District Kills Records

We just wanted to let everyone know that the Farewell, Dreamer tanks will be restocked very soon! Keep an eye out at districtkillsrecords.storenvy.com! 

I don’t have the slightest clue as to how Tumblr works.

Here at District Kills Records, we try to be very friendly, and very accommodating, we’re a part of the music community, and we want anyone in the music community to be able to reach us if they need to. As a result of that, Wes and I make our e-mail addresses, phone numbers, personal facebook profiles, and so on, very accessible, and very public. It’s not hard to track down our information for a reason, we want you all to get in touch with us, we want to be your friends that you don’t hesitate to get in touch with if you need help with anything.

However, there is a line that has to be drawn at some point. If you are in a band that hopes to work with DKR someday, the best thing you can do is fill out the submission form on our website, it covers everything we need to know initially, and we’ll be in touch with you, we will respond to every submission. If you don’t hear back after awhile, we sincerely apologize, but that happens sometimes, we get a lot of submissions. So if you don’t hear back from us in about a month, send one of us an e-mail personally, and we will certainly get back to you. Incessantly calling and e-mailing us, however, is not the best way to go about it.

If you are in a band, and you want us to sign you, taking our phone numbers, and calling us when we’re trying to sleep, especially when you haven’t filled out a submission form, is NOT a way into our hearts. Follow our procedures, and you’ll be in much better favor with us. It takes a lot of work to be in a successful band, and some of that work includes having a sense of common courtesy, and the ability to follow directions, and if you circumvent those qualities in order to aggressively pursue having your band signed, we do not think that is an admirable quality.

Our numbers are not hard to find, if you have ever sent us an e-mail, or found us on Facebook, you have it. And we’re not going to change our habits, we’re not going to take our numbers down, or try and hide them. But we do ask for a bit of courtesy and common sense from your part.

And to further prove that, if you don’t have Wes or my contact information, here it is:

Mike Hogan

Mike@DistrictKills.com

301-706-2896

Wes Doyle

Wes@DistrictKills.com

401-743-4238

Hey, everybody, Hogan here, I have some slightly unfortunate news, nothing catastrophic, just a drawback, and I wanted to take a second and bring it to everybody’s attention…

There has been a slight delay with the production of the Farewell Dreamer CDs, there was a little bit of a mix up with the company that does the packaging of our albums, and we had to correct that mistake, so it delayed everything a little bit. So the album will be going out as soon as we get it in, and once I get some more information on that, I’ll be posting another blog letting you all know when you can expect to be able to get the CD online, and at the Farewell Dreamer shows. The shirts, on the other hand, are in, so if you’re interested in those, you can definitely pick one of those up.

Now, at this point, we should have gotten in touch personally with everybody that pre-ordered the album, but if you haven’t, please send me an e-mail immediately at Mike@DistrictKills.com and we’ll figure out what went wrong, and why you didn’t get an e-mail from either Wes or I.

That being said, since there has been some delay, the pre-order package is still active, so if you want it, and you haven’t gotten around to it yet, head over to www.districtkillsrecords.com click “Store” and you can check out all the packages we offer for the new FD album.

I also wanted to take a chance in this little update to let you know that we have a ton of very huge updates and changes coming to DK very very soon, we can’t wait to tell you all about it. In the mean time though, we’ll be putting the finishing touches on it over the next few months, so there isn’t much to tell you at the moment, but we’re quite excited about the developments so far. But be sure to get on that little Facebook contest, once we get to 2,000 fans, we’ll be giving you a clue about our next artist, and that will give you a clue about the future of DK as well, so I think you all will want to help out with that, if nothing else, you’re really going to dig the new artist!

I was just naked 5 seconds ago. Time to ramble here. Everyone, happy festival of lights. For those of you who don’t know what this mean, I’m about to tell you so sit down and grab a Twix. On Feb 20th, 2005, we played our first show. We were known as ATP (The letters didn’t stand for anything but I used to tell people it stood for “A Tiny Penis.”) Anyways, We played a four song set that actually changed my life. The songs sucked, but we were awesome live. The energy and emotion was there. It was the first time I ever played my guitar in front of people. The line up wasn’t the same line up most of you are familiar with. The line up with Jeremy, Me, Joe Milano (Bass), Rick McLaughlin (Drums), and Mike Saltriagga (Vocals). We were a shitty high school band who knew how to put on a good show. Still proud of that. Every year we try to get whoever was involved in ATP/Avenida and on this glorious holiday that only means something to us. It was the start of amazing friendships that still burn brighter than most today.

That was six years ago. It’s been a long ride. We really didn’t take our band seriously until 2009, so until then we were just having fun playing music in our youth and that’s what it’s about. Most bands today are so focused on being rockstars or in it for money or girls. Fuck that. We are in this because we love music. We have always kept our integrity. We are also friends, best friends, family. I consider myself lucky to have the ability to do what I do and to do it with the people who I am doing it with.

What does the future hold for Avenida? We took about half a year off. We needed it. It was natural. Doing things natural is key for me. Well whats natural now is that we are getting back into auditioning for new members and writing new music. We are so close to coming back stronger than we ever have. It’s going to be an exciting new chapter. Until next time, happy festival of lights.

Jon // Avenida

PS: Here is a video of our band during that first show weekend. I apologize in advance. It shows you have far we have come though, and I think that’s awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHXlxF-jw8w&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Din%2Bevery%2Bcorner%2Bavenida%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1

 First off, I want to extend a huge thank you to anyone that has pre-ordered the Farewell Dreamer album so far, and for those that would like to check out the pre-order package, head over to the online store, it’s online right now. Second, for those of you that haven’t seen it, Farewell Dreamer’s new music video for “Instinct” off their EP is on the homepage of the DKR website. The response we’ve received has been fantastic, and it really means the world to everyone from Farewell Dreamer and District Kills.

For all of you that are wondering, the official album release will be on March 1^st, so you still have time to get those pre-orders in before the album ships out. But we will make a limited number of pre-release copies, and t-shirts available at Farewell Dreamer’s upcoming shows, starting around the end of the month, so if you would rather buy the in person, be sure and catch the band later this month. In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy the music video, if you dig it, be sure and spread the word to your friends, and come check out Farewell Dreamer on an abbreviated version of Modern Tourfare this weekend with From Atlantis, and featuring other amazing bands like jUNT, Forget Tomorrow, Pathways, As Time Will Tell, and so on, it’s going to be a great little run of shows. Check out Farewell Dreamer’s MySpace/Facebook for more information.. Thanks again everybody!

Www.districtkills.com

districtkillsrecords.storenvy.com

Sup kids? Jon here. I don’t even think the others know how to use this thing yet but I will teach them in due time. We had a great night at the bar tonight. The three of us plus a bunch of close friends were there. We had the bar playing some of our favorite bands. Speaking of favorite bands, I will be spending the weekend with mine; Story of the Year. Jeremy and I are heading to St. Louis in about 12 hours to catch them play Page Avenue live in it’s entirety. Excited as fuck. I have seem them play 40 times and have a nice friendship with those dude snow. Dream come true.  It’s crazy how music can do such a thing! Anyways, we have auditions coming up with is also exciting. Brb I have to piss. So I took off my pants after I pissed and I realized I still had the tags on them. FML. I got new pants a few days ago. It happens. Where was I, let me read what I wrote so far…oh auditions! Yes I am excited. I have been writing a lot lately. It’s cool because I really value the way I play my instrument and I notice such a difference from August til now. It’s badass. I am pantless right now by the way. My main guitar, Wrathchild is in the shop right now. It’s a dark cherry red Paul Reed Smith custom 22 loaded with screaming EMGs. It sounds like a beast. My other main guitar, which I fell in love with again, is a black PRS custom 24 with a neon green border. We call it N.B. I am rambling here folks. Anyways, I am gonna go to sleep now. Oh wait, I thought of more to say. Our close friend Paul Adler (Wolves) is tracking his Jazz Funeral record right now up in Boston. It is going to be epic. I am playing a guitar solo on the song Haven. Bitchin. Have a nice day. Don’t drink and drive, drink and get laid.

Jon // Avenida

PS: Anyone interested in a Vox AC30?

PPS: Cock.

PPPS: I didn’t drink tonight. 

Hello everyone in the tumblr world. This is new for me so sorry if I suck at it. For those of you who know us and have stuck with us, thank you times a thousand. For those of you first getting to know us, we welcome you with open arms. We are a band who believes in passionate rock music that comes straight from inside. We are entering a new time for music, and I won’t lie to you, I am really curious to see where the next few years go because the last few years for music have been a weird period. However, I can tell you that the fire in our hearts is so bright that we promise you that we will deliver solid songs that are full of emotion, meaning, and pride. None of this auto-tune, cookie cut version of the previous big band, but just music that comes straight from the heart. Avenida has gone through a bunch of changes in the last few months. We are in the process of revamping for the future. After taking a few months off, we are ready to shift into high gear. It’s going to be nothing short of amazing. This is just the beginning. We look forward to taking the stage again soon and reviving passionate rock.

For those of you who have never heard us before, check out our Take Control EP on iTunes. If you like it, buy it. If not, thanks for your time. If you want a physical copy, just email Avenidarock@gmail.com with the subject “Take Control CD” and we will take it from there.

Jon//Avenida

I’ve been working on the DKR site for about 24 hours now, and it’s almost ready to go live! You’ll be able to get info about the bands, read our blog, watch music videos and much more! Keep checking back for new material! 

Head over to Wolve’s “Jazz Funeral” blog!

“Welcome to my new blog, everybody; this blog will be exclusively dedicated to chronicling everything having to do with my new album, which I’m calling Jazz Funeral.  Between now and March of 2011, when the album will, hopefully, be completed, I will be posting photos and videos of the writing and recording process, along with lyrics and explanations of songs, should anyone be so curious.”

Life is not easy. Most of the time I remain fully aware of this fact, but every once in a long while, I get a little too cocky; a little too sure of the balance of the universe. It’s almost become a foreign feeling, but it’s very alluring; and so naturally, when it presents itself, I cant help but be tricked by some higher power into thinking that sometimes things don’t require checks and balances, they don’t require effort, sometimes, things just work. This is almost never the case though, and tonight was no different. This trip has been almost entirely smooth sailing, except for the little flat tire incident, but things like that happen, I wasn’t too phased by it, I was still on my toes though. It wasn’t until our little 36 hour blast across about 2,000 miles that settled me into a false sense of rhythm and simplicity. Life was quite simple, get in the van, drive 300-something miles, take in the usually-breathtaking scenery, stop for gas, switch drivers, and do it again. Sometimes it gets dark, sometimes it’s hot, sometimes it’s ugly, sometimes I’m asleep, but the basics never change. And the vans ate it all up in stride, they didn’t skip a single beat, nothing but solid cruising for 2,000 straight miles over the course of 36 hours. Before we undertook this endeavor, I was very nervous, last weekend I watched the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, one of the most prestigious and exciting races in any class, simply because of the endurance required, it’s hard on both drivers, cars, and crews. This year’s race was especially brutal, the attrition rate was appalling. I gave up watching at 4:30 am, after about 18 hours or so, but at that point all the Corvettes had broken down, all the Peugeots were out, most of the Ferraris were gone, they were dropping at a fantastic rate, and the race wasn’t even nearly finished. Now, I realize full well that the pace of a race, even an endurance race, is infinitely more intense than anything even possible on the streets, but there is a certain valid ratio here. The teams have millions of dollars in development money, and an expansive crew monitoring all the cars vitals every second of the race. We had two vans that cost less than some computers, and had enough miles to have gone around the world about 5 or 6 times each, and only two of us have anything even remotely resembling any mechanical ability. I’d put my money on the Le Mans car, to be honest. Against all odds and pessimism though, the vans trucked on, eating up the miles, and loving every minute of it. I actually felt like the vans were running even better after about 30 hours of hard driving. That’s when things started to go wrong. Not with the vans, but with me. I felt invincible, I thought for sure we were going to make it to California, and God knows where else, without having to touch a single thing. Of course the universe has a way of sending me a proverbial kick in the nuts at just the right time to prevent me from getting too sure of the certainty of everything. After the canyons of Arizona, we started to climb. I was completely unaware that Arizona did this, I was pretty convinced that it was all desert, but that shows what I know. Before I knew it, we were above 7,000 ft, and everyone was hurting; the vans, and all the passengers. See, at that altitude the air is much thinner, and if you aren’t used to the thinner air, your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, it’s starved, you start to develop a headache, you get lightheaded, and walking a block feels like running a mile. I’m one of those people, I’m used to the thick humid air of DC or Boston. These heights aren’t good to me. And evidently, they weren’t kind to the vans either. The same principle applies to both people and cars, I couldn’t get enough air in my body to keep it functioning properly, and the engines in the vans couldn’t suck in enough air to run properly. They were down on power, they were starting to run hot due to the leaner air mixture, I thought we could power through and keep going, maybe let everything rest a little bit, but not too much, we would be fine, everything was going so well, why would things start going wrong now? Well, they did. The Ford developed a pinhole leak in it’s radiator due to the increased engine temperatures, which caused a semi-catastrophic failure right outside of our gas stop. There wasn’t too much to be done, everything was closed already, so Kyle and I had to rig up something in order to keep going. A new radiator would have been ideal, some JB Weld would have been pushing it, but acceptable, my solution however, was on a whole different level of half-assed. To put it simply, I fixed it using glue and an egg. I honestly can’t make it sound any better than that. After about 4 hours at the gas station, several trips to closed auto parts stores, and a couple sword fights and impromptu acoustic sets later, things appear to be all mended and ready to go. Four hours later and we’re back on the road again, trying to work our way to California while it’s nice and cool out, so we can troubleshoot any further problems with the radiator without causing any horrible failures. However, despite that little wild card, we’re still all in good spirits. Breakdowns aren’t quite as bad as they’re made out to be, after all, what would an adventure like this be without a little, well, adventure. I can’t be upset about this, I had a great time rigging up something out of nothing, and setting everything right again, despite the efforts of whatever higher power is out there urging me not to get too cocky too soon. So after a very slight setback, we’re back on the road, developing our rhythm again. I’m sitting in the back seat, Kyle is driving, and I’m about ready to get some sleep. I’m starting to get comfortable again. Not too comfortable of course, I know better than that now. Goodnight everybody, sleep well. I probably won’t. -Hogan *Disclaimer* This was written mere minutes before another lovely failure, of which I will be writing about today.

 About 40 years ago, Brock Yates Jr and a few friends set off on a trip across the country, from New York to Los Angeles with one goal in mind, see how fast they could get there. Partly because of the novelty of the idea, partly out of protest for the newly imposed nationwide 55 mph speed limit, and purely for the freedom of it all. They set out to prove to themselves what they were capable of, and they did just that, and inspired the same dream in countless car enthusiasts. Since then, countless imitation rallies have sprung up in an attempt to emulate the ultimate expression of automotive freedom conceived by Yates and his friends. In 1979 the record was set in a Jaguar XJS driven by Dave Heinz and Dave Yarborough, who completed the trip in 32 hours and 51 minutes, averaging an absurd 87 mph for nearly 3,000 miles, including gas stops. The time itself is completely immaterial however, it doesn’t matter how long it took them, it was all about the journey, not the reason, racing across the country for the sake of itself, and nothing more.

Today, the DKR crew and I accomplished something similar. Well, not really, but I’d like to think we at least captured the spirit of the high speed cross country run. We made it from a Walmart in Indiana, to a Mobil at a gas station in Williams, Arizona in 36 hours. This number is not nearly as impressive as the 33 hour cross country sprint, but then again, our cars weren’t as impressive as a V12 Jag. It wasn’t about the numbers; the most satisfying things in life never are, it was about the feeling, the freedom, the scenery, every little detail. Behind the wheel, there was no cause to worry about the troublesome things in life. After all, I’ve never been to Texas before, I’ve never had any troubles in my life be the fault of Texas, and after the few hours I spent in Texas today, I still don’t.

These 2,000 miles that we decided to tackle in one fell swoop have been an amazing experience for all of us. The only tasks we had in front of us were the next mile, and then the ones after that. As I cruised down I-40 through New Mexico and Arizona, we spent several miles driving parallel to the old Route 66, the historic road connecting the midwest to Southern California, the only real link between the two distant parts of the country for the better part of the 20^th century. This old road epitomized freedom and the open road, just man and machine, and what astonishing feats can be accomplished by the two alone in the vast wilderness, left to survive by their own devices. Now, I will be the first to admit, when I envisioned myself driving something like Route 66, I saw myself doing it in a 427 Cobra, not a 99 Dodge van, but I’ll take what I can get. Some people lament the fall of the old Route 66, and claim the newer, bigger, I-40 has lost the soul that Rt 66 had, but I don’t necessarily agree with that. As I drove down I-40, staring at 20 miles of empty, dead straight highway in front of me, and endless miles of desert stretching out on either side of me, I realized that the piece of asphalt I was on meant nothing, it was more the idea of where I was, and how I got myself there. Before today, I had never been to this part of the country, I had never seen limitless pastures like this outside of No Country For Old Men, but here I was, staring down miles and miles of country that, prior to this point in my life, had only existed in pictures. The remorse for the old 66 is based almost entirely off of nostalgia, and the romanticized tales of the old road that has been made irrelevant. Which is probably why I envision myself driving it in a 45 year old Shelby Cobra, burning my leg on the transmission tunnel while I’m driving, and the side pipes when I get out. I don’t really need all that, all I need are these experiences that I’m creating for myself right now.

That is why Route 66 was created in the first place, it created a link between two parts of the country that otherwise never would have been able to access each other. The freedom created opportunities to go out, leave your house, leave your comfort zone, and go somewhere new, and see something new. I’ve done some amazing things today that if I weren’t in this position, I never would have been able to experience. I saw the northern prairies of Texas, the deserts of New Mexico, and the Painted Canyon in Arizona. I drove through a tornado today. Through a tornado. Before today, I’ve never even seen a tornado, and I literally drove in the middle of one today.

I can tell that some people are getting sick of this long initial trip, but they’re focusing too much on the destination, they are too worried about where we’re going to end up, and not where we’re going on the way there. Personally, I am loving every mile of this trip, taking in every state for what it has to offer; be it the massive swarms of bugs and odd smell of Oklahoma, or the stunning and endless scenery of New Mexico, I’m glad I saw it all. I’ll get to LA soon enough, no need to rush too much, because then, before I know it, I’ll be back home, and this trip will be over. And I know when I get there, I’ll be thinking back on these miles that everyone was just looking to finish, and wish I could go back and be here again, sitting at a gas station in Williams, Arizona, waiting for my laptop to finish charging.

This is my Cannonball Run, this is my Route 66, I don’t need to fake nostalgia, I’ll create my own. With every moment, with every mile and mishap, I’m creating my own past, and I am forever grateful for that opportunity.

And with that, I have to go to LA. Have a good night everybody. Go do something new.

-Hogan