ceilings, old wood floors. The rooms are being built by a guy who is really fantastic, one of those people who is seemingly great at everything they do. In Quincy’s case, he is working as a carpenter full-time but also has two studios of his own, produces artists who travel quite far for him, fixes old cars and scooters, plays a few instruments, builds and mods all kinds of recording shit… He grew out of metal a long time ago but seems to be excited to be working with me on this. I’m gonna do my best to pull him back in!

I purchased all the lumber for construction last week and yesterday, we brought it all over. The only downside to this location is that it’s a few floors up and there is no elevator. The stairs aren’t too bad, though — 9 at a time, then a landing, then another 9. I’ve definitely played at places where loading in and out was trickier. Yesterday, though, we had to carry all of the lumber up from the ground, and it was a bit of an ordeal. We were aided by my friends Shawn and Steve, who, without complaining, worked their asses off with me and Quincy to get that crap up there. Two other friends showed up at the very end to help us finish the job, I bought everyone dinner (well, I paid for as much as they would allow) and we all went home, satisfied with a good day’s work. Quincy will frame the room up this week, I will buy more stuff, and… then we keep building and buying until it’s ready to go.

So there’s that. Fucking awesome. Hoping to have it ready in time to record Abazagorath, a killer black metal band from Jersey, in July. Gonna be cutting it close!

Woe’s tourdates with Mayhem just went up. We’re doing 13 shows in the Northeast. Now, it needs to be said that I am no fan of big package tours. I just don’t like big venues, I don’t usually like the bands who do those kinds of tours, and I think that the idea of us playing every night at like 6 or 7pm for far less money than we need to survive doesn’t really do anything for the band. This tour, though, is a bit different than your average big douchey package tour cause… Come on, it’s fucking Mayhem. I was never the biggest fan but our drummer is pretty much freaking out and the other guys are pretty pumped too. I sort of think that Mayhem… Euronymous… I don’t need to spell it out. It’s cool to be going on the road with a band who has such history attached to them. Most importantly, though, it’s 13 days on the road with my best friends and even if we were just taking a long road trip, I would be excited for it. This will be my first time playing shows in Canada as well as a few new US cities. All the dates will be up on Woe’s page as soon as I stop being lazy.

I wrote an article that ended up getting a bit more attention than I expected. You can read it here. I really have nothing more to say about it right now other than the fact that I think people’s responses have been kind of interesting to watch. It really got me thinking about the role class in our everyday lives. I’ll probably write something about that soon. You can read Hunter’s… reply (?) here. I have to warn you that if you don’t live in the Northeast or didn’t have an opinion about this dude and this band until now, this will probably all seem really petty and stupid. In a way, it is, but for those of us who live up here and are involved with the microcosm that is American black metal, my article addressed something that has been on a lot of people’s minds. Weeks later, I’m still getting emails and Facebook messages and texts thanking me.

I finished a full-length for Immolith and it sounds awesome. Still making some little tweaks to the mix and master but it’s like 99% done. They’re stoked, from what I understand, and I am too. I also did a new song for Abserdo, started working with a new band who have a really unique sound, and put some time into finishing this long-overdue final mix of the Unrest full-length. Everything is sounding fucking awesome.

On top of all of that, Woe has some new music in the works. This next album is going to be the first where I did not write all of the songs. Ben and Shawn have both brought incredible stuff to the table and in many ways, they are out-Woe-ing me. I’m not slacking either, though, and I finished a song that I think is my best since the opening track off my first album. There is another one that is just about done which will end up being better, still! This new album is going to come together quickly, I think. With more of us working and planned writing/demoing sessions, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a new album’s worth of material in a few months. No promises, of course, but I am hopefully.

And that’s the best stuff. There have been some shitty things happening, too, but I want to keep this positive so I’m gonna cut it here. The end.