Hey everyone, Mike here— Even though this post may have nothing to do with what’s going on with the band, I thought I’d spread the word about some artists who I’ve been keeping my eye on for a while now. If you’ve got a few minutes, go and check them out.

Here’s the list, in no specific order:

1. Blaine Fontana
2. Sylvia Ji
3. Jeff Soto
4. Mike Giant
5. Kurt Halsey

PS: I created a Flickr page with some of my own artwork on it. Go and check it out. Leave comments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikevanmeter/

So when we were practicing/recording last time Ryan Lee Roth was dressed as an old HC sXe singer and we were both reminiscing about Earth Crisis’ Firestorm lyrics.  This, in turn, made me think about great music paramount I had had throughout my life and I thought I may share some of them with you, well the three I can recall immediately.

1. Meeting Slayer at The Record Exchange in 1998 when they released Diabolous en Musica-When my good friend Chris and I went to that there were Chevy I-Rocs and Firebirds from the 80s as far as the eye could see and each car had a different album playing.  Slayer was hammered, I was 16, and it was the best experience of my life at that point.
2. Seeing Ministry in 1996 with Chris again.  That was my first show I ever attended and it was pretty awesome….Ministry is ungodly washed up now but at the time they were the shit.
3. Seeing Hot Water Music a few years back and meeting a big influence in my life, Jason Black…not too much I can say about that encounter other then my future child’s birth probably will pale in comparison.

So there are a few…you may not think they are interesting but I sure do….stay tuned for other top three experiences in this guy’s life, I take requests.  Until next time, keep it real.

-Jon

PS I tried desperately to post a pic on here and failed…..

There is a lot to discuss from the RtS camp. New song, new practice space and recording has officially begun. For the sake of this entry, let’s limit the talking points to the former. We have a new song to premiere. It’s called “One of Two.” A song which started as just an acoustic song, then piano ballad, has turned into a two organ, guitar, bass and drums opus. Though it’s not a video that we will likely see gracing the primetime slot of MTV, it will certainly give you a sense of what “One of Two” sounds like as a full band. We hope you enjoy.

We have a song called “Future Listeners.” In short, the song is centered around the idea that many people (including myself) have strong opinions about the horrible course of the nation/war, but are too lazy to change said course (including myself), thusly making us no better than the people that we negatively critique. We’re a bunch of listeners, and not do’ers. And our complacency will unfortunately continue on like a broken record long into the future. Just kickin’ back and listening to Bob Dylan records doesn’t make us activists. By no means are we a political band, or freedom writers, the song was written purely based on observation.

With that said, since we don’t have a live video of this song, nor a good version recorded, I thought I would post an “acoustified” video of it. It’s got a different feel and groove to it, but have a listen anyway. Look out for a good “electrified” recording of it soon.

Hey everyone, Mike here. I know it’s been a while since we’ve updated our myspace with some new music, so I figured I’d post some demo versions of three new (or newer) songs. Remember, they are demo versions, but I’d say they’re pretty good quality compared to most demo versions of recordings I’ve heard over the years.

Go to our myspace, give them a listen— and let us know what you think!

-Mike

FROM THE DEPTHS...

Hey all…this is Jon.  Just wanted to say thanks so much to all the people that came out to the Ottobar the other Friday for the show.  It was amazing what a nice sound system/engineer does to help the live sound.  I was thinking the other day and telling the guys that this October will be two years for me playing in the band.  It has been bumpy at times but I think as a band we have all gelled pretty damn well.  I had a great time at the Ottobar and realized I may need to wear more eyeliner….it’s the missing ingredient I have been looking for in the 10 year quest to be a pop-punk/hardcore/metal/rock bassist.  Anyways, I really enjoyed the show and hope that we can play soon or pick up recording to send some new tunes all your way.  Take care all and thanks again for the support.

Jonny "Radio Shack" Bylsma (photo: Faithdesired)

“The first band, Rain the Shining, is a band from Baltimore with a great sound… keys, guitars… nice! And their guitarist was awesome!”

- A quote from a new friend of the band’s Flickr Page describing her first RtS encounter on Aug. 22nd.

Lucky for us, our new friend, Shantel was also kind enough to take some great pics from the evening. These pictures may be the most professional looking pictures ever taken of the band. (Sorry Jenn…)

Unfortunately for me, when Shantel compliments our “awesome” guitar player, the guitar player she is referring to is of course Jonny “Radio Shack” Bylsma (pictured to the right), and not me. But it’s true, once again Jonny’s nimble baby carrot fingers and fire hazardous pedal farm produced some sonic awesomeness to our already awesomely-sonic set. Though Jonny’s loose guitar explorations brought people to tears…or at least deafness, the band as a whole rocked the stage at Baltimore’s Ottobar. (Remember Jonny, there is no “I” in Rain the Shining.)

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WTF

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Last week, completely out of the blue, we got a message from the Ottobar asking us if we were interested in playing a show on August 22nd. Of course I was SUPER excited because I love the Ottobar—not to mention the fact that’s it’s been a WHILE since we’ve last played. What makes this show even cooler is the fact that we’re playing with an amazing Smiths/Morrissey tribute band called Girlfriend in a Coma, which for us is great because we dig the Smiths and Morrissey, so it’s going to be a night of good times all around.

Here’s the info on the show: August 22nd (Friday), @ the Ottobar, All Ages, doors open @ 9pm!!!

We’re going on @ exactly 9:30pm, which gives everyone time to get out of work and head down to the Ottobar. We really hope we see a lot of friendly faces in the crowd. Check out the “SHOWS” section on the right for more. There’s a flier to promote the show, save it and print it out to hand out to your friends, famliy, co-workers, and even random people you run into.

-Mike

Hey all this is Jon from the rippin’ RTS. This is my first time using a “blog,” so bare with me (hence the title). More posts to come…..

BRING IT

Let me start over. We all had a great practice…all the mates are watching every thing I type. We playing at the Ottobar next friday….Converge played there recently so I’m sure it will rip…and I digress. As I was being allowed to make a name/account for this I wished I could become the one and only Admin. If that happened this would be the three topics:

1. -PBR
2. -Suffocation and other great Relapse Record bands from the mid 90s
3. -Where is Burton C Bell and Fear Factory today?

Well have a good week all and look forward to seeing some of you killers at the gig.

Peace and chicken grease,

Jon