A few weeks ago we released another compilation of early songs called “You’ll Find Us There”. You can find them here:
2002 was an intense year of change for me personally, and for Facing Winter. The first half of the year was much different than the second half.
Dan Perdue’s other band Sleeping At Last was starting to have major success. They got noticed by Billy Corgan and he got them signed to Interscope Records! Understandably, Dan had to step away from Facing Winter. I felt so happy for him, but also it was hard to lose him as a bandmate.
Spoiler: Dan and I are still great friends and he still contributes to Facing Winter <3
In the early part of 2002, Jason Sipe and I were inseparable. We were constantly writing, laughing, recording, and exploring Chicago and the suburbs. Jason recorded the electric guitars on Working Title and Morning Starlight, as well as acoustic guitars on Good Mourning.
Jason’s other band “Matthew” was starting to have a lot of success, and they needed a fill-in bass player for a European tour. I was invited to join them! It was a 12 day tour through 5 different countries. It was an amazing trip for so many reasons. Photo highlights include our session in Paris for Rolling Stone!
After the trip Jason continued having great success with Matthew, and so we weren’t able to hang out as much. But this certainly wasn’t the end of Jason’s contributions to Facing Winter.
Musically, it was whittled down to just me. But I doubled-down on Facing Winter. During the second half of the year I was playing open mics religiously in Chicago and the area. Sometimes 4-5 nights a week. I had a particular partner in crime: Liam Doyle.
Liam hadn’t started playing bass yet, but during this time he was one of my biggest supporters and best friends. We spent SO many nights wandering throughout Chicago and beyond. Even though Liam didn’t contribute musically to these songs, I could not have done it without him by my side.
My favorite song from this compilation is Venture Further. Even all these years later, I can still feel it. And I think it’s a song I may start playing live again soon.
Many of these songs were on an album originally released as “Just Invisible”. Here is the original artwork drawn by Lara Earhart:
The next compilation will be released in November and will include songs from 2003-2005. Stand-by for the exciting debuts of Liam Doyle on Bass and Jeff Goluszka on Drums!
Want to talk more about these songs? Have a question? A comment? Hit us up anytime:
facingwinter at gmail