I'm sitting and listening to Copeland, while watching the clouds transform themselves into weirder and weirder shapes. The rain has continued to downpour throughout the day, the remnants of a truly awe-inspiring storm that graced London last night. I haven't felt that way since being stuck in the midst of an oncoming tropical storm in South Carolina a few years back. Intense.

I love the feeling of a giant storm on the horizon. Something about it just seems so absolutely unreal and unworldly. At least unworldly in our sense of "world" - a corporate, impatient mess. It's nature in it's most primal and natural form, and that seems to bring out a real excitement in me, something that is rare in this day and age.

The last few days have been some of the best days in a while. This summer, in fact, has probably been the best summer of my life.

The boys of Brighter Brightest came and crashed in my basement for two days. Wonderful dudes. They're on tour with Mike Froh and The Mission District. They needed a place to stay while they stopped here in London. They were amazing house guests. The show at the Music Hall Lounge was an experience to remember. Brighter Brightest's performance was perfect. Those guys are definitely born for the stage. They've managed to come very far for being around only a little longer than a year, having done extensive cross-Canada touring for Rob Dyer and Skate4Cancer as well as gaining a huge fanbase here in Ontario. I see huge things for them in the future.

Additionally, Mike Froh's set was absolutely stellar. I'll admit, I'm a huge fan of his old band The Holly Springs Disaster, and was saddened when he announced that he'd no longer be playing with him. His solo project (formerly known as Dear Solace), which is now his full-time gig, didn't do much for me at first. But when he released his new songs, I was instantly hooked. Seriously, if you were a fan at all of the Springs, and you haven't both heard the song "Drunken Sun" and read the lyrics, do it now. You'll be instantly moved.

His set was brilliant. I've always been incredibly impressed by people that have an absolute mastery over electronic instruments. Their ability to mesh a keyboard, a synth, a laptop, among other things together seamlessly has always blown me away, and Mike is no exception. His performance was flawless. I own a MicroKorg and I'd love to be able to use it to it's fullest extent, but to be honest, I have no idea where to start, and can only use it in it's most basic forms (which doesn't help as I'm not into Euro-trance). I hope someday, I'll be able to really use it. I did a bit of programming on our upcoming album, but nothing extensive. It's a start though.

All in all, the last days have really opened my eyes to the camaraderie that exists in the underground music scene and I guess that's what I really set out to say when I started writing this. I've been a lot of places, and I like to think I've seen a lot of things in my life. But nowhere, and I say this with full sincerity, have I seen the brotherhood and support that I've seen since my band hit the scene about a year ago. With a few exceptions, everyone is out to help each other, and everyone works their asses off to help their fellow dude. It truly is a unique and amazing thing to behold. There are a lot of misconceptions - the partying, the drinking, the moshing, the tattoos - all things people on the outside think of and look down on when they think of this scene, but there is really so much more to it than that. 

I've made the best friends and met the best people in the world since being in my band. I absolutely cannot wait for our album to come out so that we can keep this going. Being in this band is truly amazing.