2010 Resolutions

Most people I know hate New Year’s Resolutions and think the whole process is trite. They’re usually all about how we’re going to stop this or quit some vice or another.

But I love the idea that we try to recreate ourselves once a year. What do we want to see happen? What do we “resolve” to create? Whether it’s just trying to be more healthy or more loving or have more fun, it’s awesome to affirm those ideas. Most of the time we’re just wandering around reacting to things, bumping like a pinball from one situation to another.

We pick a day (and sure it’s just a date, restarting the cycle around a solstice or an actual astronomical event might make more sense, but whatevs...) and on that day, we hit a reset button. We try new things, make drastic changes, purposefully act differently towards others. We do things more consciously around the New Year, because hey, we let ourselves have another chance now. This is us giving ourselves another opportunity to actualize all the things that we haven’t made happen in the last year. Like anything, the only significance that counts is the importance that we give to it. So, if you want to remake yourself in a new way and choose to do it around this time of the calendar, then go for it! I’ll join you.

So, what are my resolutions with Sunspot in the New Year?

1. Give you something new
Sunspot’s been around for a long time now, especially in the context of music groups. We’ve seen several cycles of bands get together, break up, reform, start new bands, etc... We’ve seen music trends spike and dip in popularity (ska, rap-metal, garage, indie, etc...) In the last year, we started making videos a regular part of what we do, we’ve started integrating different musical elements into the live show, we’ve tried to make every event we’ve played special in some way. That’s not going to stop, but I promise that we’re going to do keep experimenting and trying different things. That when you download a new song or video or come to a show that we’re not just repeating what’s worked before. You’re going to get something special every single time.

2. Give you our absolute best
There’s some shows that are tougher than others and there’s moments in the creative process where it feels like “okay, that should be good enough, just finish the damn thing.” That’s something we’ve always tried to avoid in the past and something that we resolve never to do. Many of you reading this have been watching and listening to us for over a decade. That means so much and that really means you deserve to hear and see us when we’re performing the best we possibly can. We resolve to give you the most exciting show and songs that we know how to do. It doesn’t matter where the show is or how long it takes to make a song as close to perfect as possible. If you show up or you’re listening to Sunspot, then you’re going to get our full effort every time.

3. To Fulfill Your Trust and Faith In Us
You come to our shows and bring new friends, you spend your hard-earned money on t-shirts and CDs, and you ask us to be part of the soundtrack to the important events in your life. I know this sounds grandiose and we’re just talking about rock n’ roll, but rock n’ roll is our #$%@in’ life. You believe in us and trust us and we resolve not to let you down. You’re part of the community and part of who we are, and I promise we don’t take a single ounce of your support lightly. If there’s something that’s important to you, please don’t hesitate to say something. We take every comment, question, thought, remark, and idea seriously. It’s important to know that if we say we’re going to do something, we do it.

That’s the plan for 2010. This past year was the best one yet and I know that we’re going to surpass it. Have an awesome New Year and good luck with however you decide to reinvent yourself!

"Path of Most Resistance" Pop-Up Video

It's "Path of Most Resistance" all done up VH1-style. You can download the song, purchase the album, and check out the full lyrics at http://sunspot.bandcamp.com/track/path-of-most-resistance.



You can download the Pop-Up at http://www.sunspotmusic.com/sunspot_path_of_most_resistance_popup.mp4 or view it on YouTube directly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqKGemQeKo

If you're looking for the original video, you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYOucORr1ks

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 12/19/09 @ Club Tavern in Middleton, WI

What a party! Thanks everyone for making Saturday's show a lively and festive one, and a great finally to this decade!

And if you're wondering about other DrummerCams from throughout the year that have not been posted, stay tuned because I'll be going through all of them and posting the "missing" ones before the New Year.

A Holiday Greeting from Sunspot

Sunspot wishes you a very happy Holiday Season this year!



And don't forget that you can find Sunspot gifts for your loved ones at store.sunspotmusic.com.

You can watch our message directly on YouTube or download the movie file here.

Madison Bands on The Run (including us!)

Thanks to Brett Newski and the guys from Dane101 for posting this article that includes us on Madison bands hitting the road.

It also features some quotes from our man, Darwin, from The Frequency and one of the guys from "Steez", who I interviewed for Max Ink a few months back.

You can read it directly by visiting the link here: http://www.dane101.com/tour/2009/12/10/madison_bands_on_the_run

Old-School Sunspot Video "Prozac Girl" 2001

That's right, friends, the hits just keep on coming. This is the third week in a row we've brought you "classic" (classic, ha, there's nothing classic about the peroxide blonde in this video and did I steal that bowling shirt from a Big Lebowski convention?) Sunspot songs that have been sitting on VHS for the past few years.

This one's a live performance of "Prozac Girl" from the James Madison Memorial High School Arts Week in 2001.



Next week, we'll be back with some newer material (maybe another pop-up video if we can work up enough jokes this weekend) but since we're reaching the end of the Aughts, I thought it would be fun to check in on where we were at the beginning of the decade. We have hours and hours of tape from Sunspot concerts, tours, and television appearances over the past few years so we'll be putting up videos from all throughout our history on the weeks in between podcasts. By the way, we'll be coming up on our 100th podcast soon and I promise we'll do it before the end of the year, we'll definitely be featuring the highlights from this year's Sunspot Christmas Party on the 19th!