Fuck Chegg

The past few weeks we all have spent obsessing about a stupid irrelevant online battle of the bands competition that has ambiguous rules and frankly has its head up its ass. I have lost multiple nights of sleep to the LaIR trying to get our play count up to secure a spot in their worthless competition. I knew when I started having dreams of being a rock star that the rock music industry is a cesspool of immorality filled with people who really think they know shit about music, who hold the keys to people's careers, and who don't know the circle of 5ths from a goddamn frisbee.

The mission of this stupid competition consumed all of us for no reason, such to the point that I finally understood what all those rappers were talking about when they said they were "on their grind." For the first time in my life, I identified first and foremost as a rock musician, which is liberating. Everyone asks me what am I going to do when I graduate. The people I trust, I tell them "be a rock star," and that's exactly what's going to happen. So you know what Chegg, it's fine. You want to get super-technical about rules in a college music competition so you can reward a band who's members don't fucking go to college? That's your thing. When we're on the main stage of Bonnaroo, we'll call you up and laugh at your grandiloquent promises of "access to industry insiders" and your philanthropic bounty of Logic Pro.

You don't know what you've done Chegg. The last thing I need is an actual target for my rocking out, and the textbook industry is one of the most evil businesses in this country anyway. I know everyone wants their artists to be humble and unassuming but those people don't have to will their career into existence when the odds are always against you. Fuck the haters. Rock out till the end of time. To all the fans, the fact that you exist makes it all worthwhile. We got shit this weekend. Come see it.

Peace.

FJ cover of "Don't Know Why"

Oh, Norah Jones... if only you were a lesbian and knew who I was. A couple of months ago we finally got around to recording our cover of Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why." After a little video editing magic from Dean, it's ready for the world to see! Check it out... and try to ignore my shark eyes (Liz Lemon watup!).



-Sarah

Rockstar, Rededicated

Saturday night was Phi Psi's Battle of the Bands. I'd been thinking about this show for a long time -- a year, to be precise, ever since we came in second last year.

I won't keep you in suspense -- we won!

I secretly recorded the audio of our set and, upon later listening, I have to say I was dismayed by several aspects of our performance. Most importantly, we played WAY TOO FAST. Like, whoa. I had some problems playing certain parts live and I was mostly just disappointed in myself, but it all made sense when I realized how ridiculously frantic our tempo was.

ANYWAYS. I want to direct your attention to this photo, taken by one of my friends.

This photo may not look all that remarkable but, to me, it's pretty unusual. I'm SMILING.

Before Finding Jupiter, I pretty much hated playing live. Hell, before just a few months ago, shows that I enjoyed were an exception rather than the rule. But as part of the band's ongoing efforts to make our live show more interesting and exciting, I've started to actually rock out, and, more importantly, to love doing it.

Our performance at Phi Psi's Battle really brought that effort to life for me. Most shows, I've been rocking out for myself, since it truly makes the experience more fun. But the atmosphere at Battle was unlike anything I've experienced before, largely because I had some amazing friends in the front row who made it their mission to pump up the crowd as much as possible.

Within 30 seconds of starting, I was literally drenched in sweat. Halfway through our set I thought I was going to throw up, I was rocking out so hard (I'm not even joking).

And in the last song of our first set, "Do It Again," when I played the second solo of the first bridge (you know what I'm talking about if you're familiar with the song), something really incredible happened. I was soloing in the middle of the stage, and five to ten members of the audience -- some of whom I had never met before -- were reaching out to me with their hands, like something you see at real concerts.

Something about that moment really struck me. I've never felt that good performing before.

In an ideal world, performing should be gratifying in and of itself. After all, you're not going to get through the bad gigs if you rely on the crowd. You've gotta love it no matter what.

But I know I'm stating the obvious when I say that the crowd makes a difference to any kind of performer. Maybe it's because I'm young or naive or whatever, but I felt electric on stage last night in a way that I never have before.

When we finished, Peter asked, "Can you believe there are people who get paid millions of dollars to do that every day?"

I can't, but I'd love to be one of them.