Dear and the Headlights

     Dear and the Headlights is a small time indie band that broke up in July of 2011. The band unofficially began back in 2002 when Joel Marquard and Ian Metzger started playing together, Joel playing the keyboard and guitar and Ian on vocals. Joel wanted to start a band and approached Ian about it but was somewhat reluctant to due to his bad experience with christian band Justifide in which he co-founded in 1999. Eventually Ian caved in and that was the beginning of Dear and the Headlights.  Joel found PJ Waxman who originally started out playing drums but ended up becoming the guitarist after his talent was recognized. There was still one slight problem...the band was left without a bass player and a drummer. The band tried to make several people work, but it never did. Joel received a call one day from old friend/former band mate Chuckie Duff, who played bass, and also recently purchased some recording equipment he wanted to try out. The very next day they recorded three tracks which were titled Daysleeper, Sweet Talk and Run in the Front. Even though the three tracks were successful, Ian was tired of looking for band members and wanted to call it quits and move to California. Chuckie, who fell in love with the demo, decided to offer to play bass. Chuckie decided that he wasn't going to let the band give up and promised that the band would find a drummer. Evidently right, they found drummer Mark Kulvinskas. Ian did end up moving to California, but Chuckie was determined and practiced the songs with Ian still gone. Chuckie booked a show and Ian flew down to meet the drummer the day of and played that night. After playing several more shows, Ian decided to move back and the band decided to make and album with producer Bob Hoag. Nearing the completion of their album Small Steps, Heavy Hooves, they signed with popular indie label, Equal Vision Records. They gained a higher status from touring with bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Paramore. In September 2007 Joel left the band due to the heavy touring schedule and was replaced by Robert Cissell. After a couple more laps around the country, they recorded album Drunk Like Bible Times in 2008. In September 2009 Chuckie Duff left the band so he could focus on graduate school and his recording studio. Chuckie was replaced by Patrick Taylor in January 2010. Despite the replacement, the band was not mean to last. PJ announced that the band had broken up in July 2011. Dear and the Headlights had broken up because of a negative experience with the industry and felt as thought "they got all that they wanted through the band" (Wikipedia). PJ also said that the band wasn't producing music from their original intentions. In my opinion, it's hard to tell when the band started drifting from their original sound. They only produced 2 albums, but I believe it is better that way. I always say it's better to produce few well-made albums then many crappy albums (like most artists do these days). The quality of the albums is sufficient enough for me, though I still wish they were producing music. Music was always the most profound thing for them, but was unfortunately difficult for them. I will link a couple of songs below that I really enjoy. If you want a subject to comment on, what do you think are the meanings of the songs Daysleeper and It's Getting Easy?

It's Getting Easy by Dear and the Headlights
http://media.gibson.com/audio/Downloads/MP3/ItsGettinEasy.mp3

Daysleeper by Dear and the Headlights
http://www.birp.fm/music/playlists/2009/march/26%20-%20Dear%20And%20The%20Headlights%20-%20Daysleeper.mp3

Sweet Talk by Dear and the Headlights
http://podcast.fredflare.com/boombox/data/playlists/01_julieOCT/01.mp3

Some More About Jonny Craig

     So last post I introduce to you, my loyal following, to the band Dance Gavin Dance. I talked a little bit about ex-vocalist Jonny Craig. In my opinion, Dance Gavin Dance was a much better band when he was the lead singer. He was the original lead singer of the band, and was the reason for the name of the band. Jonny had wanted to name a previous band Dance Gavin Dance, and the name stuck. Though Jonny has an amazing voice, he's kind of an asshole. He left the band back in November 2007 not too long after the release of their second album Downtown Battle Mountain. He later on asked to come back and the band rejected him due to his extreme tensions with other band members. Tensions we so bad that in August 2007, guitarist Sean O'Sullivan quit the band due to conflict with Jonny as well as Matt Mingus. After that, Jonny went on to join the band Emarosa in 2010. After two more albums, Dance Gavin Dance was not doing well and it was rumored that the band was going to split. Kurt Travis (the new clean vocalist) had officially quit the band, and Jonny came back. Jonny Craig was the lead vocalist for both band until he was kicked out of Emarosa in 2011. It was later on announced the the band was going to release their album Downtown Battle Mountain II  later that year. In October 2011 the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus due to issues with Jonny. Then, they announced that Kurt Travis and Matt Guise would be the vocalist for their upcoming tour. On August 21, 2012, Dance Gavin Dance announced Craig's departure via Facebook saying "When Jonny rejoined DGD, we were about to call it quits. Tired of touring and being away from home for 8 months of the year, we wanted to shake things up. We thought it'd be fun to do a dbm sequel with Jonny and go out on that. We recorded dbm2 and felt it would be a disservice to our fans not to let them hear the new record live. We did a tour and felt rejuvenated but Jonny wasn't in a good place. After trying to convince him into getting help over warped tour, we canceled a headliner in November/December 2011 and told him we wouldn't tour until he sought out real help for his addiction. We got our good friend Matt Geise to fill in for a short run we did earlier this year while Jonny was in rehab. He was released and wanted to be out on the road immediately. We weren't sure how things would go so we only booked a small portion of the all stars tour to see if Jonny could still function as our lead singer. After a week and a half things were not going well. Everything came to a head when Jonny was publicly scolded by the owner of sumerian records for multiple offenses. It was then that we realized that our time with Jonny had reached its end. We wish Jonny the best In his future endeavors but he will no longer be a part of DGD. We however will continue playing and writing music because it's what we love doing."" (Wikipedia). Jonny Craig was also part of the superband Isles and Glaciers from 2008-2010. The vocalist included Craig Owens from Chiodos and Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil. They released one EP when tensions were stirring within the band. Jonny had been involved in a "Mac Book scandal" with several fans. Jonny had advertised that he would be selling a few Mac-Books, and a couple of fans sent him money but the computers never came. After that scandal Craig Owens tweeted "... and people wonder why we won't do another I & G record." Ever since Isles and Glaciers broke up in 2010, Jonny Craig has been producing numerous solo albums. Many fans believe that Jonny Craig is doing much better for himself and Dance Gavin Dance has agreed that Jonny is doing much better now that he is on his own. 

Children of Divorce by Jonny Craig
http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_lefaflsf3q1qbyv20o1.mp3

Viola Lion by Isles and Glaciers
http://awmusic.ca/1/mp3/Isles%20and%20Glaciers%20-%20Viola%20Lion.mp3

Cemetery Weather by Isles and Glaciers
http://dc249.4shared.com/img/968840961/ba99d999/dlink__2Fdownload_2FAcdwsKz2_3Ftsid_3D20131002-24428-1a0995f0/preview.mp3