The Enemy Lovers will be opening for Stockholm Syndrome this Friday (Sept. 3 2010) at The Orange Peel in their hometown of Asheville NC. We were approached late last week with a request that we be the opening act and we’re elated to find that we would be opening for a band made up of such an all star cast. Tickets are on sale now HERE.

Check out the EVENT and SHARE IT!

Read About Stockholm Syndrome

Check out Stockholm Syndrome Online:
Website
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As a band we have been going and going for a while now. I feel like we are growing up in some ways and learning who we are in some ways. It is so easy to have someone else tell you what to be or who you are but it is much harder to find it and be it on your own. I am not sure if I or we will ever “arrive”, so they say, but we are closer now than we were two years ago.

When we recorded the EP we were still trying to find out who we were as a band. In some ways trying to be something we weren’t, even though a part of us wanted to be that, and in other ways changing things into what we knew we were. Listening back to that music and thinking of us playing it live seem like two different things now. It’s weird to think that to be quite honest because for so long we were trying so hard to mimic that sound. Don’t get me wrong there is aspects of it that I still try to achieve every show, but in general the sound of it is not us anymore.

As a band we are growing and developing more of our identity in the industry and our community and we are trying to find our sound even more no matter what it sounds like. I feel like when I listen to music I can tell if it is something that was written from an honest place in someone and produced to sound like them as a band, not that I am right all the time, but it seems like the music feels different. I can’t stand music written and recorded just for the sake of radio hits, they never last.

To me, songs that last are songs that come from a place in the person or bands life. A place that is genuine, although it doesn’t have to be melancholy it has to be real. Of course, with just the limited understanding of the industry that we have received in the past two years I am learning that I don’t know much of anything, but what I do know is that the heart of the musician comes out in the music if they will let it. It is a good thing, a very good thing!

Just a little rant for ya!

Steven.

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So I am back at it…

After the three weeks of writing and recording I am finding it is difficult to get back into the whole internet social networking. It is not that I don’t enjoy doing it, I just fell out of the habit of it. Which, on one hand sucks because I had become so accustom to tweeting, blogging, posting, sharing, and any other way to stay in contact that it was almost second nature. When something would happen, or after a show I would blog or post pics or tag pics or just send out tweets about the show. Now I am back at square one relearning to some degree. During the writing and recording we were spending so much time stirring our creativity with new songs and new riffs that we went AWOL with the internet side of things. So on the other hand I was glad to put all of my creativity to writing and recording and it was a FULL three weeks, let me tell you.

It is weird though, how I feel with all of the social networking. I feel like I am always waiting for some amazing thing to happen before I write about it. Not sure exactly what I am waiting for or what I am looking for but life is too short to wait on something “amazing.” To be completely honest those kind of things happen everyday if I am willing to see it. Some days, I am more blind than others but I have been able to find amazing things in a lot of “normal” things. (whew!!!! that was almost a rant)

Anyway, I am getting back into the swing of things so keep reading and keep posting.

Steven.

Remember to listen to our Graffiti Track.  Combo of all the new songs!!!

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When you get such a great response to music you’ve made in the past, presenting new music becomes harder and harder. No fault laid, but most people want to hear what they know. We all want to sing along and experience that same great feeling again and again. Like singing “Don’t Stop Believing” with Journey! For the past year now we’ve been playing the same songs from the EP over and over. It started to become something we thought defined us. For awhile we were trying to imitate ourselves and make new music like the old music. We were having trouble figuring out how we would ever live up to ourselves. We went through writers block…

Then we wrote some new songs!

Welcome to the new era of The Enemy Lovers. To our’s and everyone’s surprise we played this show without a band! And out of 10 songs, 7 were brand new. If you have ever been to a show where an artist plays all new songs and only a couple of the ones you really wanted to see, you can imagine how hard we thought it was going to be. Just 2 brothers, Steven and I, alone on this huge stage with only 2 guitars, amplified by a million dollar sound system and nobody knows most of our set list…sounds like a formula for a big awkward disaster! But it wasn’t. It actually felt amazing. There were no drums yet the crowd began to clap, in time, to a new song called “Parade”! And then there was complete silence during “We Can Make It” (the quietest song of the night). This made us realize that you don’t need a huge full band with backing tracks to connect with people. Music is moving even in it’s simplest presentation. Although We can’t wait to put on a massive show with this new music, we won’t forget the raw pure feeling of what was there that night.

How many artists get to play at The Orange Peel? It’s an honor to be able to play in Asheville NC at Rolling Stones Magazines #5 pick of best venues in the country! We’ve seen some of the best artists we know play the best shows we’ve seen from the same stage we were performed from. What an unforgettable night. Thank you to our fans for being there with us, engaged in the new music like you already knew and loved it!

If you want to hear a sneak peak into this new sound, listen to “Graffiti”.

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Right now as I’m writing this I’ve got my headphones on and I’m listening to our new music!  It’s crazy what can change in such a short time.  To think that these songs didn’t exist a month ago.  The plan started out as a spontaneous “2 day 2 song” experiment. We got the phone call one day and the next day we were setting up our rehearsal space into a makeshift studio with producer Nicolas Balachandran.  Those 2 days turned into a full week, which turned into 2 weeks and then 3.  Each additional week was planned on the last day of the previous.  A hurricane of creativity and 15 brand new songs later we come to the realization that all the talking and planning and preconceiving of what our songs should and shouldn’t sound like was choking out our creativity.  They call this writers block when a creative person gets stuck over-thinking everything.  We had two choices, keep writing the same song over and over 15 times or write 15 new songs.  This time we moved on.  The past is past.  We just started writing with no idea of where it would go.  Prepare yourself!

The Enemy Lovers began by somewhat of an accident and now it becomes a trend with us.  This new music was made by accident and now we’re on to something.  We’ll be introducing some of the new music here and there at our shows and we hope to finish up the project very soon.

Thanks for listening over and over to what little music we have released thus far!

This is a graffiti track made by The Enemy Lovers. It’s a sneak peak into their brand new music. It contains short segments of all 15 songs they have made in the past 3 weeks. Welcome to the beginning of a completed full length album.

Who is Nicolas Balachandran?  Musician, writer and producer.  He has peaked the interest of big players in the industry with his recent writing/production of the new band “Paper Tongues”.  Funny thing is I had done some recording with Nicolas about 3 years ago way before The Enemy Lovers even existed.  I was just a singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar.  He put me on this path way back then only to join me again here with Steven as The Enemy Lovers.

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Now that you’ve seen the video, tell us what you think. Leave us a comment, leave us a note, leave us some love! You can leave a comment below or on our You-Tube channel here

Thanks for watching and listening.

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So we have been working on writing new songs and rewriting some semi new songs for a while now, and I know we have been saying we were going to get new music recorded, and we will, but we have been working through all the curve balls that we have been thrown.  It has definitely been a ride and we are hanging on for what seems like dear life but we are still writing. In music I am finding that it is more about perseverance than most other things.  Now obviously you have to have good songs and good hooks, and although it seems very easy it can be somewhat difficult.  A lot of bands will actually go into the studio with up to forty songs to pick out twelve.  Perseverance!  So with all the delays and the curve balls we have been thrown we are finding that it is easier to quit but most definitely not fulfilling.  Usually Tim and I will meet during the day and spend several hours writing together and sometimes it is less when things on the schedule come up but mostly we are trying to create a habit.  I wrote a blog post not to long ago about writing being a muscle and how you have to work it to get better.   That being said you also have to create a habit.  Tim and I have been more inspiration writers, at least I have been.  What I mean by inspiration writing is waiting to write until you feel inspiration instead of creating the habit and then creating inspiration for it.  I have tried this method for a very short time but I was very discouraged so I went back to waiting.  I still love those times when I get that inspiration that births some new song but I am trying to learn to love all the in between as well.  You see, for every great song that has been written there is a list of songs that may never go anywhere.  I am sure even the Beatles had a massive list of songs that never saw the light of day and the truth about that is is that it is perfectly normal.  But what I haven’t had and what the Beatles did have is an arsenal of ideas to choose from whenever they needed a bridge, or a chorus, or a riff.  That comes from the perseverance of creating a habit of writing and the love of music.

We are not planning on jumping ship and we are in this for the long haul so the more ideas the merrier!  We are still planning on working with our new producer Mike Daly who via email has been helping us out with ideas and helping us become better writers which, let’s face it, is awesome!  Who wouldn’t want to get better at their craft?  It has been a little slower than normal with Downtown Alive in Greenville and the “Coming Down” Music Video World Premier on May 13.  Not to mention I am sure you have noticed some changes in our online presence, which we owe a debt of gratitude to Kiesha Jean and to Babe E. Baker who have helped us learn how to use the Internet, seriously!  We knew a lot of stuff but we are learning so much and as you can see it is paying off.  So we have been hitting that hard core as well.  When everything is said and done though Tim and I are still writing.  Creating that habit and hopefully before too long you all will be able to share in all our work when you hear it.  I am super excited about recording and getting the new music that you have been waiting for out to you.  It is always a new day for us and for you.

Steven.

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