The Cab

it’s finally here… 

BOUNCE!

for all of you who got their hopes up…i am sorry. this song is not about basketball, pamela anderson, or checking accounts. this song is about scandal, seduction, and the craving of what is just out of reach.

first off..i am really sorry that i haven’t been present much on this site the past week. my brother had to have a pretty lengthy surgery after his appendix exploded inside of him, and i left the country for 5 days and got back last night. to make up for it, i should be posting tons of blogs this week. some include my experiences in mexico such as; feeding sharks, swimming with dolphins, and getting real rowdy. hope you guys still care about what i have to say!

bounce was my baby. still is. i’m here to talk about the song lyrically…and also my first music industry heartbreak.

i wrote bounce in my bedroom at 3 am. i was going for a sexy vibe and had been listening to tons of maroon 5 and destiny’s child that week. i recorded a demo of it at marshall’s house which sounded NOTHING like today’s version. i just had the phrase “bounce bounce baby bounce back to me” and was determined to make it into a song. i thought it sounded catchy. i took the song to patrick, and me and pat worked on it for a few hours and recorded a quick demo on the FOB bus. the finished product turned out to be much greater than i could have ever imagined. we were really proud of the song, and were praying that you all would like it half as much as we did.

at first the song had a little more of a dancey feel, but me and pat decided to give it more of a spanish dark feel so it was more soulful and unique. i can’t tell you guys enough how awesome patrick is. his ear and mind for music is just insane. 

lyrically…the song is fairly simple. of course, everybody likes nice people. nice people are great. they’ll hold open doors for you, they have good manners, they tip well..overall, they’re pretty awesome. but sometimes “nice” is boring. sometimes we need edge. we need competition. i love being surprised and i want what i can’t have. bounce is all about me wanting a young woman who was not a nice person. i mean, she wasn’t horribly mean..but she was a liar. she had a “i don’t care about anything” attitude and i fell fast for it. the song is telling her to forget about everything else in her life..to forget it all and to come with me. i would accept her for who she was…she could lie and i’d love her for it. it was just a stage i went through i guess. a line that sums it up is “the lies that tied your tongue in knots, were the words that grew to hit my spots.” it’s about wanting the “bad girl.” the megan fox- type. i just think it’s a blast to not know what to expect and to always be on the edge of your seat.

as fun as writing the lyrics to bounce was and as fun as it was making the song, it also showed us a side of this business we didn’t know. we shot it to radio and it simply didn’t hit. we had been told by so many people that the song would be huge and we would read about how much faith people had in it…so when it didn’t hit as hard as we would have liked it to, we were a bit heartbroken and discouraged. we write our music to write it..not to be famous or to get on the radio, but when you shoot for something and miss completely it’s a bit disappointing. we were being introduced to reality. we don’t consider the song a failure..but more of a stepping stone. something to work off of. we are so excited to write and record our next album and we can’t wait for you to hear it. it showed us that no matter how much faith you or other people have in something..it also takes a little luck. hard work on it’s own does not ALWAYS work…though sometimes it can and will.

like i said…thank you guys for sticking around and for always supporting my band. i miss you and i can’t wait to start blogging alot again..check back daily for new posts….

hoodwink and bamboozle start this week. we are so excited..been practicing our Queen set all day. i love singing “crazy little thing called love.” it’s probably the most fun ive ever had singing a song. come say hi on tour! i can’t tell you how excited i am to be back!

-alexander michael

*BOUNCE FUN FACTS*

-recorded a demo in Patrick’s bus next to a stack of Hellboy comics and a sweet pair of black and pink Nike’s

-has no relation to “bye, bye, bye”. it was written more off of maroon 5 songs than an nsync one.

-at first was way faster and kind of techno-like (i know it’s hard to imagine)

-we might release a remix of it featuring our friend eloquent in the near future

-ian used 5 different guitars on this song

-the chorus drum beat is actually two drum beats layered over each other for a more “chaotic” effect

-i came up with the video concept while sitting in an Arby’s

-one of the band’s favorite songs to play live along with “can you keep a secret”

-brendon urie was originally going to sing on this one, but we decided to ask him to sing on “one of those nights” instead

farewell to ridiculous friday the 13th tattoos…

it was fun 2 times around but once i missed feb 13th (being on tour) I CAME HOME WITH THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO GET ONE on March 13th… and didn’t.

the reasoning i guess is i don’t want to loose the idiotic-ness (love making up words) of the word thirtizzle and its no meaning reasoning.

so to all of you out there, no more 13’s on this body… just crazier more obnoxious tats with no meaning instead.

;-)

-cash money.

more details to come ;-)

had to post.

johnson at 16. shred? 

-cash money.

happy birthday to me!

so for those who don’t know myself as well as sonny our merch guy have the same birthday (march 14) and we were off from tour for it! we threw a party at the restaurant we have opening towards the end of may (still not telling secrets about it).

but the best part, our cake. ian at the rockband halloween show rockin’ the crab suit. 

salute.

-cash money.

“So is that what you call a getaway?
Tell me what you got away with
Cause I’ve seen more spine on jellyfish
I’ve seen more guts on eleven-year-old kids
Have another drink and drive yourself home
I hope there’s ice on all the roads
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
and again when your head goes through the windshield.”

these are some of the best bitter lyrics i have ever come across…not to mention the song is pure brilliance. as sad as it is…alot of us have a lot of things to be bitter about. we all get screwed over, kicked to the curb, turned down, shunned away, and looked down upon, but it’s what we do after all of that. it’s not how hard you fall, but how tall you stand when you pick yourself off of the ground. i have been blessed with a great life. i have made alot of friends, i have a beautiful family, and most of my dreams have, or are in the process of coming true…but i have had my downs. one of the worst feelings in this entire world is being cheated on.

the feeling of being replaced is one of the lowest feelings in existance. to feel like you aren’t good enough or that you’re doing something wrong enough for someone to cheat on you and back stab you is something i do not recommend. “risky business” is about me getting cheated on, and about me catching on alot earlier on than she thought.

i am an easy going guy. i’d like to think that i am fairly nice. but if you screw me or the people i care about over…you have another thing coming. i can be vicious with words. and instead of retaliating in other ways such as cheating on her back, screaming at her, or screwing her over..i decided to write a song. a song is forever. even when i die, my song has the potential to still be flying into the ears of everybody that is still walking. so here you go…you know who you are…i hope these words sink through your skin and into your soul :)

instead of explaining and translating everything line by line…i am just going to give you an overview of the story…and then translate and talk about a few of my favorites.

i was slowly losing her. i could feel it. i felt like mufasa hanging off the cliff and she was scar. i was barely hanging on, and she just clawed me and let me fall to death into the stampede. (wow i just lost every ounce of credibility and seriousness in this blog hahaha) being the curious cat that i am, i started keeping a wider eye on everything and my eyes confirmed my heart. she was doing things behind my back. the song is about how i felt when i found out, and me heading to her house about to catch her red handed and about what she was going to get and hear from me when i got there. in the end..i realized i deserved better. you have to be in the dark to realize how bright the light is. this song is about the 5 minute walk to her house and how i was feeling moments before i came inside.

“put your heart where your mouth is.”- the phrase “put your money where your mouth it,” pretty much means to back your words. that if you talk the talk..you better be able to walk the walk. the young woman that hurt me was always telling me how much i meant to her, how head over heels she was..but in the end she meant none of it and didn’t back her empty words with her actions.

“my eyes were always floating in your wine.”- this may be my favorite. it is just another of saying “i am watching you.” every step you took, every sip of wine you took, my eyes were on you. so for those of you who i thought i had a hidden talent of popping my eyes out into alcoholic beverages..sorry to disappoint you :)

“stop asking, and keep dancing.”- this line was directed to myself. it’s telling myself to keep my head up and to stay strong. to stop asking questions about what i did wrong, or what i could do to be better. i can be myself, and someday i’ll make someone really happy. well…i did find someone and i am extremely happy. if you’re unhappy, then start over again until you are. “keep dancing” is telling myself to keep having fun and living.

to stay positive is to stay alive.

-alexander michael

i had noticed on alex’s blog how he had an old band picture up from waaaay back in the day. so i thought, “hey, why not go on my mom’s pc and see what i can round up… it was this.

haha the story behimd this is we pretty much had a guy with a camera, no direction of where we wanted to go take pics, no set image… and here’s what you get…

five kids called the cab with a “way too much to drink” party animal as the frontman in the middle of fremont street in vegas. the best part about this is i believe it was a choosen myspace default pic for us for maybe… hmm, atleast a few months.

it really shows how when we put our minds to it, even way back in the day what we can do and how professional we can be when we really put our minds to it ;-)

cheers.

-cash money.

last night i rolled to vegas hob to check out the take action tour.

had a chance to hangout with a good group of dudes myself as well as the rest of the band is close to, a band called anarbor.

themselves as well as the rest of the lineup make it a great tour package. the boys in anarbor and breathe carolina had myself and ian up to come hang for the night at the hotel they had gotten.

we were able to catch up and have a good time… i’m cell phone-less haha at the moment and no pics/videos allowed inside the house of blues nowadays so i got nothing for ya… :-(

but just wanted to let you know the status of the tour/ if its worth seeing (it is) as well as ummm…. i guess thats the only reason haha.

much love, cash money.

got yogurt with my mom and today and then went to the puppy store. whenever i’m down, i head to play with puppies. sick of my puppy love or me posting pictures of me and my little friends? get used to it..because it’s not going to stop. why make you guys stare at my ugly ass all the time when you can look at my cute little pups?!

anyways, it was great to see my mom. she’s strong, beautiful, and inspiring. i couldn’t think of a better way to spend my day than to hang with my mom that i never get to see. she cracks me up. i wish i had her eyes! also went car, house, and furniture shopping. i’ll give you more details soon and i’ll post pics!! the real world is finally catching up to me… let’s hope it doesn’t eat me alive. yikessss!

it’s time to let our hair down.

“so sick, so sick of being tired…and oh so tired of being sick.”

-alexander michael

p.s. seriously though..look at this rad little dude!

meet maika of there for tomorrow with myself and marshall.

this band was some of the best of dudes i have ever met on the road. humor, music, all of the above… they had the whole package.

they covered “icebox” which is on the same punk goes pop 2 that we are on so check that out, it sounds great… these guys are missed by myself and the band but its a small touring world out there and we know we will cross paths soon enough.

-cash money.

so i’ve been back in vegas about 24 hours and i missed the hell out of it. its nice to reunite with the friends and family you love and talk about the most important and unimportant things in your life. 

there’s a lot of stuff we’re cooking up down here in vegas and i feel by the time we leave for next tour you guys will be in shock. why? who knows… that’s for you to find out.

i have a few little projects im doing while im home which ill announce when i feel the time is right but as for now they’re all just works in progress.

my birthday is saturday :-) having a huuuuge party of course.  i dont know if people knew this but myself and sonny have the same birthday. it’s going to be crazy and i’m pumped for it.

ive realized tons on the road and its good to come home and practice what you’ve preached. im loving every second of everyone’s company here.

but, bamboozle roadshow is just around the corner and i cant fucking wait.

click on this paragraph and vote for my good friends Play For Keeps to open up a festival here in las vegas called extreme thing. why not? you can also hear them at www.myspace.com/playforkeepsrock. hope you enjoy them as much as i do. -cash money.

this city is contagious…

and we sure the hell caught it like a cold. as human beings, it is only natural instinct to allow what is around us to mold and shift who we are. people are like plants. a plant will grow, but how fast it will grow..how tall it will grow..and how well it wil grow are determined by many different factors. how much sunlight is it getting? how much water is it absorbing? is the soil around the seed soft or more dense? as people… what is around us, will ultimately have a large say in who we are. well ladies and gentlemen, i am from las vegas. nevada and it happened to have a very large mouth.

beyond the bright neon lights, cross dressers, has-been singer’s stage shows, and people on the streets slapping hooker cards against each other trying to get you to buy one is an actual city with a pulse and life of it’s own. i did not grow up in a hotel room in the Belllagio, and no, my mother is not a slot machine, and my father is not wayne newton. however, the city did teach me alot. it made me a strong young boy. it taught me alot about the ups and downs of the entertainment industry. dig a little deeper and you will find that las vegas helped introduce me to a few young gents named love, sadness, sacrifice, courage, perserverance, integrity, and respect. when writing my debut album, i felt like i owed vegas a little something. this transformed into our album’s closing song.

the first verse is about breaking free. lines such as “when air is filled with dust and dying dreams” and “we worked too hard to leave without a fight”, show that vegas was a great town to grow up in, but also a very tough one. the music scene was very shallow. there were too many bands, but not many good ones. we had to work our asses off. our first show was at a coffee shop called the rock ‘n’ java which barely held 200 kids. then we moved up to tiny little rooms. then up to smaller theatres. a year and a half later we opened for hellogoodbye in an amphitheatre. then we got a slot on a house of blues gig. we worked really hard to get seen and heard, and we finally made it. we were lucky and fortunate more than anything. for every band and artist that makes it in vegas, six thousand don’t. the city really does suffocate the life out of bands and acts, especially ones that enjoy playing for an all ages crowd. if you aren’t elton john or celine dion, it’s hard to get a gig. don’t take this as me putting vegas or celine down, because i am not. i love vegas, and i dug titantic. haha what i am saying , is that when you DO succeed from vegas it is extrememly rewarding. (see the killers and panic at the disco) The hard work definetly made us who we are, and though strict and harsh, the city streets carved their name into our skin.

“right now this town is for the taking” and “our time to shine beyond the pavement” is just saying that our time is now. if we ever want to make it or to be something extraordinary, it would be in this tiny window. i believe in hard work. from the deepest part of my soul, i think that if you work hard, and are a good person, good things will come your way. sticking your neck out there and getting your hands a little dirty, though may be dangerous, it will make you stronger. you need to learn the ropes before you can climb them. “it’s safe to fall if you just trust the ground that you stand on- midtown” who cares if you fail at first? get up and try again. do i believe that every single hard worker will get what the deserve? of course not. but at the end of the day they will have the self satisfaction that in this life, they gave every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears that they could into what the believed in…and at the end of a lifetime, who could ask for more than that?

at the end of your life, what will you be remembered for? what makes someone’s life? what does a life amount to? is who you were determined by how many smiles you brought to the faces of others? how many hearts you touched? is your life determined by how your children turned out and how you were with your family? i think about these things all of the time…how will i be remembered? it’s scary to think about..but relevant in knowing who we want to be. i can honestly say that there is no better city in the world for me personally, to figure all of those questions out than las vegas. it has grown to be a part of me. just as my family has shaped me and grown to be apart of me. look around you..i’m sure something you see has helped you grow. whether it be a parent, the sunlight, your neighborhood, your tire swing hangning in your backyard, your favorite book, or maybe even your favorite boombox playing your favorite song. if my music or words can touch just ONE person, i can die happy. knowing that me, little old alex. tigger loving, goofy looking, sensitive alex, made some kind of difference in another person’s life makes me think that just maybe somewhere along this long road, i did something halfway right.

if i have touched you and made you believe in something, or yourself..please pass it on and do the same for others. they’re waiting for you. waiting for an angel like you to pick them off of the ground. wings were made to fly, not to hide a fragile spine.

viva las vegas. as the song says…

we are “stronger than we came up” and we grow stronger each and every moment we live to talk about.

“hate us, it’ll only save us” is the blunt truth. the more you hate and put me down, the harder i’ll work and more i’ll love and respects other to prove to you just how wrong you are.

though we are “leaving it all,” we will never forget our home and what it means to us. we can be on the other side of the earth, but we will carry a piece of where we grew up everywhere we go deep inside our back pockets….

thank you vegas, i owe you one.

-alexander michael

*FUN FACTS*

-ian came up with the basic idea for this song. he came tp us with the verse guitar part in the basement of his cabin and we all wrote around it.

-i wrote the lyrics “make us….” through “we are leaving it all” literally inside the vocal booth when we were recording. i think i came up with the melody on the spot too

-max bemis from say anything was supposed to sing on this, but he got really sick when he was supposed to record

-the “gang vocals” were sung by everyone in our band. yes, including johnson :)

-one of the first songs written for the record

-is one of my favorite to play live just because of the bridge. almost cried while recording the bridge vocal part.

-i’m really self concious about some of the vocals because i sound really goofy when i sing low

P.S. hope you like the pic… in case you were wondering… YES this is our first band pic EVER…and YES i am wearing an “i love kelly clarkson” shirt. by the way…i still do love her :P

So…

I didn’t sleep much tonight. I stayed up all night reading each and every note and letter that you guys have written me in the past few days. Like I have said, it’s the least I can do for the people who support me and my work. YOU allow my voice and words to be heard. Anyways, I know it’s not much…but I wanted to show my appreciation. So here are responses to every single letter I’ve received in the past few days. Thank you all for taking time out of your lives to write me and to put your heart on paper.

Paloma DeOliveira- First off, you could never creep me out. It was a pleasure meeting you. I’m glad I could save you, just as you and everyone else that supports my music has saved me. I’m sorry though, Pooh, does not, and will NEVER own Tigger .. That is where your letter went very, VERY wrong :P

Shannon Spellman- I DID smile when I read this! If your dream is really singing with me onstage one day, maybe someday we can make it happen!

Gabbi- The mixtape was awesome! Thank you!

Sarah Santora- Really wish you could have made it to the show last night! We missed you! I’m glad my blog keeps you positive…I think everyone has a reason to be happy, even if it takes some a little more digging than others. Becca seems like a good friend, she got this to me :) …see you soon!

Catherine- There are no words to tell you how proud I am of you for what you have overcome, and for doing what you did. It takes one strong person to do what you did. I admire people like you. I’m glad one of my songs had a little part in helping you out. Sometimes we all need that little push. YOU are the special one…not me. I’m just here to help people out when and if I can.

Gabrielle- Thanks for the cute little friend :)

Nicole Apparatus- You’re artwork was insane. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for spending so much time on this…the other boys loved it as well!

Megan C- First off, no letter to me is annoying..ESPECIALLY yours! I totally remember you calling into the station!!! I am so sorry about everything that happened…you will see him again someday, I promise. Keep your head up and always live your life to the fullest. Hold your family and friends pressed to your chest at all times. I’ll check out the site tonight.

Hilary Barr (Happy Kid)- That’s amazing that High Hopes is your favorite song. I’ve been practicing it on guitar so I can play it live with the band on our headliner! Thank you for all of the kind words… It’s great that you listen to a variety of different genres of music…I’ve found that you respect the world around you a lot more when you listen to everything. Music relates to everything for me…so when I keep an open mind to music, I keep an open mind to the world. And you should FOR SURE Pick up the zacefron Alex Marshall Pen. Mine is my favorite thing ever.

Taylor Erin- I totally remember singing Whisper Something Fragile to you at the merch table…I am really shy, but I was so shocked and excited that you knew and had heard of that song, that I just had to sing it for you! You deserve that everything you did to make it to see my band play. People like you make me proud to be an artist.

Lydia Brandriff- It’s great that you’re close to your siblings. Hold them close, because when everything else fades away and turns into photographs in a dusty frame, your family will be there to lightly blow the dust away to show the true life and color behind it. Thanks for taking my dare…I happen to love you back :)

Whitney and Cayden- Cayden, you are the man. Probably one of the greatest people in the world behind Oprah and Tigger. Whitney…the strength, love, and patience that you show as a mother is an inspiration to me…really. You are an American hero whether you realize that or not. You work hard to support your family and you love them with everything you have. You’re selflessness is seen and looked up to…don’t ever think it isn’t and don’t eveer think that this won’t be worth it. Cayden is lucky to have a mother like you. You’ve only seen us 5 times? :P Talk to me when you hit the century mark!

Devin MacDonald- I’ll get you another interview. That’s easy. You’re a very good writer…You come off very genuine. I’m glad I’m not the only one who rocks one glove. I met Michael a few years back and he’s always been a huge inspiration as an artist. If you and I both keep rocking one glove each, then we have a complete set and people can shut it haha.. Devin, even though you may not realize it, when I am down..you DO help me. I think about the people who have backed me and loved me, even when I had nothing. So YOU keep doing what YOU do. You’re in MY thoughts.

Thanks again…

Yours Truly,

Alexander Michael

“when you’re fifteen…”

i keep finding these really old pics, and they’re cracking me up. i figured who better to share them with then you guys? afterall, when i’m on the road… i feel real close to all of you. almost like you are all my family. a big blanket, of sorts, that spans across the entire  country.

it’s insane how young we look. johnson has short hair and is smirking! ****alert! alert! my drummer is semi-close to smiling in a promo picture!*** this was far before marshall or ian joined the band. anyone listen to us at this time??? i think we were pushing “drunk love” and “whisper something fragile.”

if you don’t mind i’m going to keep posting stuff like this! keeps me grounded and makes me smile. really makes me laugh and think about the old times.. i think i have our first band pic ever laying around somewhere. i’ll post it soon. it was taken on a cheap digital camera. there were six of us sitting on a wall and i was for sure wearing a white headband and an “i love kelly clarkson” shirt.

forgive me father, for i have sinned.

-alexander michael

p.s. i’ve been writing a lot for the next record! i’m kind of curious…where do YOU want our next record to go? what would you like out of us? lyrically, musically, etc. More pop? More rock? More Soul/R&B? 

EDIT: me asking you about the next record won’t necessarily determine what we are doing, or what we are going to do.. but i am just curious about what you guys think. your opinion means the world to me and i am always intrigued by all of your insights on my music and writing

i dont know why i felt on blogging this, but i did.

i just wanted to take a second to give a quick example on how idiotic people are at times… you’re assuming i’m talking a bunch of bones on this little kid but go to the comments listed under him on the youtube site… or any little kid on youtube just having a good time and doing what they like to do.

this blog goes out to the dumb asses online actually spending time to do this.

hmmm, so i have so much of a non-life and got over scratching my ass and doing literally 0 of anything a few hours ago that im going to talk shit about little kids right now.

really?

everyone spending time to do this, (fill in the blank.) 

but for everyone else, keep showing the world your dream through a computer screen. who knows who you’re entertaining out there??

the best invention EVER.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Introducing the BOUNCE BOUNCE BABY!

i don’t know why i am so excited about this, but when i have kids (which will be a VERY long time from now) i want all of them to have one of these. so if you’re invited to the baby shower… hook it up ;) 

-Alexander Michael

they just need to make a whisper war edition! 

“

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.”

- Erica Jong

”

- www.boardofwisdom.com

so today at taco bell i had my worst experience in all my years as a loyal customer.

sometimes when you tear a sauce packet in the improper posistion and its too small, the sauce will build up with pressure and all of sudden the sauce will develop into an 80 mile an hour flame flying wherever its heart (yes, the packet has a heart) desires. today happen to be my day as the fire packet’s fireball flew into my left pupil. it felt as if someone had grabbed a heated up spoon from a stove and shoved it into my eye.

it provided laughs and cries to the table with johnson, singer as well as our tour manager danny. i’m glad i had them there with me to better the situation as i whiped the constant tear flow from my lids for 20 minutes. after all it was pretty damn funny once the pain healed… i did somehow magically shoot taco bell fire sauce directly into my eyeball.

good times.

-cash money.

Me+Rihanna= LOVE

(I’m on the right)

what is wrong and what is right?

We all make our own decisions, and we all have the final say in what we decide to do. In many instances, right and wrong are a matter of outstanding opinion. People can have different views on what is right and just and what is just plain wrong. However…I don’t care who you are, where you grew up, or who you know…but a man hitting a girl is utterly wrong in ever single way. It doesn’t get much worse than that. Can Chris Brown sing? Yup. Can he dance? Hell ya! Straight to prison.

You don’t hit a girl. You don’t hit someone you are in love with. This wasn’t a little slap, or pat on the back. He completelt went all out and I am disgusted to say the least. I don’t care if she’s the biggest popstar in the world, or just an average girl. .really looked up to Chris Brown. He’s my age and had the world and industry in his hands. He was changing R and B as we knew it. Now he’s just an example of how foolish people can be and how some people, no matter how much they have, will never have enough or realize how fortunate they really are. He blew it. And watch, as sad as it is…he’ll probably be forgiven and it’ll all be forgotten about, just like it always is with celebs. My prediciton is Rihanna suffers more from this situation than he does.

I am almost just as disappointed in her, to be honest.. Rumor has it, she’s back with him, like nothing ever happened. This is where self respect comes in. I wish her the best in life, but I just wish she would see how much better she is than going bac to something so destructive and low. I got the chance to spend some time with Rihanna last year and she was a total sweetheart. I wish her the best, as she is one of the best selling artists and most talented artists walking the earth we live on. But to get beat up by a guy that told you he loved you and then to be with him a few weeks later? To see this tool sitting on a jet ski jetting around miami with a fatal grin on his face? Really chris? Really? It’s just so frustrating. I miss Rihanna being in the limelight for her music… this brings me to our next subject….

DISTURBIA!

I didn’t write the lyrics…so I can’t say much about those but I CAN talk about a few other things.

There is some lame band out there talking down on our version of “Disturbia.” It’s not the best cover ever, that’s for sure. But who cares? We had a blast making it and I think our fans will really enjoy it. But they still are taking the time to talk down on us…I personally think that’s awesome! Thank you for taking the time to listen to our cover guys! You obviously listened enough to form an opinion! I don’t remember the band’s name, as I am sure no one really will a month or two from now anyways, but it is very flattering! They even mentioned us on their myspace! Wow! Free publicity! I’m not even going to go find out what they’re called because they don’t deserve the free advertisement. We aren’t cheap :) They said that their version was better because they didn’t have as good of production or the budget that we had to record it, but we did! Aughh! Those silly little children! We actually did the production on the song ourselves! And we didn’t have a “big label budget.” We did it ourselves. So much for a big budget! Nice try, but you are wrong. You aren’t signed to our label, or any label at all, so don’t act like you know what the situation was for us while recording this song. It was as DIY as it gets. Our buddy Justin Powell did do great though and was real cool to let us come to his place to record it. I’m sorry you’re so disappointed with how yours came out. If you’d like we could set you up with a good studio or help you guys out in anyway possible. We’re always down to help bands that are lost and confused and who waste their time trying to get their band bigger by posting ignorant comments that waste everyone elses time. What’s your band called again? Does it even matter? you know what!? You’re version wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t good. Better luck next time. Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to mention our band in a few different places on the world wide web! Loved, hated, but not ignored. Glad to see both of our bands are doing so well! ;)

Anyways…! Enough wasting my time on some mediocre band that I can’t even remember the name of. I recorded vocals to this song in a tiny closet that had rats crawling around by my feet. Those little furry friends really put me in that creepy mood that Disturbia asks for. I love this song…Rihanna recorded this great pop, yet incredibly dark song withone of the best hooks of the year. Her performance of it at the VMA’s was memorizing and I really dug the “Thriller” feel. It was an honor to cover it. We did the drums in an hour, and recorded the rest in a smal bedroom. All in all, we did it in around 6 hours. It was a blast…though we know nothing could ever get close to the original…it was a lot of fun and we hope you guys enjoy it! You can get in on Punk Goes Pop 2!

Don’t worry, I’ll do another Whisper War song next week!

-Alexander Michael

*Disturbia fun facts*

-recorded it in a few hours

-it was in between this, bye bye bye, and taylor swift. We chose this because the other one’s were too predictable or over done.

-i was holding a kitten for most of the vocal tracking. Listen closely for meows and purring

-i had a horrible cold during the recording and didn’t think I was going to be able to pull it off. My doctor told me it was no use in even going to record it as sick as I was.

-all of the creepy sounds at the beginning were all done by ian on his guitar. I don’tknow how the hell he does half the things he does on a guitar. You name a sound, he can make it. A coke can opening. A elephant call. Anything.

-y-yes, I did do the scream at the beginning

-god, I love ian’s guitar work and solo in this song. My own guitarist never ceases to inspire me.

P.S. I know this wasn’t the most entertaining blog post on our songs, but I really wanted to send a message out to our female fans, and I felt this was the perfect time to.

Do not let ANY body bring harm to you. Physically or emotionally. Stand up for yourself. If someone hurts you, take the initiative to stand up on your feet and to walk away. You are better than that. I can ony hope Rihanna realizes this. She deserves someone to hold her and to make her smile and feel like a queen…just like every girl does. Don’t EVER settle for anything less. Good is always around the corner, and everyone deserves to feel safe, happy, and loved. Living in fear of somone you love, is not living at all.

People say that love is overrated, I just say it never got a chance.

Our cover of disturbia is up on mtv’s the leak! We recorded one for punk goes pop 2 that comes out very soon… check it out?

a pink dolphin? holy shit.

*Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: “I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

source: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4927224/Pink-dolphin- appears-in-US-lake.html

a pink dolphin? holy shit.

*Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: “I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

source: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4927224/Pink-dolphin- appears-in-US-lake.html

so if you haven’t… meet john-o from el maine. this man is apart of something becoming our greatest of friends.. his band. we’ve been whoopin’ it up this tour… they’re missing a few dates due to there next tour The AP tour… which by the way chack out that dope ass tour along with them on the cover of the latest AP. mucho love.

-cash money.

so i’m sucking it up on this blog. it is not a permanent situation haha. lately with access to no computer, long drives and the shows it’s been hard to find time to be able to do what i got to do to keep you all smiling :-)

my computer works again!!

here’s an update of what is going on and my schedule… maybe something to look forward to??

i’m home on march 10th home from tour :-) and on march 14th it is mine and sonny’s birthday… par-tay?

there’s festivals, shows, plenty going on to fill your eyes and entertain your brain… promised :-)

i’m typing up blogs as i type up this blog to catch up on my lost progress… so once again sorry for sucking it up (again) but this will be my last apology letter… why? cause it won’t happen again :-)

-cash money.

love is family.

my sky could fall down on top of me, but as long as i had this beautiful girl in my life, i’d be just fine. 

her name is sophia.

she has taught me a lot about the way i look at the world around me. she holds me when i cry, tickles me when i’m having a rough day, and wakes me up every morning she can with a kiss on my cheek. i really don’t know what i would do without her. if ever there was proof that angels exist, it would be found in her. 

thank god for family. 

i’ll be home soon sweetheart.

-alexander michael

p.s. if you would like to see more of my beautiful little sister, go pick up a copy of Whisper War… after all, she does grace the cover ;)

*I read ever single letter you guys give me at shows. every single note. every single gift. thank you from the bottom of my heart. just got finished reading a beautiful letter from a young girl named Kasey Morgan from Iowa, and it really touched my heart. Just know that as much as you guys say I do for you, you do miles more for me.*

old school. old old school.

talk about back in the day. ran into one of my favorite artists in the hard rock hotel in vegas a few years back. you might have heard of him or seen him before. him and his band were there in support of a song they were pushing called “sugar, we’re going down.”

never in 20 gazillion years did i think the dude would be my boss and friend. never did i think he’d wake me up at his house behind a camera filming his dog wrestling me into the morning, or that’d i’d join him onstage for a song or two.

dreams do come true.

love me. I dare you.

-alexander michael

p.s. yea, i was a brace-face. so what?

p.p.s. for everyone who talks shit on pete. fuck you. i rarely cuss onstage or in my blogs, but if you’re wasting your time putting him down or talking down on him, you can kiss my ass. this dude has more creativity and sincereness in his greasy black hair than you’ll ever dream of having. i know who you are. you get on message boards, talk shit, and then go hop in your ‘92 toyota camry’s and blast fall out boy’s songs while singing them at the top of your lungs on your way to your 9 to 5 job in the back corner of a rented out office building. you deserve all seven of the letters in the phrase “fuck you.” am i ticked off? ya… maybe a little bit. but i have a reason to be. i back people i believe in. always will.

stop burning bridges. drive off of them.

whether i’m one of many or not, i look up to pete, and i think everyone could learn a little something about the game of life and the way it should be played from him.