Saturday, April 30, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Story Of The First MLIW 7" On LifeLine Records
Joe Lifeline got me his piece on MLIW for Coffin Nail #1 the day after the zine was done. All the copies now include an insert with it, but if you got one without the insert here it is. Thought the story was too good for anyone to miss out on...
"The first time I had heard of Modern Life Is War was in 2002 shortly after the band pressed the "self-titled" 7". My friend Tim Morris had the band play a show in Macomb, IL at Western Illinois University prior to this show and insisted I would love this band and gave me a copy of their “self-titled” 7”. I had listened to the 7”, I liked it, but didn’t think the world of it after listening to it a couple of times. Then November came around and Anton Underestimated had booked them on a fest he was doing with Fucked Up, Caustic Christ, Holding On and a lot of other great bands, but in 2002 the fest tanked and hardly anyone was there. This was my first time I had the opportunity to see MLIW live. When MLIW took the stage they had so much energy, not that many people were even watching them or giving them a chance. EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE BAND PLAYED THEIR HEART OUT! I thought Chris, the original bassist was going to hurt himself from stomping on the floor and Jeff on vocals was jumping up and down like a madman! At one point Jeff’s foot almost broke through part of metal panel on the stage. I remember taking a look at it make sure nothing on stage was damaged after their set. But I left seeing them speechless!
Later that night I was able to meet them at Tim’s house where they stayed for the night. Everyone was very polite but also fairly quiet. Their friend Josh Otten that was with them at the time was the only more social out of the bunch.
In early 2003 I went to the Quad Cities in Iowa to see Modern Life Is War. At this point the 7” was etched in my brain and I had sold over 25 copies to friends in Chicago. At that show in the Quad Cities I had my distro set up next the MLIW guys selling their 7” and a shirt at the time and over heard them talking about the upcoming tour with Holding On in the spring/summer of 2003. MLIW was talking about their financial situation, “what are we going to do? we don’t really have enough money to repress the 7” and make a new shirt.” At that point I approached them and said “hey I’m going to be on that tour with you guys hanging out with Holding On and I would love to repress your 7” on LifeLine Records if you would be interested.” Right away a few guys were interested, but a couple were a bit skeptical. At this point we had a few mutual friends, but we didn’t know each other all that well. That same evening we all crashed at our friend Donny Jeffers place in Dekalb, IL were the band was going to play the next day. That morning I informed MLIW that if they wanted me to re-issue their 7” they had a few hours to tell me, otherwise I was going to buy a first press copy of the Negative Approach 7” on eBay and I needed an answer soon. They said we should seriously talk about it, I passed on the NA 7” and during their show in Dekalb, Tyler took me outside and drilled me a bit about how I would go about handling their 7”, after that discussion we shook hands and agreed to re-issue the 7” on LifeLine Records.
To this day the Modern Life Is War “self-titled” 7” is in print and continues to sell well, the band is always amazed that every year roughly another 1,000 copies are sold. I consider myself very fortunate to have me these guys so early on. I still consider many of them close friends of mine today and recently attended Chris and Ann Honeck’s wedding this past October in 2010. I have still never seen a band work so hard to be heard. That was all they were looking for, they sent out their 7” to anyone that was even considering possibly booking them a show. Any leads they had they took, and were grateful along the way. For a band full of loners and coming from a small town in the Midwest, I cannot express how I proud I am of the members of Modern Life Is War. The song Late Bloomers has always stuck out in my mind with Jeff’s lyrics: “This is the end of the way we used to live. The end. The end. This is the death of the days that we were better off dead.” The band made it to Europe a number of times and even Japan. The reason the “s/t” 7” has a “European tour edition” and a “Japanese tour edition” was not to sell more records. I was so proud of them and I said we need to make something special for this tour, it was to document this special time in their life and I wanted it to be highlighted. After the “Japanese” edition of the 7” was released I remember walking into Jeff Eaton’s parent’s home and that version of the 7” framed and put up with their family photos on display. To this day thinking about that puts a smile on my face and happy I could have minor part in the bands history.
Modern Life Is War is deeply missed, but nothing lasts forever."
Joe/LifeLine Records
www.lifelinerecords.net
"The first time I had heard of Modern Life Is War was in 2002 shortly after the band pressed the "self-titled" 7". My friend Tim Morris had the band play a show in Macomb, IL at Western Illinois University prior to this show and insisted I would love this band and gave me a copy of their “self-titled” 7”. I had listened to the 7”, I liked it, but didn’t think the world of it after listening to it a couple of times. Then November came around and Anton Underestimated had booked them on a fest he was doing with Fucked Up, Caustic Christ, Holding On and a lot of other great bands, but in 2002 the fest tanked and hardly anyone was there. This was my first time I had the opportunity to see MLIW live. When MLIW took the stage they had so much energy, not that many people were even watching them or giving them a chance. EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE BAND PLAYED THEIR HEART OUT! I thought Chris, the original bassist was going to hurt himself from stomping on the floor and Jeff on vocals was jumping up and down like a madman! At one point Jeff’s foot almost broke through part of metal panel on the stage. I remember taking a look at it make sure nothing on stage was damaged after their set. But I left seeing them speechless!
Later that night I was able to meet them at Tim’s house where they stayed for the night. Everyone was very polite but also fairly quiet. Their friend Josh Otten that was with them at the time was the only more social out of the bunch.
In early 2003 I went to the Quad Cities in Iowa to see Modern Life Is War. At this point the 7” was etched in my brain and I had sold over 25 copies to friends in Chicago. At that show in the Quad Cities I had my distro set up next the MLIW guys selling their 7” and a shirt at the time and over heard them talking about the upcoming tour with Holding On in the spring/summer of 2003. MLIW was talking about their financial situation, “what are we going to do? we don’t really have enough money to repress the 7” and make a new shirt.” At that point I approached them and said “hey I’m going to be on that tour with you guys hanging out with Holding On and I would love to repress your 7” on LifeLine Records if you would be interested.” Right away a few guys were interested, but a couple were a bit skeptical. At this point we had a few mutual friends, but we didn’t know each other all that well. That same evening we all crashed at our friend Donny Jeffers place in Dekalb, IL were the band was going to play the next day. That morning I informed MLIW that if they wanted me to re-issue their 7” they had a few hours to tell me, otherwise I was going to buy a first press copy of the Negative Approach 7” on eBay and I needed an answer soon. They said we should seriously talk about it, I passed on the NA 7” and during their show in Dekalb, Tyler took me outside and drilled me a bit about how I would go about handling their 7”, after that discussion we shook hands and agreed to re-issue the 7” on LifeLine Records.
To this day the Modern Life Is War “self-titled” 7” is in print and continues to sell well, the band is always amazed that every year roughly another 1,000 copies are sold. I consider myself very fortunate to have me these guys so early on. I still consider many of them close friends of mine today and recently attended Chris and Ann Honeck’s wedding this past October in 2010. I have still never seen a band work so hard to be heard. That was all they were looking for, they sent out their 7” to anyone that was even considering possibly booking them a show. Any leads they had they took, and were grateful along the way. For a band full of loners and coming from a small town in the Midwest, I cannot express how I proud I am of the members of Modern Life Is War. The song Late Bloomers has always stuck out in my mind with Jeff’s lyrics: “This is the end of the way we used to live. The end. The end. This is the death of the days that we were better off dead.” The band made it to Europe a number of times and even Japan. The reason the “s/t” 7” has a “European tour edition” and a “Japanese tour edition” was not to sell more records. I was so proud of them and I said we need to make something special for this tour, it was to document this special time in their life and I wanted it to be highlighted. After the “Japanese” edition of the 7” was released I remember walking into Jeff Eaton’s parent’s home and that version of the 7” framed and put up with their family photos on display. To this day thinking about that puts a smile on my face and happy I could have minor part in the bands history.
Modern Life Is War is deeply missed, but nothing lasts forever."
Joe/LifeLine Records
www.lifelinerecords.net
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Coffin Nail #1 available now
Coffin Nail issue #1 is done, 40 pages featuring...
* Modern Life Is War - retrospective interview w/ Jeff, John, Tyler & Sjarm + MLIW remembered by their friends
* Disembodied - interview w/ Tara
* Okkultokrati - interview w/ Lars, BQ & Vebjorn (of Haust) + the Black Hole Crew
* Torch Runner - tour journal by Chuck
* Dead In the Dirt - interview w/ Blake
* Axis - interview w/ Josh
* reviews, art & random bullshit
go here for copies coffinnail.bigcartel.com or e-mail me at WOLFPACKNLSL@YAHOO.COM if you want to do trades with your zine or label. I'll have copies at the Kingdom/Axis show on the 31st as well.
* Modern Life Is War - retrospective interview w/ Jeff, John, Tyler & Sjarm + MLIW remembered by their friends
* Disembodied - interview w/ Tara
* Okkultokrati - interview w/ Lars, BQ & Vebjorn (of Haust) + the Black Hole Crew
* Torch Runner - tour journal by Chuck
* Dead In the Dirt - interview w/ Blake
* Axis - interview w/ Josh
* reviews, art & random bullshit
go here for copies coffinnail.bigcartel.com or e-mail me at WOLFPACKNLSL@YAHOO.COM if you want to do trades with your zine or label. I'll have copies at the Kingdom/Axis show on the 31st as well.
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