Monday, November 30, 2009

Upcoming...

Lots of exciting stuff in store for Mayday in the next couple of months. First we've got two concerts in a row, in the Fountain Theatre. Unfortunately they aren't quite full sets - we only get to play 2 songs but hey the practice will be good. We're thinking of getting a few more shows too..... if anyone has any suggestions where we could play, they would be greatly appreciated!
We've also been practicing hard out for Parachute 2010. We're really amping it, and the set is getting beautifully polished. It's going to be a rocking show! Make sure you don't miss it!!!
Also in the works is the vague formations of an idea for a new e.p. Ok, some of our fans say Problem Solved was brilliant but if we're being honest, I was using a terrible guitar, we're kinda out of time, I am singing WAY to much (never a good thing! =]..), and you can't hear the drums. Jason tried his best but there's only so much he could do. The rest was up to us.....
Ok, so we've all got to start somewhere, but the fact is within 7 months we have got soooo incredibely better. One of those reasons is we wrote a few more great songs, got our timing sorted, but most importantly had a few more gigs. Experience is EVERYTHING and I mean it! That's my advice to all newly-formed/ up-and-coming bands: get out there and play. In a garage, market day, whatever. Just do it!
So yehp. This e.p (if it gets made ) will blow your mind and maybe even your stereo!
(Depends how loud the volume is though......)
Everyone get ready for a good dose of Mayday goodness over the summer.
We're going to crash this party!

Jordan

Saturday, November 28, 2009

When I grow up...what will I be?

Do you ever wonder what you're going to be when you grow up?

I used to wonder all the time.
This is kind of a little embarrassing, but this is what I wanted to be when I was little....


1. A hobbit camp owner. =O For anyone who hasn't watched Lord of the Rings.... well a hobbits just kind of like a dwarf who lives in a hole in a hill and has hairy feet and never wears shoes (not a good combination- I wondered why no one went near Frodo =]...sorry - terrible joke I know)
So basically I wanted to have a Christain camp based around Lord of the Rings with the houses sunk deep into hills. I was going to have a castle and everything. If you haven't figured it out yet, I was LOTR-obsessed.
2. I was going to be an author. I even printed out one of my books and gave it to the library. I got on the front page of the Newspaper. I was so proud........
(actually kinda living that dream at the moment with all the blog posts I do and I'm still writing stories......but they're much, much, MUCH better than my first one.)
3. I wanted to be an actor. Still do movies but would never actually pursue it as a career.
4. A shepherd. This was when I was seriously little. I thought shepherds still had funny robes and crooks like the pictures in the bible stories Mum read me. Every day I'd go outside with my crook in my robes and prayed to God for some sheep. One day, 3 sheep walked up our driveway and started chewing the grass on our back lawn. I am not joking. We have photographical evidence..... (The end of that story was when a guy came and took them away. Apparently they wandered away from him somehow. I can't remember the details. Anyway the moral of the story is Miracles do happen.)
5. In a band called the Lads. They were the best.....then I decided I liked Mayday to much to leave and anyway by that time they'd completely stuffed themselves by going little kiddish like the Wiggles. =( very sad. Their guitar player was the man!


Ummm that's about it that I can remember.
In the last year or so I've been especially thinking about this quite a bit more. I don't want to be a hobbit-camp-owner, actor, shepherd or Lad anymore, so what will I be? I've got to get a job eventually and I don't just want something moderate which you do just for money like that job at McDonalds which I was going to get a while back. I want to do something cos I love it not necessarily for the money. I don't think money what matters in this life. As Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) says in his song Gone "...all the riches of kings end up in wills."
There's much more important things to do than obtaining money.
So I want to do something I love. Well there's quite a few things I love but which one is the right one? Guitar? Writing? Skiing? Soccer? Cooking?
I was having this big as struggle with it cos school seemed to be getting nowhere. Maths, English, Science, and Media Studies were doing nothing for me. I didn't want to do Correspondence school cos what's the point in getting credits if I haven't even worked out if I want to go to Uni. I know everyone says "oh you've finished school! Off to university aye?" but I don't see the point in going to "school" for an extra three years, and having to pay for it, if there's not anything I want to study there. My sister Beka goes to Uni, and she loves it, but she's studying something which she is totally passionate about, and it's helping her heaps. I mean, I'm not saying I'm not passionate about music but I would never want to study it...... I love playing it but I cannot for the life of me get my head around the whole theory side of it. In my opinion, it makes the music dead, lifeless.
So I'm not going to uni, and can't find any job which will either hire me or I like, so back to the original question, but rephrased slightly.


WHAT WILL I DO?

If you know me, you'll know that I'm a pretty impatient person, so I got quite annoyed that God was taking so long to answer me.
Then I finally got it.
What if he wasn't saying "Wait for the answer" but just "Wait"?
So now I've stopped worrying. I don't know what I'm going to to, but I don't really care either. There's this cool as quote by a guy called Edward Monkton, which I think pretty much sums up the whole thing. "He knows not where he's going for the ocean will decide. It's not the destination it's the glory of the ride."
And some final words from me.
It's not what you are that's important. It's WHO you are.


"When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

Jordan

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

What's been happening?

Hey guys.
Hows it going?
Yeah I know I haven't posted for a while. Been pretty busy looking after the kids while Mum's away.
Hmm. What have we been up to lately?
Well. First things first. Via bebo I've been having some pretty intresting conversations with a mate of mine who used to live in our town, but moved quite a while ago. So turns out him and his brother are in this "deathcore Christain band" called Fallen World, who (guess what?) got into Parachute! Just like us, they're playing on the Debut Stage there! Is that mean or what?
Just for the record: I am actually not a metal fan. I reckon it's an aquired taste. Personally I prefer singing to screaming. But in saying that there are bits I like about the genre (Christian stuff that is...) mainly the guitar which is always really good. And the drums usually are pretty good too. I reckon the statement "the sum of the whole is greater than it's parts" turned backwards pretty much sums it up. I like the parts better than the whole. And they do a pretty mean instrumental too! Check them out:http://www.myspace.com/fallenworldband
Anyway they came down to our church on Sunday as part of a visiting music team. It was a mean service. And afterwards they got us to show them some of our stuff, which was pretty mean even though I was playing a borrowed guitar not my beautiful Aram. But the amp was sweet! (It's a guitar player thing!)
Na it was good. They're pretty cool guys, and it'll be mean to play on the same stage as them at Parachute '10.
It's going to be a rocking 20th!
We also got another two shows coming up soon in December as part of a Christmas Cracker concert which is good cos we really need to work on our stage presence. It's pretty good at the mo' (it just could be better!) So we're working out our set for that. Drop us a comment if there's a song you REALLY think we should play!
Hope to see you there. More details as they come.
Ps our set will not be very long though unfortunately. =(
We really need to get practicing. =O

Jordan

check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn-XEFgLRuY
nate

Monday, November 23, 2009

drums...

i've been thinking about drums lately....
your probably all like, yeah, well, whats new?
i've decided that i can't keep my little awesome hot green tempo dixon kit forever. maybe i'll keep my stagg ride cymbal, but yeah...
the one thing you can't add to a drumkit is an extra tom-tom (i think.... if you play drums you should know what i'm talking about. if you don't, its those top small drums:
also, i would like a ride cymbal in place of the middle tom, like here: (the second cymbal from the left)
ignore his face i agree it looks a bit wierd... good kit though... i would like one like that, except maybe an explosion cymbal and a zildjian splash.
in case you didn't know, zildjian is a brand. the best brand. and, unfortunately, the most expensive brand. i don't have any of their cymbals... yet...
crash:
ride:
splash: these are like 8 inhes in diameter... so cute!

they're just plain beautiful...

this just makes me feel annoyed... they're all zildjian cymbals! just sitting there... waiting to be played... each about $700.. :(

so yeah i wish i had lots of money...

so i've concluded to get lots of money... so that means a better job - when i'm a year or two older. that pays more than a paper-run.. which is almost anything lol

nate

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

news:

so there's a three-night concert at the theatre, and we've been invited to play in it.
its cool! the last couple of our shows people have rung up and asked if we'd want to perform in it. we're spreading! :)
i think the experience would be good... cause it's 3 nights in a row. if we become big, we'd be doing tours and all, night after night, so this would be kinda a taste of it...
we're also looking at rocking up a christmas carol if we do get to play there... maybe a cover of one of relient k's ones...
we practiced our slot for parachute today... its going pretty good :)
our new song sounds good too... we're putting the finishing touches to it. unfortunately we don't have enough time for it at parachute with all our other's as well...
that's about all thats been up lately so yeah
nate

Monday, November 16, 2009

dear beka:

remember this:
nate

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Realization (at last!)

I just realized something....
faith is not a work. It's not something we have to work at. It's just something which is.
and man i am glad Jesus said about "have faith as a mustard seed, and you can move mountains" cos sometimes I sure am not big on the faith department.
sometimes, as much as it pains me to say it, i would prefer to live on my non-existant self righteousness, which is worse than my spelling.
but i am a new man.
and i'm not going to do it, but somehow, God is.

Jordan

Saturday, November 14, 2009

nz are in!

NEW ZEALAND BEAT BURMA in the World Cup qualifiying soccer match at Wellington tonight!!
We're in the world cup!
yussssssss!!!!!
nate

Thursday, November 12, 2009

good times

so yesterday we did a photoshoot at the tennis courts - the last one while beka was 17! here's the pictures... they're awesome!
we set the camers tripod up and snapped pictures with beka's camera remote... crazy!
haha we had this red ukalale and jords was trying to rock it out so i stole it off him and started going crazy....

she told me to smile, so i had no choice...

more snapshots!
haha we were trying to do red's pose....
local!
beka wanted us to take pictures of her as well, so i got this one of her and i love it!
love you guys...




cool aye!

they're awesome

which one's your best?

nate

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

back home

new plymouth was awesome! we got back last night..i love that city, probably the best in nz.. me and jords didn't get much time with our mate, but still had a great time.
so today we got ready our songs for parachute.. there's five and i won't say them cause it'll be a surprise...
we also figured most our songs are on the 4-minute scale, which is a bit annoying, but that means none are super-short, which is also good.
haven't got any other details yet though, like when we're playing..
and apparently we're playing at youth group this friday... not sure when though...
that's about it
nate

Saturday, November 7, 2009

eskimos, shopping trolleys, and sun!

i can't remember the last time we did one of these.... but yesterday at 6:30 in the morning me and jords and beka and dan went on an early morning photo-shoot.
first we stopped by the town hall because we saw an epic trolley nearby... and me and jords did something we've wanted to do all our lives:....go full speed through a deserted parking-lot in a shopping trolley at 6:30 in the morning!
haha kinda dodgy, but it was awesome fun! also, we put it back exactly where we found it. exactly.carparks rock... we're all playing our invisible instruments... not sure what dan's doing though! me with some cool light in the background...

it was real fun..

you guys are awesome!

nate

*NEW SONG!*

Today was a good good day! It was the church gala and our youth group was having the typical sausage sizzle fundraiser.

It was pretty mint - and I discovered I can't pour sauce at all! It was shocking. So they made me collect people's money instead. I didn't really find anything at the actual gala of interest except I managed to get Rosie a present.

Kay, so you all know by now we've got into Parachute, and the guy who emailed us said we had to pull out all the stops to do the best show we ever could.

We're getting there, honest, but first we've gotta figure out what songs we're playing. Obviously we have not enough time for covers. I'm thinking 6 songs but still that might be to many as we have quite a few long ones. =(

Here's a song we've been writing and we finished off today. It started off a little bit random, and no one wanted to do it, but now everyone loves it. Funny how things turn up like that. =)



BEFORE AND WHAT COMES AFTER



It's another rainy day/ And I don't know what to say/ Wishing I could let it all out/
Cos I've been so cloudy/ And things are a little rowdy/And I wish I knew what this was about

I won't take the old with the new/ This time I know what to do/I'm ready to make a move/I live when I'm living for you/I live when I'm living for you

Things just got in the way/ Seems I have started to break/ I'm not as strong as I thought I was/ This time I won't walk away/ Cause I've got something to say/ I was so wrong and I know it cause/

I won't take the old with the new/ This time I know what to do/ I'm ready to make a move/ I live when I'm living for you/ I live when I'm living for you/

I'm stuck in nowhere/ Won't you take me somewhere/ I feel that this's a mistake/ How long do I have to wait?/
If wait is the answer/ It's the hardest question I'll ask/ So will you make me new/ Let's leave this back in the past/


Cool aye?
It sounds real good.
Jords

Thursday, November 5, 2009

events and whatnot

haha today we figured out mum got us in the paper for getting into Parachute
we've been writing one more song before we get down to hardout band practice for Parachute. the guy e-mailing us even hinted that we might have a chance to get to mainstage! no promises, but anything could happen....
so, events:
tonight me and jords went on a parkour run... its our new thing. we go to the park and leap off the playground and that botanna thing... soooo fun! gets us fit as well.
kinda excited about tommorow...its guy fawkes at youth group so we're going to a farm for fireworks! yay!
..and saturday's the church gala... should be good
on sunday me and jord and dad are going to new plymouth cause dad has some stuff to do up there and me and jords are going to see our mate`and stay over till monday
all good!
christmas is coming up... this year's past so fast - but when i look back a couple of months it seems so far away... its kinda weird!
and i'm sooo looking forward to the mumsdollar concert in december.... one of their final ones... its going to be awesome!
thats kinda about it...
nate

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

My exciting adventures!

Far study camp was epic!!!


I managed to take a few pictures on my phone even though we were out of service. As well as studying, we played lots of pool........





















The first day wasn't very sunny but there was a mint sunflare over the water! Even though my camera didn't pick it up very well........




















In the morning we went for a run, and me, Todd and Andrew (aka Rambo) attempted to run to the river but it was to far away. Ally, one of the leaders, said she'd walked for at least an hour and not found it. So that set us going. We ran all the way to the river and back in about 40 minutes! And it was about 8 km at least too! I kid you not! We got serious cramp afterwards....




















Next morning Rambo foolishly decided to sleep in. We were all awake and up, so we decided to play a little prank. They wrapped up his sleeping bag so he couldn't escape and dragged him down to the beach and left him there. Seeing as his sleeping bag wasn't waterproof we were kind enough not to manhandle him into the ocean






















This is us fleeing from Rambo......




















This was the neighbors random, beached out caravan. Kinda reminds me of Relient K. It's such a summery cd!




















This is Andrew (aka Outback Jack), who is one of the MacKay's many cousins. He's pretty cool, and believe it or not he's actually younger than me! He came with us to Parachute this year. After we'd done that trick to Rambo, and again to Meredith (only we just dumped her in the bushes), Johan decided it was time to get his own back......
He didn't get as far as the ocean though, just dumped him in the shallows. Needless to say, Andrew wasn't too pleased with his only pair of pants getting all wet. Luckily it was such a hot day.




















After lunch and when we'd all packed up we started going for a big long walk along the rocks. It was beautifully sunny and I wanted to go swimming, like we did on the first day. Instead we just through some random rocks into the ocean..





















Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this one but I have one more adventure to tell. We were just about to leave when Sam (another one of the MacKay's cousins) discovered he lost his phone so he ran off to the rocks to go find it. We waited around for ages, but then we decided to go to find him. Outback Jack got the binoculars and saw him down by the rocks. So we unhitched the trailer, and sped down on the sand to go pick him up.
We were going all fine but then the beach got narrow, so Brian attempted a turn. Bad idea. The car skidded, and got stuck.
We had a go at pushing it out - but it just skidded in deeper. By now Sam had got back to us. Brian put some mats under the back wheels, and we pushed the front really hard. Just as I thought we'd be stuck forever, the car rocked backwards, and free of the dip. So we all piled back on, headed back to where we'd left the trailer, hitched it back on, then headed home.
It was the epicest weekend ever! (Apart from Parachute...)

Jordan

Sunday, November 1, 2009

I'm BACK!

Did you miss me?

Jordan

P.s I'll actually get round to blogging my fun adventures later.....hopefully. By the way: We got into Parachute!! YUSSSSS! So amped right now. Cya @ the Debut stage!!!!!!