paradise fears the future.
prompted by near radio silence, a number of people on social media have been asking us different forms of the same question— where have you guys been? why aren’t you touring? why aren’t you posting on twitter? is paradise fears no longer a thing? did something happen? is there a fight? was it violent? is there a video of the fight?
the simple answer is yes, paradise fears is always & forever a thing. we’re still here. still a band, still friends, still hanging out, & still making music together. the reason we’ve been so quiet lately is that now, we’re a bunch of other things, too.
when Jordan & i had the conversation, we talked about it as though our lives were shelves. we decorate them with still frames of our biggest moments, & constantly update them as a running record of who we are & what’s important to us. for the longest time, all six of us were putting the same photos on our shelves— the crowd at the show, the especially excited face at the meet n greet, the conference in the hotel bathroom, the van broken down on a missouri highway. when you’re in a band & touring all the time, you’re the guy from paradise fears. it’s what you think about every morning when you wake up, how you introduce yourself, & how you orient your life. it’s the fire that fuels everything else.
lately, our shelves are changing. a lot. Michael’s adding wedding photos, & Jordan’s adding photos he took, & Cole & Marcus & i are trying to add diplomas, & Lucas is building a new shelf out of far better material. Jordan’s a photographer. Lucas is an engineer. Michael’s a solo musician. Cole’s in college. Marcus makes guitars. I’m a writer. Cole lives in Sioux Falls, with Marcus, and Lucas. Jordan lives in Nashville. Michael lives in Orlando. I live in California. Cole produces for other artists. I manage other artists. Michael’s getting married. Marcus is single. I have a dog. Jordan has a full time job. Lucas wants to build water systems in third world countries. Jordan wants to take his guitar around the world. Michael wants to build a home studio to work with other artists. Marcus wants to be a contractor. Cole wants to be an architect. I want to make movies. all of us have new things to think about when we wake up, & new ways of introducing ourselves. all of us have new fires.
but the paradise fears shelf isn’t going away. it’s only getting better, actually. & the pictures are going to look different— maybe a little less tour, maybe a little more music, maybe a little less industry bullshit, maybe a little more personal— but they’ll keep going up. this thing that we built— you & us together— is far too beautiful & rare to ever stop. we couldn’t stop being a part of it if we tried. we care too much about these songs, & the people they introduced us to; as long as the six of us exist, there will always be a paradise fears.
SO, in the interest of not stopping—
we’re going to play some shows. we know this isn’t a full tour, & it certainly isn’t going to reach everybody, but we wanted to get that feeling again, & if playing a few special shows in early january becomes a tradition…i’m not mad at it. we’re going to play our full catalogue, & host after-parties so we can see everyone.
JAN 3 - BOSTON, MA - MIDDLE EAST
JAN 4 - NEW YORK, NY - STUDIO @ WEBSTER
JAN 6 - CHICAGO, IL - SCHUBAS
ALSO, we made a new acoustic album. well, not even acoustic - we’re calling it ‘reworks & revisits,’ because the songs aren’t all acoustic; they’re just different. we holed up in a cabin in Arkansas & recorded whatever came out, which includes five songs from LIRT, as well as two new original songs.
we’re going to put ‘Someone Else’s Dream’ on november 4.
thank you for sticking with us. we’ve got a lot of shelf space to fill. we’ll see you in january.
sam
