We wanted to address this issue publicly, so today we are releasing this official announcement, that as of tomorrow, Life Stage will no longer exist as the band we’ve been for the past few years. Yes, we know, this is heartbreaking. Everything we’ve said up till this point has been nothing but promise, and hope for the future of our little band, but today, we come to you announcing our exit from the stage.

So what happened? Well, let me briefly sum up what’s happened, and why we’ve all chosen to peacefully move on in different directions.

1) We are all moving in different directions. This summer and fall, Andy will be out of town, and out of state pursuing academic obligations, as he strives to become the best player he can be. He’s been given so many opportunities in the academic world, and to not pursue them to the fullest extent of his capabilities would be wrong. Also, Ross now runs a full time social media/online marketing business, that, in order to truly be successful, needs his undivided attention. The thing with both of these guys, is that they’ve always had multiple responsibilities, but for the first time since the band’s inception, their responsibilities OUTSIDE the band, have truly made it impossible to keep up with their responsibilities WITHIN the band. You can’t serve two masters, and we’ve all come to this realization in the past couple of weeks.

2) Rather than go on, limping, and trying to fit Life Stage into the gaps of life, we’ve decided it is just best to leave the pieces and move on. It’s best to either do something to the fullest extent of your capabilities (i.e., go all out), or not do it at all – and that’s the challenge we face now. Thus, we’ve decided to go on, and do the band (and all the individuals involved) a favor, so that no one can say we didn’t do our best, or put in our best effort. We legitimately have tried, and tried our hearts out – and we’ve made it work so far! But now, we have to move on, it simply can’t work the way it has been, any longer.

3) It’s not about the music, but then again, it is. Let me make VERY clear, that we all LOVE the music we’ve made, and we’re currently making at the time of our disbandment. In that regard, it has absolutely nothing to do with the music. No one in the group is angry, bored, or unhappy in any way about the music – most of all, we are all just disappointed with the outcome, and that we CAN’T continue to make the music we love. Thus, in that respect, it IS about the music, because we realize, that to keep going in this direction, means sacrificing the time and quality we would be able to put INTO our music. Again, this isn’t fair to us as a band, as individuals, and as fans of music ourselves, we just couldn’t let this happen.

And so, there you have it. Tonight, we are playing our very last show as a band in Austin, TX. We truly, TRULY, appreciate every single one of you who have stood behind us and our music. You’ve given us so much encouragement through the years, and we regret that we cannot continue under the burdens we all face at the moment.

But will Life Stage ever reunite?? Well, this my friends is yet to be seen, but know that we are absolutely NOT ruling it out. We can say though, with a fairly high amount of certainty, that at least within the next 2 to 3 years, there will be no more Life Stage. It’s difficult to see what will happen after that (after all, you’ve been listening to our words, and you know life is always changing, right?), but of course, we would love to see a time when our other obligations become a little less burdensome or restrictive, and we can get back together to make some great music once again.

Thanks for all of your patience, dedication and support. We’re sorry it couldn’t continue to work for us, but we hope you’ll understand, and we hope we can continue to keep in touch with all of you as we move on from here. Keep in mind we WILL be streaming our show tonight, so if you can catch it, great. Please chime in, and let us know how you feel any time. Thanks again, and see you tonight!

Ross, Andy, Chris,
Life Stage

So what are we talking about here? Well, first and foremost – we’re working on a new album. Most of you may already know this much, and we sent a few of you who are on our fan list an email a couple of weeks ago, detailing exactly what’s going on. Plus, you may remember from late last year, before we took a blogging hiatus, we were talking about the new studio that was being built above our old practice facilities – well now that studio is complete, and we have finally begun tracking what’s looking like a grand total of 10 completely new songs. More to come on that in the coming weeks, including a video update or two, so check in when you can.

Another topic worthy of a re-launch post, is that along with our upcoming release (which we can’t tell you the exact date yet, but think summer), we’ll be doing some cool new stuff to interact with our fans, and be more engaged here on the web. And we know you’re thinking, you guys have fans?, but yes, we do have at least 5 good fans, and we’re going to work hard to connect with them as much as possible. In fact, we’ll be blogging more, social webbing more, sharing more, and we’ll even be rolling out a forum here pretty soon – so get ready to chat us up with your comments and stern disapproval!

Finally, we have a few words to say about this moment in time, the right here and now. If you’re reading this, we think you’re cool. AND, if you’re reading this, know that you’ll be able to look back in a couple of years (when we’re all the way up to 25-30 fans), and say, yeah I supported those guys before they made it big! HA. We laugh and mostly cry at the thought of ever “making it big”, but on sort of a serious note, we truly believe that right now is a moment in history for us. We’re on the verge of releasing our second album, and our first full length record. We have over 2 years, the making of our last album, and tons of other crazy events that have contributed to our experience and maturity as a band. And most importantly, we know now, more than ever, exactly what we are going for as a band – and that includes our music, niche, appeal, and even our look. We may not be a trendy band, but our confidence is unshaken, and in fact is now stronger than ever as we face the biggest moment in our short existence thus far – and we couldn’t be more excited. Hang with us as we make the journey through this year, and chime in every step of the way; it’s gonna be a great year!

Look for more posts very soon.

Life Stage

We’ve had lots of help from our good friend, artist, and fellow musician, Josh Taylor from the band Clairmont (check out their stuff here) with the design and implementation of the site, and have spent a considerable amount of time making sure everything is just as we want it; so when we finally do launch this thing later today, what you’ll see is the culmination of a couple of months of thought and hard work!

Now having said that, we by no means think the site is perfect! Every site has it’s flaws and glitches, and we’ll be working to remove/fix as many of those as possible over the coming weeks and months. If you find any, please let us know. Also, there are many ideas and features that we are wanting to include in the site, but just simply haven’t had the time or money thusfar to implement them. We’ll be developing and updating the site with these features as soon as the opportunities open up to do so; again, if you have any ideas of your own, be sure to let us know!

Finally, we’ll no longer be forwarding our homepage to this website (our blog), so be sure to bookmark it (http://lifestagemusic.com/blog), or subscribe to the rss feed (http://lifestagemusic.com/blog/feed) to stay on top of our news and info as we continue to post them here! Also, be sure and sign up for our newsletter (http://lifestage.fanbridge.com), as you’ll be the absolute first to know about everything going on in the world of Life Stage, including new music, concerts, and website announcements.

We are seriously excited about finally having an official homepage, and we hope you’ll join us for the launch of it later today! Look for the announcement on all of our social networks and our fanlist, and bookmark the page: http://lifestagemusic.com.

See ya then!

Life Stage

Anyways, as I was saying – These are our new summer plans in light of recent events, and I really think you’ll like what we have going on. We’ll keep it short and sweet, but spare you no meaty details on what we’re thinkin’, hopin’, and expecting will happen this summer, in the next couple of months. So here we go, in bullet form, starting with this week, then going through the rest of the summer:

This week:
- Andy is back in town from a teaching gig last week
- We’ll add more new songs to the 4 we already have for our next album (we have about 7 more to work on, we’ll finish what we can this week)
- Do some more video blogging (we haven’t done that in a while!)
- Record all new songs in garage for demo purposes
- Then Andy leaves out for his music festival in NC!

Rest of the Summer Plans/Goals:
- Complete and launch our website (BIGGIE! Already working on it, and it should be launched by the end of this summer.)
- Complete our next album’s worth of songs (continue writing thru summer, then finish them when Andy returns)
- Continue to network and build connections to our fanbase and friends (the website/mailing list will help a lot with this)
- Continue to put the word out and garner reviews from top notch experts on our first release: Stage 1 (2009 EP)
- Get some actual photos done so we look like a band, not a band in the woods (when andy gets back, of course)
- Put together our official Life Stage electronic presskit so that we can play shows come fall and winter!
- Put out consistent video blog posts, just to keep in touch, and let you know what’s goin on
& Finally:
- Fundraise for our next album project so we can record and put out another album – this one being full length and of epic proportions!

And there are so many more little things, but this (or, these or, whatever, gah), is at the heart of what we’re doing this summer, and ULTIMATELY: This summer is a platform! We’ll use this time Andy will be gone to build the infrastructure and tools needed to bring our tiny little band up to the next level of professionalism, and one step closer to realizing our dream of making our music dream, a reality. So thanks so much for backing us in that process, and know that after this summer, we have even MORE huge things planned, that should all be possible depending on what happens in the next 2-3 months.

Those plans will more directly REWARD you (ie lots and lots of shows, new album, etc), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get INVOLVED right now. We have a mailing list you should sign up for (you’ll soon see the value in that!), and we’ll REALLY need your help soon as we begin our fundraising efforts later this summer. So please stay involved, and stay in touch! We really appreciate hearing from you, it let’s us know you’re there, and that you’re rooting for us to succeed here. Shoot us an email (info@lifestagemusic.com), or talk to us on Myspace, Facebook, & Twitter, and let us know what YOU think!

Until Nextime,

Life Stage

NOW, having said that, today Life has thrown us yet another curve! And while this change is certainly for the best, and is in no way a BAD thing, it is a big change of plans for us, especially with regards to what we had in mind this summer (ie – see our last post). It is GREAT news however, and this great news pertains to one of our very own, drummer, Andy Emerich. This summer, Andy has been invited to perform at a 7-week long festival starting in late June known as the Brevard Music Festival! This festival is held in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and features some of THE best musical talent in the country, with only a handful of students in each field of study selected to be a part of this event. Andy will get to learn from and be recognized by some of the best teachers and performers in the world right now, and this will be a HUGE boost for his resume and will help him in any path he chooses to take in his musical career! SO, if you haven’t done so yet, be sure and congratulate Andy on his achievement, and let him know that you, and all of us, are behind him!

Cool right? You may have even thought we were going somewhere bad with this post, huh? Not a chance. As for our summer plans, the new goal is to do what we planned and write our tails off now through mid-June. Then, where we were originally planning on picking up a lot of shows, and performing for the rest of the summer, we’ll now use that time to make new friends, do some networking, prepare for our next release, and possibly even do a little fundraising! Who knows? I mean, we literally JUST found out about this whole new thing here, so we’re trying to figure it out, and lest you worry, WE WILL. We’ve got a whole ton of stuff to keep us busy this summer, and we’ll make the most of it regardless, so keep your eyes peeled for news, updates, and free stuff along the way! (in fact this is a good time to recommend that you sign up for our official mailing list so you don’t miss a thing: LifeStage.FanBridge.com) THEN, after Andy gets back from this festival, we’ll be waiting and ready to kick off a late summer through early winter schedule of shows that will more than make up for any lost time! Sound good? We think so, and most importantly, we are extremely happy for Andy, and proud to have such an excellent talent among us in our band! We’ll roll with the changes as usual, and come out better in the end for it.

Keep an eye out for our future updates as well, as we go through this summer, and figure things out along the way. We’ll also be vamping up our homepage here pretty soon, so that every single place we exist on the web (ie- Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, our Store, etc.) can be found in one, simple location via our Homepage, just a click away. So stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, sign up for our official mailing list so as to receive the latest updates, directly from us! So much thanks for your support thusfar – let’s continue to make 2010 a great year – constant change and all!

Until Nextime

Life Stage

NOW, with all of this cool new stuff we’ve been writing, again totalling about 14 new song ideas so far, we’ve also got some other huge plans for this summer, besides just finishing an entire album’s worth of songs! The first of these big plans is of couse gonna be to PLAY MORE SHOWS. We started off the year as we hoped by playing about a show per month, but it’s now been a while (due to having a complete lack of time in April), and we’re all ITCHING to get back on stage. So, our promise to you is that we WILL be playing absolutely as much as we possibly can this summer, especially starting late June through August! Our goal is to play once a week during that time, and use that to really generate some much needed momentum for our next album, and the next stage for our little band.

The next big thing we’re planning for besides writing songs, and playing shows, is to get better in touch with our true fanbase. Let me explain: Basically, I think we’re doing (and have done since starting this journey about a year ago) a pretty decent job of reaching out and communicating with our friends and fans via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and the like of social networking, but there is no doubt that we could, can, and need to step it up, and do a better job at actually reaching people in a meaningful way. This blog, for example, I think is doing a great job of keeping those interested informed of everything we’re doing and what we’re thinking, and what we like, don’t like, smell like, etc, etc, etc, but the key phrase there is “those interested.” Those interested enough to find out about this blog and actually read it, are already doing their part, and we can’t thank you enough, those of you who actually are! WE, however, need to do a better job of connecting to people, and I think the best way for us to do this is by employing our mailing list, for our true friends and fans to sign up, and stay in the know. SO, after that long digression, the point here is that besides everything else this summer, our number 1 goal is to grow our fanbase and our mailing list, and use it to really keep in touch with our fans! This is something we’re committed to, and we’re really looking forward to doing that this summer.

AND, finally, what we also really hope to do this summer, is break through. We want to play a lot of shows, yes. And we want to write a lot of songs, yes. And we want to strengthen our fanbase, yes. But what we also want to do, is break through! And by that I mean, we want to make an impact, and start getting recognized (just START getting recognized, that’s all) outside of our garage and local community for who we really are – an independent, progressive metal trio! We work SO hard (as emphasized in my opening paragraph), and sometimes the business side of things can be a little discouraging, but it’s all worth it when we get on stage, and do what we love. And we want to share what we love with everyone else, and that’s why we hope this summer we can break through. Wont you help us make this goal a reality? You can in a big way by telling your friends – seriously! I mean, I know you don’t think you have any friends, but trust me you do, and they want to know what you think is cool! If everybody signs up for our mailing list (lifestage.fanbridge.com) and shares us with their friends, we WILL have a breakthrough summer, and that’s a promise.

All this being said, look out for Life Stage this summer! We’re seriously preparing for battle this year, and we want you to be a part of it! Take the 5 seconds to click the “Share” button on our Facebook page, and help us in our fight. We really appreciate our supporters, and we can’t wait to see every single one of you out and about this summer. BTW – don’t be afraid to leave us a message, comment, or just say “hi”, we’d love to hear from you! Let us know what’s going on in your world.

Until Nextime,

Ross
Life Stage

Life Stage is about good music, plain and simple. Our “heros,” if you will, are the bands, musicians, and composers that made music great, and are continuing to make music great to this day. From Mozart to Bethoven, from Tchaikovsky to Debussy, from Dave Bruebeck to John Coltrane, from John Cage to David Lang, from Elvis to The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Van Halen, from King Crimson to Pink Floyd to Rush to Dream Theater to Porcupine Tree, from Sabbath to Maiden to Metallica to Mastodon and others, ALL of which (and there are PLENTY more we could name) have had HUGE impacts on us both collectively, and individually.

So what comes to mind when hearing these named individuals and bands with regards to their profound impact on music itself? Why were THESE guys so important? Honestly? Who knows. What we do think though, is that these people all did one thing in common – they made music that was true to themselves. Some of these composers and artists were completely obscure, especially for the time they lived in, and yet, they pressed on because they believed in what they were making – history.

Somehow, music today has lost that. That drive, that passion, that innocence. Not ALL music of course, for as you can see we do have some modern bands (and there are many others not listed) that we really respect, and influence us just as much as the rest! But the point is, that by-in-large, music is just not what it used to be. It’s almost as if since the 70′s, when rock was completely revolutionized like the world had never seen, and bands(record companies) began seeing profits like the world had never seen, music took on a whole new meaning – one centered around marketability, profitability, and returns, and less about art, creativity, and individuality.

Now, I know, I’m putting a WHOLE LOT of personal spin and infusing my own opinions on the history and current state of music and all, but I get the feeling that a WHOLE LOT of people out there would agree with me! In fact, I know they would, and DO. This is why you’re seeing (and hopefully you ARE seeing it) a HUGE trend towards independent bands, artists, musicians, etc. who are (finally) doing things their own way! While, yes, we still have to be able to make a living (and some will still do better than others), and yes, profits are great, and no there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s still NOT ok to sell out, and make a passionless record just to make a million bucks. This is the state of music today, and it’s been this way for some time now. The point is, we’re doing something about it. Not just us, but every band, musician and artist out there, who is literally risking it all to do what they love as a career, and not sacrificing their spirit (the same spirit that enabled some of the great artists listed above) and their passion for what they do to get there.

And that’s pretty much the point here today: We, Life Stage, are all about making good music, and creating it with passion, regardless of typecasts and trends. And you can help us in our efforts! When you purchase our album (off iTunes or our store at music.lifestagemusic.com), make a donation, or even just tell your friends about us, you are doing SO MUCH to help us, and it means SO MUCH to us, really. Heck, even just signing up for our mailing list (lifestage.fanbridge.com) and keeping in touch via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite social networking site, gives us a huge boost of moral, and you help us further our career, without succumbing to industry pressure! So thank you in advance for doing all that you can to support us, it does not go unnoticed.

OK, so that’s it for today. That should keep you toasty for a while until we can get back to blogging consistently. Until then, we’ll continue to make the best music we possibly can, and of course we’ll be in touch on every single corner of the web! And yes, we do have a mailing list, so go sign up!

Until Nextime,

Life Stage

Well what in the world does that mean? Glad you asked. It means, that aside from (or in addition to) iTunes, AmazonMP3, Napster, Rhapsody, Emusic, and a few others we were already on, (which is pretty much global as far as retailers go) we are now (or soon to be) up and running on several top streaming music sites and online radio stations, such as LastFM, Pandora, and MOG, and a few new retailers to boot, such as Puretracks, MooZone, & ThinkIndie! In fact, you can see the complete list of partners below, and feel free to check each of them out (do Bing search or something) to get a feel for what they do. Who knows, you may even find one you like better than iTunes! There’s other cool stuff included too, like the leading ringtones site, Myxer, and syndication through Wal-Mart online! Oh, and not to mention Zune for all you zuners out there! Cool huh?

Yes, indeed this is pretty sweet, but for now, we’re still giving away downloads of our EP, as well as FREE physical copies to those who ask, so don’t hesitate! Get your FREE copy or digital download before we end this offer – at which point you’ll have to find us on one of these mentioned sites – and have to actually PAY for our music! You wouldn’t want that would you? So go to music.lifestagemusic.com today and get your free download. OR, stop by anytime via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and ask for a free copy of Stage 1. Don’t be shy! Just shoot us a message, comment, @reply, whatever, and say “I want a CD!”, and we’ll get you one, we promise.

Thanks so much for all your loyal support, and look for us to be up on these sites – coming soon! In the meantime, keep in touch. Talk to you soon!

Life Stage