So this is my first adventure in the world of writing a blog. I must say I'm a little disapointed-they promised me there would be chocolate and there isn't. But as I'm here I'll write something anyway.

Being in a band is one of the best experiences there is. In everything I've done in my life, there is very little that compares to standing on a stage playing a guitar as if your life depends on it and screaming words that mean something to you at the top of your lungs. Sometimes the crowd screams them back, sometimes you're there screaming on your own-howling as loud as you can, hoping that somebody in the audience identifies with what you're saying. Times like that it feels like some sort of battle, band versus audience, each trying to make each other heard. But in some ways those are my favourite times; playing to people that have never heard of us before and may never hear from us again, trying to win them over, wondering if one word from a song will resonate with someone and make a difference. Last week we played with Captain and it felt like that-screaming in the hope that somebody will hear-not sure if we were screaming for our sakes or for theirs.

Maybe music was never meant to be this important. Maybe it is all meant as background noise, a break from the quiet. Or perhaps music was meant to say something. We sing a lot about hope, about grace, about holding on. We sing about those things because they are a common experience for each of us in the band; each of us have had times when we have been a stranger to hope, when all we have had to fall back on is grace, and when holding on seems to be one step too far. Maybe the best to hope for is to make someone smile. Either way, I love having the chance to scream these words at the top of my lungs....

Gotta go, the bakery calls. Not in the sense that Spear's housemate means it either... Spear knows what I'm talking about. I hope nobody else does, that would be scary.

Love and hugs,
Dan