Led to Victory Update Numero Dos

Time for another Led to Victory update!

Here's the status guys:

We just finished editing guitars and getting a rough idea for levels as we prepare to do vocals. The music is sounding great already, and we are extremely excited to put forward something that we have all worked extremely hard on! Album title will be announced as soon as we all get the go ahead to announce it. The album art will be released soon, like I keep saying, we have people hard at work on that. I really want to thank Nate for all the awesome work he has done for us, he has been really amazing. We are all ready to get this stuff out there and into the ipods and cd players (if anyone uses those anymore) so we can spread an awesome message to people, because that is what is important, expressing yourself through the medium of music. We love playing what we play, no matter what, and we are dear friends, so it makes writing music that much easier for all of us. Hopefully, the product of all our hard work can be enjoyed by people! Shows will be scheduled once we get done in the studio, so stay tuned for that as well.

Lastly, there may be some sort of contest on the wind for the release of the album. It will be an artwork contest, and it will tie into our whole art concept, so get your pens and paper ready, we will be announcing what that is all about as well.

Overall, what I can say for sure is that we are having a lot of fun together growing and creating, and we feel that that is the most important thing to us in this band as brothers. We all love one another and have an ultimate goal to grow together as individuals, and in this case, musicians. So remember, be excited and know that we are going through the motions to get this thing done! Thank you all who actually read this...haha.

On Relationship

So I have decided to post somewhat of a self evaluation. I want to be able to express where my heart is right now through writing, cause it's a lot easier for me. I sometimes have trouble communicating things with speech.

What's up with my heart?

Well, to begin with: I am definitely in love with God, whether or not I notice it all the time (a lot of things distract you from what's important, such as stress and such.). I believe He is always attempting to teach me something through people. However, I feel like a lot of times, I overlook the lesson at hand. My biggest problem right now is admitting that I am struggling in some aspects of my life to God. Lord knows I talk to other people enough about my problems. I do not talk to God enough though, the One I truly should be opened up to.

Prayer. It's a powerful thing.

Speaking to God has always been an extremely interesting thing to me. There are times where i wish there was an answer right back to what I ask. But that's where faith and open eyes come in. Throughout the week, I have noticed extremely awesome teachings from Vision, Bold, and Sunday church. I am extremely thankful that there are mighty people of God who are so profoundly teaching the word of God. If it weren't for them, my relationship with the Lord wouldn't be moving in the manner it is.

I do have heartache though.

Not because I'm depressed, or I lost someone, or I am angry or anything, but because I feel like I could be doing so much more to pursue a fulfilling life in God's eyes. I feel like I'm in need of a boost off the ground to get going. To get the flame burning super strong again, instead of fading in the ashes.

But, there is one absolute that I must confess....

our God is irresistible.

May God bless you all in some awesome way this week, like He's so awesome at!

Led To Victory Update

So, considering our 7 track EP is on its way, I decided to post a little bit of an update on the band.

We are all super excited to be in the studio with an awesome man who has an awesome passion for music. This whole project would not be possible without him (thank you Nate). We are all in agreement of our whole reason for doing this.....to display the gift of music that we have been graciously given, to create together, to grow together as brothers. Not only that but more importantly to learn from one another. We all consider one another to be brothers.

before the music.

before the band.

we are brothers.

Now to give a little bit of an update to those who read this thing.

Currently, we are finished with the guitar, bass, and drum tracks. We are working on editing and roughly mixing the music, in order to ready it for vocals. The outcome so far has been beyond what I had imagined. Working with Nate has been super sweet. He and his awesome wife have put up with all the editing we have to do in his living room. I can't thank them enough. They rock!

We are getting our myspace up and going, but all of the work is on us. We do not plan on forking out 500 bucks to get a myspace layout put up, so we are learning to piece together a layout ourselves. Alex is the one heading that department. He's been doing such an awesome job. He's learning it all super efficiently and putting it all to great use. Come on guys, he isn't just a guitarist!

Currently, we are looking for a bassist, but are in no rush (we want to find someone who meshes with us just right).

We are a little past the half way point of finishing the EP. We will be releasing the title just as soon as we get the myspace up, as well as album art and other cool stuff.

Overall, we love doing what we do and enjoying each others' company, and for no other reason are we in this. We want to make sure that we are supporting each other and from that hoping that people will enjoy the music we put forth. Stay tuned for more updates......if you like to read these things....if not, it's chill.

Intonation Celebration

Today has been an interesting day. I say interesting because I feel very strange.

I'm extremely weary, have a headache, but lying down only makes it worse. I do not understand, it is far beyond my comprehension. I have been kinda lax in reading the Bible lately, so I gotta get down to it for sure. I become so caught up in other things that I forget about where my time should be spent (writing, reading, producing, praying, being effective for the Kingdom). The Bible is full of so much truth that I forget is sooooo vitally important to my spiritual walk. My relationship with God needs to fill my time so much more, it's scary sometimes.

In other respects, the EP progress is awesome. Nate showed me a bit of the tracks with the bass and it sounds sooo good. I'm super excited to get it out there. I love playing music with my bandmates, they are so awesome. I have a lot of fun growing with each other, not staying stagnant. Learning from each other. There is far more than music writing that goes on in the band, we share a tight knit friendship, and we understand each other. I can't wait to see the end result of the hard work we've put into this.

As the title indicates, Nate and I did indeed have an intonation celebration. We go some new strings on the beasts (Cort, Epiphone, Hagstrom....the Fernandez is all good to go). Fresh new D'Adarrios, 11 Gauge for a chunkier feel. We're pretty excited to lay down those tracks Saturday.

Liz and I are doing great. As of this very moment, I feel like the moment we went on our first date, when I was super giddy and flirty and all. I love her so much. If you don't know her, you should. She has one of the most amazing hearts I know. I love the way she smiles, the way she laughs, it's all so sincere. She shows me what true love is. Not only for our relationship, but for people. Where I would give up trying to help someone, she endures all the crap and seriously cares for people. I'm super inspired by her heart. I really think she will do awesome things for the Kingdom in her time here. On top of all this, she's my girlfriend, and I am so fortunate to say so. God does take away, but He gives such beautiful things. Liz is one of those people in my life that God has blessed me with. Among many others. I love everyone I know. At least, I try. Maybe I mess up sometimes.....a lot of times, but still, I try my best. If it weren't for any of the people I know, I wouldn't be here right now, and it all leads back to one Being.....God, my Father, my Lord, my SAVIOR. Without Him, we are empty. But shells without an occupant. I want to thank all of my friends, because I love them with every ounce of who I am, and to my enemies (those I have, even if I don't know it) I'm so sorry for whatever I did to make you an enemy, and I love you, too. Sincerely. I'm done with the anger. I'm done with the other way, God's way is awesome. I hope you think so too.

I love you all, really.

Fireworks

Unfortunately, I am up extremely late. What a day!

It's been a long one, at that...

But today was a very eventful day at my house. My parents made some awesome barbecue (it truly rocked, cause they truly rock!), went swimming with my good buddy, and spent some time blowing stuff up. I think the color in fireworks is what gets me the most. I am always attracted to bright colors. They really catch my fancy. I got to spend some time with my very great ladyfriend. She really knows how to make my day brighter, always. I love her like no other. So needless to say, spending time with her was awesome. My uncle is very sick in the hospital, and I've been praying about that. He's really an amazing individual. Very heartwarming. God willing is the only comment I have to make for the situation. He loves us all.

Period.

Tomorrow will be yet another fun filled day, complete with church and practice (hasn't happened for about 2 weeks now....due to recording the new EP!!) I am super excited. Especially because I am doing some first hand engineering work on it. I'm learning so much from a guy who is so awesomely amazing at producing a good sound. The tracks sound super natural, not super robotic and compressed. I really think that this cd will be super awesome in its finished product. I cannot wait to hear it all done!!! We are going into the studio next weekend for guitars, which Alex and I will be doing. Then, vocals. Vocals are my most anticipated piece of this project. I cannot wait to see what we can do vocally over the music. I am confident that Micah will do a great job, so I'm really excited. After finishing the EP, we will be pressing 100 copies of it. Hopefully we sell them all. There will be 7 tracks on it, and it will be priced at $6. After cd pressing, we are hoping to get some shows booked. I'm very very antsy to get another show in line. I love to hang out with people and play music, it's such an awesome connection to have with people. In all this however, I say one thing.....God willing. Whatever may come of recording or anything, God comes first. People second. Us last.

Fire

I was up until 5 o'clock this morning.

Why?

Because I was spending a very awesome time with the people I love very much.

My brothers and sisters in Christ.

We all spent some time hanging out at one of our good friends' house and ate some awesome food. Some friends and I sat around a fire and began talking about how awesome God is in all that He does. Finally, a very beautiful person decided that we should talk about each other in an edifying manner. So we sat around in this circle, the four of us, and began telling each other how awesome each of us were in our own ways. Keep in mind, there were far more than just four people at the house, there were very many, pretty much all of Vision that night. So we kept telling each other what we loved about one another. Soon, more people began to trickle out and join the awesome friend circle, until, around 3, we had everyone who was present in the circle. It truly brought tears of joy to my eyes to see so many awesome young people so eager to talk about God and edify one another. The sweetest part about it was that the message from earlier that night was about building one another up and not putting each other down. So we spent the entire night doing that. In any case, though I am exhausted today, I thank God that I was able to spend time with the most beautiful people in the entire world, people who are spiritually attractive, people who care, who love, who want a relationship, not a religion. People who believe in Jesus Christ among us. We love You, and we will continue to serve you, Lord, and edify one another in your name. Amen.