I was in high school and my friend Joey and I drove up in his beater mismatched paint Honda Civic to see them. They actually opened for Thrice (Joey got a guitar pick). I still remember them opening and me being confused if we are seeing the right band. They had giant crosses hanging down and purple lights, and they opened saying things like PRAISE JESUS IN JESUS’S NAME WE LIVE!!!!!! Then all of a sudden they were like “so lEz nOt Evennnn trrryyy” in a screamo voice and the rest was just pure fun. Huge fan ever since, even despite leaving Catholicism at the time internally as I had just changed high schools from my private catholic high school at Bishop England to public school at Goose Creek. After the show I still remember being scared to get beat up at Goose Creek High or made fun of if I wore the Pink X Underoath T-shirt everyone had too.
As I got older I really started to love this first album a lot, They’re Only Chasing Safety. It almost feels like a stroke of genius of combining how the world is changing in your mind as you get older past high school and the intersect of being able to love each other and other things. Maybe this coincides with my recent back into my private form of Christianity? Who knows? That is exactly the point, and I commit to the belief that it was part of my master plan of life set ahead for me. I love the album as a story but I wanted to dive into the song “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door”. A lot of thoughts pop up in my head when I heard that line. The song came out around the time I read CS Lewis books and really felt it when he said many “Christians” claim god with their words but deny him the moment they walk out their front door with actions. It also reminds me of just prioritizing the wrong things in your relationships with what you love. The song parallels a guy driving him and his lover who he is so crazy in love with, that he decides to crash the car and kill them both. To me, he feels like he’s seeking this ‘idea’ of a perfect love that he wants to give to his partner that he cannot, as it is only rooted in his near sightedness.
I've seen this once before
Planned perfection sought in my dreams
Hoping this would take you home
The feeling of working so hard at something you want to work in a relationship, only to be blindsided by getting it all wrong or not feeling like it is fixed, is a crippling feeling that is super familiar to me.
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
Glass shatters and comes to a halt, I thought we'd be there by now
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
I thought it would be so much quicker than this
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
Pain has never been so brilliant, I made sure you were buckled in
Drowning in my sleep, I'm drowning in my sleep
Now you can walk hand in hand, hand in hand with him!
I loved how the echo and despair is really visualized with the way the bridge climaxes (mmmm). The back and forth between a visual description “Glass shatters” -> “I thought wed be there” is such a cool reality vs feelings that even though reality is crashing in, he still is confused. “Pain has never been so briliiant” -> “i made sure you were buckled in” , which to me is associating what he thinks is finally closure and certainty, but still buckling you in is proof of his uncertainty.
The lesson I learn every day lately is to love the people I love (and myself, and especially dora), to the best of my ability. This is way easier said than done, because this requires me to be absolutely honest with myself as well. I have to be hones with how much I’m capable of loving and the things I do that rob me of my ability to love more that are in my control. It also is important for me not to set unrealistic expectations within myself of how much “i want to look like i love” as well, and truly go off inner spirit and feelings. In Catholic school they taught me God was perfect and was the only person cable of “perfect love.” My friend Chris reminded me of the concept of AGAPE, a perfect and unconditional love of God to man, and man to God. Being able to accept my love I give as the best, and accepting I can grow that love without being held back by perfectionism (which often involves judging others and myself’s love).
End Rant! tldr; listen to the album go to shows
Okay on to the pictures (most of these were taken mid air punching in the m0$h pit).
us rolling up to the club on a MONDAY NIGHT full of katsu in our bellehz
cool looking street lamp vibezZz
thought this was anonymous but it was actually a pre-show stretching for the old people like me 10/10
perfectly in focus picture taken by the wifey but i still like it! randomly saw my (retired) coworker!!! what a small world! he took his daughter to vip.
Perfectly framed selfie cutting off our heads but it is of me and Kevin hyping each other up before the show he has never heard a song from
music was SO good and melodic that dora was starting to get beautifully lulled to slumber (fire selfie doe)
picture in a picture playing with some shadows off hands, the guy in the back right kinda looks like hes cookin’ stew
ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR BEAR ARMS OUT GIMME A HUG (i’ll hug you spencer…)
just some chill arms this time
really cool shot that reminded me of a baby emerging from a velociraptor egg or zombies climbing a wall
captured the hand sliding down the steamy glass in the titanic on the right
goro/shiva hands pumpin’ the sky
some longer exposure fun, throwback feel to myspace house shows
i waited for the lamp in the center to not shine directly to get this shot while dodging fellow air punchers
i think this was during a boy brushed red living in black and white - i used to swing my hair the same way when i first saw these guys with my mowgli from the jungle book hair
perks of being in the circle -> close pics
it definitely started to get smelly and sweaty around this time, 30+ year old fans still love to smell stinky
spencer (the lead singer) is actually swinging a big lamp, but what is more important is this person’s fire haircut. so crisp. such a steep drop off.
I actually had no idea who was behind me, but this selfie is so good it looks like i planned this shit. kinda looks like nate’s (euphoria) dad in the back left. sweaty from all my invisible demon punching and jumping on goombas.
love the energy in this picture - so much going on <3
the encore - happy i am. honestly the band played awesome even without considering how old they are
the hair is very nostalgic to me because i felt every lead singer of all the bands i like for a long time had the same hair and so did i
fun fun times! after the show was over and we all clapped together
i can never get tired of seeing this sign, i hope to have 420 pics of this sign when im 42 years old
nimbus-kun enjoying tha high lyfe
the only way to end the post is with a beautifully exposed picture of our favorite son