Who? Well only one of the greatest bands I've known. Starflyer 59 played at the Paradox this last weekend and they rocked. This band has inadvertently become the soundtrack to my life. I don't get to talk much about Starflyer59 so I'm going to now. It's what blogs are for is it not? I hope I don't embarrass Ruth. If you still don't think I'm a nerd then skip this post, I am about to geek out.
The first SF59 album I bought was when I was with Ruth at a Christian music festival up in Vancouver. We had just started dating. The Cd was an EP called She's The Queen. The next album was the Gold Album. A frequent topic of conversation between Ruth and I was what we were going to when we graduated. We can't get married! We'll be too young. We have to go to school, probably not the same school, so what then?
I was singing the lyrics to Dual Overhead Cam on the Gold album - She's got a hold on me / She better wait for me long.
The Americana album came out later in highschool. Similar songs for similar conversations - time moves you knew it would
Highschool Graduation. As a parting gift to the guys I used to play in a terrible band with, I bought them each a copy of the 12" vinyl, Goodbyes are Sad.
College came. Ruth went away to school in Kamloops, BC. Even though we were not technically dating I drove there to see her every chance I got. I was working and looking into film school. I took a couple of road trips to Vancouver to check out the school that year. One rainy weekend when Ruth was home, she and I went to dinner at our favorite restaurant out of town. While we were there I stopped by the Christian bookstore to pick up the new album Fashion Focus. On our way home I got into a car accident and bent up my little rusty BMW. The first song on Fashion Focus is called I Drive A Lot.
Film School in the big city. I was making mistakes. Ruth was making mistakes. And we were talking on the phone every night trying to figure out if we would ever be able to bring our relationship back together. It wasn't looking good at that time. Those were sad days. One day in the color lab I took a break and decided to surf the internet. I went straight to the SF59 website thinking that I hadn't heard an album from them in a while. The splash page was the cover of the new album. Bright yellow with a bold white title. It was called Everybody Makes Mistakes. I sat at my computer and cried.
Soon after the 'Best of' compilation came out entitled, Easy Come Easy Go.
May 2003. Ruth and I get married. Funny thing, the new album, Old, gets released the month before. So I order a couple copies for my groomsmen as gifts. (same guys I bought the Goodbyes Are Sad album for). We crack it open to listen to it the morning of the wedding as we're getting ready. One of the songs was entitled New Wife, New Life.
2004. I'm beginning to realize that late night drawing and a wife don't mix. The only good time for drawing is early in the morning before work. I Am The Portuguese Blues is released, with the song I wake Up Early.
One of my favorite songs is the one I still come back to often from the Leave Here a Stranger album. It's called Give up the war.
Our good friend Trevor, from highschool came down from Vancouver for the show. It was a fun weekend.