The equation is usually the same formula over and over again. You get together with a few friends with a like-minded intent on doing this "band thing". So you start writing, make some songs, play some shows, maybe record a demo or album together, maybe do a tour here and there but usually it hardly goes anywhere after this. There's hardly any mention as to why we do this. I mean, really, why do we do this? At the end of the day where is our foundation? With all the trends and excessibility now simply handed to us through the many forms of media around us, why are we really doing this?

I ask myself those questions everyday. Yes, I love making music. There is no denying that. But the above mentioned formula is something that just doesn't jive with me any longer. Not that everyone should see this my way. I'm simply stating that something has gone very wrong here in this quest to be like every other band, whether independent or major. As I was saying...

...Of course it goes without saying that I love what I do. Then again, I don't believe many musicians actually come out and say that.

There has been this powerful communication that I have found through being a music listener as well as a player of it. This is one major aspect. Now does this mean that it is necessary for me to always tour and make records and play a couple hundred shows a year? Of course not. Then why are so many of us falling prey to this silly notion that if we play music, we always have to be on the move, on to bigger and better things? Fuck that! As far as I'm concerned, you either play from your heart and let your passion and logic guide you, or your art is fucking dead...dead to me at least. You don't need a fucking label or tour to validate your art, dickhead! You're just as pathetic as these folks out in the world who think they need a romantic partner in order to "feel loved".

Time and time again, I've seen a ton of bands go through line up changes, awful song changes, faulty planned tours, and senseless ammounts of arguements just over the silliest shit: tour, money, albums, equipment, getting noticed, etc. And I know I'm not the only one who has witnessed a band on stage and thought to myself, "Man, these kids are trying way too hard. They're totally pretending to have a good time. That guy doesn't mean anything he's saying. How fucking sad!" But I'm not in the business of changing anyone. So let them be.

But what I won't be silent about is the constant abuse of art and passion just so these scene kids get can their emotional and musical dicks wet, while clogging up a system that is meant for all artists and not just for their stupid scene of friends and genres.

Still to this day I am trying to find the verbage to convey just exactly why I am doing this for. But there is only so many ways of saying you love something before it merely comes across as lip service. All I can say at the moment, is that regardless of how long this (Colony) lasts, or how many songs we write, and how well the tour goes...I honestly don't give a shit. In my most sincere place inside my heart I can say that I've been able to create such close bonds with these three other men whom I've grown to love very much.

"Play from your fucking heart!!!"
-Bill Hicks-

Justin T. Roddam