Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Dear Life's Final Shows

Most people don't know this, but without Dear Life there would be no Glad Rags Ink, and without Glad Rags Ink there would be no L&O.


My brother Matt and I have been starting projects together all of our lives and Dear Life was the first thing we ever took seriously. We started the hardcore/metalcore band in 2003 and eventually would end up needing some merchandise. After being sick and tired of dealing with crappy local screen printers, we finally decided to give it a shot ourselves. Coming from a DIY background from the punk scene, it only came as second nature to us to try and do it ourselves. After a few months of trial and error in our home garage, Matt had become very fluent with a silk screen and a squeegee and I started hustling locals and non-locals to print their shirts with us. The rest is history.

After over 5 years as a band, we feel that it's finally time to call it quits. We've all grown up and life has given us new responsibilities so unfortunately music won't be our career. We still love music and it will always be a part of us, but we'd rather go out with a bang while we still can. We've played hundreds of shows, made countless life-long friends, and toured the country. We worked hard for everything we had, and even had it all taken away from us. We've seen the music industry at it's worst and we've seen it at it's best. Almost everything and everyone currently involved in my life can be traced back to Dear Life somehow, and for that I am very thankful. I wouldn't trade these memories for anything in the world. We risked everything. We regret nothing.

There will be 3 final shows in California. Jan 16th in Santa Cruz at the 418 Project for our last Northern California show, Jan 30th at the Nitty Gritty in Rancho Cucamonga, and finally Feb 13th here at the Glad Rags Ink warehouse in lovely City of Industry. For more information, please visit www.dearxlife.com.


It's been real.

- Vince