Covid Cancelations and EP Release

Well hello fellow quarantiners. We hope this post is finding you healthy and that the harsh realities of this pandemic have not come to your door to claim a loved one. I'm afraid the truth is that we will all be coming very near to Reaper this year, whether it's through our circle of family and friends or whether we come face to face with our own mortality. These are indeed difficult times and we wish you all the best of luck, if there is such a thing.

I apologize for not updating the website sooner. It's been kind of depressing to deal with some of this admin stuff. We of course have been forced to cancel our entire national tour. Although some folks seem to be holding out hope that venues will get moving again in May, I don't share their optimism. And at that point, we will not be able to cross the entire country to restart our tour in the middle of the dates. It's just not economically viable even if, by some miracle, life returns to normal by then. We are sad that we won't get to see so many of you. We had a great tour lined up that we spent months working on. All gone in a cloud of coronavirus. In the grand scheme of what's going on, compared to the real human suffering, this is a drop in the bucket. We recognize that so many have already lost much more. Still, there are many who are in a similar boat, major loss of income and no real prospect of that changing anytime soon. Let's all work on supporting each other as much as we can. Be kind, empathetic, and generous where your situation allows. 

On a much happier note, we have continued to move forward with our new releases, No Winter EP and the No Winter/Theshold 12" Vinyl. The songs have been mastered for both CD and vinyl and sent off to the manufacturers. The CDs are actually already made and in transit to us and will be ready to send out to our Kickstarter backers as early as this Friday or Saturday. In addition, every backer of our campaign, at any donation amount, will receive an email this Friday with a link to download all of the new tracks. We are excited to finally get this into the ears of our fans. Thank you all again from the bottom of our hearts. There is, unfortunately, a delay to report on the vinyl. We have just been informed that the manufacturer has shut down to comply with state mandated business closures. We respect the need to protect the health of all workers. We will keep you all informed as we find out what we can expect in terms of vinyl production. If this becomes an open ended problem with no solution in sight, we will consult with our backers who ordered the vinyl to see if we can offer alternative products or refund part or all of their pledges. But if you can be patient with us, we will get our vinyl made as soon as possible. Thank you!

For those of you who did not jump on the Kickstarter bandwagon, we have good news as well. Next Monday, we will release the first track off the EP to stream and purchase on Bandcamp. The release will be accompanied by a short description of the song and the inspirations behind its creation. I will post them to our facebook page as well, so be sure to follow us there. We will continue to release a new song every Monday until all five tracks are out, at which time we will also make the CD available to ship anywhere in the US as well. The EP will not be available on streaming services until June at the earliest. You can help us get through this time in quarantine by spending a dollar for each song rather than the tiny fraction of a penny we receive through Spotify, Pandora, or Apple. We also have new items in our merch store, here on the website. The album art has been converted into a beautiful poster design by Merry and printed by Brian. We also put the No Winter art on a killer, heather navy blue t-shirt. We did a new run of our very popular but very limited "tree with ravens" design that sold out very quickly in 2018. And we have restocked all sizes of our red shirt with ravens. On top of that, we have KOOZIES! So please have a look at our stash. There's lots of cool things to pick from and we would love to get more people wearing our shirts and hanging up our posters. Seriously, our shirts are super comfy and great for long days sitting on your couch and social distancing the hell out of this damn virus. Every purchase means a lot to us. Without live shows, we are really in a tough spot. We will keep on rehearsing and hopefully come out of this with a whole bunch of new songs for the next album! 

On a personal note, we've had a rough couple of months. While we will never know what virus brought it on, Merry and I got hit pretty hard with a bronchitis-like sickness that would not quit and eventually turned into a sinus infection. After an on-line consultation with a doctor, it looks like I've had pneumonia for a while. It was nasty at times but on other days it was just a general malaise that seemed like it would clear up with a good night sleep. Then it would come back again with force. Weirdest experience, as I've been fortunate to stay pretty healthy and made it through the last 25 years without ever needing prescription medication for anything. That mentality made me avoid going to urgent care or a doctor's office for longer than I should have. Merry came down with similar symptoms but not as severe as my worst days, but enough to make us both fairly miserable. In any case, the antibiotics seem to working and I'm finally getting near to 100%. Merry is almost in top form as well. Being ill as this pandemic has spread really increased our anxiety levels, especially since there was absolutely no way to get tested. I'm not sure I would have taken this virus as seriously as early on as I did had I not been sick as a dog. When you're healthy you feel invulnerable; it's hard to remember what being sick is truly like. Be considerate to your neighbors and stay safe in your home. And remember, there are so many out there who don't even have a home to hunker down in. Dark times can lead to solidarity if you keep your eyes and hearts open. We hope to see you soon!