Just carry on, carry on, carry on.

VEHICLE CITY: (This is actually the first song we wrote for My Everest) The Swellers first show was at a venue called The Flint Local 432 in lovely, Flint, Michigan in July of 2002. I wore temporary red hair dye while our then bassist wore black and red socks that went up to his knees. It was a great experience. We continued to play there over the years and things in our lives were great. The venue had already changed locations several times after the city closed the buildings. So it moved 2 doors down to the “Metropolis building” and that’s when we really felt at home. We had a community of friends, and even joined the Local staff working sound, or door person jobs for years. It was OUR scene, and it felt so good to be part of it. It was like a punk rock version of Cheers, where everyone knows your name. The 4 of us worked there, played frequent shows, and built up a fan base. Out of nowhere, the city got back to their old ways and tried shutting the venue down again. The mastermind of the local purchased a nearby building so we’d have somewhere to go. Well, the Metropolis building closed, the new one never opened up, and the years we put into The Local began to disappear. People couldn’t bring it back. As the economy of Michigan got worse, and people were losing jobs and leaving the state, it seemed as though people were leaving our music scene until all of our old friends were gone. “The faces change but all the songs remain the same”. We started touring, and it’s been over 2 years without the Flint Local existing. A huge part of our lives was suddenly gone, but we still had this stubborn shred of optimism that it would come back, and there’s been rumors that it will be a reopening… so we’ll see. “I’ll still keep the motor running”.

From the vinyl insert on My Everest, written in 2008.

Vinyl collectors!

Chisel Records has copies of the My Everest Vinyl available for sale here. There are also copies of Ups and Downsizing. If you order $40 worth of stuff before October 23rd, you’ll get free shipping! This is the first place I’ve seen with copies of My Everest in a long time (following the debacle with Team Science Records and their lack of product), so I’d snap these up as quick as possible!

—Kayla

finally c:

leahkatj:

My friend Leah’s incredibly perfect tattoo.

—Kayla

(via leahkatj-deactivated20130425)