Hello Industry is a conscious alternative rock band. Think Queen meets Depeche Mode at a Radiohead concert. It’s highly emotive, high-substance music for people who are sick of mediocrity.
YES, “Hymns” is getting closer…
So HI has been busy divy-ing up various responsibilities, working on our strategy, on our next album, on our pitch, on our calendar, etc.
I’m excited to see what 2010 is going to bring. So far we have a bunch of dates shaping up on the calendar. Our newest booking strategy involves setting up “residency” in a few different cities. We’re hitting DeKalb, Bloomington, Champaign/Urbana, Chicago, St. Louis, and Peoria pretty hard this year. If you live in or near these cities, we could really use your help promoting the shows. Our goal is to build up a significant fan base in Illinois, and play lots of music! Keep checking our calendar so you can tell your friends!
So here’s the pitch: Hello Industry is a conscious alternative rock band. Think Queen meets Depeche Mode at a Radiohead concert. It’s highly emotive, high-substance music for people who are sick of mediocrity.
Album 3 is underway. This album promises to be awesome. We promise it will be awesome. We have 9 songs towards a finished product. Over the next month we have a number of weekend retreats where we will be A) leading worship for students and B) arranging/writing the remaining songs for album3. So excited to see what takes shape. We’re planning on recording this spring/early summer. Keep a look-out! One of my personal faves right now is our electronic remix of Stop the Rain from the MaryAnn album. I’m hoping that makes it onto the line-up!
On a more personal note, God has been prompting my thoughts lately to reflect on my true identity, my identity in Christ. This has really been a topic of reflection over the last month. He’s shown me my own depravity in a few specific areas, and wow, Thank you Jesus for saving me. I had an enlightening conversation with my friend Jamie yesterday. Currently, sadly, frustratingly, my joy has been 100% contingent on my circumstances. And while I know that’s not right, I find myself slipping into impatience and wrong thinking: if only… if only…
Praise Jesus for breaking the chains and making us free, so we can be free. I tend to operate in chains, even though I’m free. I forget. But my gracious Father keeps gently reminding me, through friends, through sermons, through scriptures and songs… what gracious love He has lavished upon us! I am His daughter, bought at a high price. This is my true identity. I don’t have to try and strive and try and strive. I’m a mess. I don’t have it all together, as much as I want you to believe it. And I do. I really want you to believe it. As much as I want GOD to believe it!! It’s hard to admit that. I want to be the responsible employee, but you know what’s missing? The love part of my relationship with God! I would not bother the CEO with my personal problems, I would not expect to have lunch with the CEO! But He’s my Father, my Dad, my Papa. That’s what’s missing when I try to keep juggling all the balls perfectly.
Thanks, God, for not letting me stay where I am, for putting me through the crappy refining process (awful as it is), for smashing my inaccurate picture of You and showing me the REAL You. You must love me.
We’re friends again. ;)
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If you’re a Twitter follower of ours you may have noticed the above image when you visit our Twitter page (apparently there’s a rule about how many friends you can have on Twitter).
Don’t worry, our lawyers are hard at work. By the end of the week Twitter won’t even exist anymore. Let this be a lesson for all of the technological/cultural phenomenons out there.
In the mean time we’ll make sure to forward our updates to Nathan’s twitter and to Hello Industry’s Facebook page. We’ll do a little more blog posting as well. We’ll be on the road pretty non-stop this next couple of months so we’ll have lots to tell you.
Keep in touch!
- Hi
Our church has asked us to fast this month. It can be from food but can be from something other than food like caffeine or tree climbing or rollerblades. Heather and I are fasting from food one day per week and meeting each night to pray about a couple of specific things. But as I thought about the real point of fasting I came to the decision to fast from internet from 5pm-on every night. To some of you this might sound stupid and easy. To others this might sound like suicide. For me, I have a feeling it may be a coming up to breathe for the first time in years.
Do you realize how immersed in information we are? If I’m away from my computer I’m using my iPhone to check twitter or news or I’m checking for updates to my favorite iPhone apps. Or email, IM, txt, voicemail. And if there’s nothing new on any of those fronts I begin to search for something new and I don’t stop until I find it.
Why?
I think I’m an addict. To informational stimulation. To noise. It doesn’t even matter what the information is. I’ve become so accustomed to receiving informational stimulation that when it stops I begin to feel anxiety. Turn on the radio or the TV. Something. I think I’m afraid of silence.
Why?
I think deep down I may be afraid that when all noise stops there really will be silence. No sound of real substance originating from my own heart because I’m immature. No sound of my own creative or unique voice because I’m shallow. No sound of the voice of God because either (a) I don’t really have a connection with Him apart from the noise or (b) He was never there to begin with.
That would kill me.
It’s not worth the risk.
But there’s an easy enough way to avoid it. Turn on the noise. Receive information. Check the latest scores or prices or gossip or news or fashions. Begin another pointless search for the perfect whatever that really won’t matter to me after I get it. It’s not about the acquisition. It’s about the noise that the searching creates.
I’m addicted to noise and I don’t think I’m the only one. But think about what we’re trading. Real fulfillment for pointlessness. Rich living for fake conquest. The truth for tabloids. Sound for noise. And the longer we go like this the shallower we’re becoming.
I think that’s the point of fasting. It’s a cutting off of the noise we make to reveal the sound that was and is and will always be there. The sound that never changes. Or at least the truth about whether it was ever there to begin with.
-np
Happy New Year Everyone. Beth Jacob and I really enjoyed time with family and just time to bum at home over the holidays. Jacob’s Christmas present to his mom was to learn how to say “ma-ma”. He also started walking just before Christmas. I’m looking forward to taking him sledding at some point this winter. I received a couple music related toys for Christmas, so I’ve played with those a little bit and am starting to tweak my guitars for the upcoming HI gigs in Jan-Feb. The most major thing at this point was some filing of the the nut on my yellow Les Paul Special. The low E string was sitting up too high due to my using heavier string gauges on the low strings than typical for electric guitarists, which was throwing the intonation way off. I’m looking forward to no more sharp F’s on the first fret now! Until next time, Brett
Hey Everybody! James here. Back from my winter excursion to St. Francis, MN to see the inlaws. It was a fantastic trip, my wife’s family is awesome and it was really good to get to spend some time with them. Mark, my new father-in-law, gave me a couple of pretty cool albums which you should check out if you haven’t already. One was a soul/electronica band called zero 7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INn1C6ImJKg
The other CD i got was the new Avett Brothers album “I and Love and You” Check out this song,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8HDe5M-Jo
I can’t get enough of this band right now. They have been living in my station wagon cd player for the last couple weeks.
This is going to be an exciting year for Hello Industry! Make sure you’re checking up on our website for upcoming shows and other cool goodies. Happy New Year!!
-james
Hello Industry performs “Unbelievable” at a B&W house show in Peoria, IL. Enjoy.
