Blog about Love

Blog about Love, Chris Larson

In the gestational days of the blog, I often wondered what the blog would be about. Topics that simply leap out of my mind and into the internet are few and far between. The only one that was at all transcendental in nature was the simple intro blog that I added when I set the blog up. But as I sat here in the office/computer room of my parent’s house with my little brother, JJ, playing Stronghold Crusaders Edition; with my fiancée asleep on the couch downstairs and with my parents and my other brother, Matt, somewhere else in the house, I felt a great deal of love for and from them all. I think that will be the next entry for the Bombshell Academy blog: Love in relation to the band, Bombshell Academy.

All of the band members have rather different upbringings, current belief system and moral codes. This has lead us to great conversations before and after whatever relevant event we were gathered for. In all of the conversation, comparison and sometimes debate (all of which I am grateful to say was civil and friendly), we have found that love is the most important component to all of our convictions. Love, in this context, is not the fiery passion of romance. I am thinking more of the affection for man that the Greek Poet Terence listed in his timeless statement his play Heauton Timorumenos: “I am a man: I hold that nothing human is alien to me.” Truly, I hold that there is nothing that is unusual about humans who at the least try to do that which is good.

This is the love that we want to see in the world. Take Me Back, one of the kernel songs of BSA, has the opening line of “Don’t want any enemies,/ That makes you all friends to me,/…” and later on it says “Everyday is better than the rest,/ As the sun sets in the west…” Though the song is more about having a good time on the beach, these statements are cardinal hopes of many who hold a similar interest in the beach and for the carefree life. One hopes for a world without animosity; a world where people get along; and a world with a positive affirmation for our other human counter parts. We hope for also for each day to be better than the one that ends. Though we hope for this universal brother/sisterhood, one must realistically acknowledge that we aren't there. One hopes that they will see the death of hate and the birth of a time where all love.

In a small way, we hope that the general tone of our music makes some kind of contribution to that love. Overall, this will call for a positive tone for many things, especially our discourse. Our happy ska music is always upbeat and positive despite sometimes being based around some rather mortal topics like heartbreak, frustration and pity. This is the realist in us meeting and getting along with the idealist in us. The idealist gets its happy music and the realist gets its grounded lyrics. I think that usually brings a balanced approach to musically distribution of positivity.

All in all, I maintain that it is a wonderful world that we live in. All I hope is that by the end of my time in it, that I will have made a positive contribution to it.

What's next?

Hey there. Chris checking in again.

There's news to tell. We finished up a new song earlier today. All that we need is to have Matt and Erik work up some some of their horn magic and make the music truly spellbinding. Typically, we are absent the horns on Sundays. So that magic will have to wait till later. Also, Ashlie wasn't able to make it to practice either. It was a very skeletal band practice. But these skeletal band practices really let us work on the finer details of the performing and ideas for recording. I never realized how much detail we've put into the five first songs we plan on recording for the EP. Nearly every measure has just about all the detail that it can carry.

The time to record comes closer and closer. The only experience I've had in a studio was at Studio Y on BYU campus. We let a student record Zombies in Salt Lake for a project of his. So it was free (a many good deal of things are free). It was great getting a professional level sound quality in a  recording. It gave us an idea of how truly wonderful all that fancy and expensive studio equipment can be.

Something in my head says that this EP is going to be a really good thing for the band. Part of me hopes that all of this goes bigger than the Valley. We have a glimmer of for expansion in the mini-tour that we have planned. We'll start off in SLC, play a show in Ogden (hopefully at WhySound) and end with a show or two in Idaho. So far that's one of the grandest undertakings that we've ever undertaken. At first, it was a huge deal to get to perform on a small local TV station, Park City TV. Now, we've played there several times to their approval. Then we got the great chance to play on KUTV as well as laundry list of great venues in between. With the trajectory that we have now, it's possible that we just might do something big. It starts with a little jaunt to Idaho. Then what next? Maybe a swing down to Vegas and stick around there for a weekend. Who knows after that? Maybe we spend a few weeks making our way out to California and tour I-5. I don't know. But, things are good. Things are really good. Every step we take is step forward. All we need now is a healthy amount of luck and a lot of help from our friends and we can do some great things.

Well... It's a start.

Good morning, everyone!

This is Chris, the bassist for Bombshell Academy. The band was brainstorming new ways to branch out our influence a little more electronically. We have been doing a pretty good job of expanding our reach in reality by playing at new venues, being regulars at well attended venues and trying to break into the television scene with Park City TV and - most recently - with KUTV's Friday Morning program. But since the buzz so far has been isolated to downtown SLC, we feel that we need to add a little extra oomph to our efforts through the interwebs. We have a FB page and a ReverbNation page and a Twitter account as is standard for most bands. But they all do basically the same thing. They are actively attempting to reach people with info for shows and merch and the like. So we thought we needed something different. We wanted something that was a little more intimate, something that reflected what we are and who we are as opposed to what we are doing. What was the solution? Blogging. 

To speak solely for myself and not the rest of the band I thought that blogging was a little lame. I had never read a blog until earlier this year when a blog entry from a friend caused  a humorous buzz in my FB sphere. Truly, it was funny. Though it was funny, it kind of confirmed my prejudice against blogging. It was like reading someone's diary and that made me a little uncomfortable, if not a little squirmy in my chair. But then I thought about it. Was the problem me or was the problem blogging. Obviously, the valiant bloggers don't feel like what they post is a secret or something that is uncomfortable for them. If that were true they wouldn't put it up. To my amazement, people comment thoughtfully on the few blog entries that I read. If the problem wasn't blogging itself it had to be me. What was my problem?

I've come to the realization that I'm not the most open or social person in the world. If I can't be with my fiancee (whom I love dearly and deeply miss when she's not around), I'd rather be by myself. There is clarity in solitude. One can spend more time getting to know the only person that you'll be with 24/7: yourself. But that ultimately defeats the purpose of being a musician. If you can't open up to new things, new ideas and share the ideas that you have, you really can't do anything. In many ways, my acceptance of blogging is me opening a new avenue of expression and that is important to my musical development. 

Other blogs in the future will come from other band members at sundry times talking about sundry topics. I honestly have no idea what will come out on these post. But maybe, just maybe, they will be for some good in the electronic universe. 

Here's to you, my friend.

Chris Larson
Bombshell Academy  
bombshellacademy.net