the reason for the season

 reason's greetings. we got a lot going on right now. at least more than usual. next shows coming up:

reason why finally plays baltimore. last time i saw no idols, it was at this very venue, and it fucked me up. I liked the demo a lot, but seeing them live was another level. hearing the vocalist yell to the crowd "burn this place down" sealed the deal. this one is fresh into the new year so hopefully it brings some good omens.

this one is fucking massive. the second street compilation LP comes out this weekend, a culmination of a diverse scene flexing their chops. there are three shows this weekend, with this one landing on the sunday, on january 18. this is also grand scheme's last show. you don't need me to tell you how incredible their run has been. we share a member with them, and borrow another occasionally (russ is basically in the band at this point), so knowing this is their end makes me feel like i'm watching my older brother go off to college or an oil rig off the coast of alaska. promise me you'll come back? this is your last chance to dance to one of the best bands of the last decade, so don't lag on picking up tickets.

beyond the scheme, this line up is fucking stacked. pray to be saved had one of the best demos (the best?) of the year, watching people mosh for retain makes me feel like i should be wearing a bulletproof vest, sluggo have a legendary track on the comp... there is so much to admire on this show. imagine holding a document of it on wax.

and fucking mouthpiece is coming down that weekend. can you believe that shit? and the glitterer record release? it's fucking insane pepe and vanessa at second street put this together. blood, sweat, no tears. you can find tickets here.

in RZN WHY world, expect to find a new promo tape at the sunday show. get the comp first though.

as a christmas treat, jonas has ranked every sepultura release for you to get angry at:

1. arise
2. beneath the remains
3. schizophrenia
4. chaos ad
5. morbid visions
6. roots
7. against
8. roorback
9. nation
10. a-lex
11. machine messiah
12. kairos
13. quadra
14. the mediator between head and hands must be the heart
15. revolusongs

don't shoot the messenger. i'd probably rank chaos AD up top, but if you come up to me at a show and start talking death metal, i'm turning in a 180 degree direction and walking. i would like to take this moment though to say that max cavalera's brazilian flag guitar is a thing of beauty. it makes an appearance in the movie demonlover, which is incredible.

even more news coming up soon. i'll post even more about the show too. that's how sick it's gonna be.

peace on earth

on your ass next week

 
what is up nation!! next week at the legendary rhizome, return of the reason:

that's right, all the way from portland, alienator is popping into town as part of their tour they got going on. rumblings and rumors suggest they've been killing it every stop of the way, and there is nothing i love more than a rumor turning out to be true, so i'm tapdancing in anticipation. it'll be cool checking out invasive too, a new band i have yet to hear or see. what i am admittedly most excited for is that new slab of sweet laughing corpse wax. jonas plays both in rzn why and the corpse, yet with such a direct line of information leak, i'm still left clueless to what is to come. i have heard though, that their track for the upcoming FUTURE LEFT BEHIND compilation out on second street records is hit single material. all that is to say, this show is gonna be fun.

that's it for now. tapes and shirts at the show, blah blah blah. you know the drill. we do have some news to announce soon enough, but you can wait a little bit longer, i'm sure.

for fun, here's what i've been listening to lately:

• common "the food" and "the light" - "the food" live on chappelles show changed my life and "the light" is premium feel-good material.
• dr. octagon "earth people" - i got into this track after my friend joey put it into his skate video "CHUMP." crazy swagger.
• wit's end demo ii - it's even better than the first one. this must be how people in 1974 felt when the second Godfather dropped.
• subjects demo - real raw!
• agnostic front united blood - sometimes i feel like this could be the only hardcore release in history and i'd be fine with it.

see you in takoma next week.

apart from the crowd

first off, we (by we i mean me) got interviewed in GET WISE fanzine. we chatted about a few things, including ahmad being an amazing frontman, and our mutual love of minneapolis band BLIND APPROACH. the cover of the zine gloriously tributes the incredible artwork of their EP New Age, with this new edition drawn up by one half of the team behind the zine, ruby. mad props!

last show was quite a time. remember that show? it was already like two weeks ago, so nobody even gives a shit anymore, but i've still got chills from seeing A2 himself rip "Incarnate 365." that was obviously a trip but later in the set, final agony played a song that straight up sounded like the world was ending. it was so fucking demonic i felt the urge to drag my ass to church that sunday to purge myself of whatever evil spirit might have possessed me by exposure. retain and division of mind were heavy like sumo wrestlers as usual. shoutout to the lil dude who moshed his friend so hard i got domino'd into spilling my drink all over the floor. emergency sipping saved some of it but alas...

our set went pretty sweet. we covered "telltale" by raw deal, and i always love a cover that starts so immediately that there is a split second right before everyone comes up to sing along. it's like the quiet before the big bang. we opened up with a new track that'll be on a slab o wax soon enough.

tick tock on the clock, dj turn my speakers up

tonight, ima cry, cuz i play in reason why

we also made a bunch more tapes for the show. we sold two. so we've got a bunch more. if you wanna order one, hit us up. first round was on green, this one on yellow. i was tripping out recently because it turns out this tape is up on discogs. included was the exact count of the last run of tapes (52), and our full government names written out on the band profile. i think they're gone now but i was tripping out because some of my own bandmates don't even know my last name. maybe next release will include our social security numbers and parents' addresses.

if you want the tape, you wanna distro the tape, or you wanna book is in your city (flights on you), you can hit us up at REASONWHY202@GMAIL.COM

SEE YOU AT RHIZOME, NOVEMBER 12 WITH ALIENATOR AND LAUGHING CORPSE (DA BEST BAND IN DC!)

PEACE OUT WORLD!

Heads up

We’re playing tomorrow in DC with The Final Agony, Division of Mind, and Retain. With less than 24 hours notice on da blog, please see information below:

Should be a fun one!

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Sign O the Times in theaters with closed captions and to say it was an incredible experience is an understatement. Even though I’ve been a Prince friend (not fan, “fans is short for fanatics”) for years, I never made time for this movie. There is too much to say about it, but for those unfamiliar it combines a minimal-plot/dialogue storyline with maximum live concert footage. The crowd seems somewhat lackluster at times throughout (whats up with that?) but the movie still manages to shed light onto the unsurpassed talent and freakmind that is Prince, displaying his true genius, creativity, and talent. I went home and immediately read the "The Prince Zine" by Joshua Amberson, that I had also never made time for, then watched hours of interviews. Prince is a fucking rockstar on guitar but busts out split after split, gets down and up off the ground with such agility it blew my mind.


This movie affirms he is the best performer and artist…ever? Here are some absurd and amazing lines from the album/movie: “Your face is jammin' Your body's heck-a-slammin' If love is good, let's get to rammin'” “I took another bubble bath with my pants on. All the fightin stopped. Next time, I’ll do it sooner”“Would you run to me if somebody hurt you? even if that somebody was me?”"Sheila E. - on the drums not bad… for a girl." “We wanna play in the sunshine, we wanna be free, without the help of a margarita or exstacy”

the reason why we do what we do

reason why live and direct. five shows in the bag:

• april 17th at 618 with combust, echo chamber, grand scheme, and fightback
• may 15th at rhizome with blockade, inversion, and b.i.t.e.
• july 27th at 618 with collateral, all 4 all, inversion, and comm unltd.
• august 2nd at the triangle club (wilkes-barre, pa) with grand scheme, speedway, choice to make, and square one
• august 21st at rhizome with daunting nightmare (last show) and grand scheme

super bummed that i had to miss that last one, i heard daunting nightmare was popping champagne bottles during their set. some funeral. can't be worse than jonas missing WB though. i had never been to a vfw style spot before, we don't really have those where i'm from, and the vibe was sick. the stench of stale cigarette smoke was stuck to the walls and carpet, in a way that was probably normal like 50 years ago, so it felt like stepping into a time machine. the ceilings were low and the lighting was warm, like an old pool hall. you go downstairs and there's little slot machines, shuffleboard, and some pretty cheap drinks. i'm the only one in the band that was taking advantage of that though. during the set, ahmad jumped in the air and held his position there for a split second, like he was a smash character hitting an air dodge. it was incredible.

i even got to try the local delicacy of sweet sauce pizza.

i got mine with vegan cheese, which is already pretty sweet,

so it just felt like i was eating gusher pie.

massive thanks to russ for keeping jonas' seat warm for that show and the one before. dude straight up learned the songs in 30 minutes.

more demos being duped soon. second tape press will have a new color palette for all the collectors out there. there's also a new song we've been playing live that'll be on a 12" compilation called FUTURE LEFT BEHIND being put out by second street records. we also got some shirts for everybody.

and you can snag them at some upcoming shows:

• 9/26 at songbyrd with division of mind, final agony (record release), and retain
• 11/12 with alienator and laughing corpse (maybe someone else?)

more updates on all rzn why-related matters coming soon on this very blog. taking it back to the old school (early 2010's).

if you want anything shipped you can email reasonwhy202@gmail.com

peace