transmission begins:

So Kenny has left to go on tour with Secret Chiefs 3 from May 10th to June 2nd, leaving Nick and I to fend for ourselves, trying to finally (fucking finally!) finish the kickstarter shit that has been taking WAY too goddamn long.

I mailed 90% of the shit yesterday and what’s left is all you small and medium sized motherfuckers because we ran out of those t- shirts. This is spiteful shit from Nick, because when we first bought merch ages ago, I had bought a ton of smalls, because, as most of you know, I’m a really fucking small dude, and fuck you, this is my worldview. Since then, Nick has made sure to buy as many large and 2XL shirts as possible, leaving me in this rather annoying situation.

I’ve been writing some pretty cool tunes, and Kenny has been writing more difficult tunes (for real, I wish he would just write a fucking song in 4/4 JUST FUCKING ONCE) and we’re working with Stacy O’Dell on the new material.

I’m also releasing some shit I wrote for a wonderful dancer/artist named Francesa Harper and the Harlem Dance Theater called “Death Meditations”. It’s not quite standard Res15 shit, but I think it’s quality stuff, and I hope you guys do too. All the Res15 guys play on it, including our old friends Joel Lambdin and Jim Robertson, as well as our dear friend Monica Chung, and my better half, Jennifer DeVore. Here are the program notes, if you give a shit:

“The movements are titled “Dukka,” “Saranagamana” and “Maranakriya” which is Sanskrit for Suffering, Refuge and Wrath.

The first movement encompasses the inevitability of time and morality. Although death is an inescapable fact of life it is still one of the most difficult facts to face in each of our lives. Our lives are framed by the shadow of death yet we must find a way to cope with death in order to experience life to the fullest extent. In creating this composition, I attempt to portray what the dying process would sound like from beginning to end. In his first movement, violins play an ostinato that signifies the inevitable passage of time while the piano struggles to reach a height that is impossible, only to descend into the depths of delusion. The distorted violins, bass and drums are meant to convey inevitability and the emotional stress associated with it.

The second movement offers a break from the sonic assault of the first movement and conveys introspection and meditation. Introspection and meditation are not always peaceful experiences, which is depicted in the score and in the individual and ensemble moments of this movement. Meditation is seen as an experience where one seeks refuge and clarity with regards to conflict and despair.

The third movement is titled “Wrath”. However, this is not meant in the typical violent manner of the Western mindset, but rather as a positive transformation of delusional states in which one actively pierces the veils of deeply seated conditioning. The same musical themes are brought back from the first movement but are transformed into its parallel major key signifying the transcendence of the individual and ultimately causes reflection on whether enlightenment was needed regarding this journey or whether we already possess such enlightenment from within.”

So check it out! I’m going to post it here, and it’s also available on Soundcloud here.

Oh, and we’ve let go of Mike Bendy. Great dude, bad fit. We’re having friends fill in on bass duties for upcoming shows for now.

Toodles.

transmission ends.

transmission begins:
It’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these. It’s been a really long fucking time since I’ve written one of these, come to think of it. In the space between the last transmission and this one, we’ve channeled a Volume 4 Black Sabbath tune complete with mellotron strings. More specifically, (i think i remember mentioning this in the previous blog entry, but a friendly little reminder doesn’t hurt) we bid a fond adieu to both our bassist, Jim Robertson as well as our other violinist, Joel Lambdin, “hired” (the term “hired” being used very loosely and in good faith here) a new bassist, Mike Bendy, and decided after much auditioning and searching to carry on as a four piece. What else? We signed on with Adrenaline PR, and are so unbelievably excited that they’ve taken us on- if you don’t know, you’d better ask someone. They’re the coolest (and possibly the nicest) women in the business. We released our Kickstarter funded album “Svaha” on January 15, 2013, (see? a really long fucking time, right???) and planning a tour in the summer to support that, with the help of Jeff Totten of Project Independent, as well as already starting work on new material with a plan to release three CDs worth of music within the space of a year. Oh, and on a personal note, my better half gave birth to a baby daughter. “I’m goooooing through chaaaaangesssss….”

So yes, I haven’t been active as a social activist at all lately. No spite driven, rancorous blogs on the tantrums of basketball fan Kim Jong Un, or about how a (white) friend of mine was arrested mistakenly for driving on a suspended license and witnessed the cops treat other (black) people in Central Booking far differently than him, or anything on the death of Aaron Swartz, one of the key developers of Reddit, driven to suicide by charges brought against him that were wildly inappropriate to what he actually did, (which throws into sharp relief how our government may differ from Soviet Russia in terms of tactics, but in the end, there’s more than one way to butter your fucking bread.) or about the continuing corruption and overall shitty situation in places like Haiti. Generally, for me, the days center around getting whatever freelance work I need to get done done, learning the obnoxiously large amount of music that needs to be learned for our lofty ass plans, cajoling my kid into not wailing her fucking head off, and doing a shit ton of interviews in support of Svaha. I was feeling a bit guilty about being really out of touch with this shit until I had a great hang with the video performance artist Janet Biggs, who is a good friend of mine (and seriously another ridiculously cool chick- she nearly had Ministry play her wedding) and she was like “Um, you just had a kid. Relax. You’ll get back into it when you can. It’s not like your heart has changed.”

And she’s right. It hasn’t. The band is back, bitches. In full fucking swing. Come to our show this Saturday, Bowery Ballroom. We’re opening for Starkiller, really cool dudes. You won’t regret it.

transmission ends.

transmission begins:
first things first: we’re really sorry this shit took so long to see the light of day. the faith that you’ve all shown us by donating so generously to our kickstarter has not been forgotten.

contrary to vicious street rumors, we didn’t spend the money on bitches and bling. nor did we flee the country, stashing the money in overseas accounts to be retrieved when you lost all hope that we would deliver on our promise to record a fucking amazing album.

you will all receive your prizes/rewards/ compensation/ handjobs/ (what?) quite shortly- in all likelihood, before this month is through. i just picked up the shirts today and the video footage is getting edited now, so we should see a return on that shortly.

now for the explanation as to why we are taking so goddamn long: within a month of each other, both jim and joel gave notice and left the band due to the ever cliched but ever useful “creative differences”. i love that phrase. it could really mean anything from not liking the fact that kenny likes to write in polyrhythmic insanity to maybe that jim and joel secretly envision themselves as the next fela kuti and this band was getting in the way of their afrobeat vibe. the real reasons are left for you, dear reader, to imagine, and for me to giggle as i write. because really, it’s not the important thing. the important thing is that they left, we love them, but they left a creative as well as logistical gap that needed to be filled as soon as possible.

these setbacks, as you can imagine, were serious, and potentially fatal to the band. to find another violinist that has metal in his or her bones, grew up listening and living this stuff and has the chops to do what we do is next to fucking impossible. we used to joke that there were three metal violinists in new york city: myself, joel, and lyris hung.

it’s not really a joke.

we went through a long frustrating ordeal trying to sort through violinists that could even potentially learn the style, calling those prospective violinists, being rejected for one reason or another, finding a few that were interested, including one badass metalhead from chicago who ultimately couldn’t make the move to new york work out, having them borrow my spare instrument (seeing as you can’t just buy a 7 string electric violin from fucking sam ash or guitar center and aren’t readily available) setting up auditions, and then for one reason or another, it not working out. during this long and incredibly frustrating process, we would wonder why it was so difficult, and then we remembered that we play in a local no name fucking metal band with no bling or bitches or bragging rights.
the only thing we have in our music is honesty, a message we believe in, and passion for what we do, and fuck it, that’s all we need.

fast forward to finding mike bendykowski. he plays with kenny regularly as part of the hipster assassins, along with felix and julius (sons of the late great jaco) pastorius and is, all kidding aside, a fucking badass bassist. we auditioned several bassists, and he was the one with the immediate chemistry that stood out from the rest. so we were on our way again, and could proceed accordingly.

anyway, with all that in mind, we realized that although it was nice to have, we don’t need a second violinist, and that we are moving forward again as a four piece.

resolution15 is now: Earl Maneein, Kenny Grohowski, Nick Serr, and Mike Bendy.

we are looking forward to playing shows again, and (fucking finally!) delivering on our new album. as far as making up for the parts left out by joel’s departure, i have been shedding my ass off rewriting parts and making amalgamations of the separate parts into one that i can play alone, and i’m happy to say that i’ve been successful at figuring it out. (i remembered how the unaccompanied bach sonatas and partitas are constructed, and went from there) however, all of that took a fuckload of time, and that also contributed greatly to our delay.

so, ladies and gents, there it is. we’re back on track, and you’ll be hearing from us again real soon. a cd release show is in the works, and as soon as we get confirmation on the venue and date we’ll let you know. oh yeah, you’ll get your shit. promise.

cheers.
-earl

transmission ends.

Resolution15 explicitly states: You are not what you think you are. You have the right to think for yourself. You have the right to see through your own lies, and the lies of others. You have a right to the Truth.

Resolution15 is a band whose sound is rooted in thrash, metal, hardcore, punk, and classical music that uses violins in place of guitars to disseminate their egalitarian message of global change. Named after the North Vietnamese Resolution passed in 1959 which changed their strategy from “Political Struggle” to “Armed Struggle”, Resolution15 released their self- titled debut in 2007 and quickly became a fixture in the New York metal scene. The EP Satyagraha was then released in April 2010 with Corey Unger (guitarist of the seminal New England metalcore band Blood Has Been Shed) as producer. In 2012, Resolution15 launched and ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new album, entitled “Svaha”. Recording took place at Spin Studios and Nova Studios, with Ryan Kelly and Stacy O’Dell as producers. “Svaha” was officially released on January 15, 2013. Resolution15 has been featured in Kerrang, Metal Edge, Metal Injection, and other ‘zines, but their favorite quote comes from Metal Edge: “…violins have been attached to folk metal and other oblong versions of what you might consider to be metal, but what was being belted out onstage was nowhere near folk, chamber music or anything along those lines. This [Resolution15] is thrash. This is loud. This is a kick in the f*****g face.”

Email: resolution15@gmail.com
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