Apart from the joys of recording and working with incredibly creative minds, it's been a very educational experience being down in Arkansas. Over the course of the weekend I 1) read about and decided that I will one day live in an Earthship, 2) tasted and subsequently fell in love with hemp cheese, and 3) discovered and experienced first hand the foreign concept of compose toilets - a beautiful concept but I think I will stick to flushes for now.

Oh yeah, it was brought to our attention that panthers do roam freely in certain Arkansas regions. This is probably the best explanation for the mysterious black kangaroo, but still... the idea that a panther was running alongside our van at one in the morning right as we were pulling into Putman's drive way doesn't really brighten the situation.

Thanks again to Welton and The Handshake Murders for playing with us last night. We may be hitting a couple of southern dates with Handshake later in the fall so stay tuned for those. Thanks also to everyone who came out to support the show as well as all who swung by the studio today to say hey.
posted by nicholas tse at 8:42 PM

Saturday, August 25
Well, day one of the marionette recording session went by rather successfully. Without relying too heavily on the patchwork features of digital technology we managed to lay down all the electric guitar and bass parts. Matt Depper has been an incredibly easy and laid-back 'engineer' to work with, as well as a great all-around nice guy to hang out with and get feedback from. Props to Melissa Putman for feeding us with wholesome and delicious veggie goodies.

Today's where the real fun begins; we'll be introducing minor characters onto the different scenes by experimenting with other instruments of all shapes and sizes (e.g. glockenspiel, recorder, old creaking floorboards, live crickets, etc). I'm happy for the most part with how just the guitar and bass parts are sounding together - I can't begin to imagine the kinds of additional textures that these other sounds will bring to the picture. It will also give our good friend Matt Putman to really shine on his jaw-dropping percussive abilities.

Don't forget about the show tonight in Fort Smith for anyone who lives relatively close to the vicinity. You know you can't afford to miss the Handshake Murders. Oh, and be careful when doing the off-road thing. I was sound asleep in the van on the ride home from the studio when Putman and Johnathon's bewildered yells woke me up in jolt. Apparently a black kangaroo-like beast rushed right by the van at break-neck speed. You can never be quite sure what may possibly be lurking out there in the Arkansas woods.
posted by nicholas tse at 8:55 AM

Tuesday, August 21
A little about the concept behind "The Marionette and the Music Box". Basically it is a collection of simple songs loosely woven together to form the basis of a soundtrack for an imaginary fairy tale of the same name.

The basic framework was laid out about six months ago whilst Johnathon and I were sitting at McDonald's at Navy Pier one night, casually tossing around ideas for what to put out on Absalom's 3" CD. Over a fish mac and a couple of diluted sodas, we decided that we would cast our instruments as characters within a yet to be written story (eg marionette is played by a bass, music box by an electric guitar, and so forth) and create an inspiring plot/soundtrack within this limitation.

Without giving too much away, the story traces the journey of a young marionette on an age-old quest to discover truth and reason. Along the way it receives wisdom from an ancient windmill, gets spellbound by a magical silver unicorn, waltzes with a blanket of stars and retrieves an abandonned music box that would ultimately change its life forever.

Musically it's Unwed Sailor in its most simplistic and gentle form. People who attended John and Clara Sayre's wedding would have caught a glimpse of what this is all about. This is easy-listening music for all ages. The terms Hopes, Dreams, Wishes and Forgiveness continue to ring true...
posted by nicholas tse at 10:53 PM

Monday, August 20
we are going down to arkansas this week to record the introduction to the world of "the marionette and the music box". we will be recording with former eso-charis legends matt puttman and matt depper.this recording will be our addition to the absalom reocordings 3" series. it will be available through subscription only to the series. we will also sell a limited run of copies at our shows. www.absalomrecordings.com while we are down there we will be playing a show with one of our favorite bands "the handshake murders" as well. if you like unwed sailor, go buy the new pullman record. they are one of the greats!
posted by Johnathon Ford at 5:47 PM


I have just one word for all of you...

PULLMAN

new record available in fine stores all across the globe.
posted by nicholas tse at 7:24 AM

Wednesday, August 8
furnace fest was good. chad does an amazing job, and we would have to say that it is one of our favorite festivals. we followed it up with a show in jackson, mississippi, and a show at "the new earth" in kansas city. it felt really nice to be down south. nathan's last show with us was in KC. he did an awesome job for us on the tour, and we are grateful to him for helping us.
this weekend we will be in cleveland, oh playing at john and clara's wedding. in a couple of weeks, we are going down to arkansas to record our 3" with absalom recordings. it will be the first taste of "the marionette and the music box". i am really excited to get it started. we are also doing a show down there with the handshake murders on saturday, august 25. then on sept. 2 we will play the bloomington fest with early day miners. it has been an eventful summer. there is so much more to come.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 12:46 PM

Saturday, August 4
Johnathon, Nate and myself landed safely in Chicago a couple of days ago although our journey back home proved to be a most perilous and frustrating ordeal. Within the span of 12 hours we walked away unhurt (except for a few minor cuts here and there) from a severe car wreck on our way to the airport in Amsterdam, missed our connecting flight in London, and found out upon our arrival in Chicago that half of our check-in baggage somehow did not make it on our flight. Details and pictures will follow shortly.

We are currently in Birmingham, AL attending Furnace Fest. The support and encouragement from friends (re: accident) has been incredible. Thanks to anyone who took the time to drop us a line or give us a call, and especially to all those who remembered to whisper a prayer or two for us during our time in Europe. As cliche as it may sound, it was a radically life changing experience although it's safe to say that we're all delighted to be back home.

As for all those beautiful people whom I had the pleasure of meeting on the other side of the Atlantic - I will write as soon as I can.
posted by nicholas tse at 12:02 PM

Tuesday, July 24
unwed sailor europe 2001 tour - mcdonald's visits:

johnathon: 3
nic: 0

'nuff said ;-)
posted by nicholas tse at 3:53 PM


i have my anders pulpanek skateboard shirt on today. supposedly, he was the first german professional skateboarder on santa cruz. it is old and faded blue, and i am feeling great about it. i made a trade for it last night at our show, with a kind hearted man named max. thanks max.

the only book i have read on this tour is "the voyage of the dawn treader". i have been desperately been searching through all the german bookstores for some english copies of the narnia books. no luck yet. i did buy "the happy prince and other stories". i will start that today.

landau was great. perfect honeymoon town.

i gave in and ate at the horrible golden arch hotel. i could not help it. an all day drive in a van packed with 8 people. it was our first stop, and i was hungry. Mcdonalds over here is weird. when you are not hungry, you say all this bad stuff about the place, how it is taking over europe, and killing the culture, but when you are hungry, all that goes out the window, and you find yourself with a fish mac in your hands, and a wild look in your eye.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 4:27 AM

Sunday, July 22
I suppose it's my turn to give a little status report on how Europe's been treating Brandtson and ourselves. Things have been a lot less hectic in the last couple of days than what Johnathon had previously described. We spent a better part of yesterday taking wrong turns and getting lost on Switzerland's confusing highways. Our quick and hassle-free passage aross the Swiss/German border was really a bit of an anti-climax in contrast to Johnathon's terrifying tales about being surrounded and questioned by machine gun-armed border patrols on his previous visit.

Highlight of yesterday's drive would have to be our stop at the Golden Arch Hotel. As the name suggests, the establishment is I suppose a not so subtle attempt by the McDonald's Corporation to take a crack at the hotel industry. Set along the side of a lonesome highway and against the Swiss Alps backdrop, the hotel is an eyesore to the natural beauty of Switzerland and a painful reminder of a transnational's message of profit and convenience.

On a lighter note, Johnathon and I are currently relaxing at a little Internet cafe situated in a tiny German town by the name of Landau. Without a show to keep us occupied tonight, we've been making the most of our time off catching up on all the e-mail messages in dire need of a reply. These German keyboards are a little difficult to master though, with the switching of positions between the y and z keys, the hidden @, as well as the introduction of a great many new characters, e.g. ß, ö, ä.

Books I've read so far on this tour:
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
Veronika Decides to Die - Paul Coelho

Currently tackling:
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
posted by nicholas tse at 1:20 PM

Wednesday, July 18
castles. cops. McItaly. cathedrals. lasso. rameses III. bottled coke.
darmstadt, germany.
we played in a castle, and we are sleeping in a castle tonight. tess wiley came out to the show, so did all the jesus freaks. a tour in germany would not be right if i did not see them.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 7:14 PM

Tuesday, July 17
the diary of our past 48 hours...

travelled through 5 countries in 24 hours.
crossed both the irish and the north seas.
played three shows in 24 hours.
played tonight in Cologne, Germany..
posted by Johnathon Ford at 7:34 PM

Sunday, July 15
we crossed the irish sea into dublin early this morning. it was an all night drive. i slept outside on the boat, quite peacefully actually. i mean, how often do you get to sleep outside on a boat crossing the irish sea. it was beautiful, and it seems that those are the times to live for.
we just got finished playing an afternoon show here in limerick, ireland. the kids were breakdancing while we played. that is a first. i gave in and ate at McDonalds. Bryan Gray would be proud. i have an excuse though. the filet o fish was made with 100 percent real cod.
we are off in a few minutes to play in cork, ireland tonight.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 11:01 AM

Friday, July 13
liverpool was nice. nice people. our shows have been surprisingly good. there are alot of people coming out. otherwise and brandtson are playing great every night. tonight we play in margate. the seaside town. darby was last night. we ran into a bus. i wish it was a double decker. julia said that is not funny. she was driving. i thought the panic and hysteria was awesome, and matt and i laughed pretty hard. england is very mary poppins 2001.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 5:45 AM

Tuesday, July 10
the tour has started. we met up with brandtson at the show. they scolded us repeatedly, asking us how we can miss a plane in our own town. it seems we got the best deal though. they said the belgium show was a huge hardcore fest, and that is exactly what all the kids wanted to hear. brandtson doesn't necessarily fit the bill. our genorous friend nic has been taking care of us, along with nic tse's parents. the show went well last night. alot of kids showed up. the sound on stage was horrible, but everyone said the sound through the mains was full.
tonight we play in liverpool.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 5:47 AM

Sunday, July 8
missed the plane and went to london.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 10:06 AM

Sunday, July 1
After many months of painful delays and web host problems, Lovesick Recording's site is finally up and running. Visit www.lovesickrecordings.com for info on ordering The Faithful Anchor and other goodies.

Things are awfully busy for Johnathon and myself as we prepare for Cornerstone Festival and our European tour that will follow immediately after. It's going to be a blast in Europe I imagine, catching up with family, old classmates, etc. Our Internet access will most likely be sporadic but if we can find an easy way we'll definitely be posting a boat load of tour photos here.

We'll be back in the States just in time for Furnace Fest and should definitely have copies of the 12" vinyl release by then. Thank you so much to anyone who's purchased a copy of the faithful anchor from Insound. It's been really encouraging to see our name listed as a best seller alongside Sigur Ros, Belle & Sebastian, Radiohead, Mogwai, etc.
posted by nicholas tse at 11:40 AM

Saturday, June 23

i am going on 3 times now for moulin rouge! i cannot get enough. i am going again on thursday.

what have i been listening too?

the moulin rouge! soundtrack.

(but only the musical songs). forget that lil' kim christina aguboytihitcha! crap.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 12:25 PM

Monday, June 18
i am back from tulsa. my mom brought us fried chicken and beans, and "circle of birds" is completed. burnt toast is the label. look for it in the fall. cinematic and orchestral. we are happy. my good friend matt putman is here, and i woke up to a hot chicago day. ls.

unwed sailor/early day miners/chris bennet - "stateless" available august on "the great vitamin mystery"

circle of birds - "circle of birds" available fall on "burnt toast vinyl"
(with unwed sailor, ester drang, and lasso)

snailhuntr is coming.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 3:30 PM

Sunday, June 10
this is a blog from david who was once barney's room. imagine two thousand rednecks on a hot country night. ty herndon at his best and in leather. mosquitos and bbq. man those little smokies jam! $95,000. bo was a hit with all the country ladies, that is until barney comes around. he even got a good ol fashioned country hug. bullet proof glass merch displays. ty was moving the units, posters and t-shirts that is. it was that kind of crowd. barney is so cold. he does not care. until the next hot country night.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 6:57 PM

Monday, June 4
i got a copy of the new singing mechanic record "it wouldn't be what it is". nathan richardson and i contributed bass and drum parts to the record. it will be available on sounds familyre in july. i am really pleased with the record. it is very refreshing. no gimmicks. just vince.

the earlydayminers/unwedsailor ep is being mastered/manufactured etc...it will be out in august on the great vitamin mystery.

i am trying to get down to tulsa, oklahoma (my home on the range) to begin our split cd with ester drang. i should be down there in mid - june, plus, i miss my mom.

if you have not subscribed to the absalom 3" series you should do so...i just recieved the czars 3" today. the packaging is the best part of the cd's. the unwed sailor 3" is due in september. we are recording in august somewhere here in the united states. it is going to be the first step and taste of "the marionette and the music box".

if you would like a copy of "the faithful anchor", go to insound.com or decapolis.com
also revolver and carrot top are distributing to stores.

the lovesickrecordings website will be up shortly. nic showed me some of the design, and it looks awesome. also, the new unwed sailor website will be up shortly as well. i never new nic was such an artist.

the singing mechanic - "it wouldn't be what it is"
Lasso
ZAO - the "burn it down and walk away" song
Boxcar Willie - duets with willie nelson
Willie Nelson
posted by Johnathon Ford at 6:27 PM

Tuesday, May 29
Monday July 2 @ The Fireside Bowl

Unwed Sailor
Ester Drang
Lasso
The Mercury Radio Theatre

posted by Johnathon Ford at 2:32 PM

Tuesday, May 22
After 12 hours straight of writing and recording, the ep is done. I am sure dan and joe will put some finishing touches on it, to make it just right. We really hope this will be out by the europe tour. Lets keep our fingers crossed. The release will be a enhanced cd. It will include a film by Chris Bennet. The music that was written will coincide with the film.
The ep will be released on The Great Vitamin Mystery. Check out www.thegreatvitaminmystery.com. The picture on the website is an actual scene from the film.
posted by Johnathon Ford at 10:44 AM

Saturday, May 19
Johnathon and I are currently in Bloomington, Indiana collaborating with local heroes Early Day Miners on an audio/visual digital media experience that should hopefully be available to the public by the time summer rolls around.
posted by nicholas tse at 7:40 PM

Tuesday, May 8
Nathan and I pulled in to Chicago about 2 am. Johnathon decided to go stalk pretty boy Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional) in Grand Rapids instead. It's been a lovely couple of weeks on the road. I don't know how I feel about coming home to 200+ e-mail messages though. Blah. Thanks to everyone who saw us, talked to us, prayed for us, purchased goods from us, promoted us, etc. We hope to see you all again real soon.
posted by nicholas tse at 11:12 AM

Friday, May 4
After spending a glorious 3-4 days in New York City we now find ourselves relaxing at the South Jersey home of the Danielson Famile. Our friend Vince (aka The Singing Mechanic) happens to be in town right now recording a handful of new material with Dan Smith so it's been nice catching up with him in this part of the country. In what must've been a divine twist of fate, our two shows in Virginia Beach today got cancelled and the time off has allowed Johnathon and Nathan to contribute (bass and drums respectively) to the recording sessions. With the way things are going, I am witnessing a very promising collection of songs in the works.

Taking advantage of this recent change in weather, last night Johnathon and I decided to sleep outside under the stars and a full moon with a trampoline for a bed. The effect was similar to that of being on a small boat although we both found ourselves repeatedly sliding towards the centre (and bumping into each other) throughout the course of the night.

We might head out to Philly this evening. From what we've been told, the first friday of each month draws the doors of various museums and galleries open to the public for free, complete with artsy fingerfood (e.g. fine wine, cheese & crackers). Sounds like fun. Johnathon and I might also have to pay a visit to the legendary Love Park and pay homage to our skateboarding past.
posted by nicholas tse at 3:49 PM

Saturday, April 28
www.amishlandinfo.com (year 2001)
posted by Johnathon Ford at 12:33 PM


outside of philadelphia....valley forge...we got the new cd a few nights ago...haverford tonight...reels of white softly flowing...matadors...killing bulls...a mother throwing knives at her daughters...kind of like pin the tail on the donkey...a chandelier and a jewish synagouge...pvc pipe t-shirt displays....moving units...merch at gigs is great...you gotta admit brian moss can jam...white lion songs in cantonese (no chance)....the most enormous gap ad i have ever seen swallowing us up at 5 in the morning...the biggest city i will ever see swallowing us up at 5:10 in the morning...a gangsta proud of his tounge piercing...an amish family feeding cows...always watching my back for bottle rockets...carousels and little wars...ah, its the new bright eyes/lord of the rings soundtrack..."just out of curiousity, does this satisfy you in any way?"....
posted by Johnathon Ford at 11:21 AM

Monday, April 23
Apart from the CD artwork failing to get to us in time and a show that was almost shut down due to numerous threats from the cops, the tour's been going relatively well. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to check us out these past few nights and especially to those who willingly gambled $12 at the promise of receiving the new full length before it hits the stores.

Random tour trivia of the day: Nathan Richardson has been instructing Johnathon and myself on the nutritional value of gas station snacks. Yep, all four basic food groups have been covered. To demonstrate his theory, he presented to us in one hand the 25c carrot cakes (vegetable group) and a box of fig newtons (fruit group) in the other. As for the other two groups, the recommended daily allowance of dairy products comes in the form of milk (fair enough i guess) or doritos for those who aren't so thirsty, while a quick glance in the direction of every vegetarian's nightmare (aka beef jerky in a frightening combination of shapes and flavours) is proof enough that the meat group is taken care of quite adequately. So there you have it - the official meal plan of the Casket Lottery *grins*
posted by nicholas tse at 12:20 PM

Thursday, April 19
It's been a while since we've made any kind of an update on this site. Just as I had begun work on a complete redesign (seriously this time!) our DSL provider went bankrupt, leaving us in the hands of frequent cybercafe visits and snail-paced sub-24kbps dial up sessions. Bummer.

Anyway, the complete listing of our east coast dates have been posted on the front page. We leave for Wisconsin this afternoon. For this tour Johnathon and I have the honour of sharing the stage with Nathan Richardson whom some of you may be familiar with from The Casket Lottery. It'll be a blast.

Further updates to this site as well as any e-mail correspondances will depend on what may most likely be sporadic Internet access on the road. We will be back in Chicago on the 8th. If you can't manage to get a hold of us successfully until then - you know why.
posted by nicholas tse at 10:35 AM

Monday, March 26
our 3" cd in the absalom recordings series will be called "the marionette and the music box"...it is scheduled for a september release...go to www.absalomrecordings.com to find out how to subscribe to the series...

also....just a reminder...the firecracker ep's are now available...i have some if you want them...email me....

we are touring in europe with brandston in july...we will be doing dates in the uk, germany, switzerland, belgium, etc...we will put up all the dates when we get them...

take care...johnathon....
posted by Johnathon Ford at 8:40 PM

Wednesday, March 14
hello...
"the faithful anchor" will be in record stores on may 8th....
if you are coming to any of our shows at the end of april, you can just pick it up directly from us...
we are slowly adding our end of april shows to the site...we have about 2 weeks worth to put up, so keep checking in...

johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 7:36 PM

Sunday, March 11
our first review for "the faithful anchor" is up now on www.fineprintmag.com
also, we have a small interview/article in the new HM magazine...
we have also added an indiana show to our early april dates...

take care...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 5:19 PM

Tuesday, March 6
we are in arkansas, and tour is going good...arkansas is one of our favorite places to be...alot of that is because of jason holmes...
we played at dancin' don's old town...right down the street from the hanging gallows...
we would like to thank all the kind people who have given us places to stay, and fed us...
the singing mechanic is fixing every car in sight..this guy is good...matt got pulled over by the police today...we got it all on film...
tommorow we play with the mighty handshake murders...

love...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 1:34 AM

Wednesday, February 28
we have some new shows in order...

april 6th at calvin college w/pedro the lion
april 7th at the fireside bowl w/pedro the lion and the white octave

also east coast dates at the end of april up soon!!!!

the firecracker ep is now available...
email me if you would like to order...

johnathon@unwedsailor.net

take care...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 11:42 PM

Tuesday, February 27
i picked up matt putman at the airport...
and we start practicing for the march tour tommorow...

"the faithful anchor" is being manufactured now, and will be available in april....

the split with early day miners will be recorded in may, and available mid-summer on "the great vitamin mystery" www.thegreatvitaminmystery.com
it looks like it is going to be an enhanced cd...

nic and i are presently writing new music for our 3" cd on absalom records...

take care...johnathon...

posted by Johnathon Ford at 12:28 AM

Tuesday, February 13
hello...
we have some good news...
unwed sailor's new full length record will be released on lovesick recordings, a label located in east lansing, michigan...
it will be out in april...the record is being mastered and manufactured as i write...
it will be available on cd, and gatefold vinyl...
if all our plans go smoothly, you will be able to get the cd from us on the april east coast tour...
if you would like to write lovesick recordings here is the address...

Lovesick Recordings
611 E Grand River
East Lansing, MI 48824

i will post more information as i get it...
johnathon...

posted by Johnathon Ford at 4:34 PM

Tuesday, January 30
i am back from europe...here is the rundown on unwed sailor for the spring and summer of 2001,,,,

tentative plans...

1.recording in feb. for split release with early day miners, to be released on "the great vitamin mystery". available spring 2001.
2."the faithful anchor" released spring 2001.
3."firecracker" repress available late winter/spring 2001.
4.touring march and april.
5.summer festivals (cornerstone/tom fest oregon) followed by a european tour, then back to the states for furnace fest.

these are our tentative plans...as soon as we know, you will know...

thank you for caring...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 11:21 PM

Sunday, January 14
i am in Budapest....the blamed tour has been going well....
i have so many stories to tell...
germany has been my favorite so far...
prague was the most beautiful city i have ever seen...
croatia was the most depressing place i have ever been...
i have met some incredible people here in europe...
very real people who inspire me to continue on in my faith...
alot of people i have met here are selfless...they will put your needs over theirs...
last night we played in budapest, hungary...
five fights broke out...
matt and i were set up on the floor, and their were around 75 people going nuts all around us...
that was live music...
i am talking with some people about bringing unwed sailor over here this summer...
i will be back in chicago late january, then i leave with the blamed again on a short tour with living sacrifice...
in mid february, unwed sailor will record a split ep with early day miners, to be released on the great vitamin mystery....
i have some different label interest for the new record...i hope to have it out by spring...
take care...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 8:17 AM

Sunday, January 7
Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything here. I hope everyone got to celebrate the dawning of the new year in a meaningful fashion. I myself have just returned from a quick trip to London for the holidays. Things will be kind of slow while Johnathon is in Europe with The Blamed. He wrote yesterday to say that things are going very smoothly with the tour and that he's fallen in love with Germany.

If anyone is curious about upcoming Unwed Sailor releases, we will be working with Absalom Recordings as a part of their 3" Subscription Series. An incredible collection of artists will be featured. Please visit Absalom Recordings for more info.
posted by nicholas tse at 3:14 PM

Friday, December 29
hello...

i have sent the record out to a few people, and the response has been very good...
i am sending more out this week, mostly to various labels...

i leave for europe on wednesday...
it will be my first time...
i hear the blamed is playing in the stable of some ancient castle...
i cant wait for that show...

i hope everyone has had good holidays...

the cornerstone lineup is...

unwed sailor
ester drang
blenderhead

love...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 9:22 AM

Monday, December 18
the record is finally done...
the next step is finding a label, and mastering...
we are all very happy with the outcome...
we are going to get this thing out to all of you as soon as we can...

i found out the other day that we will be playing with BLENDERHEAD at cornerstone this year...
we are looking forward to it...

thank you for all your support...

johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 3:56 PM

Monday, December 11
i got up at 5:45 this morning, hopped in a 15 passenger van, and headed for bloomington...
it was a complete blizzard, and i will admit that i was kind of scared...
well, the first two and a half hours was me going 30 miles an hour on a snow drenched highway...
then the snow started to turn to rain, and i was in the clear...

i arrived safely in bloomington, and dan, joe, and i went out for lunch at taco bell...
we laughed about the corn in the chalupas...
we got alot done today...we mixed "the faithful anchor", and "the house of hopes...dreams...and wishes"...
we have also started on overdubs...
this is alot of fun...

thank you to everyone who made our weekend of michigan shows so awesome...

scott crane, john, and dan are great...

the word is that the firecracker repress will be available the first couple of weeks in january...
let's keep our fingers crossed...

take care...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 11:16 PM


There is a new Unwed Sailor interview at Tangzine. Johnathon should be well on his way to Bloomington right now. He told me last night he wanted to hit the road by 6 am. Hopefully all the snow currently falling on Chicago (we're expecting 10-12 inches) isn't presenting him with problems.
posted by nicholas tse at 10:06 AM

Sunday, December 10
We arrived safely back in Chicago about two hours ago. This weekend turned out to be our best (and undoubtedly most memorable) experience in recent months, thanks in large part to a midnight hot tub party (and we've got pictures to prove it). Being able to catch up with out of town friends and pigging out at seedy, mullets-infested diners at 2 in the morning reminded me why there is so much to love about driving 5 hours to play a show.

Let it be known that John and Dan are two of the nicest individuals we've met. They also happen to be responsible for THE nicest record store I've ever visited. Picture an independent record store like the one run by John Cusack in High Fidelity but operated in a Borders, make-yourself-at-home manner. When shopping for music in East Lansing, there is only one place to go... Lower Level. Also, bands who are interested in playing in the area should most definitely get in touch with them.

Anyway, photos from this weekend will be available very shortly. Thank you to all those who braved the cold to support us.
posted by nicholas tse at 6:54 PM

Saturday, December 9
we just finished playing in grand rapids at the gold coffee company...
the show went very well...we are at scott's house now drinking orange juice....
tommorow is east lansing at lower level records....come out if you can....

on monday, i am going back down to bloomington to finish mixing....
i cant believe we will have a finished record next week.....finally...

go play in the snow before it melts...

love...johnathon...
posted by Johnathon Ford at 1:33 AM

Monday, December 4
I received a call from Johnathon on Saturday night. Him and Carter made it safely to Bloomington and appear to have been devoting a great many hours to Trivial Pursuit at the Early Day Miners residence instead of focusing on the immediate task at hand. The good news though is that the napster hit single "Our Nights" has been mixed properly and supposedly sounds amazing. I guess I will find out when they return home tonight.
posted by nicholas tse at 12:35 PM

Friday, December 1
Johnathon and our friend Carter will be making the 4.5 hours drive down to Bloomington this afternoon to begin mixing the Unwed Sailor record. I trust that between the fine tastes of Johnathon and Dan, the boys will bring home something incredible.

We still haven't decided on a label to release The Faithful Anchor. I think Johnathon will probably try to get something going before he disappears to Europe. Our split with Early Day Miners is scheduled for a spring release. It'll be fab if the full length can hit the streets before then.

As you've probably read on the front page, we have two shows in the Michigan area scheduled for next weekend. Our only shows for the next three months. Do come by if you can. It's not Thanksgiving Weekend. You're without excuse!!

In other news, today is World AIDS Day.
posted by nicholas tse at 11:38 AM

Wednesday, November 15
Well, I've (reluctantly) returned to Chicago. I tried to extend my stay but British Airways was asking $150 to change the date. Besides, Johnathon is quite the pathetic individual without my assistance. Ha. Anyway, the flight back went very well although I'm not sure how I feel about escaping the London rain only to be greeted by Chicago's heavy snow.

Please do come out to see us in East Lansing if you have the chance. This will probably be our last show for the year; and with Johnathon heading over to Europe with The Blamed in January, we will most likely not be playing again until at least the middle of February. We may also be playing a couple of new songs that night. Hope to see you there...
posted by nicholas tse at 2:26 PM

Sunday, November 12
nic will be back from london on monday...
we really have missed him here at jpusa...
i dont know what we would do without him...
he might as well forget about getting a sign though...

listen to:

coalesce: "give them rope"
willie nelson: "teatro"
early day miners: "placer found"

have a great day....
love...johnathon...
posted by johnathon ford at 12:47 PM

Thursday, November 2
we have some show news...
our ohio show was cancelled....
however, we do have a show in east lansing, michigan coming up...
here are the details...
***Saturday, November 25, 2000***

Unwed Sailor
This is Adelaide
(and one other band)

LOWER LEVEL
611 E. Grand River
E. Lansing, MI 48823
517 351 4620
lowerlevelinc@hotmail.com

Doors @ 7:30 p.m.
$5 Cover
ALL AGES

i hope to see all of you there...
i am still working on getting the artwork together for the "firecracker" repressing...
it should be out by the end of the year...

take care...johnathon...
posted by johnathon ford at 11:34 AM

Thursday, October 26
i am glad nic and hugo made it safe and sound to london...
it sounds like they are having the dream london vacation...
i want to add a little bit of information about the pictures below...


the landscape pictures are of the town of bloomington....
the live shots were taken at the the early day miners/unwed sailor show....
the set was a three song improvisation with matt and i, along with early day miners....
take care...johnathon....

posted by johnathon ford at 1:31 PM

Wednesday, October 25
Well, for those who aren't aware, I am currently enjoying day two of my annual London pilgrimmage. Things are going rather well. I spent the better part of the afternoon hitting the usual London spots - Piccadily Circus, Oxford St, Leicester Square, Soho, etc. It's just a pity it gets dark so quickly over here. Tomorrow Hugo and I might go catch a local production of the Phantom of the Opera.

Anyway, I've uploaded a few more pictures from our time in Bloomington. The nerdy girl and the tall boy are Katy and Jamie respectively. They are the cool people who drove four hours to see us at Second Story. The rest are pretty self-explanatory.

posted by nicholas tse at 5:11 PM

Friday, October 20
Pics Galore #3. From left to right, top to bottom...
1) Johnathon 2) Matt & Johnathon 3) Matt 4) Nic
5) Dan 6) Dan and Joe 7) Dan 8) Joe
9) The Band 10) Matt & Rose 11) Matt 12) Dan, Joe and Johnathon
13) Bowling Green 14) Johnathon 15) Matt & Dan 16) Nic
17-18) June Panic

posted by nicholas tse at 12:07 PM

Thursday, October 19
we are back to normal chicago life...nic is working on various websites, and i have been trying to get this
mickey mouse blogger deal to work....


we are working on a couple of shows for november....
november 25th and 26th to be exact...
the 25th is in dayton, ohio, and the 26th is in east lansing, michigan...
as soon as we have all the info we will put it up....


the early day miners/unwedsailor split cd i mentioned earlier, will be on a label called the great vitamin mystery...
the release date is set for winter/spring...


i just finished an interview with cupid kidnap, it should be up soon...
also, early day miners will be doing an interview with them as well...
if you have not picked up the early day miners record "placer found", i encourage you too...
you can find it on western vinyl...
www.westernvinyl.com


i am going back down to bloomington to mix the new record in a few weeks...
i want to say thank you again to dan, jackie, and joe for all their support...
if it was not for them we could not have made the record...
we love you guys...


the entire journal in writing and pictures will be displayed in the december issue of bandoppler....
there will also be a flygirl zine interview with unwed sailor included....
take care...johnathon...
posted by johnathon ford at 8:02 PM

Monday, October 16
Home at last. Umm... we made it back a *little* later than anticipated but everything is well. Johnathon was playing a rough mix of the songs in the van and the brief moments that I caught in between naps sounded quite amazing. Anyway, it's almost 5 am and my brain is fried so I'll save my lengthy commentary for later.

By the way, my e-mail problem has been fixed so if your previous message was bounced back, please try again... nic@unwedsailor.net.
posted by nicholas tse at 4:47 AM

Sunday, October 15
The final hour is approaching. Everyone is busy packing and we're just about ready to make our way back to Chicago. We got done with The Magic Hedge about an hour ago which is an improvisation effort with Early Day Miners helping out. Anyway, more news and photos when we are home. Thanks a million for checking us out...
posted by nicholas tse at 8:51 PM


today is our last day in bloomington...
last night we were up until three in the morning, taking pictures, and talking about everything...
we have one more song to track today...
i think it is going to turn out very bizzare...very different for unwed sailor...
bloomington has treated us very well this week...
i will be coming back on weekends to finish mixing, and add the magical touches to the songs...


also...we are going to be on a split release with early day miners...
it will be coming out this winter/spring...
love...johnathon...
posted by johnathon ford at 12:11 PM

Saturday, October 14
i am experiencing the different phases of recording attitudes...
one minue my head is about to explode, and i am thinking "we are never going to get this sound (part)"...
the next i am screaming "Oh my God!!!!, that is the coolest sound (part) i have ever heard"...

i have to give props to dan burton...i am amazed at his talent in recording and writing...
his tasteful touch to music is inspiring to me...
he is a huge part of this band...

we are coming down to the last touches...
and we are having a lot of fun...
love...johnathon...

the faithful anchor is an arpeggiated nightmare.

posted by johnathon ford at 5:08 PM


Ok, another blog. I apologize this page hasn't been updated as regularly as I would've liked. We've been experiencing some technical difficulties with the dial up connection for a better part of the last two days. Grrr... stupid Windows 2000. Thankfully Joe the super admin is finally home and has restored our Internet privileges. Besides, I feel horrible for contantly hogging up our friends' phone line.

Speaking of computer glitches, a couple of friends have mentioned that they haven't had much luck sending e-mail messages to my nic@unwedsailor.net address. Sorry if that's been the case for you. I will try to figure out the problem when we go back to Chicago tomorrow night. Until then, you can entertain me at tilde@hongkong.com. I usually shy away from Web-based e-mail services but right now I have no choice.

So I guess this is our last day for getting any substantial amount of work done. All but one of the beds have been laid which means that this is the day for last minute overdubs and quality assurance checks. Johnathon and Dan continued their workoholic tradition by staying up until some ungodly hour to get the perfect keyboard sound for The Golden City and I imagine that something brilliant was captured. Joe and I may be spending some time this afternoon to work on an unfinished song - Copper Islands. The Mattster is free to do as he pleases and I believe that he has a private engagement (Blenderhead PR work) at the Bright Eyes show tonight.

Friday, October 13

We are on to a slow start today. The Early Day Miners/Unwed Sailor collaboration show last night (which by the way was a smashing success) didn't see Joe, Dan and Johnathon home until well after 2 am. A big thanks goes out to a couple of wonderful people Katy and Jamie who drove all the way from Dayton, OH to see us. That's a whopping three hours which some of you may dismiss as child's play but when you take into consideration that (a) they didn't leave until after 1 am, (b) Dayton is an hour ahead of us, and (c) Jamie had an early class... well, it adds up to a lot. Their pretty faces as well as some shots from the show will be posted shortly.
posted by nicholas tse at 1:31 PM

Thursday, October 12
Pics Galore #2. From left to right, top to bottom...
1) Johnathon, Nic and Matt. 2) Matt. 3) Dan. 4) Jacky.
5) Matt and Rose. 6) Nic.
7) Matt, Rose, Dan and Jacky at Dag's. 8-9) Johnathon and Matt. 10) Johnathon
11) Lunch by the IU campus. 12) Johnathon's new boots. 13) Dan and Jacky.
14) Johnathon. 15) Matt.

Yesterday while Dan was at work, Matt, Rose, Johnathon and I ended up paying a visit to the local mall, your run of the mill Midwestern suburban establishment. Despite receiving repeated stares from this weirdo with a smile you can't trust and being reprimanded for taking pictures within the vicinity of the mall (for security reasons so they say), we had a blast. Here are some of the kodak moments.

posted by nicholas tse at 9:29 PM

Wednesday, October 11

The photos are here and in the name of laziness I'm going to just let them speak for themselves *grins*. Dan should be home from his glamorous high-profile job in just a short while. Then it's time to rock it out once again. With three and a half days left and six songs to complete, we should be ok. That of course is not taking into consideration the unrehearsed Unwed Sailor/Early Day Miners collaboration tomorrow night. D'oh.
posted by nicholas tse at 9:43 PM


10-11-00
Nick and Johnathon have been keeping this up pretty well already, but I can't help but put my two cents in. This up-to-the-minute web thing is really...cool.

As stated in the other enteries, the recording has been going really well. There are of course, little hold-ups along the way that are inevitable. It makes the process of putting out a record a true art. Dan has been amazing providing song arrangement suggestions and being a true "engineer" behind that fancy shmancy computer recording thingy. Ah, the wonders of audio technology...as Dan put it, "what kind of sick level have we gotten to?" In refference to the strangeness of being able to manipulate sound, cut and paste portions of songs to manipulate the song into its best form...hmm...this has been a great recording project though. Even with all the technicality of the recording process, this has been a very organic process. It's a nice change from being in the studio with Blenderhead where the surroundings were like a kind of sterile laboratory where the songs are the dissected specimens...that too was a joy but quite different and I think I'm partial to this process. Well, time to go rock the dark dungeon!
posted by matt johnson at 9:29 PM


i am anticipating dan's arrival home from the outfitters soon...
we spent all this morning on one guitar sound...
i had my face in my hands after two hours of dissapointing guitar tones...
but, it pays of to be super analytical in recording situations...right?...
i figure, if you are going to have a record for a lifetime, make it sound right...
i dont like regrets...
the recording is still going very well though...
it is all i think about...
it makes sense when it is the last two and a half years of your life going down on tape...
this record definately tells a story...
bye...johnathon...
posted by johnathon ford at 7:17 PM



Day Three progress update: in order of appearance

• Last Goodbyes
  
• Riddle of Stars
  
• House of Hopes, Dreams and Wishes
  
• The Quiet Hour
  
• The Golden City
  

For the sake of his bills and unpaid utilities, Dan will be at Urban Outfitters between the hours of 2 to 9 pm, where he will be aggressively promoting the $60 flannel shirts that you can get at your local thrift store for less than one tenth of the cost. No Dan = No Show. This means the rest of us are at liberty to pursuit other interests. It makes sense to get out of the cavern of a studio and catch up on some fresh air anyway. Matt, Rose and I have decided that such a rare occasion should be spent at a mall. Mmm... shopping! Johnathon will probably stick around the studio and do all the hard work. And for those of you who are wondering about the photos, I *will* find the time this afternoon to post a lot more up for your viewing pleasures. Thank you.
posted by nicholas tse at 1:24 PM

Tuesday, October 10


So we've arrived at day two of The Faithful Anchor sessions. Johnathon and Dan stayed up until the early hours of this morning adding their final touches to what's undoubtedly our hit single "Riddle of Stars". That puts us at two down, ten to go. Much of yesterday's time was devoted to getting the sounds just right anyway, so it's not like we're behind schedule. Hopefully we should manage to lay down three or four tracks within the span of today.

More photos will be posted shortly as promised. Thank God for digital cameras. I can't quite say the same about our Internet access though. The 30 second Big K-Mart music video that users are subjected to prior to dial-up gets old pretty quick. Well, it's free unlimited access after all.