Exitfare 1000

It's nice that a blog that was started as a joke has reached 1000 posts (and soon, a third birthday on 05.18), but what was once inconsistent and a little goofy has turned into a part of my life, something I do almost every day. There were times where I wanted this thing to blow up and get thousands of hits every day, but I am happy with the site and where it is today. We have many loyal readers from around the globe, but the only expectations are the ones we set for ourselves and they are pretty simple -- write regularly and find great, new bands. People seem happy, and those who aren't typically write something rude anonymously.

I've been thinking about how to handle this post for several weeks and I didn't want to treat it as another post, yet I didn't want to go overboard with it. Beth and I were going to put something together, but since she is recovering from her 3+ week trip to Nepal and India, we're going to split things up.

Don't worry, things aren't going to get self-indulgent. I am going to do what I've always done best, talk about bands that you should know, but I am going to throw in some things that I've learned along the way. But mostly it's going to be some of my favorite bands I've found along the way.

- Exitfare started in Philly, but two months later I moved to Boston. Shortly thereafter Beth joined the staff. I've also had my friends Joey, Christine and David contribute a few posts as well.

- Forward Russia! (And a short time later the rest of Leeds and West Yorkshire)
This is a band that's tailor made for me, merging DC-inspired math rock with post punk. Back in '05 the internet was rife with demos and live tracks from these guys, but best of all, they have their own label (Dance to the Radio) that has highlighted some of the best local talent from Leeds.

Like dominoes falling, I discovered band after band, eventually losing track on the actual number of West Yorkshire bands we've covered. It's got to be pretty high because already this year, we've written about 14 different area bands over 20 times! I know for awhile we were resembling a Sky Larkin or Mother Vulpine/Pulled Apart By Horses fansite, but that's the best thing about doing a blog -- not having to restrain your unbridled enthusiasm.

- I stopped writing about sports. I suppose I could mix in more baseball and football (soccer), but I don't even have enough time to write about all of the good music I find.

- Besides England, it seems as though all of the good music is coming out of...California.
This is another very fertile music scene: Rademacher (Fresno), Young/Lost Ones (Moorpark), Division Day (LA), Birdmonster (SF), Mellowdrone (LA), Silversun Pickups (LA), Every Move a Picture (SF), Cold War Kids (Whittier), The Dalloways (Bakersfield), The Blood Arm (LA), Army Navy (LA) and The Gray Kid (LA), among many others.

- The great unheard of bands that are still unheard of. Like We're Marching On, A Passing Feeling, The Cleveland Browns, Young/Lost Ones, Pretty Boys, Apartment, The Bridge Gang, The Briganties, Rubicks, FortyFives, The Seascape and on and on.

- Kubichek!
These guys came around a couple years too late and even worse, record label troubles held them up even longer. Their debut is every bit as good as Silent Alarm, and it's a record I still find myself listening to at least once a week.

- JJ72 never releases their third album and then breaks up.

There's more I could talk about, but this is all the looking back I can handle. Exitfare has always been and always be about looking forward.