We are who we are...

"We are who we are." Chorus lyrics for one of our latest songs (if I'm hearing correctly during practice). Even if I'm wrong on the words, it's ok. I can't get the hook melody out of my head. I guess that's a good thing.

Brenna and I took a trip to NYC yesterday. On the agenda, go get drinks and listen to kick ass music. We hit the Luna Lounge, now located in Brooklyn.

I have to say, New York is always an awesome time. The bands were terrific.
We checked out MC Lars. If you like Zebrahead, you'll love this group.

The headliner was Wheatus. Remember Wheatus? They had that hit, "Teenage Dirtbag" a few years back. Well, the band is pro, and they put on an awesome set. High energy, terrific musicianship. Wheatus rocked it.

I'd go into more detail about the night, but honestly, we just got back a few hours ago... and got no sleep. I'm logging off to crash.

As for a band (our band, Merit :) ) update, we're plugging away with more songs and will probably have some sort of recording schedule figured out in the next month or so. We'll tell you all more later.

Bedtime,
jeff

Damn the man, save the Empire!

I hope whoever reads this appreciates the reference to the best movie of all time.

I'm still trying to recover from our show at Empire Brewery last night. Thanks to everyone who came out. We had a blast playing for you. I had a blast drinking beer (go, blueberry wheat, go). The thing about bar gigs is you have to play all the songs you know. And that's what we did. We played all the songs we know. All of them. That includes the new stuff we've been working on, and in my estimation, those tunes rocked. If anyone has any pics or video from the show, feel free to send it our way.

The following item is being "blogged" about at the behest of our manager, Ulf.
WE ARE ON FACEBOOK.
So take a sec and log on. Search us out and add us as a friend. We appreciate it.

The Morning After

Wow. A whirlwind day is finally over. I spent most of this week preparing for the Artists as Artists show by going thru all my college artwork to find appropriate 2D and 3D pieces to show -- and then learning to matte and doing a crappy job of it (hope you didn't look too closely last night)... Not to mention the band stress from changing rehearsal space and not practicing as a four-piece in almost a month.

But it all went off without a hitch, and we had a great time playing for y'all last night. Hopefully we'll have the video edited and posted asap - I think Brenna is going to lend a hand or two with that, and Hal will be working with Ulf on the audio.

Ulf and I set up the show from 3-4.30 yesterday and had to tear down at 11 last night in the rain - which sucked - but the opportunity to show some visual work with our audio art was well worth it.

.w.


ps- big ups to Mr. B as the lone Corcoran rep.

Artists as Artists

Hey all, Just wanted to remind everyone that they better come out on Friday to the Red House! In addition to MERIT and ABQ rocking out awesome sets at an awesome venue, you'll get to see a sampling of my visual artwork from college. I'll be showing some ceramic work (sculptural as well as functional), some lithograph prints, and some small paintings.

I'll be there at 8:00 with Ulf to talk about the work, then Mike will go on at 9:00 with us afterward. We're filming the set on 3 HD cameras and may release some of the live tracks if they come out well -- which is where you come in: The more bodies in the house, the more noise, and the more rock from us. We'll be playing LOTS of new stuff that you've only heard 2 or 3 recordings of, so don't miss it!

The Red House is at the corner of West St and Fayette St near Armory Square - see you Friday!

.wil.

In the meantime

So we're plugging away at the next record. My hope is we'll be recording some time in early 2008 (if we're lucky). The last month or so have been spent preproducing some of the new tunes. They're not too shabby, in my opinion.

Check them out at www.reverbnation.com/merit

We'll have more posted as we keep working.

Merit at Syracuse.com

The music writer for the Post Standard wrote a little about Merit and their feature over at ReverbNation on his blog today. You didn't hear about the feature? Check it out here:

http://blog.syracuse.com/listenup/2007/10/merit_on_reverbnation_set_for.html

Reformatting

We've decided it's time to migrate the site to a spot that everyone in Merit can drop in and post. You might occasionally catch a post from me too. I'm going to try to move all the old pots/blogs/random thoughts over to this page. If it works, it should be up and running full-time within 24 hours. Until then, feel free to listen to a few songs.

Are you on Facebook too?

Well you can add our music to your page there through the ReverbNation application. This banner should take you there if you are signed in to your facebook account.



We also have a facebook group so search us out using "Merit" in the search box or try this link to join us there http://syr.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2236299990.

If you want another way to add music from us to your page you can copy the code for this widget and embed it in your myspace page, website or other site that lets you post flash. If you click share you can get the code you need to copy.

Big Old Update

Holy cow, a lot of people have been getting at us, asking where the hell we've been. Yes, we are still a band. And yes, we are writing a ton of new material.

That's the big update guys. We're writing a bunch of killer songs... and soon, we'll be recording them for your enjoyment.

the rock continues,

jeff

Rocking Steady...Steady Rocking

First off, thanks to everyone who made it out to the Taste of Syracuse. A good time was had by all. Many beers were consumed.

Second, we've started up our online street team on Reverbnation. Clicky click the tab and sign up. If you help spread the word about Merit.. Merit gives you free stuff. Not a bad deal at all.

We're writing for the next record. It's going to be a while. Everyone in the band is pretty dead set on wanting to make this the best thing we've released in our short career. Wish us luck. We'll start leaking a few tunes when we think they're sounding right.

Syracuse, Taste It

Ok, so we just got finished playing the taste of syracuse. a whole bunch of pics are posted on our page here. if you look really closely, you can see that the shows rocked. They rocked really hard. We made a lot of new friends, and if you're one of them, thanks for coming and checking us out .

As for new Merit biznazz, we're writing for our next record... and there are plans for new merch in the works.

in the meantime... go here, and signup on our email/streetteam list.

www.reverbnation.com/merit

laters,

jeff

The Verge Conference

So this weekend was great - Ulf and I got to Boston late Thursday night and were the last two people to register.....We got there just in time to catch the StrayLight Run and Bang Camaro - they were a riot. They had fifteen vocalists...sounds crazy and it was...a complete party on stage. That night we managed to meet Kevin Lyman (creator of Warped Tour) and the guys from Reverbnation. We also reconnected with bands that we have played with like Edison and the Receiver. It's really cool when you show up to something like this hundreds of miles from home expecting not to know anyone and then you end up bumping into all kinds of friends.
Friday the guys showed up after a terrible drive from the Cuse ----Hal's car completely lost it's back brakes....not good. We ended up having to get them fixed before we could return home....So needless to say we all had a couple beers to relax before warming up for our set. We PLayed a half hour power round at midnight and had a blast. It was a great experience - and we expect good things to come in time.
IF you ever have car trouble in the Boston area try and make to Somerville - at 91 Marshall Street you'll see a shit load of Saab's. Look for the Sign that says
ABJ Foreign Auto :) ask for Al and he'll do you right.

If any of you read this - come to NYC May 8th or Shifty's May 5th!

with high hopes and love!

=brenna

Taste of Syracuse

We're playing two sets at this year's Taste of Syracuse. Last year the event drew 60,000 people from CNY!!

We play the Main Stage Friday, June 1 at 4:00 pm and the Emerging Artists Stage Saturday, June 2 at 9 pm.

Recordings of musicals and stuff

Hal and I spent the afternoon laying down some track and drinking some of his home made brew! quite delicious. It's St. Patrick's Day and I have only had one beer....problematic. Last year I saw people puking up green beer.....i'll never drink beer that is green. Green = Gross.

Pinch me and Die!

don't drinks and drives.

The Sweet Sweet South

Hey all you meritorious!

Just sending you all some love from the South. The weather here is sunny and we are happy to be free of subzero temps for another day. My family is from down here so as a bonus at the Va and SC shows I got to see my mom and brother!

We just got up and are having a little coffee before hitting the road enroute to Augusta GA. We are going to snap some pictures in front of the James Brown Statue before the show.

See you back in the Cuse for Mac's.



-brenna

New Year's Resolutions

So, it's a new year and we have a lot of plans. To be brief, we'll be out on the road a lot more. I think everyone in the band has collectively decided that we're ready to tour harder and longer (that sounds gross but it's true).

We're also busy writing songs for our next release. Tentatively, it will be an all-electric LP. I think we have about six or seven songs in the can for that one. You know, the music can. We're shooting for about 15-20 songs before we decide what goes on the record. So, back to the grind....

Oh, and like all new year's resolutions, we're all going to stop eating junk food and start doing pilates... or step aerobics... or something. Just kidding. We're not doing that. But to set the record straight, everyone in Merit is a firm supporter of healthy living and exercise. We just won't be taking cycling classes together, s'all.

ok, until we see you at the show,
jeff